First and foremost, I am brand new to 3D printing but I have been toying with the idea for over a year now and finally looking to take the plunge (in the process of watching Fusion360 videos on LinkedIn at the same time). I’m mainly looking to start with prototyping for woodworking jigs and design own parts/inserts for my storage containers e.g. Milwaukee Packout and other brands. Maybe if they’re good enough I might look to sell the odd couple of designs but that’s about it, nothing serious at least for the foreseeable.
Having extensively reviewed the P1S and the X1C, it seems the general consensus is the P1S as the best bang for buck. However, I am still being tempted by the X1C’s additional features such as spaghetti detection, filament types and other differences/specs over the P1S. To be clear, I’m not interested in alternative cheaper models, so its a toss up between these versions and I can comfortably afford both so cost isn’t an issue.
Seems the price for the X1C has dropped for both and X1C+AMS is currently £1,200 and P1S with AMS and upgrades coming in at about £750. For someone like me who just wants something to work right out of the box and what I intend to use the printer for, are the extra features on the X1C worth it, or do I just spent a wedge on filaments and other things with P1S?
Second part to my question is, are there any other upgrades/accessories/filaments (Bambu or third party) that are really worth getting to enhance the experience? Let’s assume my total budget is £1,500ish.
Ps. I just noticed an announcement for the new printer and I’m intrigued… depending on cost.
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I can only speak for the X1, not the P1 as I do not own it.
When my 1st X1’s Lidar died, I had to do manual calibrations. I found that quite upsetting since:
- I got the X1 in order not to have to calibrate filaments manually
- Manually calibrating a filament took me about 45 Min per roll (2 AMS => 1 day)
- I never got as good a result as the Lidar
But that is just me. I do know that many people are much better at manual filament calibration than I am and are getting astonishing results with the P-series.
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I have both, I spent the first few months feeling I mug for buying the X1C/P1S when I should have just bought two P1S and saved a load of money. But the Reality is that the X1C (for me at least produces consistently better results for the reasons exactly in the comparison chart, that many people just seem to turn off. I don’t know what you’re printing, but I’m actually considering getting rid of the P1S in favour of another X1C - I only wish the X1C touchscreen was an upgrade, because I don’t use it. I’m printing RC planes, shower seals and automotive parts so quite varied, but don’t just buy it because it’s shiny and silver and has a touch screen cos if you’re like me you’ll use the app or software anyway, both of which are superior to the touchscreen.
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If you can, wait for the new printer to come out which is only a few days away. Even if you eventually decide the new printer isn’t for you, X1C/P1S may have a sale (hopeful, not guaranteed 
Between X1C and P1S, if I were brand new to 3D printing, I would go for the X1C for the extra automatic features.
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I got the X1C about a month ago; it cost a lot more than the P1S but the screen was really important for me so I decided to get it.
The LIDAR and automatic inspection/calibration stuff has not really been useful for me at all so far, except for the bed detection which did actually prevent me from making a mistake!
In general though the main thing for me has just been that I like the screen and I feel a little more confident that any catastrophic failures can get detected even though I haven’t had any yet. Also the camera is a bit more useful on the X1C, but I like the color of the P1S more in hindsight so it’s really whatever. And the P1S has an internal USB port and the X1C does not which I thought was interesting.
I think I would be happy with either, honestly, so I don’t really regret anything. If you want to spend the extra money on filament or whatever or maybe get a second AMS the P1S will probably make you happy. If you get the X1C you will probably be happy with it too. They are both good .
The H2D + AMS 2 Pro will probably cost >£1700 so it is likely not within your budget. But there is always the possibility that it will turn out to be the right thing for you or maybe the X1C will get a price drop or something so why not wait a few days if you’re not in a rush?
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Thanks for the replies so far, interesting to see the responses. The screen on the X1C does look nice but I’m just not really sure how much ‘real’ use I would get out of it. Likewise with the internal camera but to be honest, I am not entirely sure of the benefits other than monitoring the progress of any hours long prints and preventing disasters from happening.
@alexolotl I like our idea of a second AMS but I don’t think I am quite there yet since I am new at all this 3d printing malarky, plus I’ve been working on the other half to actually agree to me buying one since she thinks it is just a gimmick not worth the cost/space! Think I’ll be in the dog house for a while if I try to convince her to use up more space for another AMS on top of the existing or just do what I normally do and buy it then pray afterwards.
Whilst I say my budget is around £1500, that’s something I’ve set myself but I can go higher than that if I need to. I just don’t want to be buying the best of the best for the sake of it, where I might be able to better use that cash for other things 3D printer related.
