There is one very crucial difference in comparison with Apple-way-of-doing-things - for a clearly anti-consumer company, so far they have an excellent track record when it comes to security and privacy. BambuLab, not so much, to put it mildly…
The default mode of operation is (absolutely needless) uploading everything you want to print to BL cloud and then this gets delivered back to your printer to actually print it. This obviously has huge privacy, but also ownership issues - BL cannot really guarantee that nobody will be looking at what you want to print or steal your designs, but even if they handled this part properly (and based on how they treat the rest of their security that’s highly unlikely), what happens when their servers go off, or your connection goes off, or PRC (or some other governmental body) decides that some filtering on what is allowed to be printed has to be applied?
That’s precisely the reason why all of this uproar happened - at the moment, there is at least a way to completely sever the printers from their BL mother-ship while retaining almost all of their functionality. The (initially) proposed changes were threatening to remove this and people (like me) who find the ability to control our own hardware and value privacy wouldn’t have ever bought anything from BL if there wasn’t a way to do it down the line. I made quite a bit of research to ensure I will not be locked in before jumping onto the BambuLab train so if they want to remove this option, one way or another, my BL equipment would become expensive paperweights.
I appreciate the analogy, but I don’t really think my phone preference has much to do with this decision. I’ve used iPhones for years—starting with the iPhone 4, then the 11 Pro, and now the 16 Pro—but I upgrade when I need to, not because Apple tells me to.
With a 3D printer, my priority is simple: I want a reliable machine that works when I need it, without constant tinkering. If the A1 delivers on that, I’m fine with the trade-offs. That said, I do understand the concerns about a closed ecosystem, and it’s definitely something to keep in mind. Either way, I appreciate the input!
Then the A1 (or any BL printer, really) will fulfill your requirements. You only need to be concerned about the discussion going on here and what BambuLab says, promises and deliveres if:
You don’t want your prints to go to their cloud first before they get printed on your device
You don’t want for anybody to has the ability to prevent you to print whatever you want on your printer (within its physcial limits, of course)
You don’t want your printer to depend on an active internet connection
You don’t want to be prevented to print when BL servers go down
You don’t mind the possibility of eventually getting nickle-and-dimed or further locked-in (only approved filaments, only approved 3rd party HW/SW) because the cloud has operating costs whereas the printer is a one-time-purchase
If those things do not bother you or are not high on your list of importance when choosing a printer - go ahead and grab any BL printer in your budget. They are excellent machines for what they do, certainly the most hassle-free ones in their price ranges. It’s everything around the hardware (and the software that executes on the G-code, which is excellent) that is questionable, at the very least, and downright concerning in its current operation.
BambuLabs are showing values of deceit by changing the terms on us and creating an unbearable temptation to lock you into a costly to escape trap. The insight they gained from us we would want sent to a trustworthy company instead. Still, I hope I’m wrong. Not too late to backtrack and show trustworthy business practices.
I just don’t believe the whole “Only Bambu doesn’t need tinkering”. My A1 is an awesome machine, don’t get me wrong, but my other 3D printers have been working fine without maintenance and tweaking for over 5 years now. Yes, that was not cheap Aliexpress stuff, but as far as I can tell other printer manufacturers are currently churning out comparable machines to Bambu in price and quality.
They mostly don’t have the polished app with cloud service and MakerWorld like integration, but on the other hand that is what most discussion is about currently.
So yeah do your research. If you decide you’ll get a Bambu it will be a great machine and if you decide on another comparable brand you’ll most likely get a great machine as well. But most likely a different user experience
BambuLab said there’s no killswitch in any of their (current?) firmware versions, which means there is no way for an update to be forced upon you. The firmware is closed source so we do have to trust them on that one. At the moment they do not use any authorization method that would prevent future comms - again assuming no killswitch - that’s what they’re potentially enabling with this new anti-feature…
Can you point me to where this is a stated fact? Not hearsay on the internet, a stated, “We will require internet access for LAN mod to work”.
This is the statement that was released.
Despite claims to the contrary, LAN mode through Bambu Connect will require neither internet access nor a user account. This hasn’t changed and won’t change.
Somebody posted earlier what happens with the Connector with internet connection disabled while the printer is in LAN-mode - it goes into a spinning cycle without ever connecting to the printer. Also, the hard-coded cert in the Connector app has an expiration date in a year so at that point you’ll have to update at least the Connector - the question is how the verification is done at the firmware level to see if you’ll have to update the firmware as well (and thus, need an internet connection).
I don’t know about the other stuff, but i just had the most awkward case right now.
X1C in Lan mode, restricted by my router and with no communication in or out of my network at all.
Went to Orcaslicer, as i do many times, to send a print job and got error after error.
Failed to send print file to ftp
Error -4020"
Tried also with Bambu Studio, again, with no outside connection possible, since it’s router restricted. The same happened. Could not start the print job or even send the file directly.
Just as a test, as soon as i removed the restriction from the router side, it sent the print file like normal, through both Bambu Studio and Orcaslicer.
My question here and right now; why should LAN mode need an active connection?
Had to go the old ways of doing it. Removing the SD card, copying the file over and stick it in the X1C and start the print job myself.
Can anyone else also confirm this? It could be something on my side although i doubt it because until now i could always send print jobs through Lan mode without any issue and also with the same restrictions already applied. My network is pretty tight and well configured but something may have changed.
@Square3D I believe I’ve seen that failed to sent print file error on mine with Orca before this announcement. I don’t know if restarting or trying again would’ve been any different. At the time I just said “meh” and did that print with BS.
Yep they’ve said that. Here is where the erosion of trust is having an impact. The terms of service and other assertions going around are causing doubt.
I think some of us might be mis-interpreting the diagram BL posted. Or I am. But with the exception of the “expiring key” issue I raised above, the way I read their chart is that even Bambu Connect doesn’t need to touch the Internet. Even though in reality it actually does right now, if we give the benefit of the doubt, that is another bug.
They should’ve posted 3 diagrams. One for cloud mode, one for LAN mode, and one for LAN mode with Developer Mode enabled.
Thank you for the feedback. Restarting routers, restarting printers, etc.
Tried with Orca and also Bambu studio, both in complete offline mode. Nothing went through until i unrestricted the printer from accessing the internet.
Anyhow, if someone has a clue or could test it out, i appreciate it. As i said, could be a problem on my end (although nothing has changed since my last print) or not.
But with the exception of the “expiring key” issue I raised above, the way I read their chart is that even Bambu Connect doesn’t need to touch the Internet. Even though in reality it actually does right now, if we give the benefit of the doubt, that is another bug.