Hello, all. Apologies if this post is redundant or goes against any community guidelines or general best practices. I’m looking to buy my first ever 3D printer, and I came across some listings for the Entina Tina2 and its variants. It seems like an attractive option for me because of the price and the minimal setup required. I should also add that I don’t plan on doing any very serious printing; I’m talking about fairly light usage. So I am fully aware that this printer is quite limited and basic. I don’t mind that. What I’m asking is this: is it a complete waste of money? Does it do what it says on the box, or is it all scammy marketing? What red flags am I missing? Thank you in advance for your responses, and again, apologies if this post is inappropriate in some way.
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I own one. It works, it prints. The prints are not super high quality, but for basic around the house items, some occasional useful items or toys, it’s fine and it will turn PLA and other materials into objects fine, it works with the standard formats and it gets the job done, comes with an SD card with a version of Cura with everything pre-set and a few test print models. You will have some difficulty with highly detailed prints, thin layers, etc., not advised to do finely detailed prints with it. It also is small, if you’re going to print something bigger than 64 cu in, forget it, get a bigger printer. The bed is not heated so something to keep in mind. Does ship with a taped magnetic bed, you can just use regular masking tape on top of the magnet when that becomes worn.
I think I’ve given a cursory look at those a year or two ago. The main things I remember are that they are SMALL, and at least one model lacked a heated bed. The heated bed helps immensely with adhesion (will your print stick or just get dislodged, failing the job?) and the size is a practical constraint. For example resin printers can do exceptional quality items, but they’re going to be small. Pick a measuring tape of any kind, go measure a thing you’d like to make like maybe a pen holder or whatever you actually think you will want to print. I had a Monoprice Mini Select and it was a 12cm base, good for a lot, small for a lot. That thing can do a 10cm base. A quick visualization is that you will not squeeze a phone cover in that space!
Thank you. I’ll definitely look at the space it offers. Although I’ll probably bite the bullet and spend a little extra on a Creality machine.
I don’t know your budget but if possible, shoot a little higher than Creality. They have a reputation for selling not-quite-working printers that you can get to limp along just enough to print replacement parts for it so you can start the endless cycle of trying to get it working correctly.
You said you’re looking for just light usage, so I assume that you don’t want to spend 3x the amount of effort on the printer as you will spend using it.
Do you mind if I ask what your upper limit is for price?
Sure. If needs must, I can probably spend up to $350 if I wait a month or two. The other issue is that I live in South Korea, and I really don’t want to import. So you can make a suggestion for sure, and I’ll check if it’s available locally.
Is an Elegoo Centauri Carbon an option for you? I have the CC1, and it’s a really nice printer for the cost ($320 USD). They sell refurbished models for a bit less.
Elegoo also makes other models which are also pretty decent but even less expensive such as the Neptune series.
I completely understand not wanting to import, but as I don’t speak Korean unfortunately, I won’t be much help with researching what is available.
I have seen some Elegoo models available here, yes. I have just heard that they aren’t very consumer friendly. Edging towards vendor lock-in, and so on.
A valid concern for sure. On mine, I installed (it was very easy!) a community-modified firmware called OpenCentauri to address those concerns. I completely understand if that isn’t open enough for you though.
There is another effort by that same development team to bring a standard Klipper firmware to the CC1.
Okay, thank you. I will definitely look into OpenCentauri to see if that’s a viable option for me. As I said, it will be a month or two before I am able to afford that, so I have time to research it all. And hey, thank you for being so helpful and responsive in this thread. You have been a great help.
I definitely don’t like the looks of it, from the fact they don’t list any specs whatsoever to the claiming “it’s got AI!” or whatever. The last brand of printers I’ve seen that looked this shady had vendor lock-in SO BAD that, when the company went under, all the printers they sold got kind of soft bricked.
However, I’m assuming you’re looking at the ~$180 base model? At that price, veryy little else exists, admittedly…
I think Creality’s cheapest printer is probably like $20 more, but if you can swing it, that’s what I’d go with. For the following reasons:
- They actually tell you exactly what goes in the thing.
- There’s a very strong aftermarket repairs/mods scene built up around them.
- There are entire projects built around converting cheap Crealities into other things, for if you outgrow it.
- It’s like the closest you can get to no vender lock-in without building/buying an open source one.
Tina 2 definitely does not have AI so if they’re claiming that, it’s a lie. Model existed since before the AI boom.
Thank you for the feedback. I don’t mind spending a few extra dollars, so I’ll definitely consider the Creality models. You’re completely right; vendor lock-in should be avoided.
I can’t answer your question fully but I’ll try to be helpful. I got an Entina as a gift last year, my first printer as well and it works fine. I’m not sure what model it is but I’ve never used a phone app with it or any of the other picture taking things that they seem to list. I find a file I want online, slice it on my computer, then put the sd card in and print it. The printer is a bit slower than what the slicer says but not significantly so. The filament that came with it lasted me a couple of prints and then I got a different brand and that works just as well.
Hope that helps.
Thank you. That is definitely a valuable data point. If it wasn’t an absolute nightmare experience, I’ll chalk it up in the plus column.
Just as a follow up, I got home and could check. It’s the Tina2 Basic. None of my paperwork or anything mentions an app or AI. Again, not the best. Certainly can’t argue for or against it really. The only thing I’ll add is that I dont use it for much either but it’s been fine. I wouldn’t have a 3d printer if it wasn’t given to me as a gift. So I really have only printed a few models from it. The biggest annoyance I had was that it didn’t hold on to big spools so I printed something that would hold them and that’s been nice.
