Battle of the Bedslingers: Bambu A1 vs Prusa MK4
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ธ.ค. 2023
- 🥊I put the Bambu Lab A1 up against a Prusa MK4 to see who's faster, cheaper and better. Who wins this match up in the Battle of the Bedslingers?
Thanks to Jim @TheEdgeofTech for showing us how to remove a Bambu X1 Nozzle!
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I really wanted to get rid of my Ender 3 Pro that I bought in 2019. It was becoming a hassle to print normal things. I was so close to biting the bullet on a MK4 but right before I completed the order I looked to see some competitors and saw that the A1 had literally just come out. I instantly bought one instead of the MK4 and its been amazing! It got to my house in 2 days (right before christmas!). So much more reliable than the ender and so far its been "print and forget". Not going to shill Bambu Lab or any other brand but this printer has been great in my experience, the value is crazy good in my opinion.
And Ender 3 Pro was my 2nd printer (right after a cr10s) -- the difference is night & day. Happy Printing!
I have a X1 one too. But being to unable to mod and mess with it is a huge downer after some time.
Shoot, you can mod all the Ender 3's you want now. They are pretty much free/dirty cheap since the bambus hit. You can have a modding printer, and a reliable OEM bambu. best of both worlds!
@@haschkatze8372
I bought an Ender 5 Pro two years ago, liked it for some time, started to be really annoyed by it. The bed has a spot where nothing ever sticks despite being equipped with a BLtouch, now the filament does not go through the hot end anymore. I exchanged the hotend but no difference. The extruder keeps pushing and it thickens up in the tube before the hotend. So annoying.
I am done with tinkering with my printer. I am not interested in working on the printer, I want to print with the printer. Right now I am considering: Bambu bedslinger A1 or CoreXY P1 OR go to Prusa with their phantastic support and community. After my experience with the Ender I think about the service oriented Prusa despite the higher price
Yes that list would be great to hear
I'd love to see your chart of cost per volume for all the new machines you calculated it for! 😊
Awesome video. Thank you!
I've never seen your channell before this video. Bambu seems to be shedding it's light in all kinds of little corners. Great video! Subscribed.
Excellent review
The MK4 is in the same price range as the X1C. That is the comparison I see every time. People always bring up “prusa’s track record” however the Prusa mini still isn’t feature complete, the MMU2 was trash & felt like they forgot about it.
It does seem like the MMU 2 or 3 for Prusa is underpromoted. We don't see much on the review front for sure. Track record and support is a thing. You don't have to search too hard for stories about under supported printer or products in general. We've had amazing support from Bambu Labs but not everyone has every time........
maybe but they were also doing it years before bambu and bambu wouldn't be able to do it now without the investment prusa put into prusaslicer and its multi colour multi material slicing.
@@thegarageluthier there are countless industries, investments, individuals, & innovations that all contribute to every new technology. How do we choose who to credit & how far back? We’re constantly building on previous knowledge & accomplishments.
@@KanielD In the home 3d printing space it is quite easy it only goes back 16 years to the start of the reprap movement, all software and hardware designs we use today stem from that. Also the slicer itself is easy to trace its heritage.
@@thegarageluthier why is that the stopping point? Without DuPont & many others we’d likely be in a different place with 3d printing too. We can trace everything back to things that wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for something that came before them. Before the discovery of fire & the invention of the wheel, there was something else that brought about the advancement we see today.
I bought an A1 to replace my Prusa Mini. Compared to the MK4, my mini just can't copy the quality so I figure this might be at time to try out this legendary Bambu product line. If I think about it, the A1 competes on almost all levels with the MK4 for 1/3 the price. At least, it should. We'll see how it goes. I've been needing a second larger bed printer anyway for some projects so might as well see what the hype is about.
i have the mini aswell,but the quality almost same the bambu is just slightly better but faster and bigger
@@pakssmsjsjsks8596 Something that most don't mention is the phone app for Bambu. Personaly I think its a big plus especially if you have multiple printers from Bambu. Being able to control and check on your prints from your phone is amazing and has came in very handy for me. The app is called Bambu Handy lol. Also, being able to select prints from Maker World straight from your phone or even on your PC is a huge plus for me. I've been out and about and thought of something I would need to print, and if I can find it on Maker World (And I have the filament I want on the printer or AMS's) I'm able to just start the print right from my phone. By the time I'm home, the print is finished and ready.
