Hi, I have a MIRACO 3D scanner for modeling. I have been considering buying a new 3D printer recently, and I hope to choose between Bambu P1S and Prusa Mk4. I have learned about the parameters of these two brands and corresponding models in various forums, but everyone has different opinions. The price difference is not big, so there is no problem in buying Prusa, but I want to hear everyone’s suggestions on ease of use and cost performance. Has anyone used these two printers? I want to hear everyone’s real thoughts and suggestions, not sales pitches.
I mainly print some daily items for classroom teaching. The size is 30mm-150mm, and I hope the printing speed is fast enough and the printing quality is high enough. Another thing is the ease of use of the product, which can be used without too much learning and training.
When choosing any piece of technology, the key question is what’s important to you and to what degree. Full disclosure, I don’t own a Prusa yet, but it’s likely to be my next printer unless Bambu changes its approach and starts valuing its customers more. It’s like buying a car from a dealership versus a private luxury brand. At a dealership, the salesman probably forgets your name as soon as you drive off the lot. In contrast, a luxury brand tends to view their customers as a relationship. Bambu seems more focused on the next sale, while Prusa is passionate about their technology and aims to make every owner enthusiastic about their product. It should be noted that in the first six months, this is how Bambu behaved but success appears to have gone to their head and/or they are overwhelmed with the volume of customer support issues and can’t keep up.
However, I’m sure you realize that the question posted here will be heavily biased. Nobody wants to admit that their ugly baby is ugly, and Bambu is far from a pretty baby, as the Troubleshooting complaints here and on Reddit will enumerate.
Sure, the printer has a lot of virtues. But after having mine for a year, I have to ask myself, “Was a 16-minute Benchy print all that important?” This was especially true after I learned that Bambu created a “tuned” version of the model, not the actual industry benchmark version, which printed much slower. In essence they misrepresent the actual time it took to print the industry standard test model by using their own “tuned” model which is more like Captain Kirk changing the Kobyashi Maru Starfleet Academy exam featured in the Star Trek movie. In essence, they cheated and therefore made a misleading statement about their print speeds. Since then, other enthusiasts have pointed out that while the Bambu series is faster, it is only marginally so.
What I might recommend is not so much which printer you select, but how to weigh your decision using some objective methodology.
A suggestion for a methodology to parse your decision process.
Summary
A few months back, I purchased two filament dryers with a marginal difference of about $25 for a product that costs under $90. One was going back to Amazon, and it was up to me to figure out which one within the 30-day return window. The difference of $25 does not motivate me in the least. However, in my case, buyer’s remorse is a far more bitter pill to swallow when I feel I made a bad purchase or was too hasty. So what I might recommend is the approach I took: create a list of what’s important to you personally and to what degree. When I started my dryer evaluation, it was a list in a spreadsheet of only five items. But then I thought of even more items as I started my testing. This list grew as I started to find more and more annoyances with each product. While both could dry filament, each had its pluses and minuses. So, as each annoyance popped up, I put that on the list, along with things I discovered that I liked. I eventually published my findings here to share with the group. Did I over-think it? Absolutely but it was more an organic process that just grew.
Thoughts on what you summarized above and your buying preferences
Cost of operation and ownership.
Summary
If I look at the background you provided, it appears that cost is less of a deciding factor, but you also mention the cost of ownership. That part is probably easier to parse because the dominant expense is filament, which is the same for all printers since they use the same filament. Where you might feel burned is when it comes to the use of the optional AMS. Put simply, the product is only 95% reliable in that department with respect to trouble-free use, and that is if, and only if, you use filament on a Bambu spool. I almost purchased one a while back but friends of mine showed me what was involved and at the end of the day, I realized I didn’t really need multi-color on demand because I could do it manually. Add 25% to the cost of your filaments if AMS is on your list. Also note that switching colors and the purge required between filament changes can often lead to filament wastage that exceeds the cost of the filament used for printing.
Danger in the network zone.
