Bambu’s new Vortex changer is a new upgrade announced along with the H2C, but do not worry as Bambu has confirmed there will be a full upgrade path from an H2D to an H2C albeit not an easy one.
This is a big win for bambu and I think we all appreciate the new transparency we are seeing.
Also feel free to drop price predictions!
Im thinking it has inductive heating element, wireless nozzle syncing, 6x of those new nozzles, a bunch of motors we talking $1K ballpark for the upgrade kit, less of a difference for H2C pre-built.
From the video the only motor I can see that they have added in to lift the nozzle “carriage” on the side of the machine. It looks like a rack and pinion motion system. One carriage descends while the other lifts. It seems like they can use the existing motion system for the rest?
You will have to get your sources on this 
. So in your opinion would this then be priced competitively between the H2S and H2D. While offering no laser or cutter support? That would be my idea. Maybe offering it at the orginal H2D price $1900/$2000.
I know you are also pretty active on this community forum so in your opinion what would a upgrade kit be priced at? And what would the actual H2C pre-built be priced at?
I never really had any advanced info on printer prices, just a guess. I doubt they would make you choose the laser or this upgrade. I would guess it would still work with an H2D laser or retrofitted laser H2D.
With the backlash they got with the laser I think they will try to elimate the laser and cutter and focus soley on the tool changer. With the new tool changer system gunk and soot has an even bigger risk of messing up the tool changer. I know you do not have any real insider information but you have been pretty spot on with pricing so far. I will say its name is the H2C which means it may actually keep some hybrid features but time will tell.
Ya would be a real mess with changer plus laser, thats a good point. Although they still want to squeeze the max value from each client.
I believe cutting out the laser and cutter would most likely drive the price down significantly. Fingers crossed this is a better than the H2S but on par with the H2D. To me and others if its priced at $2000 it would be better and easier for me to sell my H2D at a slight loss and buy a better suited H2C that is already pre-built. We will see though.
I dont think omitting laser and cutter functionality would do much for the price. Whats the difference really? Some cheap electronics, maybe a 40w more powerful PSU and some attachment points. Would probably cost more to redo the injection moulds for those parts. Thats why H2S ships with same back panels with one PTFE port closed up. All the expensive parts like laser and air pump are in the separate kit.
Do you think its reasonable to assume that this would be priced in between the H2D and H2S? I have seen some people specualte it being over $3k and i think that would almost throw the majority of hobbist people out of the picture. I saw alot of people excited about the H2S because they could not afford the H2D. Bambu has been getting better with pricing though.
Will be more than H2D for sure, its essentially an H2D + the swap system. They also referring to it as their “new flagship”. Probably H2D Pro price territory, $600-800 over H2D.
Makes sense, hoping that it is lower of course. Thanks for you insight as always if you get more information update this thread!
I understand the excitement, but as someone accustomed to engineering-grade 3D printing, I must ask—for whom is this sophisticated setup truly intended? From what I can tell, it doesn’t seem designed with advanced materials like PPA-CF or PPS-CF in mind.
For users mainly working with low- to mid-temperature filaments, is the added complexity really worthwhile? Instead of managing one or two synchronized nozzles, you now have seven that all need to remain perfectly calibrated.
It’s an interesting concept, but more moving parts inevitably mean more upkeep. And if multi-size nozzle printing isn’t solved, you’re still restricted to one nozzle size at a time. Toolpathing for different nozzle sizes is far from trivial, with countless pitfalls. We’ve already seen firmware issues in both the X1 and H2 series that damaged toolheads, so adding five or six more nozzles will only amplify that risk.
In the end, it’s an intriguing idea, but I believe it will generate a lot of dissatisfied 3D printing users — especially since so many new buyers are likely to jump on it. Just look at the forum here: countless beginner questions like “why does the X1 toolhead crash into the right edge?” have even been filed as support tickets. Will Bambu Lab really have the capacity to handle true support once this goes live, when they already seem heavily understaffed?
I need an answer to one question before i can guess at a price: does it come with all 7 hotends only, or can we select the number of hotends we desire and use?
With 7 only, i would place it at around $2700-$2900 USD.
If we can select, say, as low as 4 hotends with room to add others later and simply go through an entire calibration cycle when upgrading with new hotends, then i would say $2500 for the 4 and additional hotends added for $200-$225 per hotend.
Thus, it would be more cost effective to get the entire 7 hotends at the beginning than to start with 4 and upgrade to 7.
I doubt i would use 7. But i can see me using 4 or possibly 5.
Bambu has a good enough reputation even among those tangentially related to those in the hobby, but i can see the U1 being quite popular due to its price, if Snapmaker can pull off both the hardware and software.
With the upgrade kit, the air pump is already external and not built into the printer; only with the H2D laser combo is it permanently installed.
I also believe that a Vortek upgrade kit will easily cost around $1,000/€, and the conversion is very complex. It’s not just the exchange mechanism, but also the tool heat, possibly a different motherboard, etc.
Whether the added value of a shorter color change time is worth it for everyone to decide for themselves. My decision is already clear: I won’t subject myself to it.
The next question would be whether the laser/cutter can still be used after the conversion.
Are you talking about the upgrade price for the current h2d and s printers if so if this is the price they will sell maybe a couple hundred if that
Happy to have an upgrade path, but a bit miffed this is coming so soon after the H2D launch. I would have waited for the H2C, but oh well. I Kickstarted the U1 machine, but now I’m wondering if I should just sell my H2D or try the upgrade path.
I am talking about the entire machine, not just the upgrade.
I think I missed the point of this thread! Thanks for setting me straight!
My prediction on price is around £2000 or $2500 for an H2C combo, with one AMS2pro and 3 vortex nozzles.
I think the price of the H2D combo would drop a little bit.
Upgrade kit with 3 nozzles around £500-£600, or $600-$700.
I would happily pay the £500-£600 on release day (plus 3 more nozzles if they are less than about £70 each) - but if its more than that I will probably hold off for a few months.
