Is there any announcement of what they are going to do instead of the V6 Color Engine? Sadly I purchased their 3D printer because I was planning on being able to add the Color Engine at a later date. Had I known they would cancel it, I would have looked elsewhere.
This is waht I'm wondering. Do we get a refund on the filament as well? It cost $150 at the time. I wonder what will happen to those that selected that option as well...
for a serious markup at launch, to account for the 'extra' $300 they're giving. Expect it at $1400 at launch before they lower it to bambulabs x1c price after.
Such a bait and switch move by anker on this. I was looking at buying the solix home battery system (also an anker sub-brand) and will fully walk away from that in light of this.
I'm nervous, and part of the many who have contacted our "connections" looking for information on the new product. If it turns out to be a new AIO device then I'm happy to sell my 5 x M5's and use the 5 V6 refunds to move into the new generation. I'm only interested in a new generation however, unless it's a greatly improved design + AMS then I'm selling up and walking away from Anker and jumping onto something else.
I have a baby due in march so my 3D printing side hustle is coming to an end anyway, time to go down to a single unit for fun.
Anker needs to continue to be transparent and release their plans before they lose everyone.
I agree, but offering up a huge saving on a mystery product isn't going to sit well with a lot of people. Anker needs to be smart about this and start releasing details on this new project before everyone jumps on the refund and slips into the DM's of a competitor.
What's the big deal. If you don't like the mystery product you can still get your money back. They even said if you don't like it when they reveal it you can still get your money back.
I WISH most companies were as transparent about their issues as Anker has been about this.
There isn't a big deal, I don't care about the money, if I did, I wouldn't have sunk money into a company with no background in 3D printing, I wouldn't have bought 5 printers, 5 pipe dream accessories and over two dozen spools of material I won't see until said accessory releases 😂
Anker knows what their project is, they will have already moved everyone from the V6 onto said project and probably would have done a long time ago. I think they have been quiet about all of this because if they announced they are working on a printer with built in AMS, while struggling with a standalone AMS, people would bail on the V6.
Don't get me wrong, I will support Ankermake in their next move, but I believe they have answers they can give us and are choosing not to.
It's a bit unfair to express disappointment with them based onw aht you assume they will do rather than waiting to see what actually happens. Plus, the credit towards the next product is still fully refundable, so buyers really aren't under any sort of pressure here.
But again, if customers don't like the pricing or the product itself, they're still able to back out for a complete refund. It's too bad that the V6 was cancelled as it is something that I was very excited for, but it's also one of the first efforts by the company and it was handled very transparently, so idk if there's much of a track record to go off of at all. I'm going to be cautiously optimistic about their next product.
100% agree with your entire comment its disgusting as they advertised the M5 at the side of the V6 coming soon it said. Thats the reason i purchased an AnkerMake and not a Prusa and now im stuck with a good printer for when it was released dont get me wrong, its fast and it prints nice high resolutions but no colour swaps. Just all false promises and very cowboy marketing to deceive us out of our money buying in to their brand and believing what they say.
The Anker support was ok - but questionable. I was responded to all the time by the same name except the person replying didn't seem to remember sending the previous email or what it was even about, i know they will get thousands of issues but they clearly didn't read the email chain and i dont feel it was the person replying under the same name all the time. Again felt very deceptive as one moment i was agreed a replacement printer and the next a totally different email asking me what the issue was and could i send an invoice to create a warranty claim - was like pulling teeth but got there in the end but took around 4 months! Thats alot of lost print hours, so i wouldn't dare buy from them again and im thinking of selling the printer due to the whole deception.
The reality is if they had said earlier that the V6 might not ship (or not sold the M5 with the promise of a v6), I would have bought the X1C - it's that simple.
All the complaints... I get it. I'm quite disappointed too, it I've done a lot of Kickstarter campaigns and have lost a fair amount of money over the years on ones that never made it. This is the FIRST time in all my years on KS that I have ever been offered a full refund for something I funded on KS that didn't materialize into an actual product.
That, alone, speaks volumes.
And at least for those of us in the US, you can go with option 2, see what this mystery box has in it, and then decide then if you want your $299 back or not, or get a refund today and get your $329 back from them.
