Is The Creality Ender 3 V2 Worth It?

Recently I received my Ender 3 V2 so I had much to say about this because I personally don’t like commenting on machines that I haven’t actually had hands-on experience with and tested out myself. For those of you that have been patiently waiting I am excited to let you know that I did get an Ender 3 V2 in hand and have had some time to play around with it. Today let’s get started with our Ender-3 V2 review.

We are going to cover the specs of the Ender 3 V2, what the assembly and setup look like, and my overall experience. We’re also going to do a little bit of talking about how this compares to some of the other machines that I have recently covered. There’s quite a bit to get through so let’s get started.

Technical Specifications of Ender 3 V2

How big can the Ender 3 V2 print?

The Ender 3 V2 which is similar to the original Ender 3 or the Ender 3 pro has the exact same build volume of 220*220*250 millimeters. It’s using the same kind of black aluminum extrusions and honestly, if you put them side by side they look very very similar to each other.

What bed does the Ender 3 V2 use?

The build surface on Ender 3 V2 is described as a carborundum glass plate which appears to be a glass ultra base style bed although I do prefer a really good flex plate system over this kind of bed. I would consider this is an upgrade over the original Ender 3 kind of a knock-off of the build sack that comes on the aluminum bed although that stuff does work fairly well as far as adhesion goes it typically doesn’t last all that long and normally things stick too well so it’s very easy to damage that surface and with this glass surface, you’re going to have a much more difficult time damaging that.

Does the Ender 3 V2 have auto-leveling?

As far as bed leveling goes, it does use manual bed leveling, using four big leveling knobs on the underside of the bed, however, Creality does have a bl touch upgrade kit available for this printer and there are mounting holes on the hot end or x carriage assembly where you can mount a bl touch if you do want to add auto bed leveling.

How much power does Ender 3 V2 have?

The Ender 3 V2 is a 24-volt system powered by the MeanWell Power Supply. One thing that this printer did get over the previous versions is an upgrade to a 32-bit board running marlin and it also does have dynamic drivers. The board also has an input on that bl touch if you do want to add it as well as a filament run-out sensor but both the bl touch and the filament run-out sensors are things you would have to add and they do not come stock on the v2. Those trinamic drivers are going to mean that the motion is going to be a lot quieter on the Ender 3 V2 versus the standard Ender 3 because it’s got the whole 32-bit with marlin 2.0. One cool thing is that you can upgrade the mainboard over the micro sd card which makes it a lot easier than having to do the whole installing the bootloader and then flashing over marlin. So if you do decide you want to upgrade or add on the filament run-out sensor or the bl touch it shouldn’t be so difficult to do so.

Ender 3 VS Ender 3 V2 VS Ender 3 Pro

	Creality Ender 3	Creality Ender 3 Pro	Creality Ender 3 V2
Build Volume	220 x 220 x 250 mm	220 x 220 x 250 mm	220 x 220 x 250 mm
Build Plate	BuildTak-style sticker	“C-MAG” magnetic plate	Carborundum glass
Bed Leveling	Manual	Manual	Manual
Max. Bed Temperature	110 °C	110 °C	110 °C
Extrusion	Bowden (Creality MK8)	Bowden (Creality MK8)	Bowden (Creality MK8)
Max. Nozzle Temperature	240 °C	240 °C	255 °C
Materials	PLA, ABS, TPU, PETG	PLA, ABS, TPU, PETG	PLA, ABS, TPU, PETG
Mainboard	V.4.2.2 (non-silent)	V4.2.2 (non-silent)	V.4.2.2 (silent)
UI	LCD (rotary knob)	LCD (rotary knob)	Color HD (rotary knob)
Software	Creality Slicer, third-party slicers	Creality Slicer, third-party slicers	Creality Slicer, third-party slicers
Price	$189	$219	$262
Read the Review	Creality Ender 3 Review	Creality Ender 3 Pro Review	Creality Ender 3 V2 Review

What Upgrades does Ender 3 V2 has?

What kind of extruder does Ender 3 v2 use?

The Ender 3 v2 uses a Bowden-style extruder and looks identical to the original Ender 3 and although the hot end fan housing is clearly different when I removed the cover and revealed the same non-all-metal hotend design. They did add belt tensioners to the x-axis and the y-axis a little storage compartment underneath the printer if you want to add things like spare nozzles or tools or your clippers that i could never seem to find. You can store them actually in the printer so they’re always there and they did add a little kind of rotary or a knob that you can put on the extruder which is supposed to help you with loading or unloading filament.

