I've really been impressed with the Creality brand of printers, they come with the important parts assembled in the box (belts, bed, hot end, etc.) and all the user has to do is pretty much bolt the axis together. I got this Ender 5 because of it's design, the Ender 3 is a good printer too but the box design of the Ender 5 definitely gives it more rigidity for nicer prints at higher speeds. I did have to print some bed supports and wire supports to give the printer overall some more longevity, but I think that's part of the experience of having an Ender, they're a really good value and you get to design or download upgrades and customizations. The biggest upgrade I recommend is the build plate, you really need a spring steel and PEI build plate in my opinion.
The first print I did on this was the little puppy that was preloaded on the included SD card. The very first print failed about at 85% done by coming off the build plate so I had to do some minor bed leveling as well as raise the bed temp and the next print came out really well and I was impressed.
I do find the Creality slicer to be a bit dated, but it's fast and its lightweight so if you have a really simple part and don't care too much about the slicing, it's perfect for that. The next best option for a free slicer is the PrusaSlicer, it comes with an optimized Ender5 profile and there's tons of different options and features if you want to get into the more nitty gritty stuff.
Overall, it's been a good printer so far after 50 or so hours of printing and I plan for it to be my main printer, at least until I get something newer. I do have a Creality CR-30 print mill on the way so with this printer and that one, I should be able to make just about anything I please.
Pros:
- good value
- rigid boxy frame
- easy to use
- consistent prints
- reliable to run overnight
- major parts pre-assembled
- massive fan base / community for enders
Cons:
- the included flexible build plate
- fans are slightly noisy while running
- bed needs more support (supports are easy to print)
- could use a cable management trac or something included