I’m shopping for my first printer, I don’t have any experience with 3d printing but I’m vaguely familiar with the whole process and I understand there will be a learning curve and I’m looking forward to that part.
I’m leaning towards the Creality S1 Pro because I remember the huge hub-bub about the Ender 3 when it first came out and it seems like everyone and their brother suggests it as a good first printer but then when I read reviews it seems kinda janky and I’m an adult with a job so I don’t mind fussing a little but I don’t want to fuss a lot.
I picked the S1 Pro because I think it has an auto-leveling print surface and the name recognition from the previously mentioned Ender 3, but when I try to research other printers I’m completely overwhelmed by the options.
I got an Ender 3 for Christmas, it was great - but it’s limited if you don’t get a bunch of upgrades. But I did learn a lot about how 3D printing works.
I recently got a Prusa Mk4, and I’m very happy with it. Prints like a dream, is much faster than the Ender 3, and is much quieter as well. Time will tell if long term reliability is as good as I’ve heard, but short term it’s been very reliable.
I’ve heard a lot of people suggest Bambu for the same price - but honestly I’m pretty skeptical of how they run their business. For some reason, they encrypt log files. Their support staff gave Grant of 3D Musketeers a terrible support experience when he had problems with his printer. Recently they had a cloud outage that resulted in printers starting up unexpectedly and starting to print automatically, which in some cases resulted in physical damage to the printer when there was a previous print on the bed. I would wait at least a year for them to sort out their business.