Somewhat related I am thinking of picking up a Bambu A1 as my first foray into 3d printing ... seems to be a really solid move can anyone comment?
I upgraded from my buggy, annoying Ender 3 Pro to a Bambu A1, and it's been pretty wonderful so far. I haven't had any need to "babysit" it, and I can trust it to just start a print, and finish it when I get back. It self-levels the bed, etc.
I got the most basic model - a single feed for filament, etc. I recommend it.
People are right that you shouldn't spend too much money, but don't spend too little, either. If you think to yourself, "Well, $300 is a lot for a 3D printer, I'll just get an Ender 3 for $200, or a used Ender 3 for $100", you'll end up getting significantly more frustrated if all you want to do is 3D print things.
Go for it, don't spend a lot of money though on the first one. If you enjoy it then figure out the next one to spend the money on.
The big issue for me right now is that a lot of the smaller bed printers can't really do some of the larger projects I want to do like wall hanging systems or drawer organization systems.
Also Bambu the company mostly is fine, but there's some worry that they'll eventually lock people into using only their filament, but doesn't seem to have happened yet. So buyer beware.
The new X2c just came out. Consider buying a used X1c someone is selling to upgrade.
Good choice, keep in mind that you'll probably spend more on filament rolls if you get hooked
Get an old Prusa MKIII and stick a Revo in there, then learn everything there is to know about 3D printing without spending a fortune or getting locked in. Once you have processed a couple of rolls of filament you'll be much wiser about your needs and that would be the moment to pull the trigger on a 'proper' printer.
Bambu AI is a very good printer (we have 10's of them, and 10's of Prusas as well), but the Bambu eco-system is not ideal and they push really hard to get you to use their cloud connect, the printers have cameras and send footage to servers in China if you get them connected to the point that they are usable. In contrast, there are many open source solutions that will connect a Prusa to your LAN and allow various degrees of remote management (Octoprint, for instance).
Prusa's are extremely hackable, I've adapted them to do all kinds of stuff they were never meant for (1x1x.25 meter for instance, or standard width and height but 65 cm tall). Bambu's are quite closed, though in theory you could hack on their slicer but it's infuriatingly bad compared to the alternatives.
bambus are great in the "just print stuff" market (no modding needed, everything comes properly configured, the calibration is done automatically, profiles are tested, etc.)
There are some controversies about them locking their printers to their own software and some other issues though.
Bambu and Prusa are the two default picks. They're both very common choices for first 3D printers, they're both about as high quality as you'll find without spending substantially more money, and they're both about as idiot-proof as 3D printers gets. I personally prefer Prusa as a bit more open and good for hacking on, but Bambus target end users a bit better and have their own advantages. You can't really go wrong either way.
I will say that the answer may change a bit depending on what you're hoping to print. If your goal is, for example, high detail miniatures for tabletop gaming, you may want to be looking into something like SLA printers. Or if you need a specific exotic material, or if you anticipate needing multiple filaments, the answer similarly changes.