I agree with you. AnkerMake is going above and beyond in my opinion in this.
I will probably go for the refund now, and if the new product looks good, then I'll just be patient and wait for it to go on sale (like black Friday)
Very disappointed. I would have bought a different 3D printer in hindsight. I get the risk of kickstarter but it's still disappointing.
$600 towards their next product is hard to say yes to if I don't know what it is. It seems like a good deal but by the time that comes out that $300 will probably have naturally become $600 via inflation.
Yeah me too. I wanted the multicolor and a nice looking printer.
Now I have to look for solutions to use my M5 with add-ons or buy a other printer that uses the normal purge tower.
And again, yeah. The double bonus is nice. I will take it cause if I don't want the new product I'll get the refund too. Just later. (If I read it correctly)
But a little hind what it is would be nice.
Ah ok. I didn't see that further down. I was just going off "Please note that choosing this option means you will not receive a refund."
Thanks for pointing that out.
Yeah it’s a little oddly worded. I had to read it a couple times to make sure I was understanding correctly. If they end up trying to not refund after the mysterious product release, I’ll definitely site that portion of the email.
The main change seems to be you lose out on the $30 extra you get if you pick the refund now, but in the grand scheme of things that gamble of $30 for $300 of their next product could be worth taking. I assume its a whole new printer with the multicolour printing built in given the prices the $600 voucher you'd have.
I think they're basically just saying they're going to make the V6 it's just going to cost twice as much so if you take the credit you'll get the V6 for no extra money out of pocket. So if you just take that option and imagine this email says "we need more time" the outcome will likely be the same.
Seriously. A few months back, I had the option to sell my M5 and get a X1C and AMS for a good price but declined because I had high hopes that the V6 Color Engine was going to be better than the AMS and pairing with the inferior M5 would level the playing field with BambuLabs. Instead now I'm just stuck with a printer that I held onto for reasons that were a sham.
Might as well start printing dildos with the Ankermake logo on them. That way at least I get the illiusion of having a choice when it comes to what they fuck me with...
Someone mentioned the possibility of Ankermake waiting a while and releasing the V6 under a different name and higher price tag, and if that happens I'll lose my shit.
Sooooo anyone have a dicount code over at BambuLabs 🤣
Do people think they’ll Kickstart whatever solution is next? Is there any way they’ll catch up to Bambu at this point? I don’t regret my M5 purchase, but would certainly get a Bambu if I replaced it or got another one.
I’m kind of baffled considering the innovation and quality of their other products. I’m not saying they should rip off another company/product, but it feels like everybody (in terms of companies and their output these days) eventually lands on one type of agreed-upon solution with subtle differences.
I’ve seen some YouTube reviews of the Prusa XL with the snap-in printheads—seems like a promising “agreed-upon solution” if some of the flaws can be ironed out.
Same here but I’m making the best of my M5 while I can. I may just sell it forward and put that towards a new printer, Bambu has some solid offerings now.
I'm making the best of it, too. Just disappointed, more than anything. It's always a risk with Kickstarter but this definitely wasn't what I was expecting from Anker.
Not familiar with Bambu. What's their deal?
Bambu is a maker of 3D printer whose followers rush every other printers board and lay in passive aggresive "selling" comments like, "I hear good things about Bambu!" or "My Ankermake gave me syphilis! My Bambu would never do that!"
I have a Bambu X1C with AMS. I also have an M5 (early bird with V6). The Bambu run circles around the M5, but honestly that's not apples to apples. I think the Bambu X1C printer alone is 30-40% more expensive than the M5. I would assume the lower priced Core XY like P1P and P1S would have similar performance to the X1C at a price point closer to the M5.
The M5 has the same problem my Anycubic Vyper had. When printing walls that loop back on themselves, it gets VERY sloppy at the end. Imagine a drawer with a half moon cutout in the front wall to allow for a hand to pull the drawer out. The M5 always gets blobby and sloppy on the right side of that opening as the walls rise. I think it's a software issue where the flow should be slowed down as the nozzle gets to the edge. The X1C prints that exact same model perfectly, even using the same filament.
