BLTouch V3.1 Sensor

I decided to upgrade my Ender 3 printers primarily because I was having filament breakage problems (it was the filament, not the printer). Having to reload the Bowden extruder every time the filament broke prompted me to get a new extruder, which prompted me to worry about burning my house down because temperature runaway. It was a snowball... This BTT BLTouch was one of the upgrades. It was easy to install, and it clearly works as advertised. Insofar as it performs as intended, it earns 5 stars. The fact that I don't really understand its purpose when leveling and tramming the bed isn't terribly difficult doesn't take away from its function. So if you're looking to completely ignore bed levelling and tramming, this will absolutely improve your printing life. In the interest of full disclosure - I also upgraded the main boards to BTT SKR Mini E3 V3 with custom built firmware, so your mileage may very when using the stock Ender 3 man board. In other words, the BLTouch works well with the SKR Mini E3 V3.

I have ordered new probes on several occasions and have not been disappointed by the real BL Touch units. They work every time with minimal wiring issues. I wish there was a clean standard for the color code or pin order for the rest of the probes on the market. Depending on your board you may have/want to crimp different ends on the cables to make setup easier. They include a decent length cable in the box but if you are running a larger printer or one that uses a remote control box, you may need even longer cables. The generic CR Touch probe is ok but it is worth spending a little more for the BL Touch. The quality and documentation make it worth it.

plugged it in: Installed firmware. Ender 3 "Ima brake this thing you put on me" Replace probe end. Hit bed leveling. ??? Profit. The extended cable in the package was not long enough for the Ender 3 pro, and the colors of the wires are completely different. Black was white, green was yellow, etc. The Dupont plugs fit very loose on the control board as well.

The cable is only 1m. Which sounds like enough but it's really not. You can't route it with your other cables like that, and it will get in the way or snap if you go the furthest away with your printer. Buy one with a length of at least 1.5m instead. Also, it comes with DuPont connectors and such for the cables. If you plan on using that, which you likely due for most of the newer enders, you will also need a crimp tool. This is sorta more of a feature, as it comes with the more general split option. Just keep this in mind. In conclusion buy one with a length of 1.5m minimum.

The sensor, once installed and configured properly, has made a massive improvement on my print consistency and reduced the amount of time taken performing a manual mesh bed “level” or tram. 10/10 for product operation, and I confirmed it is an authentic Antclabs sensor, not a knockoff. My only criticism is that the extension was slightly too short for my machine. To be clear, it would reach from the board to all the travel extents of the print head, but not if it is run in the same cable route as the other print head connections. Luckily I had some 6” jumper cables I use for circuit prototyping (male to female) so I was able to hook it up without additional soldering or splicing new connectors, and still run it through my existing cable trays with the rest of the print head wiring.

Works as expected, seems to be more accurate on a magnetic flex plate than my cr touch was. Probably due to plastic tip, which I didn't get extras of in my package. On sprite pro extruder with chcb ot nozzle setup.

I had a cr touch that worked ok. For some reason that probe broke at one of it's mounting points. It caused me to chase my tale and ruin several bed plates. That unbreakable pin just moved the breaking point. Get this probe and never look back. Works perfectly and no more ruined bed plates or failed prints due to poor adhesion.

Well worth the money to get this legit version of this style of ABL sensor. Had no issues with it over the past month or so. If you are going to get this style of ABL sensor, buy the name brand legit version and not one of the many many copycats who just copied this product from top to bottom and put a different name on the device that sells for $10 cheaper or so. Support the creator of this style of ABL sensor and not the companies who cloned this product, at least that is my take on this corner of the makers market.