Pros and cons to different build surfaces

AlexPasseno

Buildtak

Pros: easy to install, usually adhesive backed, gives you alot of wiggle room with the bed being too far from the nozzle, a classic

Cons: easy to destroy, if used improperly you can wear it down very quickly, need additional tools (ie. scraper) to get it off the bed, very low temp resistance (glue will denature while under high temps) , name brand gets expensive

Glass/mirror

Pros: very wear resistant, gives nice smooth first layers, changing can be easy because its usually just binder clipped to the bed, will typically come with a ceramic coating so petg doesnt fuse to it, glass will contract when cooling popping parts off the glass

Cons: not very forgiving on the nozzle being too far away from the bed for the first layer, when it breaks it shatters, petg will chemically fuse to bare glass, can be a tad harder to get ahold of for weird bed sizes, not great on the heat transfer and usually requires higher than average bed temps to print

Smooth PEI

Pros: mixes the pros of buildtak and glass together to get a nice middle ground of a smooth almost satiny finish mildly wear resistant while also not needing a scraper to de-adhere it because it will contract when cooling

Cons: expensive, petg will fuse to smooth PEI, expensive

Rough PEI

Pros: nice textured finish gives the grip of buildtak with the wear resistance of pei, petg wont fuse to this.

Cons: very expensive