I bought a Creality CR10S Pro V2 and it drove me so crazy I was about ready to Michael Bolton it in a field somewhere. Took a chance on a recommendation to go Bambu becuase it described all the frustrations I had and that they addressed these frustrations. Happy to say, they were right. There’s challenges here and there but nothing that makes me want to destroy the machine.
- “just works” highly reliable
- high speed printing
- enclosure
- built-in camera for observing print progress
- built-in networking for easy uploads
- ams that can automatically switch spools when one runs out
- extremely favorable reviews
- fast speed benchy demo
- ability to print higher temperature higher performance filaments like nylon
- ease of use
- high quality prints
- fully assembled. NOT a kit.
I started by building a reprap printer from all thread and wooden corners. Home made extruder with arduino controller. Printed in 3mm filament, parts that were not very functional. Weak and tons of porosity.
Next printer was a kit built bed slinger with a duet3d controller. Decent part quality but slow.
Saw the videos on Bambu Lab printers and other high speed printers last fall. Didn’t really need a printer but I was curious how much the technology improved.
My P1S produces flawless parts at speeds around 4 times faster. Design it, send to the printer, 20min later pull it off the bed and either redesign or use as it. I normally need 3 iterations to perfect part, which is exactly what this tool was designed to do. Rapid prototyping.
Had no serious issues with the printer that I couldn’t fix however you do have mechanical skills. In other words no slotted screw driver or pliers around this unit.
Knowings that the average persons mechanical skills are very poor and their tools are what you could find in a kitchen drawer, makes me wonder if key area service shops would work.
My P1S was a gift but I first started with a Voxelab Aquila X2 and it was pretty bad. Bed adhesion was really bad even with a clean build plate and a LOT of glue stick, but I kept printing things because it has been my favorite hobby that I’ve ever had. I had heard about Bambu Printers before and thought they were awesome but thought that I would start saving up for a Prusa instead (because I had heard that they were incredible printers that were super reliable), but then I was gifted a P1S and it changed what I was thinking, it was super reliable, incredibly fast and had so many improvements over my first printer (Except for the noise) .If I had to chose between a Prusa and a Bambu labs printer I would probably choose the latter (unless it was a Prusa XL , those things are awesome but so expensive)
I realised pretty quickly that there were two types of printers: Printers for tinkerers, and printers for people who want to use it as a tool to print stuff.
I’m in the latter camp as I’m too old to be bothered with all of the hassle. I just want it to work. I almost went with the Prusa MK4 but it seemed like far less of a properly integrated solution when compared against the Bambu unit. So the X1 Carbon + AMS was the printer of choice without spending a fortune.
I’ve tried resin printing and the hassle factor and mess is apocalyptic. They’re a waste of time for me unless the process gets some serious work on the user-friendliness front. So FDM it was and the Bambu followed quickly after.
Elegoo didn’t just work. 3 Pro that wasn’t professional with me at all. Got to know the folks at their support. Really nice folks. I hope Yi and his mother got that place they wanted, and that sister of his can tune a filament, let me tell ya.
Really a bad printer is one you don’t learn from. Thankfully Elegoo taught me I was good with mechanical and some electronic stuff. I hated it for that.
My P1P turned into a P1S almost right after I bought it. It worked out of the box. I didn’t spend all that time that so many of you know about…amiright?
Just printed a model that would have taken an easy month with the old bedslinger. Finished with only one reprint (oops) in less than 2 weeks. I’m happy.
It is great printer as an appliance.
I build my own stuff, sometimes I make my own tools, but I prefer to spend time doing nonsense with my missus rather than spending time troubleshooting faulty tools…
Professionally, I have encountered makerbots and resin printers, but none of this is printer as appliance.
I have one complaint, and that is I would enjoy dual or quad extruder in 1 head. (As you find in profi 3d printers.)
But there must be killer feature for gen2.
Generally, it helped me critique my designers in my company by manufacturing better alternatives and it is fun thing for home.
PA12-CF + TPU combos are fun. (Inside, outside.)
I bought mine as my first foray into 3D printing because of the reviews. I wanted something that would just work really well out of the box. Mine has definitely been that. I did have one problem with an extruder splitting but Bambu took care of it. It sounds like I’ve been pretty lucky.
I bought mine for the same reason. Didn’t want to fiddle with it, just wanted something that worked. I didn’t have any experience with 3D printers before it. I haven’t had any issues with mine except dirty build plates (completely my fault and inexperience)!
I count myself lucky also, it sounds like others have not had the smooth experience I have had.
- Friendly Hobbies is the place I go to for my last printer Artillery X2 started carrying the Bambu and they were telling me about it. and I trust them.
- X2 finally died on me after nearly 20 prints turned out was cheaper to buy a new printer than fix it, so I did.
