admin answers:

Like most things the answer is more complicated than the question.

Easiest printer is the Up! By pp3dp.com. You just open the box, load the plastic, and out pops beautiful prints, for $2700

The best printer in the Thing-o-Matic price range is the Rapman 3.1 by http://www.bitsfrombytes.com/content/rapman It’s $1275 but has 4 times the build area of a Thing-o-matic, but has a MUCH better extruder

The Cheapest kit is the Makergear Prusa Mendel at $825 http://www.makergear.com/products/3d-printers. It has 4 times the build area of the Thing-o-matic and has a geared stepper extruder (13-1 reduction).

Of course you could get the parts and put a Prusa Mendel RepRap together yourself for around $550.

I have been in this community for a while now, and I always suggest the cheapest kit, or self sourcing. The community is here to help you get going.
Before you purchase a Thingomatic go into the google groups for Makerbot and read the issues people are having. Then go into the #RepRap IRC and ask people the issues they are having with their Bit’s From Bytes and Makergear products.

The record will speak for itself