Many printers have 'premium' or genuine filaments that cost more. These are similar to the genuine HP ink jet cartridges you get for paper printers – they cost more per unit but give you a better quality print.

We’ve experimented with many types of genuine and non-genuine filaments and have concluded that non-genuine filaments can be problematic because: 

1. The filament has not been made with a tight enough tolerance – i.e. its diameter varies too far from the 1.75mm or 3mm it is meant to be. This can cause jammed or blocked printers which are very frustrating and time-consuming to fix; and

2. They melt at different temperatures than what your printer is used to leading to poor quality prints.

We expect these non-genuine filaments to improve with time but at the moment we'd prefer to spend a little bit more on genuine filaments and get a more reliable print.