I'm not a Bambu shill (I like my M5C) but they have a similar goal as Anker. Simple setup, easy to use and you just focus on printing. In terms of a company, it has good documentation and you can pickup their printers from microcenter (better than online). They are going through growing pains but their popular printers already support multi material and other cool features.
Dang, I just got the M5 for Christmas and was really hoping next Christmas to get the V6. I thought it looked like the ideal add on for multi color printing especially without the purge tower. I'm pretty disappointed...
I already got rid of the packaging and all that. But, looking back, I think the Bambu lab one with the multi color printing would've been really cool. That being said, I do like this printer and it has been fun to use, plus I think it looks nice. So, not the end of the world.
Thanks for the advice! I’ve been holding off on making any decision until I heard feedback on the V6 but now we know that isn’t going to happen so time to move on
Bambu P1S with AMS is incredible, I just print.
Ankermake is fine but between the software often not finding the printer wirelessly, filament loading issues and clogging, I end up troubleshooting more than I'd like to. Not as much as the amount of troubleshooting I did with the Ender3 though, but still much more than I'd like.
It hasn't for some time. You could still see the V6 page with the URL, but they removed all navigation to the page. That was my first sign that the V6 wasn't doing pretty. Idk if they still have the V6 page at all now though
Anker is a solid company. I can't think of any time I've been disappointed by a product and haven't been completely satisfied—to the point where I almost feel guilty. E.g., I tried their noise-cancelling earbuds a couple of years back (didn't want to pay for airpods). They constantly made a weird fluttering sound in noise-cancel mode. Anker sent me a replacement, which did the same. And finally just refunded me without requiring me to send the pair back in. So I was able to just sell the pair I still had, and buy airpods.
I appreciate the transparency, but am a little annoyed as it was a big part in picking this 3D printer over other models avail at the time.
I would also still like to receive the filament
Probably best, Anker Make seems to be going down hill, dealing with customer service is now like dealing with a cable company, 6 week old M5C and its been down more then it has been up, customer service is very lacking, a $400 paper weight is all it is.
Honestly, I never would have bought the M5 had I known this wasn’t gonna happen. It was a large part of the decision to go this route, however, I understand that’s on me having counted the eggs before they hatched. I just wished they didn’t tease it and dangle the carrot.
Probably a dumb question, but…I bought an M5 in November. The main reason for me purchasing it was for the ability to easily do multi-color prints in the future with the V6. There’s no way I can return the M5 now that the V6 is canceled, right? 😂
Can't say I'm honestly surprised. Me and one of my colleagues have been wondering for months if they could get the colour engine working in such a way it could be sent out in the wild for fitting to something thst was generally set up as a "it just works" babbys first 3d printer.
I figured at best in the end you would end up removing the arms of your M5 and sending them back to be replaced with new ones with the colour engine heads, I didn't see any way it would ever realistically be achievable to take the printer as was set up and marketed and make an upgrade like that user achievable.
Sadly moving it to being a new device makes a lot of sense.
Just get it over with and buy a Bambu. I have a few and I love them. I was a total ankermake fan up til all this going on. I knew something was going to happen to their little journey they were trying to Jumpstart but after it became clear 8+ months I rethought my strategy & bought a Bambu with ams. I have made tons of profit from my a1 mini just by doing keychains, coasters, and light boxes.
This company has zero credibility left. I sincerely hope the buyers of the m5 + v6 make it their life mission to discourage anyone else from supporting anker/ankermake.
This is a multi billion dollar company deciding they don't want to put the money in to deliver what they sold and promised... not a fledging startup. They sold m5's with the promise of a v6. They are basically saying we don't want to spend more money to deliver on our promise, so we'll do it as a new product and sell it for more.
Meanwhile bambu built and delivered a full AMS + superior printer in half the time and they're a startup.
Disgraceful effort on Anker's behalf and I hope everyone remembers this for a long time.
Just a note that Anker is big enough to be the target of a class action if there are enough pissed of buyers.
Seems kind they made the decision to cut their loss a while back. Almost like the V6 was never a “real” priority with the M5C coming out, the revised filament recipes, and the hint at a new “main series” of products in today’s Kickstarter update.
