No limit on budget? Do you have a specific type of printing method you want to use? i.e. FDM, Stereolithography, SLS, LOM, EBM

Must be nice to have an unlimited budget To ask what is the "best" in anything is subjective isn't it? I mean one man's best is another man's worst, right?

1. What are your needs?
2. Do you like to fiddle with settings or do you want to push a button and just print?
3. Do you want to print in just PLA or other types of material, ABS, nylon etc?

I have a flashforge creator pro and it works awesome.... for my needs :)

With no limit, there are commercial laser metal sintering printers costing upwards of $50,000 US that are arguably the best.

If you are talking about plastic extrusion consumer grade printers, Makerbot 2 continues to get the best reviews, although others seem to have caught up and are gaining in popularity.

Alan

Realistically, I would recommend the Ultimaker 2. It only prints in one color, but does it quickly, accurately and quietly. Their tech support isn't great though.

You might also look at purchasing 2 Flashforge Creator Pro's. These 2 together would be about as fast as an Ultimaker 2, but if you have one go out for some reason, you wouldnt be out of being able to print.

The ultimaker can print at about 1/5 the layer height of most of the others. This gives great detail. This also give a lot longer prints. Printing at 100 microns is no issue with this printer and it can do so at the same speed as the others at 300 microns.

The price of the ultimaker 2 is about 2500 usd which is pretty high. Like I said, it may be better to get 2 flashflashforges. This is the debate going on in my mind this month anyway.

I would stay away from the last version of the makerbot for now. They have over engineered the extruder and have been having a lot of issues with it. Check their forums and other sources online. I would be buying this one if not for the issues.

Makergear M2 had awesome reviews on Amazon.com probably the best of all the 3d printers. Large print volume and it is cheaper than the Ultimaker 2 to boot... I would have bought it over the flashforge, but Amazon.ca does not sell them... I even tried to order off MakerGear's website, but the sales guy talked me out of it by saying they had a 3 week order back log... I ended up grabbing a flashforge creator pro for $990 on a black Friday sale....

http://www.makerstoolworks.com/

The MM3 is a great printer also. I have been to this shop and spoken to these guys. I just want an enclosed design to help with heating. A box is cheap though. The package only comes as a kit though, but it is a very well built one when completed.

If you dont want to worry about overhangs as much, I would suggest getting one that has fans by the hotend. You can mod the flashforge pretty easily to have this. I would be doing it if I choose that route.

I also dont like the Y axis moving on the build plate. If you think about it, you are adding weight to the build plate, as it prints. This is changing the properties of the printer far more than moving the Z axis as it prints. These run off of rubber belts and I would feel better about gravity working with me instead of against me. Just my thoughts and one of the reasons I believe that the Ultimaker\makerbot\flashforge route would give better prints in the long run and have less issues in many areas.

I would look for a printer with a 3 point bed leveling system instead of a 4 point system. These are some things that I have learned with the reprap Prusa I3 that I built. It will be donated to the School that I help so that they can enjoy it as much as I did.

I have also looked at the laser options that are coming out. The main issue that I had was the cost of the resin and the process after the printing is complete. Also, the tray does degrade over time, and it will need to be replaced. There are a lot of steps to taking care of one of these that I was not familiar with, so I opted for the route I was more familiar with.

I like my Xyz Printing - Di Vinci 1.0 single color, hands down for $499 it prints all my parts and other stuff with no issues.. about a year old,no issues .. I just looked at the Di Vinci Jr at CES 2015 which is coming out in 1 month its a bit smaller, but faster for $349. They also have a 2 color and a single color with built in Scanner for $799. some are not fans, but for an entry level printer it doesn't break the bank and it does what I need..

Thanks a lot guys... So many suggestions. I'm now constrained to buy only the Makerbot products. Which one might be better? Makerbot Replicator 5th Gen or Makerbot Replicator 2X? and Why?

5th gen has many issues with the extruder/hotend. its a great printer otherwise but if the extruder/hotend has issues, you just have a pretty box. For that price, I would go with an ultimaker 2.

It has a larger build volume, faster speed, better layer resolution. pretty much everything you would want.

Yeah, I was actually interested in Ultimaker 2. But I'm constrained to go for Makerbot products. As far as the smart extruder problem is concerned, I found this:

http://3dprint.com/41825/makerbot-smart-extruder-clog/

So which one will be better? 2x or 5th Gen?

Get a maker bot rep 2x , it's pretty much the replicator 2 with a dual extruder head. If I knew what I knew now I would want the replicator 2x

Thanks a lot Ameralis and Josh. The information was very useful...