Editorial Review

The second generation of Craftunique printers look a whole lot like Craftbot's previous generation, particularly resembling the Craftbot Plus. Like those products, the Craftbot 2 is a veritable plug-and-play desktop FDM printer, available in a wide variety of colors, boasting a fairly low fail rate at a similarly decent (but not exactly low) price. Like previous Craftbots, the second generation model is best suited for hobbyists more into the 3D design part of printing and learners of all kinds, whereas those looking to get mechanical with a printer are better suited picking up a kit or a more open system, like the Lulzbot Taz.

While aesthetically almost identical, the Craftbot 2 does boast some upgrades over its predecessors. Hungarian company Craftunique has fitted this generation of machines with WiFi capabilities, allowing remote, wireless printing via the proprietary computer application. The maximum resolution of 100 microns is identical to gen 1, as is the maximum extruder heat of 260 degrees celsius. The Craftbot 2 is available in green, orange, white, red, blue, or black, a range of color options not often seen in the world of desktop 3D printers. Really, aside from the new WiFi capacity, the Craftbot 2 is identical to its forefather. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the old Craftbot was well-renowned as a fairly-priced plug-and-play machine that prints at an impressively low volume (rare for these oft-noisy devices), but some innovation would have been nice to see in the two year interim between release dates. Still, the Craftunique Craftbot 2 remains a quite viable option for those looking for a headache-minimizing printer at a less-than-top-tier price.