Yeah, I went the cheap route and bought a off brand printer, and while I have got it to where I can print relatively reliably, it still takes a lot of tweaking, in addition to me adding things like a BL touch for bed leveling , a new print surface, and a Raspberry Pi running OctoPi.
On the plus side, I've learned a lot about 3d printing (and even done some custom "modelling", although it's mostly taking existing designs and tweaking). Also, I have a larger print area than what would have gotten with something like the Prusa Mini. It's come in handy for printing parts for old machines, like mounting brackets for SCSI2SD / BlueSCSI boards in an SE, External enclosures for my RaSCSI, SSD adapter sleds for old machines that expect full size HDs, a new back plate for my Mystic upgraded Color Classic.
Of course, it's also why I'm hoping we get enough people to get some platinum colored PLA for 3d printing:
https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/platinum-pla-for-macs-and-apple-s.561/
I'm not sure I've paid for the 3d printer (and all the extra parts, filament, hair spray, Ikea lack tables for an enclosure, etc), but I'd probably do it again.