I think it’s important to remember that hobby level printers often require some amount of hobby level tinkering. There are many plug and print options available, and anything is extendable if you want to put the work into it (i.e. don’t fret if multicolor or multi-material are available yet or not, it’s always possible to mod a printer later). Any new cutting edge tech will likely have a bunch of bugs to work out, so expect some hurdles when adopting it.

If you want something to print here and there, it might be worthwhile to look at makerspaces near you. Let a shop handle the tinkering and machine upkeep and yet have something ready when you need it. Makerspaces often have a ton of additional resources so you aren’t stuck to just plastics.

But having worked with numerous off the shelf printers and finally building a Voron, I think it’s important for any printer owner to know how their machine is pieces together/how it works. Then, when things go wrong you’re able to fix them without much fuss. You don’t need to be an engineer to operate one, but it helps to know what’s holding each piece together and where the moving parts travel in order to quickly fix issues.