Can someone comment from a personal experience how justified is the jump from $500 Creality CR10 to $3.5K or even $5K printer that seemingly uses similar principles?
I recommend people start with a simple off-the-shelf printer. (Ender 3 on the cheap end, Prusa on the expensive end).
Automatic bed leveling is a huge quality of life improvement IMO (Prusa comes with, can be added to others). Other factors are size, speed, and filament range (temperature range, part cooling, extruder and drive, dual extruders, enclosure, enclosure heating).
I’m a tinkerer and don’t mind modifying printers. If I’m printing a random ABS part, it’s still going on my first printer. If printing a large part, it can only go on the SecKit. For a random PLA part, it’s going on one of the Enders. If I need two filaments (at once), it can only go on the FF, etc.
If you don’t own a printer now, start with an Ender 3 and a PEI spring steel sheet or a Prusa. If you start with the Ender, I’d also add auto bed leveling early on.
If your usage indicates the need for a more expensive printer, it will reveal itself and by the time it does, you can keep the cheaper printer, sell it for 50%, or cannibalize it for parts.
The CR-10 is fun to tinker with. When everything is in place and the printer is properly tuned, it prints well. My main usage for it is less printing parts I care about and more tinkering and learning about the printer itself though, as it's not very reliable (some are, some aren't - I suspect it's cheap because of poor manufacturing and QC).
The Prusa, on the other hand, rarely requires any maintenance apart from the normal stuff -- checking belt tension, replacing nozzles, cleaning the print bed, etc, and with less frequency ensuring that all screws are tight and doing a bit more deep cleaning. That's it. It prints well every time. It's both a pleasure and a bore, since I can just send stuff to it and it will chug away without intervention.
Their support is stellar as well, and everything they do is open source. Most consumer printers you see around are considered i3 clones (from the original Prusa).
I don't know what a few extra thousand $s will give you. I imagine corporate-level support, etc. For the hobbyist, you can't go wrong with Prusa.
They are now taking pre-orders for a larger, CoreXY printer. I'm trying hard to justify not shelling out for one.
This is one person whom I don't mind one bit that he's getting rich (at least I think he is; hell, I hope he is). His money comes from excellent and actually open/free hardware designs and software.
He's the kind of hero we need.