<p>I'm a 3D printing newbie, and I bought some Hatchbox PLA to start with since it is recommended by the community it seems.  </p>

<p>Is there really a steep quality drop off if you go for brands that are 50% less than Hatchbox?  What does that quality drop off look like?</p>

[{'answer_id': 4687, 'author': 'TECTEC3 Studios', 'author_id': 7019, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/7019', 'pm_score': 0, 'selected': False, 'text': '<p>There is no massive difference in print quality of PLA filaments unless you start going under 10 dollars US for a 1 kilo spool. The filament that I use is yoyi  PLA that can be found on Amazon for about 20 bucks, this filament works really nice with my printer and it is fairly cheap. Just make sure you never use the hobby king brand PLS as the quality on that truly is horrendous.</p>\n'}, {'answer_id': 4721, 'author': 'Markus Appel', 'author_id': 4285, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/4285', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>In addition to @TecTec3's answer:</p>\n<h3>Parameters that define filament quality:</h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Diameter variance: If there is too much fluctuation in diameter, the filament might get stuck.</li>\n<li>Material Quality: I had really expensive filament that was brittle and did tend to snap when it was extruded. Other filament just didn't melt but started burning up and regulary clogging my extruder.</li>\n</ul>\n<h3>My opinion:</h3>\n<p>I'd say you shouldn't go with too cheap filament and stick with one that works out best for you. If you have issues try another brand. It's impossible to tell quality just from the price.</p>\n"}]
['https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4678', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/8556/']