Rock and a hard place......

Well, in this forum you're prolly gonna get a lot of votes for SD3. Mine too. I own one and have found it to be an... interesting experience. Like a finger in a light socket. Or a first wife. You know.

BUT, it is one of the more respected units and there is a great groupd of fellas here that can walk you back out of the most harrowing trauma. And, you may not even need to do many of the mods a lot of us do. The basic machine is competent as is.

I think buying a PrintrBot might lead to buyer's remorse. And the other two you mentioned are vaporware. If you start playing that waiting game you will always be charmed by the box just over the next hill.

Get in, get your feet wet and then dry. SD3 is a machine that will likely serve you well for many years, thus having some (some) residual value should you choose to sell it and bump up to an SD4 or Robo3D or whatever in a year.

Remember, it's 1982 and PCs (3D printers) are coming out of the woodwork. Guys are hacking them together in their garages an selling them off loading docks and the backs of trucks. There is little cross-platform compatibility, minimal software and they are NOT user friendly. Some will even bite you. In the butt.

Soon, an Apple or IBM will think that the scene has settled juuuust enough for them to gamble on an entry into the market. Then, everything that has happened to that point will be marginally important, user friendliness will begin to emerge and love will bloom.

In the meantime, your best bet is an open source platform, like the one(s) on which SD3 is based. Power to the people, dude. Love is all you need. And some decent filament.

Thanks for the advice. I guess I will just be sticking to my guns for now. Like you say, most of the cool and cheap "too good to be true" printers are just vaporware at the moment. I cannot wait to see what it will be like in the next 10-20 years. I will be running to Wal-Mart to pick up the latest 3D printer and edible filament will be on the grocery list! who knows whats to come.
Anyways, I am terrible for rambling on and getting off topic. I will take both of your advice and keep my focus on an SD3 while I wait. I don't like the idea of a wooden 3D printrbot or having to wait many months for an order to arrive.

Thanks again guys,
Brandon

...which could be a buying tip.

Hi Helifrek,

I can relate to your plight. Just remember, you don't have to use your machine every day. I bought my SD2 as a gap filler while the ortho design company I work for waited to buy a printer of their own. As luck would have it, I snagged an FDM 8000 off of CL for only 4500 USD. We also have since bought a smaller Uprint, and the owner's son impulse-bought a CUBE X machine. I am so deep in FDM, I don't know which way is up anymore. Since I am eating and breathing 3D printing all  the time, my trusty Solidoodle sat for over 3 months before I started to finally use it for fun stuff, instead of work related prototyping.

If you are into anything RC related, you will get TONS of use out of you machine! Just tail rotors, stabilizers, and whatever else will be fun to print out and use. Not to mention, you will have the ability to finally create your own unique parts instead of being at the mercy of a machine shop or some company like Shapeways.

I would say the Solidoodle is the best for the money. It's accurate, cheap, simple, and (usually) reliable. FDM will always have it's inherent problems, and all machines will experience them to some extent. Long story short, if you have the money, buy it and print whatever you want, whenever you want! You won't have to worry about your machine getting stir crazy while you're out flying ; )

-Joe.