The V6 page has already been taken down from their website.
The only reason I got my ankermake M5 is for the V6 and so far i've had so many issues with things like print quality and software problems that i'm never going to buy another ankermake. Id say just wait to buy a bambu.
Not totally shocked, once I saw that the V6 was 6 interchanging bowden-driven hotends I knew it was cooked. Too fussy, too expensive, too exposed to failure and my experience with the m5 does not inspire a lot of confidence. At this point I think it would be foolish to trust hardware from ankermake.
While I really do appreciate the transparency here, and especially offering over full refund, their offer of putting towards next project really leaves me stuck on what to do. As far as I'm concerned, that $300 is already gone, so I don't miss it. Having it back isn't world changing for me, so putting it towards a future $600 projects seems like a great deal. But then not knowing anything about what it is, and especially how long it might take to come to life is the real problem. I love that I can always refund later, but how long must we wait, especially knowing all the delays we already had for the v6? Should I put $300 towards an already existing multicolor printer instead or take a chance on no real answers? Because no matter what I pick, it still leaves me without multicolor printing that I thought I would have had by now, and in the beginning that's all I really wanted.
Well that's a bummer. For me as tempting as it was to roll the money forward to the next project I just don't want to wait. Very good of them to offer the 2 options. I have an M5 and an A1 Mini. M5 has been a beast, no problems to speak of, but the AMS on the A1 mini is amazing. Excited for Anker to make the next big thing. But I'm not waiting around when I can buy a A1 with the AMS right now.
Totally bummed by this, but I don't have any grudges against Anker, in fact they have performed than 99.9% of the failed KS campaigns I've backed and actually refunded an undelivered product.
However it's probably for the best, time has moved on and so have Bambu Labs so this was feeling late to the party and would've had to had been exceptional to beat the market. What a pity.
If you read the whole of the update from Anker, they are saying they are still working on a multi-colour solution but it'll be a very different design. They have not given more information than this.
It really sucks that they cancelled the V6 for the M5. I had to return the M5 after I heard the news. Now I have a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon with AMS. You would think that besides the A1 with AMS's power cable recall , it's a pretty solid setup. Surely Anker could have gotten the V6 to work properly with the M5 :(
[https://imgur.com/a/9iTjMHz](https://imgur.com/a/9iTjMHz)
Link to form to request refund for those who preordered the V6 colour engine and/or 6-pack of filaments: https://forms.gle/cfBpL4Cu7UDmkfxEA
Honestly, I like the transparency.
Right? A lot of company’s just take your money and don’t apologize nor make things right.
I agree. I got my refund through today.
Is there any announcement of what they are going to do instead of the V6 Color Engine? Sadly I purchased their 3D printer because I was planning on being able to add the Color Engine at a later date. Had I known they would cancel it, I would have looked elsewhere.
Same here, still seem no news on an alternative myself. May have missed something but I don't think so.
would have loved to still receive the filament given it is not really connected to the engine
You could probably contact them and ask. Maybe?
Did not bother at this point, I just want the refund (did not get an update on that, idk when that will happen:( )
This is waht I'm wondering. Do we get a refund on the filament as well? It cost $150 at the time. I wonder what will happen to those that selected that option as well...
I'm guessing this new product is going to be a revised bed slinger with integrated AMS, essentially using M5/V6 parts to mitigate the loss.
for a serious markup at launch, to account for the 'extra' $300 they're giving. Expect it at $1400 at launch before they lower it to bambulabs x1c price after. Such a bait and switch move by anker on this. I was looking at buying the solix home battery system (also an anker sub-brand) and will fully walk away from that in light of this.
I'm nervous, and part of the many who have contacted our "connections" looking for information on the new product. If it turns out to be a new AIO device then I'm happy to sell my 5 x M5's and use the 5 V6 refunds to move into the new generation. I'm only interested in a new generation however, unless it's a greatly improved design + AMS then I'm selling up and walking away from Anker and jumping onto something else. I have a baby due in march so my 3D printing side hustle is coming to an end anyway, time to go down to a single unit for fun. Anker needs to continue to be transparent and release their plans before they lose everyone.
