[0cf8612b2e1e]

Guess this is as good an excuse as any.

What are the recommendations for printers now? Bucket it by price range, so $0-200, $200-400, $400-800, $800+

Any notable features which can be a big value add? Offline is obviously a requirement given how the winds are blowing.

[Toutouxc]

Bambu Lab A1 Mini is around $200 here in Europe and as long as you can fit into the 180mm cube print volume, it is wonderful. Requires zero configuration and zero prior knowledge. Calibrates itself, reminds you about maintenance. Looks as unthreatening as a 3D printer can. Supports offline/LAN mode.

[WillAdams]

The Elegoo Centauri Carbon (~$300) is the best value for single filament (their promised Filament Switching System has yet to be released despite being promised for Q3 last year), since DJI revenge-invested in them for the sake of the engineers who left that company to start Bambu Labs. It has an enclosure and heated bed which are helpful for printing specialty/engineering filaments.

Flashforge AD5X (also ~$300) is the best value for single extruder multi-filament since it forgoes the expense of material to enclose it which works well for PLA (an enclosure is easily fabricated and installed). Note that they had a recent social media gaffe where they claimed that they would report manufacture of weapons, but have since walked that back.

I own both of the above, and print from USB sticks w/o connecting to my network --- I'm pretty sure that's possible with most if not all printers.

The Snapmaker U1 (~$1,000) is the most striking value for multi-filament since it minimizes "poop" (extra filament extruded when changing colours).

If you want to support opensource, then one of Prusa's (they cover a wide range of price points) --- they have been pushing the "INDX" printhead technology which allows fast/efficient switching between different filaments.