I pay a premium for Prusa because I like their philospohy of making as much of it as possible in house, and their general openness, not just in code, but in how their business functions.

My first 3D printer was a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic. I'm very willing to spend if I think it will benefit the entire ecosystem I'm interested in.

Also, with Prusa, I get to feel like I'm DIYing it, but with great and detailed instructions, and an all-in-one parts sourcing. They are also great at supporting their devices after the fact, which is sometimes necessary, because they often come out a little too hot.

I paid a premium for a Prusa.

Their documentation and assembly instructions were phenomenal, the build quality has been solid, and from day one I've been having good prints and haven't yet had a print fail.

Maybe the other printers do that too these days, but I wanted a tool and not a project, at least in this case.

Beyond that I also just wanted to support a company with values I support, and have put a lot out into the world that other companies are piggy-backing off of. So yes, maybe another company can also put motors on a frame, but I felt like I was supporting something important when picking Prusa.

Personally, to support a European manufacturer with a massive track record of giving a fuck.

Their history of open source software, technically sound hardware, and excellent support is extremely impressive, even outside the lens of 3d printing these are rare and valuable traits.

Which open source ones would you recommend?