Hey i just came across this post on the pursa3d subreddit:
But surely that isn’t true? I don’t have access to a X1 so i can’t test it myself.
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it is kinda true but also not true
lets just say it this way
it does scan , and it provide feedback
but that does not mean if you tape it off that it will provide a error or stop the print
also in that post he reffers to the calibration lines , they never give feedback but change some parameters for the print anyway
so if it can not read anything then it just does not change anything ( hard to change when you got no clue what to change )
if he talks about the first layer, then he will get errors as it expect to scan a smooth patern ( unless taped off so it scans a smooth pattern … )
that last one also seems to fail a lot when using textured plate
so quick answer , the lidar does something 
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So their message is total nonsense.
The Micro LiDAR in my opinion right now is a little bit of a gimmick, but it has the potential to be better with software tweaks.
Saying it’s doing nothing isn’t true, but I personally don’t use it as I’m not sure it does a particularly good job with how it’s currently used.
The printer does not report to the user whether or not the scan of the cal lines was successful or not - it just uses defaults if it has issues.
If you cover it up, it absolutely complains at you though.
The biggest non-gimmick of the X1C that I don’t think others are taking seriously enough though is the ABL. It’s considerably better than almost every other solution out there.
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@mowcius I totally agree and I think these comments come from the fact that nothing is observable when the scan is being done outside of pretty lights. It would be great if BL could put scanning information on screen with before and after calculations.
Currently, I’ve no idea what it is doing and couldn’t tell if it is worth being on or off. Some data for the user to observe would give a definitive answer.
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That guy is writing rubbish. If he had read the the start code and digest it, he will understand how the X1C uses their micro lidar to calibrate and that if there is any error, a generic but safe setting will be used so that the print can still go ahead.
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The LiDar is much less of a gimmick than the SPINDA. It measures depth in microns for spot on nozzle height, it calibrates the flow if needed, and it scans the first layer for that added assurance that you can walk away. Honestly, it works great for nozzle height adjustment. The flow calibration is nice when you switch filaments often between manufacturers. Otherwise, you could tape it and let it go if you dont often switch around. The first layer scan is likely unnecessary, but i think it could be used in better ways. Firmware can take care of that later i suppose, but for now its nearly useless.
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Hm it would be intresting to see what it parameters it changes, i kinda find it odd that it’s not reporting what its doing to the user.
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so far i am aware it change the flowrate ,or atleast try to change the flowrate ( so global variables ) to create a “perfect” print
and then it also use the lidar as ABL , so it can micro adjust to gain a “perfect” first layer
as the lidar is more accurate then the touch , so it “should” have less gaps
or in short , the lidar just maps out a lot better and then you got the steppen motor limitation instead
i do not think it would be intrested to report those settings to the end user , as most wont even have a clue what is reported or wonder why it are suddenly those high value’s
I think the lidar do his work and is not only a gimmik. For example. I used difficult brands with the same setting and it prints mostly good. In my other printers i must Do the flow calibration for every brand seperatly to have the same result.
Greats from germany.
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I am sure they put a LiDAR in 2 spectrums and a lcd light on it to showcase how a disco would look nice
Or maybe there is something going on when it draws flowrate lines and that it scans the first layer to see on irregularities. I got no idea
Also need to remember the guy replying on reddit works for Prusa in Marketing… so of course he is going to say something like the above.
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It is the blond haired fellow? If nothing else it tells us Prusa have their hands on a X1 
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Well, as they haven’t said they do, it doesn’t actually confirm anything.
It could be second hand information from a friend who does have one who said that they’ve covered it up and it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
Best not to make assumptions, as much as Prusa would be foolish to not have a unit in house to look at.
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Equally it would be pretty outlandish of a Prusa employee to make such claims on a public forum without some kind of testing they have done themselves. If it is as you say then they should qualify as such. He may be acting on his personal account but people will look at it and take it as a comment from Prusa, especially with the role he holds.
I have to agree and this matter could be resolved with some sort feedback from the machine to say what it is doing (outside of the first layer check). But nobody knows for sure and as such those comments start to gain weight.
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I’m late to the party on this one and in case thisis still a discussion.
As we already discussed on Discord, the lidar at the moment doesn’t do much or anything at all.
BL sold it as “flow calibration” when in reality it is doing pressure advance or linear advance as I know it.
Do you wanna test??? Set the flow on the slicer to 80% and leave the printer do its thing.
Your model will look like poop.
There’s already a GitHub ticket but nobody from BL said anything. They actually removed themselves from the ticket so…
The printer does the PA for each print and do not save it.
I use the SoftFever fork of the slicer which allows me to manually set the PA per filament type so in my case indeed, the lidar isn’t doing anything.
That calibration the printer usually do, the flow calibration people believe it’s doing, in my printer it’s disabled and it prints just fine.
So it isn’t wrong to say the lidar isn’t doing anything.
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ever wonder that there could be a safety system on it ?
if your flowrate is 100% it can increase/Decrease it to 97% or 102%
but you expect that it goes from 80% to 102% instead ?
that is like saying that bed level is not working when i put it under a 45 degree and that it is off by 12mm , why does it not compensate that small gap then ? guess it need to be the ABL that does not work
then for the third party slicer , it use differend code so it means it contains code to do the calibration
else the code would be fully pointless to even include it in first place if it does nothing
i can only say on my testing that i do notice that it does something
got some nasty filament and if i do not do the calibration it just fails my print
but when i enable the calibration the prints looks good, for me it seems it does something
or maybe it is a placebo effect, eather way it is doing something in my case ( or it feels like it )
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Like I mentioned in my previous comment, lidar is disabled in my printer.
I disabled the PA calibration and I use SoftFever slicer which only prints a line at the front left corner and the usual far back right corner. That is all.
The only time my lidar is used is when I start the print and it does its own calibration on the right side of the printer. That is it!
But regarding printing and calibration or whatever you call it, I can tell you the lidar isn’t doing anything in my printer, 100% sure.
I have printed so far eSun PLA+, eSun PETG, Polymaker ASA with the lidar disabled, the printer is doing just fine.
I am also not saying you are 100% wrong. I guess if the filament you are using is so so, the lidar might indeed do something.
eSun and Polymaker are top notch brands, never a single issue so.
12mm?? How long have you been into 3D printing??
Any auto-leveling system requires the bed to be as flat as possible, it will compensate fine adjustments like 0 dot 3 digits, not 12mm.
My current printer has 7x7 or 49 points checked, my X1C has 6x6 or 36 points checked.
X1C touches the bed with the nozzle to know how far it is and make any fine adjustments, not 12mm
I piece of filament left over at the tip of the nozzle is enough to trigger a warning message, what to say about 12mm haha
SoftFever fixes bugs and exposes options not available with the official version such as being able to manually set the PA per filament and most importantly, save it.
This is not possible with the official version of the slicer.
There is no extra calibration code, the opposite.
Sorry for mis understanding
I was just making a refference to the 80% flowrate auto calibration ( doing 3d printing for couple years with over 15+ different printers, but does not Mather xd )
This is just a extra function. Does not mean it is better or worse it just depends what you like
Some people preffer cura. Others preffer prusaslicer or superslicer or ideamaker or Kyoto or even canvas … there are so many slicers and they all have there good and bad things
I only use the official version so I can not say anything about the other versions
But before going to much off-topic the LiDAR does also more then just flowrate. It also get used for bed leveling and first layer scanning
So it does something. Maybe not what you want it to do but it is definally not a gimmick
On other side. It is just software so it can be used for a lot of things as long the code exist for that function ^^
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