Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have no idea where all these positive reviews are coming from. I was a kickstarter backer, and was really excited to finally get the printer. I've now had it for over six months, and there are several fundamental flaws, and some major issues with the manufacturer you should know about before purchasing this device. First is the good: 1) The form factor is fantastic. While it takes up a lot of desk space, the concept is good, and their industrial design is one of the best I've seen in the 3d printer space. 2)There are frequent updates to the software, and it has improved materially since it first arrived. 3) It has plenty of built in ways to connect to the printer, including wireless, wired, or traditionally USB. 4) Really like the stand-alone nature. Can keep models in memory (both in STL, as well as gcode form so you don't have to re-slice models you want to reprint), you can upload via a built in web browser, you can use a USB stick. 5) The extruder as a "cartridge" is a really good idea, and makes it simple to upgrade (or fix in my case) Unfortunately, the bad is enough for me to not recommend this printer, even for the most technically minded, and adventurous out there 1) The filament path to the fundamentally flawed. The extruder is very high in the device, so there is not much clearance from the top of the machine to where the filament enters the extruder. This creates an unnatural bend in the filament, which combined with the natural tension of a filament roll unrolling latitudinally makes the filament break mid-print in about 80% of the time. a 20% success rate on printing is very, very frustrating. I've tried to compensate for this by creating an almost friction free path (keep the lid open, create a filament holder that sits above the printer), but this negates all of the form factor advantages the product has, and has created a mockery of my desktop. 2) My build plate is not level. You would think that an "auto-leveling" printer would compensate for this, but that's just not the case. The auto-level only seems to effect the raft it creates, not the model itself. If you want to build onto the buildplate, you are out of luck. Worse, there doesn't appear to be any way to manually level the build plate! Since my build plate has only increased in it's tilt since my purchase, the product itself has been reduced to scanning only. 3) The manufacturer communication is severely lacking. They have forum's on their website, and I would recommend any potential purchaser visit those forums before making a decision. All of my problems have been discussed on the forums, without a peep from the manufacturer. Other owners have had other problems, with no attempt to resolve any issues at all. From a PR perspective, they should take down their own forums because it only looks like they don't care about their product. 4) No spare parts at all. I thought about maybe trying to buy a new platform - you can't. At one point earlier in the year, the filament gear just popped off in the middle of a print. I found the gear, but not the tiny little M3 headless not that is supposed to keep it one. I had to buy one someplace else.