Questions about Robo 3D R1+

Hi,

I'm considering buying my first 3D printer, and the Robo 3D R1+ seems like a great value because of its bigger build volume compared to other printers of similar price. I do have some questions, though, that I don't see addressed anywhere. Specifically:

• "New" vs. "Old" on Amazon? -- The Amazon listing for the printer shows two prices for the R1+: An "old" price of $854.78 and a "new" price of $499.99. I don't see any obvious differences between the two in terms of specs or description (although maybe I've missed something), so I'm wondering what's up with this. Was there a massive price drop and Amazon is just hoping to offload inventory they bought at the higher price? Or have there been enough changes in the printer without a model number change that these are two different machines? If so, is the more expensive "old" printer really so much better than the "new" one that it's worth an extra $354.79?
  
• Improvements in print quality? -- Related to this, I've seen some reviews (like one on PC Magazine's site) that claim the Robo R1+ print quality is below par, or at least not as good as the best competing units. That particular review is from over a year ago, though, and I know that Robo has been making incremental improvements to the R1/R1+ since its introduction, so I'm wondering if the print quality of a unit I'd buy now would be better than one purchased a year ago.
  
• Sold out -- Although Amazon says they've got units in stock now, the Robo direct order page claims the unit is "sold out." I know the terms retailers use for out-of-stock items are not always entirely clear, so I want to check to be sure this model is still in production; if not, I'll be more likely to order quickly from Amazon vs. wait a while.
• Black Friday or Cyber Monday Sales? -- I see that last year there was a sale for Black Friday. Is there any word on a similar sale this year? If so, is there likely to be a discount on the R1+, or should I just take the huge price drop compared to a year ago and run with it?
• Real-world Linux compatibility? -- I see that it's possible to print from Linux to these machines, but are there any serious caveats or drawbacks, compared to using macOS or Windows, or compared to printing to some other brand of 3D printer? If so, I can use macOS or Windows to print, but I prefer using Linux (any variety, although Ubuntu is my preferred distribution).

Thanks for any insights on any of these issues. I'm just starting to do my research, and 3D printing is a pretty vast world, so it's a lot to take in!

 

Thanks for the replies! FWIW, I decided to go ahead and buy the R1+ from Amazon. It's supposed to arrive on Friday, so I'll be able to try it out this weekend. I've also ordered a Raspberry Pi 3 on which I intend to load OctoPi so as to enable network printing, but I'll try it out connected directly to a laptop computer initially.

 

What upgrades might these be?

Also, is there a way to tell the different revisions of the units? Rod never replied back after receiving the unit, but I'm curious if Amazon tried to sell old stock versus the "new" models.

 

I've posted in other threads. The best of these, in terms of describing my overall experience, is likely to be this review of Linux software, which touches on other issues, as well. See my list of posts for links to miscellaneous other questions I've asked, many of which reveal problems I've had with the unit. (It is working, but has not been trouble-free -- I don't think the technology is mature enough yet for any 3D printer to be trouble-free, especially not at the ~$500 price point.)

The $500 unit I bought has all the features I've learned are R1+ features, vs. the older R1 or Kickstarter versions, so I don't think Amazon was mis-labeling and "dumping" older models at that price.

If I had to do it again, I might do so, or I might pass -- although I knew the technology was immature, I expected it to be a little more mature than it is; or I might spend the same amount for a printer with worse specs or a little more for something with similar specs but a better reputation (like a Prusa i3). Overall, though, I don't regret the purchase -- it was intended to be an introduction to 3D printing and a way to learn more about it, and it's succeeding at doing that.