I’m a 3D printing wanna-be, not even an amateur. Have seen a few printers, helped assemble one long time ago, played with the software a little, though I have never actually printed anything myself yet. I decided to spend some saved money on a printer for myself.
My goals are getting hands-on experience with printing and being able to use it as a tool in projects/everyday life. I’m considering an FFF one rather than SLA one, mostly due to the toxicity of resin (and costs). Printing speed is unimportant. Print quality matters, but only to some satisfactory degree and it’s not paramount. I imagine I might buy another one in a few years, so I don’t need a printer for life, but it needs to serve sufficiently for this period. I’m open to the possibility of repairing/upgrading it, if it can be done reliably by an amateur.
I’m strongly considering Prusa MINI+, but it’s not a final decision and I’ll be happy to hear your feedback. I’m posting this here in hopes that if I’m making a mistake, people more competent than me will stop me. If there’s anything else you think I should know, I’ll be happy to hear it.
My first was an E3P but I might not recommend it for folks not willing to spend time tinkering and tuning. Creality makes great printers and once they’re dialed in they put out great quality prints, but they most definitely don’t “just work” out of the box. Prepare to spend time and frustration making tweaks and adjustments to get it working just right.
I wouldn’t say they “just work” out of the box but that they print pretty good in their out of the box configuration without having to resort to making modifications.