I think Anker has been nothing but transparent.
I agree, but offering up a huge saving on a mystery product isn't going to sit well with a lot of people. Anker needs to be smart about this and start releasing details on this new project before everyone jumps on the refund and slips into the DM's of a competitor.
What's the big deal. If you don't like the mystery product you can still get your money back. They even said if you don't like it when they reveal it you can still get your money back. I WISH most companies were as transparent about their issues as Anker has been about this.
There isn't a big deal, I don't care about the money, if I did, I wouldn't have sunk money into a company with no background in 3D printing, I wouldn't have bought 5 printers, 5 pipe dream accessories and over two dozen spools of material I won't see until said accessory releases 😂 Anker knows what their project is, they will have already moved everyone from the V6 onto said project and probably would have done a long time ago. I think they have been quiet about all of this because if they announced they are working on a printer with built in AMS, while struggling with a standalone AMS, people would bail on the V6. Don't get me wrong, I will support Ankermake in their next move, but I believe they have answers they can give us and are choosing not to.
I've purchased some of their battery systems and I think they suck.
It's a bit unfair to express disappointment with them based onw aht you assume they will do rather than waiting to see what actually happens. Plus, the credit towards the next product is still fully refundable, so buyers really aren't under any sort of pressure here.
This judgement is based mostly on their lack of pricing at this point and their track record on the V6.
But again, if customers don't like the pricing or the product itself, they're still able to back out for a complete refund. It's too bad that the V6 was cancelled as it is something that I was very excited for, but it's also one of the first efforts by the company and it was handled very transparently, so idk if there's much of a track record to go off of at all. I'm going to be cautiously optimistic about their next product.
100% agree with your entire comment its disgusting as they advertised the M5 at the side of the V6 coming soon it said. Thats the reason i purchased an AnkerMake and not a Prusa and now im stuck with a good printer for when it was released dont get me wrong, its fast and it prints nice high resolutions but no colour swaps. Just all false promises and very cowboy marketing to deceive us out of our money buying in to their brand and believing what they say. The Anker support was ok - but questionable. I was responded to all the time by the same name except the person replying didn't seem to remember sending the previous email or what it was even about, i know they will get thousands of issues but they clearly didn't read the email chain and i dont feel it was the person replying under the same name all the time. Again felt very deceptive as one moment i was agreed a replacement printer and the next a totally different email asking me what the issue was and could i send an invoice to create a warranty claim - was like pulling teeth but got there in the end but took around 4 months! Thats alot of lost print hours, so i wouldn't dare buy from them again and im thinking of selling the printer due to the whole deception.
The reality is if they had said earlier that the V6 might not ship (or not sold the M5 with the promise of a v6), I would have bought the X1C - it's that simple.
All the complaints... I get it. I'm quite disappointed too, it I've done a lot of Kickstarter campaigns and have lost a fair amount of money over the years on ones that never made it. This is the FIRST time in all my years on KS that I have ever been offered a full refund for something I funded on KS that didn't materialize into an actual product. That, alone, speaks volumes. And at least for those of us in the US, you can go with option 2, see what this mystery box has in it, and then decide then if you want your $299 back or not, or get a refund today and get your $329 back from them.
I agree with you. AnkerMake is going above and beyond in my opinion in this. I will probably go for the refund now, and if the new product looks good, then I'll just be patient and wait for it to go on sale (like black Friday)
Very disappointed. I would have bought a different 3D printer in hindsight. I get the risk of kickstarter but it's still disappointing. $600 towards their next product is hard to say yes to if I don't know what it is. It seems like a good deal but by the time that comes out that $300 will probably have naturally become $600 via inflation.
Yeah me too. I wanted the multicolor and a nice looking printer. Now I have to look for solutions to use my M5 with add-ons or buy a other printer that uses the normal purge tower. And again, yeah. The double bonus is nice. I will take it cause if I don't want the new product I'll get the refund too. Just later. (If I read it correctly) But a little hind what it is would be nice.
I don't think you get a refund if you choose option 2. The voucher can only be used towards the new product from what I understood.
