A 3D printer is a tool first and foremost.

These days outside of poorly designed fire hazards any model you can get will be good.

For my two cents avoid the following traps.

• all plastic construction. Looks nice but assume you will need to service it at some point.

• no spare parts available. Basically go on Amazon and type “print bed for model of printer” and if you find nothing it’s not getting parts or service.

What to get then. Brands are fickle so these are the features I look for.

• thermal run away protection. If it doesn’t have the run away yourself.

• heated bed. Helps with adhesion

• removable build plate. Easy service and since the build plate is consumable good to have

• auto bed leveling. It’s not 2018 and manual leveling is a waste of time.

• direct drive extruders. Bowden isn’t bad but if you want consistency direct drive really helps

Brands I would recommend is Creatily since it’s a good budget machine (do research first their naming is crap) and Prusa since most machines are based off of theirs.