Same. I don't know much about 3-D modeling, but I took a Maya class years ago and was annoyed at design flaws in its UI.

I didn't expect much from Blender, owing to the shitty UI offered by other widely-used open-source software like GIMP and Audacity. But I was pleasantly surprised by Blender, and I'm excited to learn it.

But the CAD space is dominated by pay-only rental-style solutions, and even most of those seem to be Web-based (Autodesk) or Windows-only (SolidWorks).