TLDR: thinking about getting a new printer with a budget of maybe €1200, mostly for toys and hueforge. Preferably FOSS
I got an Ender 3 Pro three years ago as my first printer. Over the years I've printed plenty toys and some occasional functional parts, and it's been mostly pretty good. It's developed problems now and then, but I've been able to fix them.
I've recently played a bit with HueForge, it's this software that allows you to print really nice multicolour images by blending filament colours. This is doable by printing in super thin layers. It worked really well on the prusa mk4s at work, but not so much on my printer. Extrusion is just not consistent enough after swapping colours, or when there's a lot of retractions/deretractions.
I've gotten a bit tired of all the limitations the Ender 3 Pro has. I was looking at a Prusa mk4s with mmu3, since I enjoyed assembling the mk4 at work, and it's been working so well, even for the colleagues who don't know much about 3d printing. Although, for personal use, do I really want to pay the premium price for that level of reliability and longevity? A lot of budget brands do offer multi colour capable printers these days.
But I also feel pretty tempted to try building a Voron, and while I was looking at those I saw some IDEX printer that look so cool lol. And there's also the Enderwire that can make use of my old Ender 3 Pro...
Please help.
Update: I went and ordered a QIDI Q1Pro. My partner and I agreed to get a Voron kit and build it together for Christmas, I'll figure out what multi-mterial system to go for after that. Hopefully the Bondtech INDX
Why a mk4s instead of a Core One?
There's a lot of right answers, but a QIDI or a Core One would probably be my two options here.
You mentioned an IDEX, are you interested in multi material, like combining PLA and PVA, or are you interested in multi color, like with an MMU?
I mostly print PLA and I don't care too much about print speed, so I didn't think the core one will really bring much advantage.
As for looking at IDEX, it's more because it looks really cool. I'd like to be able to combine pla with tpu or petg, but realistically I don't think I need it enough to justify the cost. I'll get a lot more use out of a multi colour system like an MMU.
Core One has a slightly larger print surface, and the enclosure means it can print more advanced materials.
Prusa is likely going to continue building off the core platform, so it'll probably be more upgradable than the mk4s.
Also, I think it looks nicer, like an appliance instead of a project.
I overlooked the upgrade aspect, good point