So which one do you use plus cost and ease of use for a beginner
Firstly I echo what Keith says, buy the biggest you can afford, there's a temptation to buy small as a 'test' but then you're stuck with a small printer that can only print small things.
So mine is the Flashforge Adventurer 5M currently £269 on amazon, to which you'll need to add some filament at about £15. The printer has a build plate of 22cm x 22cm and up to 22cm height and can print very fast but ignore that, just because it can doesn't mean you should, most of what you print will be pretty slow. Slower usually means better quality and with less failures. The biggest issue I have with faster printing is the model coming loose and being dragged about by the printhead, patience grasshopper as the old master said..
The printer came almost completely built with just a couple of things to attach and transit screws to remove.
Do a search on Amazon for Flashforge to see the range of bits you can get. I bought extra printheads and buildplates for mine but from AliExpress as they were much cheaper.
For me it's very easy to use but then I had some previous experience, I can say it is an order of magnitude easier to use than my first one and better at doing what it does too. Flashforge have their own software and update it often, same with the firmware in the printer which btw connects via wifi to the pc.
I have a friend who was gifted a Bambu Labs printer, he had no previous experience at all and was able to get going very easily, Bambu Labs also have their own user library of printables and are another company that seems to give good service.
I can't say how easy it would be for you, that's something only you can tell but if you have the money to spare and the time to play then a printer can be a fun/useful thing to have. You'd use it loads for the first few weeks and then the glow wears off and you'll use it less but for stuff you need, as with all new toys.
Things to note, printers are noisy and can be smelly so put it somewhere it's not going to annoy the rest of the house.
Filament comes in many types. The most commom is PLA which is easy to use and relatively strong but does not do well in warm/sunlit conditions (I once printed a bracket for a dashcam that sagged under the heat of the sun). A newer type PetG is much the same but does better in warmer places, I much prefer this.
Avoid ABS at least to begin with as it needs high temperatures to print and an enclosed printer to keep the ambient temperature up while printing. Later if you decide you need it you can usually fix up an enclosure for the printer yourself.
Filament needs to be kept dry if you are going to store it for a time so plastic box with moisture absorbing packs is a good thing to have. Filament with moisture in it will not print well.
Youtube is both your friend and enemy re printers, loads of info and advice for all types and models but youtubers have to make content to they move on quickly and the next printer is always the bees knees.
Two things mentioned in earlier posts.
https://www.thingiverse.com/ is a great place to find printable models of almost anything.
https://www.tinkercad.com/ is a great place to build your own models - by using preset shapes you can build just about anything, it's easy to learn but a lot more powerful than it seems once you get to know it.
