Hunting for a good Prusa i3 kit, need recommendations.

Howdy folks,
Finally decided to pull the trigger and build a Prusa i3. I've seen some seemingly decent kits from China on Ebay but I've also heard that they sometimes come with knockoff boards.
The one I'm currently looking at is:

[www.ebay.com]

There are so many tech shops and options available that I'm kind of lost. I know I want dual extruders and I don't really feel like sourcing every little part myself so any advice
would be greatly appreciated. Or, if anyone has one for sale I'd be interested.
Thank you much!
-Neybordave

and before anyone posts it, I have been looking through the Prusa Buyers Guide on this site. I was just hoping for a little advice from people who have tried out different kits, vendors, etc.

Stay away from "plastic" or MDF frame !

Al or Steel.

Real T8 lead screws and not regular M8 threaded rods or "inch" ACME lead screws ! In short, all metric parts !

Vendors advocating "auto bed leveling" are to be avoided, a poor way to compensate for the improper designed/built machine they are offering.
It is useless on a good cartesian machine and will probably add misery as most are poorly designed. Spend you money on buying the right smooth rods as most vendors don't supply the right ones.

Consider a machine that can at least print from the start and that you will be able to improve with your own printed parts.

I picked up the Geetech Al I3. It was usable from the start although shaking a bit but after some improvements, I am able to print at more than twice its original speed.

There are others, of course, but sad to say, I consider there is more junk around than good ones.
Chinese are great at copying, eager to cut cost, often ignoring or without understanding the details and therefore more likely to produce such junk.
Anyway, the majority of vendors use almost exclusively chinese components, many of them are OK though. I have been sometimes surprised or lucky ?

It all depends on your background and ability to do mechanic, electricity, electronic too.

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2016 06:47AM by MKSA.

Hi, take a look at the original I sell. It's bit more expensive, but nice parts and proper build documentation. I also have all profiles ready and it is precalibrated.

Hey Prusajr,
Just went and checked out your printer and I'm going to order the i3 lcd kit.
Any discounts available for being a reprap'er? Haha, I'm just being cheap.
Thank you both for your responses. I'm happy to get started again.
My last experience was ordering a Box'd 3D from DIYTechShop and they took my money and finally closed and filed bankruptcy.
I expect this to be a much more pleasant experience.
Great Community!

Quote
Neybordave
Hey Prusajr,
Just went and checked out your printer and I'm going to order the i3 lcd kit.
Any discounts available for being a reprap'er? Haha, I'm just being cheap.
Thank you both for your responses. I'm happy to get started again.
My last experience was ordering a Box'd 3D from DIYTechShop and they took my money and finally closed and filed bankruptcy.
I expect this to be a much more pleasant experience.
Great Community!

Many companies went belly up because they were producing junk. More often than because of unfair Chinese practice.
Sad to say but I see plenty of products praised here, on youtube ... by people not knowing much, leading to beginners to buy them resulting in a lot of trouble when not total loss like you experienced.

Well I'm happy to say that it's ordered and on the way. $674.99 USD for a sure-fire printer with tons of support and guaranteed quality. Not only that, but I got a recommendation from the guy who invented it and now sells it on his own site. That's a pretty cool story to tell.