You would think that 'Flashforge' a recognized name in 3D printing, had a great deal when you see the listing. You might also think that after opening the box and slicing your file you will be greeted with a pretty print. If you thought this, you were wrong, just like I was.Firstly, there is in fact a shortlist of positives that I will get out of the way first. The printer did come well packaged and with a very nice white and black design that seems very elegant. Everything was packaged well and the material choices seemed to be acceptable by normal standards of 3d Printing. Last of the positives are the very much appreciated vat standoffs, which really are a benefit to functionality and implemented in a sleek way.However, this is where all the positives end and the long list of negatives begins. First, immediately upon bootup, the lack of quality control seemed to be apparent. The power supply sent with my unit has a very high pitch buzzing noise that constantly emanated from it whenever the machine is on standby. It seems that this does not affect the power delivery to the machine, but it is a constant annoyance.Next. there is the fact that out of the box the printer says it runs on its proprietary .fdg. This is blatantly false with the model I was sent. Using both Chitubox and the flashforge slicer, I had sliced and exported the .fdg file to the USB and the file would not even show up on the print selection screen.Some searching through google showed other people that have experienced this same problem and needed to convert the slicers to export .svg file instead. After doing this, rather easily, the printer could recognize the file and begin to attempt printing.When it actually went to print here is where the most frustrating experience happened. The first obstacle I ran into when physically trying to print, was the original FEP film on the bed was very loose. I replaced that immediately.The next problem I ran into was the most egregious. All other things could have been forgiven if this was not an issue. After fixing the file format, after replacing the FEP, after tweaking settings endlessly, after installing and reinstalling multiple versions of firmware, the printer still continued to fail me. I discovered that the printer did not recognize the support structures when printing. To show you in better detail I have added a few pictures into this review. I recognized this first examing that my LED array was working properly. After I confirmed that it was, I attempted to run a print without the bed or vat on the machine so that I could observe the screen. (note: do not do this unless have the proper protective eye equipment like 405nm UV blocking glasses) As I was observing the screen I noticed my screen was not changing for an of the support layers and only for the portions that have the object. I proved this by placing one object flat on the bed and the same object on a support frame with a raft. This proved my thesis when the one flat on the bed printed during the first layers and the one with the supports did not.This problem appears to be within how the machine interprets the files from the slicer, and thus outside of my hands of fixing on my own. If I or the support team can't resolve this issue before my return window I will be forced to send it back.In conclusion, the machine had promise but ruined its chances with this broken software. I hope that there will grow a community out of this troubled product, but some core fundementals need to be fixed before that can be achieved.Our first printer was a Flashforge and it works great. It makes amazing prints. But...we've bought and returned two others due to software issues in one and a bad light in the other. I really wish I could give a better review, but I can't.There is absolutely no way to affect the lift or retract speed. Files sliced in Chitubox do print, bit no settings changed besides exposure have any effect. Native slicer, FlashDLPrint, does not have options for lift or retract speed. Other settings are also non-existent, such as anti-aliasing.TLDR: Spend the extra $100 and buy a Saturn or Mono X. I returned the printer and am ordering a Saturn.Still using a USB stick I wish it would connect to the cpu. Can't connect using a USB cable or through the other cableSet up was a little hard and it took a while to get printing. the USB drive it came with had to be formatted after getting the software off of it but after getting set up and figuring out the software it prints beautifully.this thing refused to print doesn't matter what type of file, doesn't matter what program this thing will not print, we followed all the instructions,I had multiple people try to get it to work this piece of junk would not work. also they didn't get back to me with any sort of customer support when I asked for help. and this weird liquid stuff is gross and dangerous and smelly in comparison to standard ribbon. 0/10 avoid this piece of junkPurchased 2 of these printers and one came with a different motherboard so now I need to have different profiles in my slicer software. tried to solve it with tech support but they refused to replace any of the printers arguing it was over 30 days even though the first contact with them was 2 days after getting the printersMy partner and I have spent many hours over the last week trying to figure out why we cannot get this to work. It is not user friendly for beginners. There is very little information on line and the user manual was poorly translated into English and doesn't make sense.First thing I noticed was how well packaged it was. There was a nice large hole in the side of the box, about 4 inches long. It had taken a decent impact but with a thick cardboard box and lots of dence foam around the printer, it has suffered no damage.Machine is heavy, mostly metal construction and feels well built. Vat is metal and the screen already had some sort of screen protector on so no need to put another on. Vat also had bolts that act as feet so you are not placing the FEP directly into a surface when it is off the printer.Very few menu options so it is easy to use. Leveling the bed was easy and I was printing within minutes.Chitubox config file was included on the USB stick so no need to make my own profile.Machine is also small in footprint compared to other machines with a similar build area size.Print quality seems good, I can see finer details in small models.Absolutely fantastic. I've wanted a 3d printer for year but always been nervous of the technology. This printer is so simple to work with noce easy step by step instructions. Best part they also have a youtube channel that shows you everything too. The prints them self are amazing quality. Super fine detail. To be honest its better than i was ever expecting. The only problem i had was downloading the software from the drive bit part of that would be my lack of computer skills. Ended up just downloading it from the website. They do have a help centre if you need. Can not recommend this enough. Fantastic.Purchased this printer as i borrowed one of my friends older ones and got the bug. This was on offer at the time and seemed good specs.It was really well wrapped and packaged, so i was confident this was gonna work out the boxWord of warning, the manual that came with this printer advised me to slice to a format that this printer doesnt run. Be sure to slice to a svgx file.Also, support material is...ropey. You would struggle with this printer if you were a total newbie starting from scratch. You can't use Lychee to slice either. Their own FlashDLPrint or Chitubox is no where near as easy to use as Lychee.Anyway i have printed a fair few things by now. Mainly miniatures for fantasy and some sci-fi and I have been pleased with the results.One word of warning, the fan in this thing is LOUD! imagine a PC fan running at 100% all the time. So this thing lives in the garage :)Great value, easy to understand and use. The prints are extreme fine quality and much better than those made with my previous 3D printer (ANYCUBIC) which constantly failed to produce coherent prints. Highly recommend this device.One minor point, the instructions Manuel seems to be for a different version of the printer as the display and the quick start guide bear no relation.Apart from that it’s great