Whats the go to 3D printers in the 2K and 5K range?

Here are 3D printers I’ve been looking at:
Best in Quality, definition, ease of software and good customer service.

Replicator Desktop 3D Printer (5th Generation)
Replicator Desktop 3D Printer (5th Generation)
Shop MakerBot for the highest quality desktop 3D printers for educational, professional, and home use.
View on store.makerbot.com
$2,499

CubePro 3D Printer | Technical Specifications | 3D Systems
CubePro 3D Printer | Technical Specifications | 3D Syste…
Cubify is your central hub for all-things-3D printing. Find custom 3D printed designs, printers, scanners, software & more. Get there easy. Learn more now!
View on www.3dsystems.com
$4399.00

Also look at Ditto Pro by Tinkerine $1899 USD

That’s cool. Built volume is a bit smaller at 8.4 x 6.3 x 8.7 in.
Still looks good at $1,899.00 USD.

I’m a big Fan of Lulzbot. Now that’s its dialed in its very hands off. Good for larger more structural prints or just to check overall form.
https://www.lulzbot.com/store/printers/lulzbot-taz-6
$2,500



For more intricate parts or model needs. This is hard to beat.
http://formlabs.com/products/3d-printers/form-2/
$3500

We had a similar budget and picked the Ultimaker 2 Extended for our office. Big enough print bed to do large models, and on the whole good results.

+1 on the Lulzbot. We recently went from an older Makerbot to the Taz5, and it’s amazing. We upgraded the Taz5 to the dual material extruder, and now we can print hard, and soft in one part.

I just ordered some HIPS filament to run in the second extruder so that we can have dissolvable supports, which hopefully will solve my least favorite thing about these desktop printers. Removing the supports!!
We use Cura (free) for the 3D prep software and have very good results. We did just buy Simplify3D to prep our data, but are still working a few kinks out of our settings when we use it.

The nice thing is, that comes in a lower end of your budget.

I had looked at a FormLabs Form 2 printer to get nicer looking prints, but being practical, a good percent of what we use the printer for is for our engineers to prove out mechanical solutions, so we needed a more stable print material.

Yeah the FormLabs Form 2 built volume at 5.7” x 5.7” x 6.9” is my only concern as we would need it to be slightly bigger as in the Cube Pro & Replicator.

The built volume on the uPrint SE is not that bigger.

Any reason why anyone would buy this over the desktop versions with similar built volumes?

Considering value-for-money I recommend the Ultimaker 2.
It has a good build volume, dual extruder and these machines are very reliable.
I have an Ultimaker Original that has been heavily used for 5 years, with only some minor upgrades and repairs having been needed it still works quite well. Customer service, spare parts availability and online community support are great.
The Makerbot printers are very good as well.