3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io
There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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No Ads / Spamming / Guerrilla Marketing
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is 
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This is assuming you're interested in an FDM printer, and might not apply as much if you're shopping for resin printers.
I like this list of 3d printers, it is maintained by users of the 3D Printing discord server, who I know have first hand experience with multiple printers. Unfortunately it's not been updated with the latest models, such as Sovol SV07 and Ender 3 v3 SE/KE.
There are sadly a lot of fake reviews and paid youtubers out there, so it's difficult to do your own research when it comes to buying tech nowadays. I fell for this and ended up with an Ender 3 v2 which I wasn't happy with before I had spent an additional €300 and many hours on modding it (though I didn't go for the cheapest mods, it could've been improved for less). Don't trust anyone who has a strong preference for a single brand. Most cheap Chinese brands have managed to design both a few good or at least decent printers, and several bad/flawed printers.
Creality is probably the most known brand when it comes to budget printers. They got a good reputation with the original Ender 3, but after establishing their position as market leaders they began using lower quality components, and appeared to have non-existing QC. IMO they also failed to keep up with the competition and ended up selling outdated and overpriced printers for several years, while paying youtubers for good reviews. Ender 3 S1 was a step in the right direction, though a bit expensive and still a gamble with QC. Ender 3 v3 looks quite promising and actually competitively priced, so hopefully they've got their shit together again but I think it's too early to tell.
Do not buy from Amazon if you have other options. Their permissive returns policy can be a double edged sword in this case. 3d printers are high precision machines, and with companies competing to make them as cheap as possible there's always a risk of a manufacturing/QC fault. It can be something really subtle, like holes drilled 1mm off or a bent aluminium extrusion, which is difficult to "debug" even for an experienced user but near impossible for a beginner. These faulty printers are often returned to Amazon where they are repackaged to look like new and sold to some other unsuspecting customer. This is less of an issue with new models, but it has happened that people have had to return multiple printers before getting a fully working unit when buying a model that has been on the market for longer.
When you get your 3d printer, find a comprehensive guide to calibrating it and go through every step. Don't touch the build plate with your hands more than necessary, fingerprints ruin adhesion.
Literally all this. I own a ender 3 v2 and know a couple other people with them. I got mostly lucky with mine, the extruder broke a little earlier than most, however. I went down the upgrade hole a d realized I could have bought a better printer. But don't let that dissuade you from trying one, like others have said, their QA is all over the place. You may get a gem or a lemon, it's a crapshoot. From scouring the internet, the ones I see that get the most love in the more budget friendly space are the Prusa Mini and the Sovol SV06. I jumped in a little deeper and got a Bambulabs P1P and couldn't be happier for $600 out the door @microcenter.
My advice is, watch a bunch of reviews, but instead of buying into what they're saying about the printer itself, note the features each printer has and see what ones interest you the most, then look for the printer that has those features.
More advice? You got it, buddy. Don't do what I see a lot of people suggest and go out and buy an Ender 3x vx and also buy a metric ass ton of upgrades because someone had them in a review or suggested it on the internet. Set it up and print some calibration cubes, 1st layer tests, temp towers and the like to see how that printer actually works. Once you get more experience under your belt, then maybe look at upgrading. You'll know what feature it is you want/need, or you'll have a problem in need of solving that only time and currency can fix.
Learn the basics. Learning how to tram (level) your print bed is critical for success. Being new and relying on a self leveling unit (without learning how to tram) isn't a great idea, because they're not foolproof. Think of a feature upgrade like a CR or BL touch for an Ender as a "tool" and not a "fix" and you're light years ahead already. 3d printing is a great hobby but like any other hobby you're going to fail few times before uou get it right. Learn how to verify your chassis and all axis are square. Learn how to calibrate your particular unit.