In one of their more recent asshat moves:

https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/developer-re-enables-3d-printer-features-that-bambu-lab-disabled-firm-promptly-threatens-legal-action-orcaslicer-bambulab-project-now-shuttered

The only prebuilts or kits I recommend currently are from Prusa. Fairly open and they have a strong track record for reliability.

If you’re willing to build, you might take a look at the Voron project. I hear good things about them, though reliability is largely up to your mechanical and electronics skills. I believe one or two of their builds are roughly in your price range.

That said, my wife recently surprised me by preordering the Flashforge Creator 5 Pro (Not really in your price range) as a gift. They seem to have a fairly solid track record for reliability, though they are not much better than Bamboo in terms of openness. They have other printers and I’ve heard mostly good things about their AD5X and Adventure 5M Pro which are more in line with your budget.

My own opinion, they were too expensive and the EV charging network wasn’t built up enough to prevent people from feeling like the available range options weren’t large enough.

I wouldn’t be so sure about that. If BYD were allowed to import their entire fleet to the US they would be at the top of my interest list on price alone even if the US prices were double what Ive seen in new articles.

I’m personally in need of a new vehicle and everything, both the pickups I need and the passenger cars, are too expensive and has too much shit I don’t need installed by default. I’m literally holding my car together with ducktape and bailing wire waiting for the Slate Truck to come out.

I think that if Slate Auto actually pulls off a inexpensive light duty EV pickup, and it proves reliable, it may completely change the landscape of the American auto market. I’m pretty sure that Ford and maybe Jeep will survive, but I’m not sure the others will unless they can start kicking out lower priced vehicles quickly.