Anyone have experience with "3D pens"?

Struggling to find a worth while gift for my 15 year old niece, and SWMBO came up with a 3D pen. Kid has talked about wanting to pursue graphic design or some other degree in graphics after high school, and a "cheap" 3d printer is still out of reach, and comfort if I'm not around to troubleshoot, and get it running right. She's already a fair artist, and IMHO needs to get outside more, but I get that she's more into tech than getting outside. (may change when she turns 16 and isn't so dependent on mom and step dad for transportation.)

Point is. Anyone have any experience with them? Things to look for? Avoid? They start at $20 and seem to go from there, with a majority falling between 50-60.

Any advice/experience with them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I oldest (8 yo) received one as a xmas present last year.  It is interesting as a toy, but it is nothing close to a 3D printer.  I think a 15yo would be done with it rather quickly.

I would best describe it as a hot glue gun where the glue solidifies quickly out of the gun.  

Son had some interest a while back.  I researched a bit.  The desirable ones are cordless, which means greater cost and one more thing to recharge.  I'd be interested to see if anybody thought they were worthwhile.

1988RedT2 said:

Son had some interest a while back.  I researched a bit.  The desirable ones are cordless, which means greater cost and one more thing to recharge.  I'd be interested to see if anybody thought they were worthwhile.

Yeah, when you really think about how a 3D printer works, I'm not sure how viable or useful of a tool it would be. I might pick one up later to play with for myself after the shop is built and have a space I can play with it, but for now I'm thinking I'm going to pass on one this year.

former520 said:

I oldest (8 yo) received one as a xmas present last year.  It is interesting as a toy, but it is nothing close to a 3D printer.  I think a 15yo would be done with it rather quickly.

 

I would best describe it as a hot glue gun where the glue solidifies quickly out of the gun.  

This is what I'm expecting of them. No heat bed/base to keep things soft while the next layer is added, means it won't really bond as one piece. 

We had a bunch of these around recently- my wife did a product review for her website. Hold on- let me see if I can find the link...

Here's her review:

Product review of 3D pens

I have a few.  The 3doodler one is my favorite, it extrudes hot plastic that comes in rods.  I have another that has liquid plastic reservoir and cures with UV called Atmosflare.  My son has a little kid oriented one but can’t remember the brand.  I have yet to find a real use for them but i’ll keep trying 

My wife writes things to be encouraging. 

My opinion was the things were ridiculous. They served no useful purpose whatsoever. Completely useless. 

HOWEVER, all the kids who played with them had a good time. Therefore, my opinion is clearly completely invalid. 

SVreX said:

My wife writes things to be encouraging. 

My opinion was the things were ridiculous. They served no useful purpose whatsoever. Completely useless. 

HOWEVER, all the kids who played with them had a good time. Therefore, my opinion is clearly completely invalid. 

Yeah I still don’t know a real purpose for them, but they’re fun to play with.  I don’t have steady enough hands to create anything worthwhile 

could be good for model building/modifying.