3D printers. Yes, there are lot of $100-$300 models out there. Unless you want 3D printer repair and maintenance to become your new hobby, just go buy a Prusa (or other well supported, full featured printer).
Just got a Bambu P1P this week for my first printer. It's incredible. I looked at the Press and while they are pretty highly spoken of, the $ to performance/quality wasn't there for me.
But to your point, yes. A good printer is a good investment.
I've had Ender 3 pro for 2 ish years now, and I love the machine. Surely it does require some tinkering, but when it's dialed it's damn good for 200e printer
Bed adhesion, nozzle clogging, inconsistent extrusion. It was always some issue and it was difficult to figure out the root cause. I kept buying better parts to try and fix things but at some point I decided to cut my losses. Truthfully I don't know if it was my fault or the printer's.
ive been using an old cr10s for the past 5 years. I've done a bunch of upgrades and stuff over the years. I have had problems with adhesion and inconsistent extrusion but those were my fault. never really had many nozzle clogs tho, that's probably more of a filament thing
I'm new to 3D printing myself, mainly got into it to make my ideas become reality - at the moment I don't want to get too caught up in the weeds modding and customizing my printer, I just want it to work, not turn it into a project
Extremely happy that I went for a decent used printer though (Delta style Flsun), instead of buying a new cheap one and being disappointed. My next printer will probably be a compact CoreXY, Voron 0.2 is what I have my eyes on but those kits carry a price tag and take days to assemble 😳
If I was buying a printer for my partner or friends though, 100% Prusa. The extra is worth it IMO for the highly refined UX, preconfigured slicer+filament combos, actual support, and most importantly their ongoing contributions to open source.