@@pakssmsjsjsks8596 The PRUSA mini or the BAMBU mini? I have a Prusa mini - and that has been an underwhelming experience. I've been thinking about getting an A1 to up the print speed and quality.
@@thomasd9827the prusa, i have the Prusa Mini, and the A1 the quality is not much diferent, i printed now around 180hours with the A1 and 500with the prusa ,i like prusa firmware better you get more options than the A1, the A1 is like for lazy people who dont like tinkering that much😅 but it looks modern and cool and the AMS is working good, i dont know about the price thought is it worth it? maybe idk, i didnt have problems with the two
@@pakssmsjsjsks8596 the price point comparison seems favorably skewed towards the A1 full size vs the Prusa Mini from my point of view. for what I paid for the Prusa Mini, shipping, and import fees - I can get a full size A1 with AMS and some change to spare for extra A1 nozzle kit and some filament rolls. I'm going to get an A1 since the MK4 isn't cost competitive.
Very good comparison video! Not too much, just very clear info.
I have a question on Bambu printers alone. Across the platform, is it where does the value for money peak?
Nice comparison! Would love to see your list of price per cubic inch too. Happy Holidays!
In my humble opinion at this point Prusa should drastically cut prices on… wait for it… MK3
For sure I’ll give them some time to recoup R&D from MK4 but asking more for MK3 than A1 is just ridiculous at this point.
I think it depends on users' priorities. Some people are developing products or printing parts that are covered under nondisclosure agreements, and that is not possible given Bambu Lab's licensing agreement that states that you're sharing your files with them.
Excellent comparison!
It is probably the most un-biased I have ever watched to date.
I have an MK3S+. I would like to try a Bambu. I rarely print anything that is larger than the A1 mini, so maybe I will start there. As far as print quality, do you think the A1 and the A1 mini are comparable?
Yes, they are equally good.
Very interesting. Did you ever find out why the A1 had a layer shift? Was it repeatable on that model?
heck ya, why didn't the A1 detect the problem and re-home itsself, the way the Prusa does?
@@KenLord cause, apparently, Prusa is an overpriced POS that makes the printer your hobby instead of peinting being your hobby... or whatever
The Prusa MK4 lacks accelerometer sensors, and their idea of input shaping is locked to static values. That on itself is a huge issue in terms of keeping constant quality of output as the IS values are derived not from the specific machine, but a "generic value". The funny part is Prusa themselves fully admit "accelerometers are essential for correct input shaping", yet they do NOT include these sensors on the MK4 (it does have an input port for 1 sensor, which is not enough for a bedslinger, but even that port is not attached to anything), and DO include them on the Prusa XL in each toolhead but are NOT capable of using them atm. For printers at these price tags, that's a major let down, especially since Bambu doesn't just use these sensors for input shaping, but they actually also use them to monitor the machine's "health" in terms of belt tension and possible unexpected levels of resistance in the movement system.
not a huge issue at all, i use the same IS values for all my tridents and have no issues. Its not as big a deal as people think. They are essential for initial values but not required at all times.
@@thegarageluthier What a ridiculous statement. People have their printers on all sorts of surfaces which definitely affects the values.
If you have 3 of the same printers on the same surface then yea, of course itll be fine. Completely misapplied logic.
@@BeefIngot Is that the same misapplied logic that led you to believe that they are all on the same surface? Experience and understanding that this is just 3d printing and not rocket science, people love to get sold on the new shiny without ever really understanding if its needed or not.
@@thegarageluthier If they arent, you are getting lucky and do not understand how input shaping works.
@@BeefIngot Im sorry you must be right I have only been an electronics engineer and programmer for 30 years so probably don't understand shit.
Great content! Just subscribed!
Good review.
Just picked up an A1 mini three weeks ago, kids been running it 24/7 ever since with zero issue. Gonna grab the A1 next. Makes zero sense to buy the Prusa for 3x the price nowadays.
I just ordered my very first 3d printer tonight, just about 5 minutes ago. So excited!
