Hello there,
after a few years of being out of the hobby I am starting to get interested again after seeing that a lot of budget printers now are having all the features that my old one were missing. Direct extruder, auto bed leveling, dual z axis, stuff like that. So which one of the budget printers around 300€ would you guys suggest one should get to get started again? Elegoo Neptune 4? Creality Ender 3 V3? Anycubic Kobra 2? Sovol S06? There are so many good looking options that I am interested in your experiences and opinions. Thanks!
I’m biased to say save and get a Prusa. It is what I did. It is not a printer project. The hardware specs are a misnomer. The continuous investment in the community is the real selling point. I spent more initially, but my Prusa is still worth nearly what I put into it even as a MK3S+ when the 4 is a thing. Everyone knows it will still work, and continue to do so, while parts will always be readily available. No one worries that it is some failed project.
Now if I tried to sell my little modified KP3S Kingroon, that thing is pretty much worthless now even though it works okay most of the time. I spent more on it at $200 than I did on the Prusa at just over 3× as much. I barely used the KP3S, wasted $100 on “upgrades” and it is now all loss. I got it after the Prusa knowing it is a project to screw around with. Spending more can often mean spending less when you consider long term value. That is just my personal opinion. I don’t regret buying the Prusa.
Same Bias here. Bought a Prusa Mini and got a working printer. In 3years I did nothing to the machine than cleaning and lubrication, and it still prints like day 1. Last year I got an update that enabled input shaping - on a machine that was out of warranty for close to a year already…
That’s one option and the one I was also thinking about. But it is triple the price for a few of the budget options.