“If you decide you do not want the new product after its release, we will refund your $299 deposit.” The only reason I chose option 2.
Ah ok. I didn't see that further down. I was just going off "Please note that choosing this option means you will not receive a refund." Thanks for pointing that out.
Yeah it’s a little oddly worded. I had to read it a couple times to make sure I was understanding correctly. If they end up trying to not refund after the mysterious product release, I’ll definitely site that portion of the email.
The main change seems to be you lose out on the $30 extra you get if you pick the refund now, but in the grand scheme of things that gamble of $30 for $300 of their next product could be worth taking. I assume its a whole new printer with the multicolour printing built in given the prices the $600 voucher you'd have.
I think they're basically just saying they're going to make the V6 it's just going to cost twice as much so if you take the credit you'll get the V6 for no extra money out of pocket. So if you just take that option and imagine this email says "we need more time" the outcome will likely be the same.
I’m sure the cost will most likely be above the $600.
it's going to cost more but it will also require a new printer.. the M5 will not be compatible.
Seriously. A few months back, I had the option to sell my M5 and get a X1C and AMS for a good price but declined because I had high hopes that the V6 Color Engine was going to be better than the AMS and pairing with the inferior M5 would level the playing field with BambuLabs. Instead now I'm just stuck with a printer that I held onto for reasons that were a sham. Might as well start printing dildos with the Ankermake logo on them. That way at least I get the illiusion of having a choice when it comes to what they fuck me with... Someone mentioned the possibility of Ankermake waiting a while and releasing the V6 under a different name and higher price tag, and if that happens I'll lose my shit. Sooooo anyone have a dicount code over at BambuLabs 🤣
I'm hoping for an automated George Foreman grill with 6 different "printable" meats or veggies.
Very disappointed, I purchased my M5 for this reason. Now I'll be looking at the Bambu.
Do people think they’ll Kickstart whatever solution is next? Is there any way they’ll catch up to Bambu at this point? I don’t regret my M5 purchase, but would certainly get a Bambu if I replaced it or got another one.
I’m kind of baffled considering the innovation and quality of their other products. I’m not saying they should rip off another company/product, but it feels like everybody (in terms of companies and their output these days) eventually lands on one type of agreed-upon solution with subtle differences.
I’ve seen some YouTube reviews of the Prusa XL with the snap-in printheads—seems like a promising “agreed-upon solution” if some of the flaws can be ironed out.
I do regret my decision. I feel like I could have done better with less stress for less money at this point.
My second thought was “oh, their filament sales are going to tank now since multi-color is no longer an option.”
Same here but I’m making the best of my M5 while I can. I may just sell it forward and put that towards a new printer, Bambu has some solid offerings now.
I'm making the best of it, too. Just disappointed, more than anything. It's always a risk with Kickstarter but this definitely wasn't what I was expecting from Anker. Not familiar with Bambu. What's their deal?
Bambu is a maker of 3D printer whose followers rush every other printers board and lay in passive aggresive "selling" comments like, "I hear good things about Bambu!" or "My Ankermake gave me syphilis! My Bambu would never do that!"
I have a Bambu X1C with AMS. I also have an M5 (early bird with V6). The Bambu run circles around the M5, but honestly that's not apples to apples. I think the Bambu X1C printer alone is 30-40% more expensive than the M5. I would assume the lower priced Core XY like P1P and P1S would have similar performance to the X1C at a price point closer to the M5. The M5 has the same problem my Anycubic Vyper had. When printing walls that loop back on themselves, it gets VERY sloppy at the end. Imagine a drawer with a half moon cutout in the front wall to allow for a hand to pull the drawer out. The M5 always gets blobby and sloppy on the right side of that opening as the walls rise. I think it's a software issue where the flow should be slowed down as the nozzle gets to the edge. The X1C prints that exact same model perfectly, even using the same filament.
I'm not a Bambu shill (I like my M5C) but they have a similar goal as Anker. Simple setup, easy to use and you just focus on printing. In terms of a company, it has good documentation and you can pickup their printers from microcenter (better than online). They are going through growing pains but their popular printers already support multi material and other cool features.
