My review of the X2D after 200+ hours

Bambu Lab X Series Bambu Lab X2D
61

Currently I see 9x reasons:

1.Higher temp up to 350C for engineering filaments like PPA and PPS and other. Maybe even reach to PEEK. It is nonsense that Bambu limit X2D to 300C but it is what it is.

2.Faster and more precise.

3.Bigger build volume.

4.LAN port.

5.It could actually supply AMS 2 PRO for drying while printing. So you save another 31.99 EUR EUR for power supply and mess with the cables IF you need the AMS 2 PRO at all.

  1. You can add laser later if you like.
  2. H2S is much heavier printer so not much swinging as X2D
  3. PTFE tube to the extruder is not cramped from the top glass
  4. H2S has better cooling modes with additional flap

X2D is now 629EUR and H2S is 1099$

So for me if you need heated chamber and engineering filaments H2S is much better choice for the price.

For Aero stuff you will rather need size then dedicated nozzle for support, or if you need them should be easy to remove, and with foamy materials the support will be questionable anyway.

62

Just picked up the H2D to replace my X2D. Everything you said is tru, plust the dual nozzles on the H2D are true dual nozzles.

63

Ok, some fair points. Yet, many of those are advantages, that for a lot of people are not relevant. And the H2S is almost twice the price! You wrote:

That alone just isn’t a good reason to skip the X2D. I think, for a very big audience, the X2D currently is the absolute sweet spot. Printing PPA / PPS / (PEEK) is a very small niche. I think the majority of people looking for a heated chamber want to print ABS / ASA, some like me want PC, some other PA and for all those engineering materials, the X2D is an excellent choice.
If you need bigger build volume, if you need LAN, if you want those exotic materials, then absolutely, H-series is the better choice. But if you are just that guy that wanted to print ASA without shelling out grand, X2D is a perfect fit.

Some comments / questions on your list:

  1. Faster / Precision: How is that? The calibration plate is also available for the X2D. It also has the finer belts and the BLDC extruder motor. What else makes the H2S faster or more precise? I thought that the heavier printhead actually makes H-series printers slower than the smaller printers?
  2. I don’t think that is a question of weight but they use new feet. If you don’t like that, grab some of the older ones. I first was very irritated, but I don’t bother anymore. Maybe there is a benefit of the soft coupling? No idea.
  3. As I wasn’t aware of that: What is the difference here?
64

For LAN port you need the H2D Pro.I think the belt pitch for the H series is the same as theX2D.

The H series printers are Bambu’s flagship printers, so it only makes sense you should get better performance.

Choose what best fits your needs and wallet. I jumped ship because I want to future-proof my printing.

65

My bad, it really seems the only H2 with LAN is H2D PRO! I was left with impression every H2 has it, which is very sad honestly.

For the faster and precision it is the same as H2D vs H2S - lighter single nozzle head. And as you can see from so many topics the belts are not in big favor of X2D as it has worse finish quality even compared to A1.

And bigger weight + bigger size box, and lighter head is absolutely a big factor for lower swing :smiley: , and overall stability .

I absolutely agree about the needs and the budget this is why people should not jump over x2d just because they may print ASA some day. But if they will print mainly PLA/PETG/TPU X2D is absolutely not good printer. And AMS does not work with TPU and many engineering materials.

And it seems many people occasionally print ASA and ABS on all kinds of printers without heated chamber. Just X2D set the expectations too high but reality is different. Maybe some day after many firmware/software iterations the situation will be different but now it is what it is.

I will give you one example, IF I print single color figure that need support, it is kind of supposed that support in second nozzle/AUX should be faster and easier? But in reality it is neither! It is slower, it uses more material, and it is much more prone to failures! Instead of using single material. This is my real life experience. Why it is slower and more prone to fail? Because if you enable second material in a print you need to have prime tower, even for one small, single layer! Then you have at least two times slower AUX nozzle. So now you have useless material printed next to your model - waste of time and filament. And you have also part of the print printed 2x slower nozzle….. And your expectations are ruined as you end up in 20-30% more time and waste! + It has great chance to fail as the support material does not stick well!

This is why I said what I said above and why I recommend A1 or H2S. Of course you can find a use case for X2D, but in general single nozzle printer will be better and even faster.

So much hype about Core XY but simple bed slinger A1 is actually the best Bambu product, based on the user feedback. Most probably soon will get one and will be able to compare it in first hand.

66

Even if printing a single color with supports on only the left X2D nozzle I believe you still get a tower when you switch materials.

You should only use the support material for the interface layer, everything else is going to be the primary material.

67

This is what I am saying. If you use two materials you get tower, and only this make the whole print slower. Does not matter if the second material will be interface only or one line only.
And this slows down the whole print. A lot!

68

Turn the tower off, then.

However, you will find the print quality will be worse.