Summary
On the subject of printing in a classroom setting, that’s a red flag. If you intend to print only at home, then that is not an issue. However, if you plan on bringing it into an educational setting, note that the device requires unobstructed access to the Internet to activate, and even in LAN-only mode, many enterprise and educational networks are totally locked down. Again, look at some of the support tickets listed here in the support forum. Unless you purchase the X1E ($2,500 for the bare device), which is the only model that has cabled Ethernet, you are stuck with Wi-Fi. So unless you are chummy with your tech support folks and can get them to support your device on their secure network, you might find yourself with a very substantial classroom art piece.
What is your appetite for self support on technical matters?
Summary
Another consideration you did not state but implied is that you are looking for something plug-and-play. Just know that no 3D printer is totally plug-and-play, but Bambu probably leads the way in that department. That said, look on Reddit and here to see the support nightmares that are almost universally experienced. What’s more, Bambu has openly stated in some online forums and interviews that they are adopting a walled-garden approach much like Apple. While Apple has spent substantial amounts of money developing and making their products fairly bulletproof, we know that doesn’t always work. However, there is always the option to book an appointment with a human being or call their support number and get a live person for help. As the support forums here and elsewhere on the Internet will show, Bambu gets a failing grade in this department.
Prusa over Bambu?
Summary
Again, what’s most important to you? When the Bambu Lidar, AMS, and Cloud apps work, you have a relatively trouble-free, fastest printer on the market that produces great prints out of the box. BUT… what if you have a problem? In that area, Prusa holds the higher rating for both customer satisfaction and responsiveness hands-down. Having said that, bear in mind that they are located in Europe, so if your printer has to go back and you have to perform overseas shipment, that can be very cost-prohibitive. Weigh that against the notion that with Bambu, over the last year, their tech support has progressively grown worse and their contempt for their customers equally so. Note that shipping an entire printer back for repair is rare. Also, note that reports of Bambu’s manufacturing quality have indicated that their reputation has diminished greatly over the past year, whereas Prusa has remained strong.
On the topic of speed versus quality: a year ago, that probably wasn’t a contest as Bambu had that beat. But after Prusa released their input-shaping feature in firmware, the differences in output between the two devices became a coin toss. And again, what’s more important to you, use of the product or the ability to brag that yours’s goes to 11?
Just remember this. So far Bambu struck Gold 18 months ago because their X1C had all the bells and whistled and was priced substantially lower than Prusa. If that contest were held today, it would be a much closer race.
Whatever you decide, good luck🍀and please share your decision here so that we may benefit from your thought process.
I had a ender 3 S1 for 1 year and sure the s1 was great for simple prints but the problem was how I had to get a new build plate every other week. I saw Prusa and it was cool. But then I saw Bambu, I ended up with Bambu. The p1s is great auto bed leveling and speed. And in 1000 hours of printing only 1 new build plate ordered. Bambu also gives cheap parts for replacing. I will never not get Bambu printer. Just please leave the p1s door open a bit when printing PLA/non-toxic materials. I had to replace a nozzle after I left it closed. And had to fix it with the replacement nozzle that comes with the printer
Happy printer happy printing
Just received an x1c after upgrading from the disastrous p1s I had and bambu is telling me my lidar sensor is dead after less than 2 weeks of owning it. Do what Olias said and get a Prusa. They seem to actually work as advertised…
@Olias Thank you very much for your differentiated opinion on this difficult decision. I am not the original poster of this thread, but I am facing the very same decision. First, a bit of backstory about my printer history:
At the moment, I own a Prusa Mk3s with their multi-material solution (MMU). This MMU has not been working well for me. Therefore, I am looking to upgrade both the printer and the MMU, which inherently brings me to the decision between Bambu and Prusa.
This is where your words rang true, @Olias. While Bambulab seemed to have the most advanced technology and features initially, Prusa’s support came through in the end. Even my old MK3S (built in 2022) received an update today. This update allows it to level the area where the item is located, rather than the whole print bed. This promise of not only updates but feature updates for a long time helped me in this decision.
While the whole debacle of Prusa’s MMU not working as intended broke my will to buy a Prusa, this differentiated view led me to reconsider my criteria for making purchase decisions. I came to the conclusion that long-term commitment, exemplified by Prusa’s dedication, is more important to me than new bells and whistles. Therefore, I went for another Prusa just now.
For the poster of this thread, I just hope that you decide where your focus points are and base your decision on those instead of some biased internet opinion. And please share your decision and reasons with us.