Ordered the Bambu A1 AMS Lite combo, and got a good selectin of colors of the PLA Basic and PLA Matte filament rolls (8 rolls total)
I was careful to select at least 4 rolls in the reusable spool and the other 4 rolls were as refill, to conserve on cost.
I'm so excited. I need to get my wooden shop desk out of storage, else i won't have a place to set this on 😂.
I've been wanting a 3d printer since about 2012 and now I'm finally getting one 🥲🤧☺️
Congrats! You’ll love it!
You're gonna LOVE IT, gl!
Woot woot!
I love how she said "If budget is your concern go get a creality." LMAO! I ended up getting an Ender 3 V3 KE as my first printer because it's better for the money than the SE.
The KE uses Klipper and I would expect it to perform better than the Marlin versions, but most Ender 3's need a lot of modifications to get to the class of the Bambu A1, and that makes the Ender 3 end up costing more than the Ender 3 by the time you pay for all the mods.
The more I try to learn about this hobby/passion/obsession of 3D printing AND painting, the more I appreciate the complete painted figures I purchase from professionals.
At this point, I think it will be easier to learn to actually sculpt. LOL
Thank you for your video.
Get a resin printer.
Thankyou for the comparison video. I'm still uncertain what to purchase (1st timer). I was set to get an A1 but then discovered the delta models by FLSun and was intrigued by the design though there's less information about them. Maybe that tells me all I need to know :/ Cheers!
I have Bambu and FLsun, if you like to tinker, the delta is great, if you want easy printing, Bambu is a clear winner.
As a hobbiest that’s tried about 4 printers myself, this is one of the best reviews I’ve seen on 3d printers so far. Thanks for posting!!
how does it compare to creality cr 10 se , there is quite good offer on it however 100$ more for a1
great video, I hope to get an A1 once they start selling them again
40K views!? You're blowing up! Nice video.
Casually saying "yeah its more expensive" as if its not nearly 4x 😂
A1 is $400. MK4 kit is $800, MK4 Assembled $1,100. So 2x and 2.75x.
@@aaronchamberlain4698 and with all the shit add ons and upgrades you need to match the Bambu it's 3-4x
@@MrSirclint WTF you talking about? Lol. She literally showed in the video that it prints at the same speed as the A1 and performed better.
I have a MK4 and did $0 of mods to it. I’ve bought some different size nozzles and made an enclosure for $80 using two IKEA tables. Tada. Still $300 cheaper than the X1C.
@@aaronchamberlain4698 cool. Compare it to the A1 then. Because the mk4 is not even comparable to the x1. The x1 is a totally different class. Quit trying to justify spending 3-4x for a worse product lol
@@aaronchamberlain4698 not to mention you're talking about the kit. So 10+ hours of assembly that may or may not go well vs out of the box functionality. Compare your prices to the assembled version. It's not a better deal or better printer in any world
I have owned both. A1 hands down just works!
This is the best review I have ever seen as a total newb looking for his 3d printer!
Why did that layer shift occur and how can one fix it?
What an exceptional video presentation! - "Success unfolds as a perpetual and evolving adventure.."
What thoughts about linear rail ball bearings quality?
So far so good. No rust or corrosion and everything moves smoothly...
@@richardbertacchi5016 Friend sayd those could fail printing 24/ within a year. We have a dozen of P1S and after using for 1 year 24/7 much parts had to be replaaced and upkeep for a Bambuulabs P1S is on average 150€ per year. Bambuu is not Prusa what just works 2000 hours without problems.
@@WILDBEES_LATVIA I should point out that, while we don't have any printer going 24/7, we've printed on a daily or at least weekly on a P1P since it's been available. Other than wear and tear on the AMS bowden tubes due to abrasive filament, nozzle replacements and a self-inflicted AMS failure (don't ask) we've not had anything else need maintenance. I can't see the linear rails on the Bambu failing. Our Prusa Mini and Mk4 have not had as much use but have also been maintenance free.....
@@WILDBEES_LATVIA you seem to be talking shit
where u get the piece to hold the cables ? one it comes with the printer and the other? thanks
If you go to Maker World you should be able to print a replacement.
@@stldenise i was asking about the second one u have. i dont find it, can u put the link. 4:06 u got 2 things to grab the cables, where i can find the grey one?
@@stldenise ?
