this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
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I bought the Bambu P1S 3d printer. I've never 3d printed and knew very little except for the dozen or so YouTube videos recommending it and how to use it, learned about filaments and everything else I now know I learned on the way.
I could have gotten one of a dozen <$500 3D printers. But would that just leave me wanting in the future? Will I be stuck with a cheaper tool after learning and experiencing the ceiling of it?
I see this mentality working on people who aren't interested in a hobby enough to justify a large purchase, people just trying out and see if they're interested kinda thing. But what if the subpar gear turns the person off from their poor experience?
I think there are two types of people you could consider in this scenario.
The first being an individual who has a genuine interest in a hobby, they research what gear would be the best for what they want to do, and then puts in the work to gain expertise.
The second type is where I think the derision is focused. These are the people who walk into a store, and either ask for the top of the line gear or just buy whatever is the most expensive, without putting any thought into it, and don't really care about the hobby. In other words, the hobby is performative, and the gear becomes a status symbol.
I don't have any ill will towards someone buying the best gear for their needs, regardless of skill level, but if you're just doing it for show, I think that's fair game for mockery.
Huh I guess I never seen anyone buy a $1000 3d Printer and never use it, or use it to show off.
But I have seen people buy expensive snowboards (multiple) and being a very subpar snow boarder.
Yeah, I mean I wouldn't necessarily attribute it to someone buying such a specific type of tech, but in many other hobbies it wouldn't be unusual
A printer is an interesting example, because for many people a 3d printer is just a means to an end, there is a big difference between hot rodding a used $70 ender in order to print 10 minute benches, and buying a prusa or bambu in order to manufacture parts for their business.
These two sides get conflated a lot, with conversations leaning between them and people missing the other sides point, there is a sliding scale with a lot of hobbies with this I think.
Something like skateboarding as an example, has a much larger percentage of hobbyists versus professionals, so the conversation is easier to maintain.
I was thinking the same thing, sport related hobbies. Because I dabbled in snowboarding as a youth and spent around $400 on my board and gear. My coat was $100. I spent way too much on a sport that I knew after 2 seasons that I didn't want to do it anymore. I could've spent more but I'm glad I spent just enough to have good gear to get the good honest attempt to get into it but not enough to have a garage full of boards.
Its a trade off between knowing enough about the hobby to buy the right gear for what you actually need, is it a huge 3D printer? Something that prints really fast? Or may be you need something that can print multiple filaments like a Prusa XL?
Buying the wrong thing when its expensive for you can be worse than buying something cheap that you can learn from. Obviously not everybody needs this learning experience, but most people benefit from it.
Espresso is the big one I see people trying to go hard right out the bat. Typically they will by a Linea Mini or a Decent and then pair it with what has become a shit espresso grinder (as grinders have moved on massively since it came out) like a Niche Zero. Its like the opposite to what you actually need to make good espresso, and something like a Decent has such a deep configuration option working out what does what is very tough. If you aren't actually using those options then why did you buy the Decent lol, its entire selling point is that level of configuration.
Espresso in order of importance is water quality > beans > grinder > technique > espresso machine. As long as the espresso machine has a reasonably consistent temperature and pressure, so a OPV and PID both calibrated properly, it will make good to great espresso, that's all it needs. These start at a 1/6th of the cost of the two espresso machines I listed above, less if you buy second hand.
I see you really like coffee lol. I like coffee too. But my interest stopped at "drip this and refrigerate it, add ice in the morning". No sugar. But I am not particular about coffee taste, as long as it isn't sour.
Hmm but now that I've got your attention, what would you recommend to upgrade the palatability of my cold brew?
What's your water and beans like? Do you grind at home already, if so what grinder do you have?
Oooo, I just use ground beans and toss them on two filters and run the coffee pot. My water is kinda hard, we have an espresso machine (breville batista touch) that had us do a water test with our filtered water. If I'm doing espresso we try to do local seller beans from Fred Meyers.
I don't mind espresso, but an Americano just tastes like coffee that's been watered down, or too bitter which I don't mind. But just a drip has been a better taste for me. I'm not extremely picky but I would love to get a better taste because I've definitely noticed the difference in coffee beans.
BTW I drink my coffee straight. No cream no sugar most times. And I love it iced.
Sorry for the slow reply, wanted to take my time writng a response for you.
Is there any particular reason you are using two filters? The modern thinking is often centered around faster draws to get less astringency that is present in over extraction, can be seen as bitterness. If the water is sitting in the grounds for longer, everything else being equal, will have higher extraction up to a point.
Is your water tasty to drink as is? Can you get hold of Volvic bottled water? That would be my preferred choice for a taste test, both as plain water vs. your water, and to make an espresso with. Obviously there are far cheaper methods to improve water, but as a quick and very simple taste test you cannot beat a one off using bottled water to understand if you can make improvements. Once you know if you can, then you can look at the most cost effective way to do so.
For your beans, since you buy from a local seller do they also operate a cafe? How does their cafe prepared drinks (assuming they actually do a good job with these) compare to yours? Its a good starting point to understand how good a cup a cafe can get out of your beans.
Thank you for the replies. I appreciate it a lot. You got me thinking hard on coffee now. I'm not sure why I used two filters. Maybe to stop it from flowing over the edges of the drip machine. But now that I think of it, why not use a pour over method? I looked up that hand grinder and see the pour over equipment bought frequently with it.
I might have to try that with the water. But my water is very palatable. I live near Seattle, and my water dispenser is filtered through an insinkerator dispenser, which also does my boiling water.
You are very lucky with that water, saves so much effort and not a small amount of cash to sort it out otherwise.
Best of luck for your search for that god shot off coffee!