I've been struggling with my K1 since Christmas. I bought it on sale for Black Friday and no matter who I contact at Creality, no one can tell me what replacement parts to order. K1 parts don't fit my printer. They want pictures to see what 'buckle' I have, because my serial number isn't enough information, but who wants to tear down a printer just to take pictures? Now my thermistor is broken (a leg weld just fell right off while I was fixing a clog), and I can't order a new one because what do I order? This printer doesn't take K1 parts. Every time I order something, it has to get shipped back. I'm annoyed and venting, but also trying to help anyone else considering a Creality printer. Don't do it. Their support is a joke and they take zero accountability.
I've added an image for help explaining the problem. These two JST connections are completely different, but both are supposed to be for the K1. And both of these listings are Creality Official:
Creality made good printers in the beginning, i.e. original Ender and Ender Pro. They used high quality components and offered good value for money compared to what else what available at that time. However, when they had cornered a large part of the market and got known as the brand that made the best beginner printers, things started going downhill. They switched from Meanwell power supplies etc. to cheap noname components, quality control seemingly became non-existent, and they released several poorly designed overpriced printers (E.g. the E3v2 - my first printer - and everything with "max" in the name).
I think there's a combination of different reasons for why there always have been so many people who believe that Creality make good printers:
I think my E3v2 is good now, but I've replaced the hotend, extruder and part cooling fans. I've added a second Z lead screw to fix gantry sag, and I found a manufacturing error where the X belt tensioner wasn't straight because tightening the screw into the aluminium extrusion bent the plastic (difficult to find, but luckily easy to fix with a metal shim). I've replaced the firmware with Klipper, controlled by a Raspberry Pi. And I've probably spent at least 50 hours just trying to fix and improve the printer, which I didn't mind btw, but I think most would prefer a printer which just works out of the box.
In retrospect, I wish I had joined some 3d printing discords and talked to experienced users before deciding on which printer to buy, and not relied so much on google, websites and random comments.
Your 5. is not wrong though. My first printer was a used Ender 3 v2 that I modified and tuned quite a bit until I was finally tired of issues with the bowden extruder and got myself an Ender 3 S1 Pro. In hindsight, I should have purchased the S1 Pro in the first place, but the v2 did teach me valuable lessons, even though I spent more time fixing and tuning the thing than enjoying successful prints.
The S1 Pro ended up accumulating a lot of dust over my two years of ownership and I now own a Qidi Q2. That one has its own set of issues and design flaws, but their support is okay and for what it costs, it can print an astonishing variety of materials with good to great quality.
Yeah, I'm not even sure what to get now. But they're taking this Frankenstein monstrosity back or I'm going to burn them to the ground. I'm loud, angry, and litigious.
Prusas are expensive but they fucking work.
It's between that and an Elegoo.
I have no hands on experience with Elegoo's printers, I have a pair of Arduino Uno clones with their brand on it though, and they aren't bad.