I kept this review back until I'd really put the FlyingBear Ghost 5 through its paces: a whole summer of PLA, PETG, silk and even TPU. By the end it had quietly become my go-to printer.
A CoreXY in a semi-enclosure
I've had the Ghost 5 since the beginning of June 2021. It's different from the usual printers I review because it's a CoreXY: the bed moves down along Z while the X and Y axes stay put, so Z wobble isn't a thing anymore and, in theory, it should be faster. It's also partially enclosed, which makes it look unique, and it's very solid and heavy on the table, so vibration is never an issue if you position it well.
Assembly took me almost an hour. Nothing difficult, just time-consuming. The packaging felt premium, with everything well protected in foam, and the sensitive parts already assembled. I only had to fit the enclosure frame and connect some wires, following FlyingBear's own videos on YouTube, which are easy to follow (look out for the guy with the red gloves).
Specs that matter
- Print area: 255 × 210 × 200 mm.
- Full metal frame with aluminium profiles and closed-loop belts.
- BMG dual-drive extruder (Bowden): PLA, PETG, TPU, and ABS if you complete the enclosure.
- 32-bit board with TMC2208 drivers for near-silent operation. It was printing while I recorded and you can't hear it.
- Filament run-out sensor, power-loss resume, 3.5-inch touchscreen in many languages.
- A "sticky coated glass" bed: parts stay firm while printing and pop off by themselves once cool, leaving a nice glossy base.
How it prints
I started with the hardest one, TPU. Bowden printers usually struggle with it, but thanks to the dual-gear extruder this one printed it better than some of my direct-drive machines. The first layer was perfect, with no elephant's foot. There's no auto bed levelling, but manual levelling is easy and I did it once in June and never had to do it again.
PLA vases came out spectacular, a Mandalorian printed without supports was full of detail (a model I knew was a hard print from another review), AzureFilm silk copper in vase mode with a 0.8 mm nozzle looked beautiful, and a multi-material Volkswagen van mixed regular PLA with green glitter PETG. I always test printers at 0.2 mm layer height, the standard setting, because that's what tells you the most about a machine.
What I didn't like
The spool holder on the back is awkward, especially if the printer sits on a shelf, and it sometimes got stuck, so I printed a better one from Thingiverse. The part cooling blows from one side only; there are printable ducts that blow from three or four sides. And the SD card slot is close to the edge of the frame and hard to reach. I think I've lost a couple inside the chassis. I'd have preferred a USB port next to the display. I also replaced the hotend, but that's normal maintenance given how much I used it.