3D Printing

I have an Ender 3 V1, so take this advice with a grain of salt.

I can't tell you if the deal is financially good or not, what I can tell you is what my printer is like and if it has problems.

I've had my Ender 3 since 2020, and it's been both a reliable work horse, and a un-reliable eWaste depending on the week, and how much work I need to do on it.

Out of the box it will work well enough, but without a bed leveler it was difficult to get a good first layer. You have that so you pass the minimum hardware requirements. The other upgrade I bought for it was a silent board upgrade (which you might already have) and a all metal heat break. If you don't have a all metal heat break, you will need a roll of PTFE Tubing since the end in the hotend will char and the filament will jam over time.

PEI Sheet is good, though if you print with high temps you may want a glass or a G-10 print bed. PEI Stick like Glue to PETG and will rip and destroy your bed.

As for my issues with Printing on the Ender 3. Well the Bowden system will cause for minor inconsistencies across the X-Axis. It took me years to find this out and another printer from Prusa to narrow this down, however it only impacts tiny parts of a print, and the variance is like +-0.005mm. Most people don't need this level of accuracy so it's fine, especially if it's your first printer.

Another issue I have with the auto bed leveling is the accuracy on the level. It only gives you 2 decimal points of accuracy 0.01, however the properly level my bed I found I needed 3, so manual bed leveling might still be required for you. Since I am always too close to the bed, or no close enough while printing.

With my grievances aside (a good 3D printable model will account for a lot of these faults), I don't hate my Ender 3. the CR-Touch allows me to use beds made out of other materials, rather than steel bed only that I get with the Prusa Mini. I've repaired this sucker more time than I can count, from belts to hot ends, to nozzles and more. And all the parts are easily obtainable from Amazon or even locally at my electronics store.

I personally consider the Ender 3 a hobbyist printer, I've personally expanded beyond printing for myself, so I needed something more reliable. But if you aren't printing day in day out 365 days a year, then it's a solid reliable machine which you will need to tinker with time to time, that is repairable with easily accessible parts. And for the price is cheaper than the alternative.

But there is a reason most print farms and printers use Prusa and (hoping for the long run for these folk) Bamboo Labs.