- There were a few choices to choose from my 3D guru suggested I get the X 1 he felt I would enjoy that one the most and I was able to get the AMS at the same time for full assembly all I had to do was take it home plug in and go to the wiki to learn how to use my new printer. I have been enjoying it ever since. Only had one hic-up and that was largely due to my fault for assuming the fix rather than
finding how to fix it. I have zero regurts (*snickers joke) hehe buying this printer
I started off 3d printing by scavenging old printers for parts. It took a few years and I still didn’t have everything nor the time to commit. Then Creality came along, I purchased and Ender 3 Pro. At the same time I purchased the he Anycubic Delta printer from an EBay auction. I had no ideas of the headaches I’d endure. I have to admit it made me a more patient person and more detail oriented but neither worked consistently and soon I paid for more for wasted filament because of failures that I caved in. Well I purchased a Prusa MK3S. In the beginning, the first couples of months, there was a huge live affair happening because after tuning it seemed to just work, untillllll………My first nozzle clog. That’s when I realized the I created a new word and rating system, “Pistivity”. Every time I need to print something I had to figure out what level of Pisstivity I could tolerate for the day. It seemed that if I would change one small parameter in a print and didn’t run a test print, a waste of time and filament, I was risking failure. So I gave up until recently. I purchased a X1C from Bambu. I saw all of the reviews and couldn’t find any credible complaints so I pulled the trigger and prayed my wife wouldn’t bury me in the garden for a bumper crop of corn. Hundreds of hours later, I had a nozzle clog and my Pisstivity scale reactivated. But when I looked for solutions all I found were simple instructions on how to clear the nozzle and swap them out, I had a spare that shipped with my printer, impossible!!! It was easy, made sense and well documented and not someone trying to flex who has the bigger……sorry lost my train of thought. But I was back up and running without having to manually retune my machine and start another print within an hour!! So as far as the growing pains of 3d printing, I am happy I understand and know the ins and outs but much happier sense I have not had to adjust my rating scale and realize not a big deal and babysitting anymore.
Because I had an ender 3 for 3+ years and it would fail/break constantly. It got so bad that I completely gave up on 3d printing entirely and moved on to foam crafting.
Once I got pretty decent at that (made a viking themed iron man suit). I decided to retry the printing route as my hands are worn out. A friend suggested I look into the X1 and I owe him a beer because this thing is a monster.
Automated color capability and much larger print volume than I had before.
Don’t regret it one bit. There are issues but very minor for me. It’s opened up an amazing new world of printing.
I love this thread and reading everyone’s stories. Much like @R3d-Five I started with an Elegoo Neptune 3, I’m not as wealthy as he is so I couldn’t afford the “pro” model. I had a lot of problems, in retrospect they were mostly my fault. After having too much pride to reach out and ask for help, and having Googled all I could Google, I boxed it up and returned it. “3D printing isn’t for me I guess” was my conclusion. But it was too late, the sickness had already taken hold. I kept thinking about it, I kept going to Printables and looking at models even though I no longer had a printer! Then I saw an AMS unit and learned about Bambu and multicolor printing. The timing was perfect, the Kickstarter had just ended. I ordered a P1P (now upgraded to a P!S). It arrived and I was amazed. Shortly an X1C was on the way, then a couple more. I was printing like crazy and no one could stop me! Then it hit me, I had to buy another Elegoo… I couldn’t be bested by a bed slinger. This post is getting too long so here’s a TLDR of the rest: Bought a lot of Elegoos, bought the parts for 3 Vorons and built 2 of them, bought an A1-Mini, and Pre-ordered a Prusa… everyone lived happily every after.
I had enough points to get one for free and I wanted to see what all the fuzz was about. So I got the A1 combo.
Things I like:
Speeeeed, even though it sometimes sounds like it is ripping itself apart it is about 30% faster than my old printer.
The AMS, not for the multicolor, not for the waste it always produces, but just for the laziness.
The cloud service. Again, for the laziness of not having to get up from the couch to press print.
Oh, and the price of course.
I’m not too impressed with the artefacts created by the speed (sharp corners), the amount of noise it makes and how often it asks for maintenance (my other printer never did and never got any).
I also just received the wrong filament so I am now going to test their customer service. Let’s hope that one goes in the “things I like” category!
Bottom line I am impressed at what they managed to pull out of their hat at that price point! But I don’t know if I had bought it if it was my own money, partly because I didn’t need an extra printer. Happy I got one though!
Got tired of the upgrade path for my Prusa MK3 to 3s to 3s+ to 3.5 and MMU2 not working so well and upgraded to MMU3 that I haven’t put the finishing touches on yet. I just want to print instead of constantly mod and upgrade. I put less effort into my Mini+ but it needs some work too. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. But after much deliberation I have an X1C en route if FedEx would just show up.
Oh and also after looking at Prusa’s newest, it falls kind of flat with Bamboo’s AMS system. I have a second AMS on the way… waiting to purchase the hub which is not available 
Same, honestly the Jan 8th deadline might not be true, it was the 2nd before then they moved it to the 8th.
This is my first printer, after watching the market closely for a couple of years. I was interested in the A1/mini due to the reports of out-of-the-box workingness (younger me would have happily played with making a printer, current me would rather play with using a printer!) and the price. I was strongly considering the AMS-lite too, something that wasn’t offered around those prices by anyone else at the time.
A significant deciding factor was actually the A1 recall. There being a problem like that is obviously a concern, but the handling of the problem with proper recall and self-fix options, looked like a great example of post-sale care.
I ummed and arred about the Mini (and AMS) for long enough that the A1 was available again, then a little longer because life was too busy at that point to have time for a new hobby, and eventually went with the A1+AMSlite.
542 hours printing over ~11 weeks, it has pretty much met, and in some cases exceeded, expectations.