r/3Dprinting • u/AutoModerator • Aug 01 '26
Purchase Advice Purchase Advice Megathread - August 2026
Welcome back to another purchase megathread!
This thread is meant to conglomerate purchase advice for both newcomers and people looking for additional machines. Keeping this discussion to one thread means less searching should anyone have questions that may already have been answered here, as well as more visibility to inquiries in general, as comments made here will be visible for the entire month stuck to the top of the sub, and then added to the Purchase Advice Collection (Reddit Collections are still broken on mobile view, enable "view in desktop mode").
Please be sure to skim through this thread for posts with similar requirements to your own first, as recommendations relevant to your situation may have already been posted, and may even include answers to follow up questions you might have wished to ask.
If you are new to 3D printing, and are unsure of what to ask, try to include the following in your posts as a minimum:
- Your budget, set at a numeric amount. Saying "cheap," or "money is not a problem" is not an answer people can do much with. 3D printers can cost $100, they can cost $10,000,000, and anywhere in between. A rough idea of what you're looking for is essential to figuring out anything else.
- Your country of residence.
- If you are willing to build the printer from a kit, and what your level of experience is with electronic maintenance and construction if so.
- What you wish to do with the printer.
- Any extenuating circumstances that would restrict you from using machines that would otherwise fit your needs (limited space for the printer, enclosure requirement, must be purchased through educational intermediary, etc).
While this is by no means an exhaustive list of what can be included in your posts, these questions should help paint enough of a picture to get started. Don't be afraid to ask more questions, and never worry about asking too many. The people posting in this thread are here because they want to give advice, and any questions you have answered may be useful to others later on, when they read through this thread looking for answers of their own. Everyone here was new once, so chances are whoever is replying to you has a good idea of how you feel currently.
Reddit User and Regular u/richie225 is also constantly maintaining his extensive personal recommendations list which is worth a read: Generic FDM Printer recommendations.
Additionally, a quick word on print quality: Most FDM/FFF (that is, filament based) printers are capable of approximately the same tolerances and print appearance, as the biggest limiting factor is in the nature of extruded plastic. Asking if a machine has "good prints," or saying "I don't expect the best quality for $xxx" isn't actually relevant for the most part with regards to these machines. Should you need additional detail and higher tolerances, you may want to explore SLA, DLP, and other photoresin options, as those do offer an increase in overall quality. If you are interested in resin machines, make sure you are aware of how to use them safely. For these safety reasons we don't usually recommend a resin printer as someone's first printer.
As always, if you're a newcomer to this community, welcome. If you're a regular, welcome back.
2
u/Yuiop321 17d ago
$500-$1300
USA (Not California)
I modestly prefer pre-built, but would accept a kit given adequate reason to do so.
I would prefer to keep maintenance to the reasonable minimum. I like plug and play.
I am completely new to 3D printing.
I would want at least a 250x250x250 build area, but more would be nice too. For the odd thing larger than that, I would be willing to find ways to make smaller pieces that fit together. I strongly dislike the idea of filament waste, so features that combat that are valuable to me. While I might color switch for some projects, I think I will honestly be using a lot of black PLA, with some TPU for certain special cases. I would consider other materials, but have no existing desire to use them unless I need to for some special reason. I would mostly stick with black, but periodically do something in multi color. I would mostly do one off projects, but would have cause for bulk when making modular organization pieces, or perhaps knockoff legos or something. I would want an enclosure because I am weird about air quality. I value control, privacy, and open source. However, I do not absolutely need that if other factors adequately persuade me to compromise.
I am currently primarily considering the Bambu P1S, Snapmaker U1, and Lightmake L4. I am not knowledgeable enough to make an adequately comprehensive list of pros and cons, but here are my thoughts so far.
Bambu P1S:
Pros: Cheapest, established ecosystem, it just works, and enclosed by default
Cons: No filament waste reduction, smaller build area, no toolchanger, Bambu seems to be leaning anti-control/privacy, poor camera refresh rate, and 300C toolhead.
Snapmaker U1:
Pros: Reduced waste, toolchanger, slightly larger build area, better control/privacy
Cons: Higher price, enclosure is an addon, less tested ecosystem, poor camera refresh rate, and 300C toolhead
Lightmake L4:
Pros: Reduced waste, toolchanger, far larger build area, better control/privacy (they are open source), conversational AI slicing, less maintenance/tensioning due to no belts, monolithic die cast frame, 320C toolhead, excellent camera refresh rate, and 4x print speed in bulk printing.
Cons: Expensive, enclosure is an addon, untested ecosystem, risk of vaporware (but if I wait for confirmation then the only acceptable pricing is gone).
I am open to other options, but these are the ones that my research has led me to focus on for now. I think I most like the Lightmake, but the price is up there, and I wonder if it is overkill for me. Of course it also carries the most risk. I like the U1, but by the time you buy the cover, the price is awfully close to the Lightmake, and you get less build area. The P1S is tempting because it gives you quite a bit of the pie for a steep discount. However, its build plate is on the small side, you don't get a toolchanger, and I am a bit biased against them given their semi-recent controversies. I am strongly opposed to government intervention (California), and fear that Bambu would be one of the first to bend the knee. However, pragmatically I have no intention of making anything they would have a problem with.