At the start of the new year, distributed 3D printing network 3D Hubs has released its first monthly trend report. The 3D Hubs trend reports analyzes the uses and opinions of both desktop and industrial 3D printing in the 3D Hubs community, but their user base is mainly users and owners of desktop 3D printers. The statistics are taken from 3D Hubs’ user base, which has finally grown past 10,000 users (10,521 exactly), a milestone they’ve been anticipating for quite some time.
Below are the top picks from each category in the January 2015 report:
Most Wanted 3D Printers: Ultimaker 2 and Form 1+
Very close call here between Ultimaker 2 and Form 1+. Though these printers don’t use the same type of technology (FDM vs SLA), it will be interesting to see how SLA compares to FDM desktop 3D printers in terms of popularity, by the end of this year.
Manufacturer Loyalty: Lulzbot
This is a new category. These are the results of a query 3D Hubs put out last month to its users in an attempt to gauge where people’s heads were regarding their next big purchase. This is a very insightful question, because it shows an affinity for the customer service as well as its products.
Highest Rated Desktop 3D Printer: Form 1+
Though it is officially the top rated printer, the CTC 3D printer from China comes in at a close second.
Highest Rated Industrial 3D Printer: Projet 3500 HDMax
Material jetting printers, the Projet 3500 HD Max from 3D Systems and the Objet Eden 260 by Stratasys, took the number one spot (though the ProJet had a few more reviews), as did 3D Systems’ plaster 3D printer, the Projet 460 Plus.
Most Trending Printer: Flash Forge Creator Pro
The Flash Forge Creator pro’s dual extruder system is proving to be quite a hit in the 3D Hubs community. The Printrbot Simple Metal advanced to the number 2 position, advancing 15 places in one month.
Top Print City: New York
Most Distributed Printer Model: Makerbot 2
Most Distributed Manufacturer: Makerbot
Highest Value Orders: Scale Models
Most Popular Use: Prototypes
Most Used Color: White
One of the things about the report that immediately caught my attention was the fact that even though theMakerBot Replicator 2 is the most distributed printed model and MakerBot the most prevalent manufacturer in the 3D Hubs network, they are not really being reviewed very well right now on the site. Everybody knows they have serious advertising and marketing support, but I wonder why they didn’t make a favorable appearance.
What is so interesting about the 3D Hubs report is that it not only reflects the passion of those interested and actively involved in 3D printing, it shows how a large community of users are transacting, creating and serving each other within a self-contained economy for 3D printing on the platform that 3D Hubs created.
This allows 3D Hubs to have a control group to wrangle insights such as their “community-powered” 3D Printer Guide, as well as these insightful monthly reports on the activities and trends within their growing community.