Comes in the kit
P1p is more upgradeble and can have much better cooling than a1?
for the P1P you have a direct upgrade path to the P1S (or you can build an enclosure yourself - i have one on printables for example) - this printer is then fundamentally better than the A1 or the MK4
What is the difference between A1 regular and A1 Mini, is there any difference in the quality of the print or something like that, except that it is only smaller
Nope, just a size thing. They both print well.
@@stldenise
is a1 and a1 mini better than pruse mk4 and pruse mini for that price
An A1 *WITH* AMS is only 1/2 the price of an MK4.. this is a major point, not a minor cost increase. Bambu's AMS system has already proven more reliable, overall, than the MMU family from Prusa. Prusa's communication hardware on their Mini/MK4/XL is *so* bad that they had to develop "binary GCode" to reduce the data sent to the printer in order to effectively get faster data transfers rates; and many TCP features on Prusa's system are custom written and can be more difficult to use and some utilities/features are missing. While Prusa still uses a central shipping point for most of its filament and printers, Bambu has set up many distribution points in other countries which make access to filament much more cost effective. For instance, in Canada Prusament will cost $50-62 a roll where Bambu will cost $22 for refills. The A1 has an accelerometer on-board for input compensation while the MK4 uses a generic model developed by Prusa. Now both may work fine on a specific MK4, but I'd prefer to have a local accelerometer in case the resonances in my particular printer are slightly unique. Now I have an MK3S and it is excellent (but slow), but the engineering quality of Bambulabs in such a short time (Prusa has been developing the MK4 for 5 years and its release still had so many bugs), has to be admired.
Bambu Studio slicer is a fork of Prusaslicer.
Closed chamber 3D printers are avsilable now because 2 / 3 years ago expired some patents, most of which Stratasys ones.
Corexy 3D printers are nothing new.
They were abke to put all together. Short time, who say You when they started development.
To shorten time there is another way, ha a lot of budget, the Bambu Lab had.
Maybe not so advertised, but Bambu's AMS and printed were modigied since introduction. AMS has a new control board for example.
How much products have already discontinued or will discontinue soon?
I'm more a Prusa guy, but those BambuLab printers are quite good and much cheaper. The quality of all the components is better in the MK4, but the Bambu is good enough. For hobbyists who just want to print every now and than. The Bambu A1 is the one to go. The same choice if you want to be able to print in multi colour.
The Bambu multi colour unit however is rather flimsy and probably not good for heavy duty usage.
If you plan to be a heavy duty user, the Prusa MK4 is probably a better choice. But for multy colour a MK4 plus MMU is very expensive. I would consider buying a Bambu P1 with AMC, or a A1 and replace the AMC one time.
If you want to use other slicers, as the Bambu or Prusa slicer, you don't have any choice. The Prusa machines work with all slicers, the Bambu machines are designed to work with Bambu slicer only. You can use other slicers, but not with all the possibilities to communicate with the printer.
I'm just curious, but which components are better? I'm a proud owner of and MK3S, and a P1S, so i've tried both platforms. If anything i feel like the 3d printed components on my prusa are of lesser quality than the non printed(or really any) parts on the bambu.
The only thing i can think of, is maybe the CF rods, which will wear faster than the steel ones on the prusa. but the CF rods also a speed benefit, so its a tradeoff.
I own 3 prusa mk3s, also curious, all components are better in Prusa? How do you have this conclusion?
If you think the quality of farm printed petg is even close to injection molding.. have you ever seen a Bambu printer.. compared screens, linear RAILS v rods, camera vs your cell phone next to it.. Working ams vs project mmu. I'll take two of what you're smoking
Bambu's slicer is open source, as it is a fork of prusa slicer, and I use OrcaSlicer which is a fork of it. You are locked into using their proprietary network plugin though, unless you want to use an SD card
@@JakJakku Bambu-slicer is a fork of Prusa Slicer, but not for the full 100% open source. The parts Bambu added are closed.
While the MMU3 for the mk4 isn't available yet, you still could compare the A1+AMS light and the mk3s+ & MMU2/3 - basicly a 6 year old printer (with some upgrades). While I still work on my Prusa setup (have it from the beginning, but never used it due to the early problems), simply slice the same model both in bambulab Studio and Prusa slicer. You get printing time and waste pretty correct.
