Shopping for a 3D printer?
Buying a 3D printer on-line is really easy and there are lots of options available. Buying a new 3D printer from a physical shop is slightly less easy. Putting aside specialist shops (eg imakr.com) many retail stores now sell 3D printers (eg PC World).
When looking for a new printer it is really good to be able to see it in the flesh and ideally see it printing or some of the prints produced from it.
Yesterday I went up to box.co.uk showroom in Sutton Coldfield.
box.co.uk is one of the UKs leading on-line shops for technology with over 20 years experience in selling tech. In addition to their website they have a physical showroom in Birmingham.
Box.co.uk currently have around 40 3D printers on their website and a small selection in their showroom. Prices start from the £100-£200 range with an Ender-3 for £149 and go up to £7000 with a very beautiful Makerbot replicator Z18.
I’ve been to the showroom a few times now and each time is a very pleasant experience. Everyone who works there is super knowledgeable about their products and are also really good at handling customers questions whether they are a noob or an expert.
The highlights of my visit yesterday include:
- A good display of printers spanning the price range
- Really helpful staff who genuinely showed interest in my questions
- Examples of prints made from printers they stock
- Genuine product advice showing the pros and cons
- Willingness to show the printers in action and a chance for a hands-on play
- No hard sale, I explained that I won’t be able to buy until after I get paid at the end of May, they respected this and didn’t offer credit or finance!
I will definitely be buying my next printer from box.co.uk!