Keep in mind that you can nearly always modify a prinyer after you purchase it. Lidar is going to be hard to add on after the fact, but IMO is unnecessary. There are tons and tons of camera monitoring systems you can use. You can also add filament runout sensors, spring steel beds, better part cooling, an enclosure, a direct dribe extruder, basically anything extruder related, etc.

For your purchase, I would look at a printer that is either set up the way you want out of the box or has the physical characteristics you want, since some of those are going to be harder to modify.

• build volume. Think about this in all three dimensions
• heated bed. I would personally avoid printers without a heated bed
• do you want a CoreXY, delta, or cartesian?
• a rigid frame
• a high quality motion system. You can swap between rollers, rods, and linear rails, but doing so is a pain
• mechanical bed leveling is a huge quality of life thing. Many printers that advertise auto leveling can’t actually level the bed relatively to the gantry the extruder rides on