Will definitely hang on for the next week or so to see what the H2D is all about and its price point, which may add another headache to this conundrum.
@EnoTheThracian can you explain what you mean by manual calibration, does that have to be done with each new roll of filament?
@Distance_Fields stuff I would be building is in the first post… woodworking jigs, inserts for tool containers, stuff around the house and broken pieces of equipment that I can no longer source. Maybe a nice cupholder for the car
Also, any recommendations on the Bambu accessories like the dual textured build plate or the super tack cool plate?
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I have both -
Use lots of different filament? Get an X1. The LIDAR saves a lot of time in calibration
Use the same filament all the time? Get a p1s
I never… never use the screen on the x1, only ever use the slicer
Calibration is what you do to new rolls of filament you’ve never used before to get them to print perfectly and build an individual profile per filament, temperature tower, flow tests, etc - The LIDAR removes the need to do manual versions of the flow tests. Having a separate finely tuned profile for each filament is how you eliminate layer lines on even the cheapest filament
The X1 also allows lazy people to use auto calibration
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I have an x1c and I still think manual calibration of the filiments is best.
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I have a P1S and an A1M. I cannot recommend the A series more. The P1 is really loud, while the A1 is not. The A1 series also has way better nozzle swapping. Perhaps the upgrades on the X1 make it worth buying, but if I knew what I know now about the P1 I would’ve bought an A1 (not mini) instead of the P1 as my second Bambu.
The P1S imo is just another printer. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice, the company seems pretty uber, warranty on par with others, parts are not the cheapest of the cheap, Bambu software is legit, but without the lidar, it’s just another printer with settings that have been dialed in by inferior human eyes.
The lidar allows me to throw a random filament in, test and tweak, all within seconds, then kicks off the print. Accuracy that’s correct to the micron level, unlike human eyes.
Watch the hell I get as P1S folks defend their purchase reasoning 
I’ll never buy another printer without lidar. It’s the next step of printing evolution.
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I would go with the P1S. I have one, sold it and bought it again. I am so far happy with it. But additionally I test a QIDI Plus 4 since two weeks, that a friend of mine does not like. In fact the X1C has as plus the touch screen, the LIDAR and a better camera. In fact I don’t use the camera very often.I usually use the same filament and do not calibrate every new spool of the same material, so maybe the lidar would not be of that much help either. In fact you can set the filament and all other stuff in Bambu Studio, so the touch screen is only used if I feed filament manually (e.g. TPU or CF filament) or if the nozzle is clogged and I have to do a cold pull or filament is stuck and you have to acknowledge an error. Smartphone can do all the same. And consider the actual firmware of the X1C is locked now.
Printbed can go up to 110°C instead of 100°C, I print a lot in ASA and ABS on the P1S, had no problems so far. For the big price difference between P1S and X1C a heated champer is missing in the X1C.
What does this mean? Aren’t they all locked?
Somehow yes. The P1S you can still use with Orca Slicer in LAN Developer Mode.
Maybe all the printers will be fully locked down. Might not be a problem if you prefer Bambu Studio.
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Sorry for the delay in answering. Long work days atm…
There are a number of basic things that need to be taken care of to get a good print. Many filaments benefit from, or even require, drying, there’s some (light) maintenance to be done (around monthly), the build plate needs to be clean (water + dishwashing liquid + a clean sponge or brush) and … some material calibrations need to be made.
For PLA, default’s are usually pretty good. But they can usually be improved upon by performing at least flow rate calibration.
Pressure Advance calibration can also be very beneficial. Otherwise sharp corners, holes, fine details can look rather strange.
While these are not difficult to do manually (~45 Min for the three print sets), I can never get the sweet spot(s). Could be lack of practice/talent, could be that I am lucky with my X1 performing very well for auto-calibration (~2 Min before each print).
For PETG, I always need to have it calibrated as it can be a bit of a Diva.
I never tried PA6-CF without calibration while the PPS-CF I printed on my Plus 4 worked very well without calibration. But the narrow heat chamber of the Plus 4 means that pressure advance is not really a topic for it.
It was really helpful that you stated the use cases you are looking at. For many of these, you may be fine with PLA and PETG for which an A1 is probably the most cost effective solution. P/X do not have its nozzle pressure sensor.
However, parts used in a car need higher temp materials and you need to take care about fumes if going for example for ABS.
