I love this printer, bought one for work and loved it so much I bought one for home. The sturdy metal frame makes a world of difference, and the build-plate only moves up/down and so remains calibrated for longer. Everything about this feels rock-solid. The few things that aren’t 100/100 are easily remedied by printing the upgrades yourself! But even stock, this printer outperforms modified machines twice its price. You literally CANNOT go wrong with this printer.

(Full disclosure, I bought my Monoprice Ulitmate 3D as an OpenBox direct from Monoprice. They were very up front about the fact that some items might be missing and the the aesthetics might not be perfect. My rating is based on the actual printer and does not reflect anything having to do with it being open box.)That said here we go:
Shipping & Packaging - Mine came repacked in a box that was obviously not the original and a little over sized. There was great foam packing in place around the unit, but not on the interior. As a result, the little bag of parts and pieces had opened and everything got flung around inside the printer. Nothing seemed to be damaged though.

Out of the box, I noticed I was missing a few things - a power cord and any kind of setup instructions were the most notable. I did have sample filament, some PTFE tuning, a few screws, hex wrenches, a replacement surface for the build plate, the parts for the filament holder, and full size SD card (THANK YOU!). I can't say if i was supposed to have anything else because there was no guide or packing list. The frame and internal components are rock solid. I checked for loose screws (because I saw that in a video) and all were tight. Fortunately the power cord is a standard kind PC's use, so I had plenty and was able to power it on.

First use: The bed leveling is a little funky because you only level with three points - the front middle using the dial, and back left and right using knobs under the build plate. After running a few unsuccessful test cubes, I found that I needed to manually tighten the front screw a bit to compress that spring. Leveling after that worked fine. I really like the automatic filament loading and unloading (though it could go a little faster). I was still getting not-so-perfect prints, but after printing one of the samples on the SD card and it coming out great, I blamed Cura. After some tweaking I got good prints by slowing down to 50mm/sec.

After a month of printing: The stock part fan shroud is awful (as noted in many a review) and I had to print a different one. Still getting decent (not great) prints. To be clear the quality is what I'd expect from a $400 printer not a $4000 printer and I'm sure with more tweaking in Cura I could do better. I have had a problem trying to print anything but PLA. At higher temps (220+) the printer throws a heat sensor error and locks down (so no PETG or ABS). The control board fan under the printer has started to whine and grind when I turn the printer on until it gets up to speed (submitting as a warranty claim). I had to add a short piece of PTFE where the filament goes into the extruder. I had noticed that as filament was fed, it was cutting a slot into the plastic cover of the extruder housing.

Overall, I like the printer. It think it would be a great starter printer. It is simple to learn and use and it's consistent enough for me. If I didn't have the temp issue, I'd give it 4 stars.

Good printer, although temperamental. Needs a all metal hot end update out of the box.

Monoprice MK11 is awesome. Solid build. Prints come out just fine with little bit of build bed preparation. Its main power supply fan is little noisier compared to a desktop's power supply but its tolerable. I'd recommend this printer for anybody on budget and enthusiastic about 3D printing.

Printer screen failed within weeks of receiving item. Tech support could offer no guidance nor replacement parts, required to send the printer back with a 2+ week “processing time”.

I bought the open box. I was put off by it having over 100 hours on it when it arrived. I've put another 550+ hours of printing on the unit. Drawbacks: The print bed is actually 196 X by 200 Y by 168 Z. When starting up and randomly when idle the fan on inside sounds like a air raid siren. I'll be replacing it soon. The included Cura software, is a very old version, I never used it. Running Cura 3.6.0 ATM. The first print you should do with it is a new part cooling shroud as the original is garbage, print it out of ABS so it won't sag. You're going to want to replace the two fans on the extruder as well, but I'm still using the originals. Even with these negative remarks I friggin love this printer. It's 24v not 12v which means quicker heating and more consistent hot end temps. For the price it can not be beat. There are tons of resources out there to improve the printer as it becomes necessary. Flash marlin firmware to it, use current Cura, get Octoprint, and you're well on your way!

Have two of these set up for production modified with and enclosure, bondtech, microswiss all metal hotend and dual fans. Fast, stable and fairly reliable. Have had them running for 7 days straight!

I'm very happy with this printer. It does a pretty good job, but does require some work.

First, you're going to want to replace the putty knife that comes with it. The cheap metal bends badly and will scrape up your print surface. Go grab a Wal-Board one from Home Depot. Less than $10, but will save your print surface.

Second, look into Octoprint. It supports the profile generated by the ancient version of Cura included on the SD card, but provides a more modern interface, IMHO.

Shipping took over 5 days longer than estimated. Set back my entire production schedule. Units also arrived in dismay, missing several components and some printers were damaged and needed serious maintenance. 3 of the brand new printers are still down for repairs. After attempting to deal with your customer service/returns I am uninterested in trying to send them back, I will just hopefully be able to repair them internally. I have bought close to 20 of these printers and it seems the quality is extremely inconsistent and getting worse. Of all the printers I have, the first one I purchased is still preforming the best. For example, in this recent batch one printer arrived with the bed bent about 60* and several have the connector to the stepper motor super glued together making it a nightmare to remove. Overall for the price I do believe the Ultimate is a great printer, but it has been frustrating that of the last 15 printers purchased this month, only 10 arrived operational

We do our designs with SolidWorks. We installed the plug-in for Cura. Didn't have any setup issues. My only wish is the print area should be larger.