I used a test with 4 different coloured dices 1m³ bithout tuning settings.
The difference is astonishing:
Bambus A1 (mini, as I have it) with AMS light produces 4 times the waste and needs 25% more time than a 6 yo setup from Prusa!
However, this is a quite smal print, so the time overall is mostly caused by filament changing. Unload with ramping on a standard flow nozzle is much faster than cut&poo.
One reason the MMU2 never was realy successful is the reliability. Prusas setup has two downsides: The special modified e3d heatbreak needs ramping to be tuned to printing temperature and material to get a good filament tip. And the filament should be quite dry.
6 years ago this was a problem. But with the Revo hotend, the filament tip got much better on unload without fine tuning, making the setup much more easy. And filament dryers have become quite popular nowerdays. So if you upgraded the mk3s+ with a Revo Six (or maybe a Trianglelabs Unified nozzle), it works much more flowless (this is the reason I started building it now).
The other downside of Prusa is the spoolholder/filamentbuffer system. You have to make sure to have as low fraction as possible - so best not to use the filament buffer, but placing the filament on good spoolholders on a shelf above the printer. The AMS and AMS light have a filament-synchronicer (on the AMS integrated in the part known as "filament-buffer", on the A1 (mini) on the top of the printhead). Actually using a spring, a slider, a magnet and a hall sensor detects if filament is needed and the AMS-feeder is pushing the filament to the printhead. This reduced the force needed from the printheas extruder and making everything more easy.
Both downsides are solvable - but not very beginner friendly. But if you want to print multicolour often, you definitly are better off with Prusa. I am eager to see the MMU3 for mk4, as the nextruder nozzle leaves a even better filament tip than the Revo or TUN.
Also, while wipe2infill or whipe2object can reduce filament waste a lot on the prusa (or on the ERCF on Klipper printers), this reduces only size for the wipe tower (a lot). You can not reduce the poo on the Bambu-printers this way, as the remaining old filament in heatbreak and nozzle is been cut off and can not be retracted anymore. So neither wipe2infill nor wipe2object would give reasonable print results.
However, this only applys to full-colour prints. If you use multicolour only on the bottom or top layers, for horizontal support interface layers or to change to next spool after one is empty, the number of filament changes is quite smal and the filament changing time and waste do not matter much. So for many cases the Bambu AMS is actually a very good solution. Also only needing a few multicolour print a year (for Xmas gifts) the time and waste is acceptable.
So while I am experienced, I still bought the A1 mini as a nice quick2go solution. But at the same time, I build my MMU3 setup, just for fun. Practicaly I barely do any full multicolour, just sometimes in the first 3 layers for display cases (manualy filament change...). But my father got some multicolour prints this Xmas, printed on the A1 mini (the battery boxes in style of a beer box - I made a modifier with the logo of his favorate beer brand to use a second colour for it (Krombacher, I am german))
That is a heck of a post. One point, we never got a chance to review the an MK3 or any variety of Prusa MMU.
The Bambu Lab default purge settings are very high - and unnecessarily wasteful. You can set those much lower and still get a correct purge. Dial them in with some testing of the colours/materials you want to use for the best economy. My last big print with four colours I got most head purges down to 110 or 120 mm^3. (With literally thousands of filament changes, it adds up.)
Separate heads is the best solution for minimising waste. I have a Sovol SV04 that I have almost got working correctly without a purge block, thus waste is very small - just a little material loss when the idling head is reactivated. (Only two colours, as it is IDEX, but the Prusa XL can be configured with up to five heads. Expensive, though.)
@@boggisthecat I compared both with standard settings. You can tune both to lower waste. Howerver, cut&poo alvas need more filament. And while you can tune waste on an mmu2/3 to nerly zero if you print multcolour (not multimaterial) if you have an object where colour does not matter ab wipe into this object, you can not use this with cut&poo, as cutted filament can not been retracted anymore.
Idex or toolchanger is mostly interesting for multimaterial. While of course you can also use it for multicolour, as long as you have objects where colour does not matter and could be used for wipe2object, this does not reduce waste a lot.
Multtool/Idex mostly reduces time for changing to another colour. However, imho an Idex combined with two filament changers might be the best for pure multicolor - change the filament in the non-active printhead while the other is printing...