Also keep in mind for woodworking fixtures that fdm parts really do not like tension/peel in the z direction. PLA is actually the second strongest from the Bambu property tables in this. It is beaten only by PA6-CF… by 12%.
Thanks for coming back to respond, I am beginning to feel like there’s a whole lot more of learning I need to do than I thought. I was aware of the build plate cleaning but not aware of drying out filaments… i suppose there are products that you can purchase to help dry them out or is it just best for it to happen naturally?
As I mentioned in my original post, I am not really looking at anything below the P1S even though I appreciate other models may be cost effective for my current needs. I don’t particularly like the look of the A1 with the AMS attached to the side and I prefer the enclosure of the P1S and AMS sitting on top, style over substance I guess.
I have been keeping an eye on the H2D thread and from what I have read so far, I am not impressed by the potential for laser/cutting tool (if it is true) though if it is going to be modular then I may be interested in it, depending on cost.
Otherwise I think I may be leaning towards getting the P1S over the X1C, as much as I would really like it I am struggling to justify the additional features and benefits for an extra £500 - but I am prone to changing my mind so I may end up with one anyway!
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Oh, don’t worry about the learning curve. There’s so much to it, no single person can learn it all anyway 
. And Bambu greatly decreased the frustration often associated with trial-by-error.
That is why I enjoy the forum. There’s someone with the experience and knowledge for pretty much every aspect of the hobby. Coding, electronics, materials, design, post-processing… they are all here 
As for the choice’s, I expect you’ll be happy with either printer. As long as they run, they are both endorphine machines
If Qidi does indeed release the Qidi AMS this month (as promised), that may also be worth a look. The package Plus 4 with AMS should come in at around €1100. Larger build volume than the P/X, heated chamber, Klipper, really high temp materials,… but a much smaller user base, not such a dedicated ecosystem…
As for the H2D, personally I do not expect a laser to be included. At least not in the basic package. I am aware of a use case to improve layer adhesion, but there would have been more buzz around that and an even more elaborate print head. If it is indeed a thing, I’d expect it to snap onto the print head when not printing.
Either way, the wait will be over soon
I hope you head isn’t spinnig too much from all these info , for someone who hasn’t started 3D printing yet.
The X1C has the first layer inspection and spaghetti detection, in addition to the auto calibration. These three features will help someone new to 3D prining to avoid printing failures and get good quality prints.
Bigger display, better camera, hardened steel nozzle and gear are only minor improvments.
Your use case may eventually lead to the use of engineering filaments such as ASA, ABS, PA (nylon), PC, etc. An X1C is better for these out of the box.
But P1S is also a good printer, based on many reviews. So you can’t really go wrong with either.
I wouldn’t worry about anything else, such as how to dry filaments, for now. You will start with PLA which is the least hygroscopic. Depending on the filaments and the climate you live in, you may not need to dry any filament for a while. I have been printing for over 2 years and still haven’t had to dry a single roll of filament. I still don’t have a filament dryer either.
Keep things simple and just enjoy the start of the 3D printing journey. If you have fun, you have a good start.
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PS: Sorry, forgot to address your drying question. I have found filament to be pretty moist frequently. Travelling by ship across half the world, moisture diffuses through the bag. And then it tends to sit in my shed in the marshlands…
With PLA, printing does get better with drying before putting it in the AMS for me. With PETG, it is mandatory in my case.
But to start with and of course only if needed, the heat bed of a printer can be used to dry filament.
And a cheap drier (I have used my Sunlu S2 even for PPS) will do as well since printing high temp materials is pretty rare and we can trade max temp with extended drying time.
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You shouldn’t have mentioned Qidi… 
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I remember starting out with a random 3d printer years ago, and continually filaments being slightly different than those of the same kind, so they would require tweaking of settings depending upon filament and the physics of the print. I would get a new filament and recall making it a “weekend event” just to dial in the settings properly for different prints and the filament. So easily it can take 5 hours per filament. This time has been reduced since printers are faster now, but still, it’s a burden on the user.
Load, print test cube and benchmark print, if a fail presents, tweak, reprint, measure. Rinse and repeat multiple times usually.
Now with the LIDAR, I don’t have to do anything.
Figure you’ll collect filaments as you go, so maybe 20 filaments. 5 hours of tweaking per, x 5$/hr for your time, that’s 500$ wasted on tweaking settings when the LIDAR does it in about 45 seconds a filament.
At least that’s how I justified the price difference. I’ve used waaaay more than 20 filaments. I’ll never consider another printer if it doesn’t have LIDAR or a similar (not yet engineered) way to replace my aging eyeballs and patience.