I love my Micro Swiss dual gear extruder. I have some homemade filament made from PET bottles that won’t print on a single gear extruder but prints perfectly on the dual gear extruder.

I have a couple S1s that I like. They don’t have a built in fan or hygrometer like the new ones, but they seem to work. You can print mounts for cheap hygrometers if you want (not necessary but interesting to see the humidity change with the dryer running). I usually run the dryer with whichever spool I’m using when printing and it seems to keep the filament in good condition.

I actually had a pretty good experience with my Ender 3 V2. A lot of the cheap printers (including the Enders) work just fine out of the box, but you have to temper your expectations as a beginner. Don’t expect a 2D printer experience from a 3D printer. Even the more expensive machines require some maintenance and tuning from time to time. Most printers are going to require at minimum some bed leveling and minor calibration to be running the way they should (tweaking flow rates, calculating e-steps, etc). The Bambu printers look to be some of the most ready out-of-the-box printers, but even they are going to need some maintenance from time to time. There are a lot of consumable parts in 3D printers that need changing out from time to time (nozzles, thermistors, heater cartridges, etc). Some printers make that easier, but it’s not fool proof. As a beginner, I’d honestly recommend getting a cheaper bed slinger to learn the ropes. Learning to troubleshoot on a cheaper printer with inexpensive replacement parts can be a good thing Make sure to get something that’s new and not used starting out (unless you are into some major troubleshooting). You also probably stand to benefit from one of the more popular printers with a strong online support community as most problems will have been encountered by someone already. Hopefully that’s helpful. Good luck if you decide to jump in!

I’m a newbie, but working on controlling some leftover smd5050 LED light strip that I didn’t want to waste.