Buy X2D from Bambu or Best Buy?

Bambu Lab X Series Bambu Lab X2D
1

I had been planning on buying a P2S at the end of April, but the introduction of the X2D last week changed that. I’ve considered waiting for the probable Bambu 4th anniversary sale in 2 months, but reading a few threads, it sounds like limited things on sale, with daily sales. Sit around and wait to see if you want is on sale and maybe lose out? Would they discount the newest and possibly most popular printer?? I think getting it now would be better. OR wait for the first batch to go out, and they fix any problems??

I’ve been using the Markforged (PA6-CF) printers at work for 7 years, but the micromanaging guy in my office (who owns the area I work in) locked me out of printing, I have to send a request to him like everyone else, even though I’ve done 90% of the printing for the past 7 years. So I have to buy a printer for home.

I’ve seen people complain about how their Bambu printers arrive damaged due to poor handling in shipping. I assume Best Buy receives their printers on a skid, so the chance of shipping damage should be greatly reduced. As of today (4/23), the next availability of the X2D Combo at my local Best Buy is 5/14 (if I ordered it now).

So my question is, what are the pros & cons of buying directly from Bambu or picking up from my local Best Buy, other than what I’ve just mentioned??

Of course, I need to buy some spare parts and filament. That’s another discussion. I design stuff in SolidWorks, typically tooling for acoustic guitar repair, which Markforged Onyx was very good for. We also had continuous carbon fiber to make very stiff parts. I’ll probably buy some PETG-CF and PA6-CF. And some PLA colors for fun.

And I still need to go thru the Bambu Academy.

While I’m very familiar with the Markforged printers, consumer printers are far more complicated to get good prints. Markforged pretty much only uses their own filament and has fine-tuned the printers for it, with only a few variables. I’m amazed how well they work, with a Bowden feed and an unheated bed & chamber! Larger parts can warp due to the first layers cooling too fast, so I use a brim on many of them, just in case.

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Hi Dave,

All else being equal, to me the most obvious advantage of a local buy would be (relative) ease of return. If I could have done that with my H2C, I definitely would have. (When those came out BB wasn’t even listing them yet, and I’m not that patient.) Otherwise I’m not sure it would matter either way… BB isn’t going to provide any real support or anything, though again it may be easier to get refunds or whatnot if things go sour (not saying that’s likely, but ya know). And BL should support a printer sold via authorized retailer regardless.

As for shipping damage… who knows? My H2C was shipped from CA to NY via FedEx Home, which took a week. I was sure it would arrive as a mangled pretzel. But nope… the packaging was super impressive, no damage at all. But that is part luck of course. If your store gets a bunch of those printers at once, that could be an advantage. And of course you can inspect it before accepting (at least somewhat), which is something. Might depend on the store. My local Home Depot for example can’t even deliver a mini fridge to themselves w/out banging the crap out of it. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Cheers,
-Max

3

I prefer to go to microcenter. Even if it is farther away, it is worth the drive.

That way you can buy spare parts and filament while you are there as well. MC has been running sales on their PLA Basic that brings it down to about 9 dollars per kg. Their ABS basic is also really good. Most of their filaments are polymaker now.

MC also has a good protection plan.

They do not keep a lot of spare parts for the 2nd gen machines yet, but it is still better than the selection at Best Buy.

4

Buy it from bambu. When the inevitable warranty claim comes it will be easier dealing with bambu support.

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I wish we had one close! The nearest is 65 miles, into NYC.

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Its worth the drive, I promise.

My nearest is about 40 to 50 miles depending on what route I take, but I still end up going there once a month or so.

7

A valid point. I have no idea how Bambu treats claims for machines not bought directly from them. Maybe others will comment with their experience.

8

I would get it from a local store for easy of return if needed.

But you seem to have a bigger question - if you should buy the X2D now. I would say you may even want to ask if X2D is what you really want. You wanted P2S, and now want X2D because it is out. What if there are better X2 printers coming out later. Will that make you regret buying X2D?