Other upgrades of Ender 3 v2

The Ender 3 V2 is using the same style of v-slot wheels and they did stick with the wider y-axis. So on the original ender 3, the y-axis was using a thinner 2040 aluminum extrusion profile, and then on the Ender 3 pro, they upgraded that to a 4040 which was supposed to make it a bit stiffer and remove any potential wobble. They stuck with that on this machine as well which is something that I think was a good call and they also moved the power supply from the original Ender 3 from being on the back right of the machine to being under the machine and I actually really like that and it feels like having that weight underneath the machine makes it a bit sturdier and that the weight distribution is a bit more balanced.

I did want to pop the hood on this printer so you could take a quick look inside. This required removing one screw from the top of the printer and a few screws from the bottom although on the original Ender 3 you can access the main board from the top of the machine. I prefer it being on the bottom because once you take that panel off, it seems like it’s much easier to get your hand in there if you’re trying to repair something or upgrade something so I do like the placement of the board being accessible from the bottom more so than actually the top on the original Ender 3. On the inside, you will find the 32-bit main board and aside from that there is one exhaust fan on the housing to help with removing heat, the Meanwell power supply was in a separate compartment below the printer which would have required further disassembly as well as cutting some cable ties that were holding cables in place.

How do you assemble the Creality Ender 3 V2?

When I plugged In the micro sd card, I was really happy to see that Creality had actually included a pretty good video install guide or video assembly guide and so I only use that to reference the x-axis belt tensioner and how to pop the screw through and the belt through it but that was something very appreciated as well and it’s something that I’ve seen a couple of manufacturers start to do and I do think that that is great.

I would say that you can expect the assembly of the Ender 3 V2 to take between 45 minutes to an hour roughly. Once the assembly was complete I grabbed a piece of paper and went around and leveled the four corners of the bed to make sure that it was ready to go and like many other 3d printers in the

a budget sector that doesn’t come with any material to print with, the Ender 3v2 is really no exception.

They give you a tiny little strand of some white PLA but it’s really not enough to do much of anything except for the test file that comes on the micro sd card so definitely make sure to order a spool of filament or you might be really disappointed when you build the printer and don’t really have enough filament to print.

Positivities of the Ender 3 V2

• 32-bit board
• Trinamic drivers
• Improved bed
• Belt tensioner
• Storage Space

The things that I really like are the 32-bit board with the trinamic drivers and that is a great upgrade as well as the new bed, the glass or the name they call but the ultra base style glass bed I think is a big upgrade or at least an upgrade over what was previously coming on the original Ender 3 and the Ender 3 pro.

As far as the x and y belt tensioner, the storage underneath, and the little knob, these are all things that actually the community had made available over on Thingiverse for you to download and easily install yourself.

Negatives of the Ender 3 V2

• Fans got a little louder
• Rotary knob

The first thing is about the fans so with the Ender 3 V2 they added a 32-bit board in trinamic drivers and the motion is definitely a lot quieter I can hardly hear but the fans are just too loud and it actually sounds like the fans on the v2 are louder than the fans that came on the original Ender 3 which is just disappointing to me. This machine has the potential to be really quiet yet they have these fans that are either low-cost.

For a lot of people that might not be a big deal especially if you’ve got the printer in a separate space and you can certainly upgrade to Noctua fans and that is something that a lot of people do but that is a mod and that’s something that not everybody does want to do so

The second thing is related to the screen on it. I’d wish they had added a touch screen as well I understand not everybody likes touch screens and they could do something similar to like bq has with their TFT screens where it’s got a rotary knob so you can you

know to use that if that’s what you prefer or you can use a touch screen but even the interface on this screen looks like it’s a touch screen.

Verdict – Is the Ender 3 V2 worth it?

Overall I had a really great experience with the Ender 3 V2 and I do plan on doing quite a bit more printing with it over the coming weeks and months. My main concern for the success of the creality Ender 3 V2 is if creality is able to shave some of the costs of this machine. I saw it going for 260 to 280 dollars if they’re somehow able to drop that down to 220, I think that they will be much better off and find themselves in a much more competitive position for people that are wanting to get another budget

3d printers or newcomers that are looking at some of the lower-cost 3d printers

that are available.

If you’re currently running a primarily Creality 3d print farm I can definitely see the appeal of wanting to get the Ender 3 V2 especially because the hot end and the extruder setup and a lot of the machine are using the same components on

the Ender 3 or the Ender 3 pro. Having all those things be swappable is something

that’s really nice to have. Also if you’ve been looking at the Creality Ender 3 you want 32-bit and trinamic drivers, and belt tensioners, you can certainly upgrade those things.

Since the Ender 3 V2 is using so many of the same components as the original Ender 3, I feel confident in its ability to continue to work. So if you are looking to get a printer and you want to get something that’s in the very kind of starting out the budget realm

whether you go with the regular Ender 3 or Ender 3 V2, you’re going to be happy.