Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro
Hands on review in late 2023
Review Summary
The Good
Touch screen
Hot End / Nozzles
Connectivity
Enclosed
Fast Core XY
The Bad
Not super silent
Flashprint Slicer
Levelling on wifi-prints (fixed)
The Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro is flashforges entry to the budget speed 3D Printing era. With a ton of features at a competitive price, this should be the runner up at least.
Specifications:
Build Volume: 220 x 220 x 220 mm
Design: Enclosed CoreXY
Printing Speed (max): up to 600 mm/s
Printing Speed (typical): around 200 mm/s
Nozzle Flow: up to 32mm/s3
Extruder: 1.75mm Direct drive
Hot end: Hot-end Nozzle-combo
Nozzle sizes: 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8mm
Nozzle temperature: up to 280°C
Swappable Nozzle: Yes, no tools needed
Build plate: Flexible PEI
Heated Bed: Yes, up to 100 °C
Interface: 4.3” touch screen
connectivity: Wifi, Ethernet(LAN) and USB
Camera: Yes, fast refresh and good resolution
Slicer: Flashprint / OrcaSlicer
Ventilation: Internal and external circulation with HEPA + Activated carbon filter
I was really happy when I saw the Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro was coming to the market. This machine builds on flashforges fantastic track record of 3D Printers that have enabled more and more users to get into 3D Printing without being hackers and tinkers themselves.
I’m talking about the Flashforge Finder and Flashforge Adventurer 3 in particular. Machines I’ve had the please of using years ago.
It’s no secret that Bambu Lab have set a high bar on 3D Printer quality and functionality. But It has to be said that they are not on the same level when it comes to after-sales support or spare part infrastructure. This is where Flashforge can provide much better services with a well-established support department and after-sales routines.
With that said there were some hiccups in my first experience with the Adventurer 5M Pro. More on that later.
Design choices
Adventurer 5M Pro is a very basic CoreXY 3D printer by it’s design, and it clearly was inspired by Bambu Lab P1P/P1S while keeping some of the Adventurer design language from previous models.
The acrylic door and lid encloses the machine fully while still offering good access inside.
One of the best tings about the Adventurer 5M Pro is it’s touch screen. Both the interface and the size makes it work fantastically. This really suits users who are less often just “sending” a print via Wifi, and helps with day-to-day tasks like swapping filament. Next to the screen is the power on button (the 2nd power on button) and USB-port.
All the other ports and openings are on the back, where you get both LAN, Power and another power button. You also have 2 air vents for the fans, and opening to adjust belt tension.
The spool holder also sits on the back, which is great for looks, but not really for functionality when you run it in a shelf or with little access on the sides.
Using the Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro
Getting started with the Adventurer 5M Pro (let’ call it 5MP) was really easy. it’s packaged well and all pre-assembled expect for the spool holder on the back.
Thanks to the large touch screen, it’s super simple to connect it to wifi, run firmware updates and then get started with the calibration. This calibration is “standard” on newer coreXY printers and involves measuring vibrations in all axis, making sure it can work around them and provide a better printing result on faster prints.
This greatly helps remove the “ghosting” issues 3D Printers had much more of before. Some call it input shaping while others say vibration compensation.
After the calibration it’s all good and you’re ready to start printing.
The not so good experience
The 5MP had some issues with adhesions for me in the beginning. I wasn’t really expecting that considering all the leveling and the non-used PEI sheet. But my first prints kept coming lose.
I adjusted a Z-offset setting and then everything went well when I print via USB and chose “manual level before print”, but for some reason the earlier firmware didn’t level the bed when you sent prints via Wifi from Flashprint.
(update; This Wifi-leveling issue was solved and I talk about other things that are now great with the 5MP in this video)
Adventurer 5M Pro 3D Printing Quality
When the levelling issue was out of the way, this 3D printer just works great! It prints easy materials like a charm. And in my review video there’s plenty of great examples of really fast prints keeping great quality. So printing PLA, PETG for examples is no worries.
Using more complex materials, I ran into the issue that there’s not really good profiles available in Flashprint for this faster type of printing. The ABS profile worked OK, but there wasn’t really anything for ASA for example.
Here there are improvements being made and the alternative slicer Orcaslicer is already packed with more material profiles. But the problem is that this printer isn’t as popular as some competitors, so fewer manufacturers have bought it and developed profiles for their own materials.
The Adventurer 5M Pro really invites you to use complex materials and it does so well, but it’s less of a plug-and-play experience thanks to the lack of profiles. But if you have a bit of patience and experience, you’re not going to have any issues printing more difficult materials, and the value of this machine really becomes visible.
Professional Features
Features like exhaust ventilation with internal or external recirculation of air is quite nice! It’s not really a heated chamber, but it will try to vent out and keep it self at operating temperature.
I would really love if they used the temperature sensor inside the chamber to let you choose a specific temperature to hold (now it will do it automatically). If I could control the temperature, I could "de facto” heat the chamber and keep it at 55C for example, when printing specific materials.
High Speed 3D Printing
The printing speed of the Adventurer 5M Pro is really impressive! Specially for the included profiles and materials, you’re quickly doing travelling at 600mm/s and actual printing at 200 mm/s which really let’s you spit out a lot of models
Who is the Adventurer 5M Pro for?
Compared to the current 2024 competition like Creality K1, Prusa Mk4, Bambu Lab P1S and Bambu Lab A1 the Adventurer 5M Pro comes in at a slightly smaller print volume. However, it combines a great price with features like enclosed printing volume and a fantastically easy nozzle-swapping system and premium touch screen to create a great package for enthusiasts and beginners.
It should be said that there are no multi-material option for the 5M Pro, which could be a deal breaker for some. But if you’re not looking to extruder multi-color this, or the smaller lighter Adventurer 5M Lite are great budget options to Bambu Lab P1S.
Compared to the A1 and Prusa mk4, the Adventurer 5M Pro has the stable X/Y design, enclosure and features to help print more complex materials, or in a sensitive environment.
The support and response time from Flashforge has also been great, which could be very valuable for some.
If you’re a hardcore tinkerer, this 3D printer don’t really allow you any modification or tinkering like the Prusa 3D Printers will.
The MSRP for Adventurer 5M Pro is set to $599 but deals are often available through Amazon shop or through their own website.
Through Flashforges official website, the discount code “SA5MP” should give you $30 off!