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I like BB’s return policy, although I don’t know the details for a 3D printer. The ability to bring back a seemingly defective printer is a big plus.

Of course, I still need to learn how to properly use it and not ask stupid questions. I really shouldn’t buy the printer until I’m confident I can use it without causing my own problems.

My biggest problem is I’m very busy with work and customer projects at home. The printer with be well down the totem pole in priority, unless I need something printed for a job.

10

Just wanted to throw this out there. When I was first looking at H2C’s I shopped around and saw a couple people on EBay selling new combos for $1799-$1999 with free shipping.

Thought too good to be true but decided to buy. 99% feedback score / thousands of sales.

Sure enough, they show up brand new factory sealed etc. So then I added another and another and so on. I basically got around 10 of them from one seller alone and found similar from other sellers for the H2Ds (which were also a huge savings) .

When I needed warranty parts, Bambu just needed to see my eBay purchase confirmation etc and that was it.

I found them great to deal with and just took a couple emails back and forth to get the parts shipped. They sent tracking etc and then followed up making sure the parts fixed the unit etc to close the ticket.

Couldn’t be happier to deal with them. I don’t think you will have a problem anywhere you purchase a new machine IMO.

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In case you aren’t aware, the CF used in consumer desktop printers is chopped, not continuous. Gives a nice surface finish, and increases stiffness, but lowers inter-layer adhesion and thus the parts can end up somewhat weaker along layer lines than without the CF. (Ditto for glass fiber.)

If continuous fiber is your most important requirement, you probably want a specialty printer such as the Fiberseeker: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1763117873/fibreseeker-3-the-first-personal-continuous-fibre-3d-printer

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Yes. Markforged Onyx has chopped fibers. The higher end machines have the ability to weave in layers of continuous fibers. It works well, but is insanely expensive.

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The X2D is a no-brainer upgrade from a P2S. The extra nozzle for supports, heated chamber, etc., will be useful with my engineering type projects. I won’t be making many toys. I don’t care about multiple colors, although adding a highlight color for labeling would be nice. The X2D is perfect for that, just load the highlight color in the 2nd nozzle.

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DON’T TEMPT ME!!! Impulse purchases!! I’m not a big fan of drive in NYC traffic. I think they used to have a few in CT years ago.

15

Too bad. Be tempted.

I understand not wanting to drive in to NYC. Before I only read the NY for some reason. It usually takes me about an hour to get to my local MC, but most of that is high speed interstate.

For me, if I am going to spend 3 weeks salary on something, I want it asap.

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16

That’s good deal better than for me. The nearest for me is a crazy 500 miles away, in Denver. *Sigh

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Warranty is warranty… as long as covered under warraanty with proof of purchase, should be absolutely 0 difference. Otherwise some laws being broken (not that it matters, consumer protection laws in US are a joke).

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The BL site lists authorized resellers, and their warranty terms state that purchases made through those resellers are covered. There are no major distinctions made vs. purchasing direct from BL, besides following the reseller’s procedures for returns (but don’t take my word for it, read the terms). BB and MC are on that reseller list of course.

Where I live, even the closest BB is an hour round-trip… and a MC… fuhgeddaboudit! :laughing:

-Max

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In my experience verifying proof of purchase can be a pain with low level tech support if you buy 3rd party. Not nessecarily just a bambu thing. But with all things YMMV.

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I bought from micro center last week which I didn’t even know existed until I was looking for a faster way to get a combo kit than waiting for Bambu. I am having issues with my AMS and they have responded to my ticket within 24 hours each time and the very first time I sent the ticket in and explained the issue they offered to send a new hub for it. The rest of the replies are just getting my shipping info and proof of purchase. It also seems good that micro center has 15 days returns (an hour from my house though) and 60 day product support which I was planning to use if Bambu wasn’t quickly offering to help.