It depends on what balance of time/money you want to spend.
I couldn't afford much so got one of the Prusa i3 6 inch kits from MakerFarm, put it together and have had a few problems to deal with (I highly recommend MakerFarm BTW - they're in Utah, very responsive and good customer service) mostly related to trying to print with PLA (instead of ABS) and not starting out with the right power supply.
I'm in Escondido (San DIego County). So far most of the folks in So. Cal are a bit spread out but probably more up in Orange County, a few Inland Empire folks...