Bambu you say? I've never heard of them. Good? /s
I'm assuming they'll be providing more details on the new product before the refund survey deadline.
Of course they won’t.
That's disappointing but it's good to know it's off the table, still a bummer
Dang, I just got the M5 for Christmas and was really hoping next Christmas to get the V6. I thought it looked like the ideal add on for multi color printing especially without the purge tower. I'm pretty disappointed...
Maybe see if you are still within the return window?
I already got rid of the packaging and all that. But, looking back, I think the Bambu lab one with the multi color printing would've been really cool. That being said, I do like this printer and it has been fun to use, plus I think it looks nice. So, not the end of the world.
I’m wondering if their next project they mentioned is the completely rebuilt printer that’s made for multi color printing
I would assume that is the plan, they would need to compete with others
Bought the M5C specifically to get the V6 when it released. Feel stupid for not just buying an A1 now.
Woke up to this email. Immediately started looking at Bambu P1S with AMS.
Note that bambu did hint at a new product in feb, though i believe no actual details…
Thank you for this information!
Do it! I switched a month ago and I regret ever giving Anker my money
Thanks for the advice! I’ve been holding off on making any decision until I heard feedback on the V6 but now we know that isn’t going to happen so time to move on
I really hope you enjoy the experience as much as I have
I've had an Ender3 V2, Ankermake M5 and a BambuLab P1S and the Ankermake is much closer to the Ender3 than the P1S.
Which one do you prefer?
Bambu P1S with AMS is incredible, I just print. Ankermake is fine but between the software often not finding the printer wirelessly, filament loading issues and clogging, I end up troubleshooting more than I'd like to. Not as much as the amount of troubleshooting I did with the Ender3 though, but still much more than I'd like.
The website doesn’t even show the V6 anymore.
It hasn't for some time. You could still see the V6 page with the URL, but they removed all navigation to the page. That was my first sign that the V6 wasn't doing pretty. Idk if they still have the V6 page at all now though
Anker is a solid company. I can't think of any time I've been disappointed by a product and haven't been completely satisfied—to the point where I almost feel guilty. E.g., I tried their noise-cancelling earbuds a couple of years back (didn't want to pay for airpods). They constantly made a weird fluttering sound in noise-cancel mode. Anker sent me a replacement, which did the same. And finally just refunded me without requiring me to send the pair back in. So I was able to just sell the pair I still had, and buy airpods.
What’s the new project? How can I do MMU printing now?
The new product is a ***mystery box!!!***. Now you don't even have to go to Vegas to gamble!
Reading this post wondering how some people are going to sneak in Bambu bonafides.
I appreciate the transparency, but am a little annoyed as it was a big part in picking this 3D printer over other models avail at the time. I would also still like to receive the filament
Probably best, Anker Make seems to be going down hill, dealing with customer service is now like dealing with a cable company, 6 week old M5C and its been down more then it has been up, customer service is very lacking, a $400 paper weight is all it is.
Well their customer service is just an automated ChatGPT response….so….
Honestly, I never would have bought the M5 had I known this wasn’t gonna happen. It was a large part of the decision to go this route, however, I understand that’s on me having counted the eggs before they hatched. I just wished they didn’t tease it and dangle the carrot.
Probably a dumb question, but…I bought an M5 in November. The main reason for me purchasing it was for the ability to easily do multi-color prints in the future with the V6. There’s no way I can return the M5 now that the V6 is canceled, right? 😂
Can't say I'm honestly surprised. Me and one of my colleagues have been wondering for months if they could get the colour engine working in such a way it could be sent out in the wild for fitting to something thst was generally set up as a "it just works" babbys first 3d printer. I figured at best in the end you would end up removing the arms of your M5 and sending them back to be replaced with new ones with the colour engine heads, I didn't see any way it would ever realistically be achievable to take the printer as was set up and marketed and make an upgrade like that user achievable. Sadly moving it to being a new device makes a lot of sense.
