<p dir="ltr">DIY can be rewarding if you're in it for an education in 3D printing. There's a steep learning curve if you want to build your machines yourself, but when you've done it a few times you find that fixing and maintaining a printer is cheaper and easier. </p>
<p dir="ltr">If you just want it to work out of the box, then I would get a wanhao like Daniel said. I've worked on some high end machines too, and I can tell you that there is nothing there that justifies the price of a lulzbot or a makerbot. They areĀ actually inferior in Their performance to the wanhao. They are built from the same exact Chinese parts and usually run proprietary firmware that limits what they can really do, compared to an open source machine, which knows no such limitations.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Some people buy a new Harley Davidson, and some people build custom choppers..</p>
<p dir="ltr">I would compare the wanhao to a Honda bike. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Decide which one you are.</p>