69

I think those reports are mostly anecdotal. My X2D definitely creates way better parts than my X1C did and considerably better than my neighbour’s A1mini. I know two more X2D print flawless results, one at work and one from a colleague.
Instead I think that they had quality problems that hit a bunch of people, but it doesn’t apply to every unit.

I think the X2D head is even lighter than H2S. And I had X1C and X2S side by side. The X1C didn’t swing it all, simply because it has short, stiff feet, while the X2C has much softer feet. When I swap feet, the X1C would wobble and the X2D stands still.

No, not faster and easier but much better surface quality. It takes longer on any machine, but when you have a single nozzle printer it takes unbearably longer and creates unacceptable amounts of waste. On the X1C, I often wanted separate support material but always thought twice and in the end tried to find a way to avoid it. On the X2D I feel quite unrestricted to use support material.

Small parts like figurines certainly are the worst case: you always have the same amount of waste and time for each layer with different material, no matter how big your actual part is. The bigger the part , the less the penalty regarding time and waste. But I even printed tiny multicolor models with 0,2mm nozzle. When made four at a time, the waste wasn’t all that bad actually.

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To me it seems like you have a very special use case that you generalise into a recommendation for all. If you say, for figurines that you post process and paint later, I absolutely agree that the A1mini is the much better printer for you. I read from your comments that nobody should buy an X2D because for most use cases there are better or cheaper printers. But I think there is a very large group, for who the X2D is an excellent choice.

70

Exactly, It will also possibly fail.

71

I think those reports are mostly anecdotal.

Ok, there are more than a few topics here, with people which until they got X2D, have used A1, P1, X1, and tell them they are writing anecdotes, and what they see is not what they see. :smiley: Joking of course but please consider the other people experience more serious.

Instead I think that they had quality problems that hit a bunch of people, but it doesn’t apply to every unit.

This can be truth though BUT, in most cases when user report problems to BL they return with this working as designed. So now we need to invent new system that can prove this machine has some defect. Otherwise is more like anecdotal, and soon or later you will hit objects for which you will get the same bad experience.

No, not faster and easier but much better surface quality.

Sorry but my personal experience show exactly HIT OR MISS experience with the second nozzle support. And I have uploaded pictures in other topics to demonstrate it. So for me it is much slower, more material and sometimes good mostly bad resulting quality and possibly fail. Compared to almost no issues and much higher success rate when NOT using AUX for support material but just use the same material.

As A1 guys had only one nozzle they have flooded the makerworld with perfectly printable models with or without supports, with one color. And most of the creality/prusa guys also. So ordinary man has tons of contents which will be printed much better in single nozzle - just exactly because X2D dual nozzle print support is neither easy nor faster. So I am not with the special needs, but one should have special need for X2D.

To me it seems like you have a very special use case that you generalise into a recommendation for all. If you say, for figurines that you post process and paint later, I absolutely agree that the A1mini is the much better printer for you. I read from your comments that nobody should buy an X2D because for most use cases there are better or cheaper printers. But I think there is a very large group, for who the X2D is an excellent choice.

Maybe may recommendations are not very precise, but the above is not what I am saying. What I am saying is it is expensive, and it is not easy or even good for PLA/PETG/TPU. Which is huge market. I do not think that engineering will be able to ever reach the usage of these materials.

What I would like to communicate is actually that X2D is special use case printer, not that I have special use case for it. Which may have large group to benefit from it, or may not, the sales will tell.

But I am not customer with special use case. My use case are toys, educational and engineering. Now this printer fails repeatedly with PLA/PETG and TPU printing. I was supposed to get universal mid tier printer that “just works”, but in reality got half baked rushed to the marked product, that somehow and sometimes works. And with AMS bundle it is sold mainly for PLA and PETG multicolor printing. It is very clear with naked eye that bottom and top layers are not good and you can get warping all over the place. Then you need to start removing the glass, print adapters and etc to make it work with TPU and PLA. So why do we get closed printer in first place? :smiley:

They sell even more accessories like TPU assist module, and other filament path modules which seems to be half baked. And the whole thing start to become very expensive as the AMS PRO is not good for engineering stuff. See AMS PRO can not even properly dry the expensive BL support material for PLA and PETG or engineering filaments. If you get 2-3 HTs + engineering plate + calibration plate it starts to be very expensive. Then you have the nozzles and 0.2 is mostly only for PLA and PETG.

It is very funny I have the lid open but it cranks the exhaust fan and the side fans?!?!? So I will get plastic particles all over the place :smiley: .

BTW I will try to change the feet with stiffer as this swinging is real fun.

There are guys making money from printing engineering stuff, also others are printing mostly engineering stuff so this could serve them well. But as we see topic after topic average user that is used to A1 just works should not buy this for main printer as we will have yet another quallity issue topic :smiley: .

And lets remember what the person above asked:

SD3D4U

11d

Has anyone tried to print PLA Aero on the X2D ? I’m a recent AE grad looking to use this printer for my personal projects and as I already have an A1 mini I was looking for the bigger print size.

