As others have said, the printer you should get depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to spend the time and money to mod the ever loving shit out of a printer like I have, an ender 3 is great. If you want to just set it up and start printing, something from either prusa or bambulab will be the way to go, but a word of warning about bambu, they seem to be laying the groundwork to close off their ecosystem as much as possible à la apple, so I won’t be surprised if one day it gets to the point you can’t even use non bambu branded filament on their printers without hacking them.

If you do go with an ender though, I will say before you even get into using it, swap out the hot end with an all metal one. The stock one that butts the ptfe tube to the nozzle was an absolute soul sucking nightmare for me!

I’d totally suggest looking for used prusas personally, something like a mk3s is definitely slow by today’s standards but they’re super capable, very simple and easy to maintain. I’ve modded mine to the point that the rails and axis steppers are the only original components and planning another mod right now. If you could find one for a reasonable price it’s a great platform.

If you are willing to spend a bit and want a kit/something new, I really like Vorons and other open source printers, I’ve seen decent reviews of some of the formbot kits for something like a v0.2, includes a bunch of mods you’d probably look at eventually anyhow, I’m not sure if this is in USD or localised to CAD but with printed parts and a dragon hotend (highly recommend, v6 hotends are a pain imo, they work but having the block fixed is so much nicer) is $429 from china. It’s capable of printing every part for larger Voron models (and obviously stuff like abs) and is more importantly enclosed.

Add something like a nevermore micro to it (component kit) and you’re solid (recommend enclosed and filtered, ideally you don’t print in the same room you’re in without good fume handling, I’ve done unenclosed abs in my office back 12 years ago, abs these days doesn’t stink as bad but from experience it’s super unpleasant, 0/10 do not recommend, I did it exactly once)

Hummm, lots of good suggestions. Honestly what I would do is get something cheap that works. Then learn what your needs are.

3D Printers are a tool, and like all tools there are cheap ones which break in 30 seconds if you are actually using them. And tools which will last a lifetime but cost a fortune.

As someone who started with the (at the time) budget printer, the MonoPrice Select Mini. My suggestions are are follows.

200mm x 200mm x 200mm heated bed. This is common for printers who are clones of the i3 and isn’t hard to get cheap.

Doesn’t require proprietary software or can use open source software. Back in the day some printers would only take gcode from their proprietary slicer software. Flashforge comes to mind. But just check if what you are buying has a profile (even community made) for you slicer. Prusa and Cura are the 2 popular ones everything else is based on.

Automatic bed levelling. Whether it’s magnets like a MK3 or a touch sensor like the ender 3. So long as it can mesh bed level out of the box it’s fine. So long have I tried to dial in my printer only for it to need to be dialled in again.

Finally check Amazon or other sites for replacement parts. This is a machine and parts wear down. You don’t need to replace everything, but belts hot end assemblies, print beds and sensors are a going to break and need replacing.

For my recommendation is for a ender 3 s1 or the elegoo Neptune as they meet my spec and look fine. Though triple check with reviews

First you must answer the most important question:

Do you want working on your 3D printer as a hobby or 3d printing as a hobby? Both are perfectly valid, it’s just about personal preference.

I got EasyThreed K7. Prints only 100x100mm, but it is mostly enough. Surprisingly it printed everything I wanted in decent quality. It was something like $60. Comes with own slicer software, or Cura profile. I’m using Cura. Print speed is 40mm/s.

For around $300, there are some newer models that are significantly better than an Ender 3. The Elegoo Centauri Carbon has been getting good reviews. I started with an Ender 3 V2, spent much of my time dealing with bed adhesion issues, then moved on to a Sovol SV06 which has a lot fewer issues and in some scenarios printed better than the Prusa MK4Ss I have at work. I recently upgraded to a Prusa CORE One, which is great, but I wouldn’t recommend spending the money if you don’t think you’re going to print much.

FWIW, I bought a new Ender3 as a kit not too long ago, it was $150 IIRC. And by being forced to assemble it, I learned a good bit too. It might be worthwhile to watch their store & see if they put it up for sale again.

The only upgrade I’ve done that I really felt made a difference was buying an enclosure for it. Nothing fancy, it’s a fireproof bag over an aluminum frame. Even more than controlling the temperature, it also keeps it dust free when not in use - that’s probably the biggest win for me.

As for buying the used one - these things do wear down. Start by checking the feed gear & the PTFE tube. If the filament feeds well, then also check the belts, rollers, & nozzle. Those are really the common wear items imo. Perhaps obvious, but make sure the seller gives you a copy of the slicing software (should be free on their webpage) and also the little USB-A to Sim card doo-hickey that you need to move files back & forth.

I personally have a Bambu A1, but in hindsight I would not recommend Bambu’s printers, since they are going the Apple route of locking down their ecosystems, blocking things like third-party slicers and accessories. Not very nice of them. My A1 will be perpetually stuck on firmware v4.0.0.0 for this reason as I prefer using OrcaSlicer over Bambu Studio. There is no reason why they should block OrcaSlicer, it’s a fork of Bambu Studio (which itself is a fork of PrusaSlicer, rules for thee not for me?)

The Creality Ender 3 seems to be the most recommended budget beginner printer. I have never owned one myself, but I have used one before in school, and the print quality is great. No idea how difficult it is to maintain though.

If you can stretch your budget a bit, you might also want to look at printers from other brands (Sovol, Qidi, possibly used Prusas, and the new Elegoo Centauri Carbon + non-carbon).

What budget and how much time are you willing to tinker with it?