@@oleurgast730
I have thought about an IDEX plus colour setup. The issue would be changing from e.g. H1 black, H2 white, H1 red, H2 black - where black is required at both heads.
Another option would be a rack of hot-ends that can be picked up either head of the IDEX and pre-heated for the next colour/material change. Thus you could lose very little material - possibly near zero if you parked the hot-ends on a silicone block or similar to prevent oozing. (Some people reverse the silicone block locations on the Sovol SV04 so that when the head is parked the nozzle is on the silicone block.)
For this you would require precise mechanics, though, or a way to calibrate the nozzle position at each exchange. So it becomes technically complex.
In the end, economics is on the side of wasting material.
Oh, and you can alter the start g-code in the Bambu Labs machines to do a long retract at material change, thus leaving less filament to purge. It is a bit twitchy, though, and you run a higher risk of a blockage, so I looked at this but decided against implementing it (for now).
good review however i feel you where biased toward prusa the a1 is clearly the top dog in this ring. also it comes with the ams at that price so it should be counted.
Ikr. $400 vs $800($1100assembled) or $560 with AMS
You could get 2 printers with ams for the cost of the assembled mk4
Larger build area, potentially faster, affordable parts, camera, remote monitoring and a host of QOL features
But if you want to compare them you would have to gimp the A1 drastically to make a video.
@@No0o0o0o0o0 "In certain situations, Bambu Lab is unable to delete your personal data in responding to your requests, including:
when such personal data is still necessary to be processed to achieve the purpose we collected it for;
Bambu Lab’s interest in using the data overrides your interest in having it deleted (e.g., when we need to process the personal data to protect our services from fraud); [notice this is only an example:
So basically you are at Bambu Labs whims when it comes to your data. And, since Bambu shares data outside US to its parent company in China, there is no chance of forcing compliance."
Interesting review, but the big thing that you seemed to gloss over was whilst the Prusa is slightl;y better it is over 3 times the cost in the UK anyway, for a MK4 it would cost me £1054.80 compared to the £369 for the Bambu and only $509 with the colour AMS. The MK4 will add and extra £292 to add colour so the total is very neary £1400. So whilst they are very similar they are not like for like.
Actually the MK4 is not slightly better, it's at most close the A1 but the A1 is still the better choice. Price wise and features to feature. I'll say it once again, the only thing Prusa has on Bambu Lab is long term support and customer service
But the bambu support is pretty good, and time will tell if they are good long term but the indicators are that they will be.
@@MrSeanroberts1969 I agree but that's just our opinion. Prusa needs to step up their game, they won't have experience and "trusted by time" on their side for too long. Bambu Lab is aiming for the top and they are almost there
The same can be said vs. X1C.... lidar gives pratically nothing more.
An enclosure can be built.
The limitstions of one could be in the firmware... since being closed source we don't know.
maybe you should have put an MMU on the Prusa, that would be an interesting comparison. And yes, seeing a price per cubic inch would be interesting.
I’m waiting for it to be compatible! Right now it doesn’t work with the mk4 tool head. 😔
I own a Prusa MK2, Mk3 with a mmu2 and a x1c (with AMS). My dad owns ender3's and now owns a p1s (with AMS). You can do a generic cost per cubic inch how ever that does not do it full justice. While I have no clue how the MMU3 does, the MMU2 only successfully print around 70%-80% (vs AMS's success rate of 99.9%) of the time. I love my Prusa printers. I hate Prusa's MMU. After printing with the AMS for a few months I would not go back if doing a lot of multi color printing. The MMU2 now sits collecting dust and the mk3 is used for single color functional prints mainly CF and very soft TPU (such a 85A NinjaFlex). The MK2 is put away and is now a backup.
That's a hard ask, it would be hard to find a working MMU in the first place haha. On mk3s+ it was nothing but hot garbage for most people.
@@brianjensen5200 weird, I just started using an MMU2S on a MK3S ... the MMU2S kit sat unused for 4 years, I finally assembled and installed it recently, doing multicolour topographic prints for engineering projects, hundreds of tool changes in each print. I do get pauses for filament tip problems, and the odd other error but so far I'm running at 90% success, counting a failure that was my fault.
