I bet you guys are waiting for the day you can afford to upgrade to a newer printer model.
Not really. I see a lot of printers trying to get started, but when you look at the specs, it's pretty much the same machine. I chose what I chose based on the following:
Does it do both ABS and PLA? Can I run any other filaments (nylon, platic wood, etc)?
What kind of resolution does it have? 0.30 mm layers? How about 0.20mm? 0.10mm?
What size nozzels does it use? Can I easily change it from 0.40 to 0.25 or smaller?
Does it require special filament cartridges? How much is filament for it, anyway?
How big of a print can I do? How long does it take for the bed to heat?
Where is it made? How much is it? How much is shipping?
Is it actually in production, and being used, or is it still in kickstarter?
The one I have does PLA/ABS, out of the box. With an e3d hot end, there isn't much I can't print on it.
(Yes, the e3d will do fake wood, nylon, and a hand full of others, including a conductive plastic)
I ususally run at 0.30mm layers - but that's a matter of speed. I have used a smaller nozzle (0.25 opening) and done prints at 0.10 mm layers, but they take forever. They look nice, though.
Filament for the thing is a standard 1.75mm, available most anywhere. It's a bit expensive (2lbs for ~$50, without shipping) but a filament extruder would bring that price down - a lot (~$5/lb)
The bed is 6x6, so theoretically I can do a print that size. The cd plates are actually about 5 3/4 x 5 3/4, and I don't have too many problems, other than the nozzle clogging. And that's a very, very common problem for all these type of printers. I have reduced that drastically with the e3d, though.
The bed heats pretty slowly (about 15 min) but there are options to fix that, too. I just haven't seen a need for it. 15 min on the internet while waiting for the bed to heat is just about right to read the forums
It's made in the USA, so that's a plus. It was about $800 when I bought it, including shipping and some filament - but the newer models (the sd2 basic) are down to $399, last I checked (sans shipping and filament).
Most importantly, it was actually in production at the time. I watched their forums, and read the feedback on the initial models. A lot of people were surprised at how well it worked for the price. I got a lot of advice and information there before I actually ordered one - and a lot of advice getting it to print nicely (especially at 0.10mm ) and what to upgrade, in what order.
Just as importantly, however, is the fact that it is all open-source. I can look on thingiverse and find all the plastic parts - and in many cases, better versions of them. I can merge the latest changes in Marlin/Sprinter to update the controller. I'm not stuck using someones proprietary 'fork' of the software, and I can use any slicer and/or frontend I want. I'm told that I can start from scratch and build one for way less $$, but thats a little beyond me, mechanically. (Tools and I don't mix well)
All in all, I don't see any 'must-have' features in the newer printers, or even much of an upgrade over what I have. I do have to say that it's a hard machine to kill, too. I've screwed up just about everything you can screw up ("How exactly did you melt the hot end?"), but I've been able to get it running - and printing nicely- time and time again. Even when I blew up the controller board.
....Now if there were a cheap laser/resin printer, maybe.
