[joncameron]

Like others have noted, most of this can be generally applied to Kickstarter projects in general. Some thoughts from someone working with consumer 3D printers almost daily:

I can't see disappointment (as he's outlined it) as a consequence of these delays. It's something unavoidably bound up in home and hobbyist 3D printing in general. It doesn't matter if you have a Makerbot or Kickstarter-backed printer... there's still a learning curve in terms of mechanical operation and maintenance, 3D modeling, etc. that the average user won't have had previous experience with.

The greater consumer 3D printing market is not on Kickstarter. Makerbot machines, the Afinia, the Cube series... these are the greater consumer market. I can't see the potential pitfalls for Kickstarted 3D printers as being much different than the usual risks/mindset of people who contribute to crowd-funding stuff.

Obsolescence also doesn't seem like as much of an issue. If you get a reliable printer in a medium that will work for your needs, you're good for a while... it's more important that the user decide what they want. Print material, build size, software and hardware niceties... it really depends on what you're doing and what you need. And the person who put together a RepRap is probably much different than the person who saw the Form 1 on Kickstarter and thought it sounded cool enough to try. There are different expectations along the broad spectrum of things the consumer can buy in the 3D printing space.

[jevanish]

That makes a lot of sense. I think you don't really totally know what you're looking for until you have one in some cases. I know I bought a Solidoodle because it was cheaper and readily available. Now that I've used it a bit, I see the value in paying for a more reliable printer with a larger build size that is at a higher price point. If I had bought a Kickstarter printer first, it would have taken much longer to get to that point simply due to the wait. And while some of the issues plague all printers, I meant to allude to the fact that those issues compound when you add in Kickstarter- specific problems.