MMU3 should be compatible with mk4@@stldenise
one point I'm sure that came up but is relevant in that 'everyone makes mistakes, you might put in PETG when you meant to print PLA' this is where the RFID spools and refills for Bambu become relevant (among others) and it matters because their filament is tuned, calibrated, and is competitively priced, you drop it in and you can't get the setting wrong because the printer will tell you "hey you're trying to print PLA but you loaded PETG"
the X1C also scans the qr codes on plates. I have printed and sent files for cool plate (35c) to a printer loaded with a textured pei plate (needs 55C to stick) and the printer told me i was being a fool. It scans it and pauses it, letting me swap to my cool plate or reslice.
I have had the Prusa Mini since 2020 and trying to decide between the Prusa Mk4 and Bambu Labs A1. The Major concern I have is that the Bambu uses THEIR Cloud. It's free for 6 months, but then it's $11 a month. That's $132 a year. I don't know how safe my data is on their cloud. With my Mini and the Mk4 you use a USB flash drive to move files. I can be totally off the network and still use MY machine. I don't know how secure my computer is when connected to a foreign country?
There's no charge to use a Bambu.
"safe data" is not about Bambulab, forget it. Bambulab privacy policy: "In certain situations, Bambu Lab is unable to delete your personal data in responding to your requests, including:
when such personal data is still necessary to be processed to achieve the purpose we collected it for;
Bambu Lab’s interest in using the data overrides your interest in having it deleted (e.g., when we need to process the personal data to protect our services from fraud); [notice this is only an example:
So basically you are at Bambu Labs whims when it comes to your data. And, since Bambu shares data outside US to its parent company in China, there is no chance of forcing compliance."
The question is: will prusa improve their innovation speed in terms of printer firmware for all of their models? The major factor in the long term is the quality of the combo of slicer and firmware. Currently Prusa is fighting too many fronts in my opinion with all their differnt printers (delta, resin, mk, xl, etc.) regarding their engineering capacity.
Eh. Disagree. They recently unified all their FDM printers under a single firmware (the Buddy Firmware). So Mini, MK3.9, MK4, and XL are now mostly the same code base. They have a few differences, but they likely made that move for this exact reason. They need to speed up development so that they can focus on the next big release.
Funny you should say that. Bambu is based off of prusaslicer.....so I bet Bambu is hoping Prusa innovates some more on that front.
@@chethammer And Prusaslicer is based of Slic3r, the only two common FDM slicers that cant trace it back to slic3r is Cura and Simplify3D. Prusa did the same thing bambu is doing now, making a fork of existing software. Heck, even creality slicer is fork of Cura.
@@Steel_shooter prusaslicer is far beyond slic3r . Don't even know if it's still used.
@@chethammer that's not the point. The point is that innovation and improvements on existing software keeps on going when the base is open source. Heck, there are even forks of Bambu slicer that's better than it for the Bambu machines, like Orca Slicer.
So if you don't want to mention slic3r, I see no point in dragging in prusa slicer when it comes to acknowledging what came before.
Or do you feel similarly about super slicer?
I think its neat that printers can print fast with quality but I still dont see the need to print so incredibly fast at least for my needs. Prusa problem is they are to expensive for that you get the mk4 came out and it was already behind.
I own the MK4 and A1 - despite the recall, my long term opinion is that the A1 is the better value overall. Much more features, much better price, MUCH less tinkering, and easier to maintain. I recently had clogs occur (in the same day) on my A1 and my MK4, and dissembling and cleaning the extruder and nozzle on the A1 was MUCH easier and quicker than on my MK4. I ended up cancelling my MMU3 preorder for the MK4, and got another A1 for not much more $$. My A1's are awaiting the headbed cable recall fix, which I am not mad about, because I will get some sweet gift cards, and in the meantime, I will just print on my X1 Carbon.
Now that the A1 is recalled it exposes the ancient mendel design as the relic it is.
mendel design? What's that?
Don't blame the filament for the printer not being fast. Hell is prusa thinking. True speed is not everything. Speeds is only 98% of everything.
At 5:40, why wouldn't you use the same filament for each print? Seems like that's the first thing you would want to do to keep a print comparison even.
