Review on NinjaTek 3DNF05117505 NinjaFlex Filament TPE 5Kg by James Dominick

I used to print with regular TPU and I'm in the same boat as most people when it comes to avoiding the hype surrounding this product; how cool can that be? However one day I got curious so I decided to order it and when I took it out of the box I was really impressed by how soft and flexible it was. The material is much softer than I expected and has a quality I was very keen to see for myself; its elasticity. The regular TPUs I've worked with can't stretch and then return to their original shape; They are always deformed. If I didn't know, I would have thought it was a rubber thread; They don't lie to the numbers in the product description about how far it can stretch. As for how soft it is, one review mentions that the raw thread is like a rubber band and they fit the bill. The filament/seal appears to deform under high tension, but this is due to an intentional attempt to stretch it as much as possible. I was very concerned about how the product looked. (I don't know if this is a Revain issue or if they just ship it but) it appeared in a regular filament box with a bundle of Revain tape and a shipping label. Strange, but not too much of a problem in my book. The main issue, however, is that upon opening the box I found the filament was just a dangling spool; it wasn't vacuum packed with a desiccant like I would expect a flexible filament to be. There was a small desiccant in the box, but it can't do much in a box. Reluctantly and a little frustrated, I loaded the filament into my printer and started printing the popular squid pattern that everyone prints. as a demonstration of working with flexible thread. From what I can see on my print bed so far, there are signs of moisture damage to the filament. EDIT: (updated to 5 stars). that you need a much higher extrusion multiplier than I thought, and what I assumed was moisture damage was actually not enough extrusion. I still don't like that it comes as a loose spool, but I guess I can't deny that it prints well when extruded at the right rate. The finished pieces have a slightly rough texture, but I think this is due to the uniqueness of the material itself; The finished parts certainly look good. (For the Prusa MK3S I had to increase the extrusion multiplier to 1.5 if that helps anyone.)