He said PLA Aero not ASA Aero, and also he said, he need size.

Now:

https://eu.store.bambulab.com/products/pla-aero?srsltid=AfmBOoqr7jjTtPov65p3ab77ihVBh9UIrpd0fQFShCTjlpuW2c1z_m4i

First it has 2 colors, forget about too many colors.

Second it is written:

• PLA Aero filament is relatively soft which may result in material loading and unloading failures during AMS printing.

BUT a bit above it is advertised as RF enabled filament for easier AMS loading unloading - template AI generated marketing content, smells like…

So he asked for PLA Aero and Size and you think that my recommendation is bad and X2D is good in this case?

Simply A1/A2 will be much better for PLA Aero or PLA/PETG than any closed BL printer currently.
Second if he need ASA Aero and size much better to get H2S without any AMS-es from BL and just get some drier, than can feed from it.

X2D blowing with all the fans in the foaming PLA will be absolute nice journey to have! I am 100% sure! :smiley:

72

Here we go while we are talking here:

This happened because of the how nice X2D handle switching between different materials out of the box. Plug, unplug, switches, hubs, AMS-es, tubes, assist modules, lids, risers, downers, deflectors and reflectors, g-code hacks, special profiles all kinds of stuff so eventually it will start working as A1 :smiley: . Of course there is a bit of exaggeration, but the BL need to get the fieedback right, so if they actually care, with next release could try to improve and get out of this mess.

Looks like out of the box without AMS PRO, eventually with AMS HT the printer is good only for engineering stuff and support for it. All else require some tuning and fiddling. Which is not just works.

@BambuLab please get this feedback seriously.
I would be happy to pay for some upgraded parts as not melting panels, and some more vents with better fans, that will NOT require risers and removing the lid, and will prevent microplastics and fumes in the room, and dust inside the machine. Also TPU should be easy out of the box. AMS should be able to dry at least the support material for PLA and PLA/PETG.
Also please seriously rethink all the paths, hubs and switches, so they could actually start working.

And would be happy with upgraded power supply so will not need to add PSU per every AMS, which make even more mess with cables and tubes.
Thank you!

73

Hey, isn’t minting money a crime? :slight_smile:

Nice prints, too!

74

Just go buy something else if you are not happy. Life’s way, way too short for all this.

75

Yeah right, just did not found the money printer yet. But who knows?

Isn’t that making products that do not relate to the specs also crime, or this was marketing? :smiley:

But also with this logic we can just close the forum be done with this :smiley: .

76

Maybe I used the wrong term, english is not my first language. I certainly didn’t want to say that the problems aren’t real. Sorry if that is what I said!

What I meant is, that even though there are a bunch of reports, that still is a minor number and I would assume that 99,5% of X2D deliver the quality that you would expect. BambuLab not handling all those cases with good grace is another story and really doesn’t match the image they try to convey.

77

I have 600 hours on my X2D, which is my first 3D printer, and I would recommend it to first timers.

I’ve had very few print failures, it’s mostly set and forget.

78

I am also not native speaker as most probably easy to see.

Fear enough, the truth is we do not know what is real statistic. For me forum full with quality issues topic is actually good representation of reality. And it seems most of the topics are from old BL users which actually has experience with their products.

JohnAtl

I have 600 hours on my X2D, which is my first 3D printer, and I would recommend it to first timers.

I’ve had very few print failures, it’s mostly set and forget.

This is actually very good news. Can you share do you use the aux nozzle, if you do what support materials do you use? Can you share some pictures of your PLA and PETG models/objects if you have any?

79

Complete 3D printing noob before this splurge on the X2D+AMS. I’m at 166 printing hours in the past month and change and have had zero issues with the machine itself and very few printing issues (knock on wood). Jumping straight to the X2D instead of A1/P2S definitely not necessary for a beginner but it certainly doesn’t hurt!

80

Well, just about anything on the market today is powered by hype. When the X2D was released I jumped on it after hearing the specifications and got rid of my X1C.

I count myself as fortunate because my X2D has really few problems compared to what some have found. However, I think the X2D kind of whet my appetite for bigger things and jumped to the H2D. I have only 10 hours in that (so far), but it does seem to scratch that itch much better-at a higher price.

I should add, if you go to the H2 forum you will see many with issues with their printers, but most people come to these forums to get help with problems while many more are simply using their machines without many faults and you really don’t hear about the good things. This will give you a skewed opinion of the product, so keep that in mind.

Lastly, I rarely used the X2D auxiliary nozzle, except for a few prints that needed support. I started running prints with a 0.2mm nozzle on the main extruder and loved the result, but 0.2mm on the auxiliary nozzle is not optimal. The H2D gives me true multi-color prints with dual nozzles, which cuts down the print time while keeping the resolution.