Would be nice to know how much this cost the author. I've been considering getting myself a 3D printer recently too. The Bambu Lab P1S/P1P is looking like the best option for me so far.
If you just want to print stuff (like if the printer is to support another hobby, or you have a business) get a P1S/X1C or a Prusa MK4. I wouldn't personally bother with an AMS until down the line when you're sure you need it.
VORONs are fantastic if you want a fun and very well documented robot building project, and at the end you get something pretty comparable to a Bambu. It can be a frustrating process at times but you'll learn a lot about a variety of interesting stuff. The printers are also massively hackable and moddable, and they have larger build plate options (although ~250mm^2 is realistically enough for most home users). Bambu is the exact opposite mentality, fully closed source, they work incredibly well but are effectively a black box. Think Linux vs Mac.
Another option would be to see if you have a local maker/hackerspace, they will usually have at least one decent printer.
If the parent comment plans to print a lot of large parts, AMS will be useful. You can load multiple spools of the same filament, and a Bambu printer will switch spools when it runs out and continue printing without any intervention needed...
It has since proved its worth many times over, and the auto-refill is as much the reason as multiple colors/support filaments. I'm only holding off getting a second because I want to wait for a larger-format bed printer first.
If the Prusa XL wasn't so expensive for 5 toolheads I'd get that since its' much faster for filament switches and the minimal amount of waste it generates.
- Bambu is for people that like 3D printing.
- Voron is for people that like 3D printers.
If you want a box to arrive at your door that you can plug in and start printing, the Bambu is for you. If you want a printer you can call your own and tweak to your heart's content thanks to its wide open design, get a Voron. The price delta between the two is unlikely to be the deciding factor, especially when you look at kits other than LDO that maintain high quality but will cost you less. I went with Magic Phoenix and it has been great.
If you think you'll enjoy the experience of putting together a printer, get a prusa mk4 kit.
I got the MK3s kit, and spent a week of evenings putting it together. And I understood a lot about the printer, and was able to debug it.
Both have a modding community if that's your thing, but the reality is that both the bambu and the prusa mk4s will work out of the box, and have similar quality.
- It's amazing.
- I'm using it for a lot more (mostly just fun, not functional) things than I had originally expected.
- The kids aren't as interested in printing stuff out as I had expected. A little interest in the beginning but now it's mostly just my thing (as expected?).
- Printing terrain models is super fun & easy. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DRiqX20-68)
- I wish I had just buckled down and gotten the P1S from the get-go. (mostly because of noise and just general "cleanliness"). My upgrade kit arrives tomorrow.
- As best as I can tell, anything less than the P1P/P1S (Ender3 etc) requires a lot of tweaking/tuning/fussing to get nice prints. I get amazing looking prints with little/no effort.
- Friends bought one of these ~$300 "toybox" printers and it was so bad they couldn't get it to print anything reasonable and returned it. I've printed some STL files for them without issue.
I think plenty of printers cheaper than the P1P/P1S have caught up. I like the Kingroon KP3S Pro V2 for a cheaper printer myself. Even Bambu have their A1 mini that's less than a P1P.
The Ender 3 was popular for the time, but it's outdated now and is just coasting on its popularity and outdated recommendations. It's a fast moving market so it's hard to know what's new and good outside of what's popular.
You can do it a lot cheaper if you select another kit apart from LDO, but then you'd have to be a bit more knowledgeable on how to tell if a part isn't up to par.
Those printers are really how 3D printing should be.
After owning different printers I really believe that Bambulab is for printing and all other brands for tinkering.