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AnkerMake M5 3D printer review: Super easy and super fast, but not without flaws
It cranks out prints up to five times faster than other replicators, and looks cool doing it.
Anker is a brand best known for power banks and phone accessories, so I wasn't sure what to expect from the company's first 3D printer. Turns out it's pretty amazing, one of the easier models I've ever used and definitely the fastest. But how does the AnkerMake M5 fare overall? Is it a good choice for novices and hobbyists? What about expert users? Having spent some time cranking out dragons, spaceships and other 3D objects, I'm ready to render a verdict. Here's my AnkerMake M5 3D printer review.
(Note: This includes updates after six months of using the machine. During that time I have encountered some additional frustrations resulting from software updates and decreased bed adhesion, but overall I still find the M5 a fast and useful printer.)
VERDICT: The AnkerMake M5 eliminates several common pain points associated with 3D printing, making it a new favorite. But it's on the pricey side, and novices will still need to learn some basics.
- Super-fast printing
- Easy to assemble and use
- Removable flexible magnetic print bed
- Built-in camera with live feed and time-lapse recording
- Filament often gets stuck during initial feed
- Imperfect auto-leveling
- Camera position and quality aren't great
AnkerMake M5 design and setup
The M5 is one of the most visually striking 3D printers I've seen, a shiny two-tone affair that looks like industrial art. The touchscreen control panel is built into the right pillar, which is a little strange (because it moves up and down as the print head does) but not problematic.
Assembling the machine was mostly a breeze; only the Creality Sermoon V1 required fewer steps. The instruction manual details each step of the process, right down to how you unpack the printer. (I do wish the text was larger and the illustrations a bit clearer, though.) Cleverly, the foam packing plays a part in supporting the gantry so you can attach the base. A few cable connections and a handful of screws later and the machine is ready to run. The entire build took me about 25 minutes; had I watched this video, I could have easily done it in 15. Indeed, there are more and better instructions available on the AnkerMake site; I highly recommend starting there.
To connect the M5 to your Wi-Fi network, you'll need the AnkerMake app, which is available for Android and iOS. You'll also need an Anker account — yep, one more password to create and keep track of. Thankfully, everything went quickly and smoothly, and after that it took just a few minutes to install a firmware update.
From there I loaded the AnkerMake slicer software for Windows. To my amazement, it automatically detected the printer on the network; I didn't have to walk through another configuration. The software is where you import 3D-print files (from sites like Cults3D and Thingiverse), tweak print size and other parameters, preview the job and then send it off to the printer. Like the interface on the printer's touchscreen, the software is polished and admirably simple. That said, anyone new to 3D printing will definitely want to spend some time with online tutorials and videos; there are basic operations, like how to feed filament, not covered in the manual.
You can also print directly from the mobile app, though it limits you to a couple dozen sample models. For now there's no way to access files from, say, a cloud account. That's unfortunate, because the app is excellent in other respects, allowing you to check status, modify settings and stream a live feed from the camera.
AnkerMake M5 features and performance
The M5 ticks all the important boxes for a modern 3D printer: heated bed, auto-leveling, magnetic flexible steel print plate and built-in camera. It has a print area of 235x235x250 mm, which is a decent size for a hobbyist printer — just enough room to print the bulk of, say, an Iron Man helmet. You can feed it PLA, PETG, TPU or ABS filament.
Anker promises print speeds of up to 500mm/second (in Fast Mode), though the default is 250mm/s. Many other printers top out at 200mm/s, and some chug along at half that rate. When my review unit first came to life for a "benchy" test print (a little boat), it kind of freaked me out. There were loud clicks and grinding sounds, the print bed oscillating so rapidly that the machine actually shook the desk (which, to be fair, was a little wobbly). I'd never seen a 3D printer move this quickly, but thankfully it didn't shake itself apart — and the resulting benchy looked quite good overall.
However, despite having run through the auto-leveling procedure (which takes a solid 10 minutes), I could tell the print head was landing just a hair too close to the bed, resulting in a bit of nozzle scraping on the initial layer and some difficulty removing skirts (the outside border) after the prints were done. This is traditionally handled by adjusting the "Z offset," meaning the nozzle height. Unlike some printers, which bury this setting or make it complicated to execute, the M5 offers a dedicated Z-offset menu that's just two taps away (or one if you're mid-print). I set it to +0.10mm and, presto, problem solved.
That said, the whole point of auto-leveling is so you don't have to monkey with Z offset; Anker needs to fine-tune this setting so it works properly out of the box.
I also think a few other default settings were a bit off. Most of my initial prints showed some stringing, meaning threadlike wisps in between various parts. That's likely because the nozzle temperature was set too high (in this case 230 degrees); I lowered it and the problem mostly disappeared.
Another hiccup: Whenever I tried to feed a new spool of filament, it seemed to hit a block before "catching" in the extruder. I've experimented with various workarounds; the best one involves pulling out the bowden tube from the top, manually straightening the filament, then feeding it. Once it catches, I pop the tube back in. This isn't complicated, but it shouldn't work this way.
Once I moved past these initial hiccups, the machine worked beautifully. Filament adhesion to the print bed: zero problems. Removing completed prints: zero problems. (You just lift up the magnetic plate and give it a flex or two.) Quality of prints: excellent overall, even in Fast Mode.
And speaking of that, the speed at which the M5 prints is revelatory. For example, I printed an articulated dragon that would normally take up to 24 hours — or at least that's how long it took on the aforementioned Sermoon V1. The M5 finished it in just over seven hours. 3D printing has long been a game of patience; it feels pretty magical to crank out your favorite models in a fraction of the time.
Meanwhile, the built-in camera can stream a live feed in real-time at 720p, but it can also capture 1080p time-lapse recordings (suitable for Instagram, TikTok, etc.). I love being able to monitor the print progress via the mobile app or while sitting at my computer, without having to run and check the printer every 20 minutes. However, because the camera lens is embedded into the left side of the touchscreen module at a fixed angle, your view is far from ideal. At the start of the print, it's even with the print bed; most of the image is just empty space below it. Only as the print gets taller do you start getting any real value from the camera. It's too bad Anker didn't mount it higher, or at least make it adjustable so you could see more of what's happening.
AnkerMake M5 3D printer: Should you buy it?
For a first effort, the AnkerMake M5 is a truly impressive 3D printer. It gets a lot of things right, starting with design: The hardware is really pretty and the software shows more polish than most. Assembly is about as easy as it gets, and you can crank out your first print in a matter of minutes.
Indeed, speed is the M5's claim to fame, and I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. Once you get accustomed to printing things in hours instead of days (or minutes instead of hours), it's hard to go back to slower machines. You're definitely paying a premium for it — there are plenty of 3D printers priced lower — but the time you save may help justify the expense.
(Speaking of price, Anker now offers the AnkerMake M5C for just $399. It does away with the touchscreen — you control everything with your PC and/or the mobile app — and has a slightly smaller print bed, but also comes with an all-metal hotend, which allows for a greater variety of filaments (namely those that require higher temperatures).)
While I'm not sure I'd recommend the M5 to total novices, who will still need to educate themselves in the ways of filament, nozzle temperatures and the like, it's a slam-dunk for hobbyists who know what they're doing. You'll be off and running in no time and, I think, absolutely loving the AnkerMake M5.