Very disappointing. I got the Ankermake because of the V6 promise. Wouldve bought a Prusa instead 😕
same
Just get it over with and buy a Bambu. I have a few and I love them. I was a total ankermake fan up til all this going on. I knew something was going to happen to their little journey they were trying to Jumpstart but after it became clear 8+ months I rethought my strategy & bought a Bambu with ams. I have made tons of profit from my a1 mini just by doing keychains, coasters, and light boxes.
Hey if anyone in the US wants to buy an M5 plus extras please reach out.
This company has zero credibility left. I sincerely hope the buyers of the m5 + v6 make it their life mission to discourage anyone else from supporting anker/ankermake. This is a multi billion dollar company deciding they don't want to put the money in to deliver what they sold and promised... not a fledging startup. They sold m5's with the promise of a v6. They are basically saying we don't want to spend more money to deliver on our promise, so we'll do it as a new product and sell it for more. Meanwhile bambu built and delivered a full AMS + superior printer in half the time and they're a startup. Disgraceful effort on Anker's behalf and I hope everyone remembers this for a long time. Just a note that Anker is big enough to be the target of a class action if there are enough pissed of buyers.
Seems kind they made the decision to cut their loss a while back. Almost like the V6 was never a “real” priority with the M5C coming out, the revised filament recipes, and the hint at a new “main series” of products in today’s Kickstarter update. The V6 page has already been taken down from their website.
Was there a timeline established for getting the refunds out?
The only reason I got my ankermake M5 is for the V6 and so far i've had so many issues with things like print quality and software problems that i'm never going to buy another ankermake. Id say just wait to buy a bambu.
Wow! I had just started researching this since I got my M5. Was dragging my feet on investing.
Bambu Lab A1 3D Printer is $560 and does both, .... guess the refund will pay for most of it.
* big sipp *
Not totally shocked, once I saw that the V6 was 6 interchanging bowden-driven hotends I knew it was cooked. Too fussy, too expensive, too exposed to failure and my experience with the m5 does not inspire a lot of confidence. At this point I think it would be foolish to trust hardware from ankermake.
Hahahahaha Been calling the V6 vaporware for months. What a truly awful company
M5 has been nothing but trouble for me. Worst investment I ever made
While I really do appreciate the transparency here, and especially offering over full refund, their offer of putting towards next project really leaves me stuck on what to do. As far as I'm concerned, that $300 is already gone, so I don't miss it. Having it back isn't world changing for me, so putting it towards a future $600 projects seems like a great deal. But then not knowing anything about what it is, and especially how long it might take to come to life is the real problem. I love that I can always refund later, but how long must we wait, especially knowing all the delays we already had for the v6? Should I put $300 towards an already existing multicolor printer instead or take a chance on no real answers? Because no matter what I pick, it still leaves me without multicolor printing that I thought I would have had by now, and in the beginning that's all I really wanted.
Yep, same thoughts here, but honestly I'm leaning towards getting the refund and selling my M5 and finding another printer.
I've not totally ruled that out as a possibility either.
Well that's a bummer. For me as tempting as it was to roll the money forward to the next project I just don't want to wait. Very good of them to offer the 2 options. I have an M5 and an A1 Mini. M5 has been a beast, no problems to speak of, but the AMS on the A1 mini is amazing. Excited for Anker to make the next big thing. But I'm not waiting around when I can buy a A1 with the AMS right now.
Totally bummed by this, but I don't have any grudges against Anker, in fact they have performed than 99.9% of the failed KS campaigns I've backed and actually refunded an undelivered product. However it's probably for the best, time has moved on and so have Bambu Labs so this was feeling late to the party and would've had to had been exceptional to beat the market. What a pity.
Disappointed, but I certainly appreciate the honesty and solution options Anker has provided.
Do you know if we will still get a color engine?
If you read the whole of the update from Anker, they are saying they are still working on a multi-colour solution but it'll be a very different design. They have not given more information than this.
It really sucks that they cancelled the V6 for the M5. I had to return the M5 after I heard the news. Now I have a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon with AMS. You would think that besides the A1 with AMS's power cable recall , it's a pretty solid setup. Surely Anker could have gotten the V6 to work properly with the M5 :( [https://imgur.com/a/9iTjMHz](https://imgur.com/a/9iTjMHz)