No way, change as many variables as you can! 😂
Definitely feel a bias for the prusa lol. Casual mention of the much higher price, playing up of prusas history in the 3d market. Mostly fair but still, far to many people give prusa a pass on a lot because of their history and reputation instead of strickly on the cost and performance of their printers.
5:48 the First Layer from the mk4 was not perfect. Why?
Bambu is the perfect printer for plug and play 😂😂 listen to me trust me
what is the mean of bedslinger i dont understand can you explain please
It means that rather than the hot end and extruder being the only major moving element in all 3 directions, they put one of the moving axes on the bed itself. So the nozzle end will do up down and left and right while the bed goes forward and backward. The printer "slings" the bed back and forth so that the extruder only has to run two axes.
@@joebranson9275corexy sometimes moves beds. Prusa XL, Bambu X and P series all use moving beds in Z. However voron 2.4 does NOT move the bed
@@Zyghqwyv Yeah I could have been clearer, The main point is that a bedslinger performs lateral movements wiggling the part around where coreXY leaves the lateral moves to the print head. I described what would be a coreXYZ if that even exists by mistake haha.
@@joebranson9275deltas are kinda similar to that but yeah, Z isnt that big of a deal since prints are 2.5D instead of true planar printing.
The A1 can use it's entire bed for multi colour prints - you dont lose space for a waste tower, which will be the case on a prusa. Oddly the X1C also loses some printable space too, not for a waste tower but for calibration. Who cares its not much space right? Well i care. I often do multi-tile topographic models for engineering projects that need to cover the whole bed. And they want multi colour.
2:56 You should never recommend an Ender, neither a Monoprice.
I agree on the Monoprice, but the newest Enders have been great for beginners. The Ender 3 sv3 SE is really good.
@@stldenise Enderes are a complete clusterf*** - expecially for beginners - if you just want to print and not tinker with a printer and you are on a tight budget, get an A1 Mini for 300 bucks - in no world the Ender 3 for roughly 200 bucks can compete her
100 bucks extra for - and i quote you here - an expensive hobby is nothing, for the pain and misery you spare yourself
Sold all 15 of my mks3+ machines as soon as x1c came out. Now have five x1cs and 3 p1ps and now 2 a1s.
These orint on average 3 times faster than the mks3+ did and same or better quality prints. Equivalent of 30 mks3 pri ting power.
My x1s clock in over 3500 hours each and just needed usual oiling of z rods and wipe down of gantry rod. Still original nozzle
Best move i ever made
Bambu A1 has been RECALLED!!!
The filament on the MK4 has a tangled knot on it. :/ It's definitely going to impact the print.
The MK4 is almost as good as the A1, but at least it's only 2.5x the price.
Theres no issue with top mounting the ams lite on top of the A1. Print the stabilising feet too. It works fine
& Mk4 doesnt have a camera, so it loses that small point. "Smart phone app on old phone" lmao
I had to use prusa support twice, once was good & helped me quickly, other time was hopeless, taking days to get back to me each time.
I have used bambu support once, they were fast to get back to me & gave a good solution for my issue.
So in my experience, prusa isnt exactly a clear winner there either.
Another category to look at would be the launch of each product. Did the mk4 ship with all its promised features? Input shaping? No it didnt, took months to get it released. Did bambu have a hassle free launch with the A1? I would say yes. I was able to order my A1 in ireland & got it like 5 days later. Had all of its advertised features out of the box
I'm not inclined to buy a bed slinger from a company whose founding slogan was, "No more bed slingers." Reading the Bambu Lab "All Your Designs Are Belong To Us" licensing agreement makes the entire company a complete non-starter for me. I hate how the default is to send a file from my computer to their cloud server then back to the 3D printer that's two feet from my computer. Invading my privacy and violating my security are the only reasons I can imagine to do that. Don't care about privacy or security? Last August, the Bambu Lab cloud server crashed, and when it was restored in the middle of the night in the US, it processed the jobs that had been submitted and printed them on top of the parts that were printed locally after jumping through all of the punishments that Bambu inflicts on users who don't print through their cloud server. Those printers crashed hard in the middle of the night, with destroyed hot ends, etc.
This. Absolutely.
@@dkorzhevin- Don't forget the heated bed cables on the Bambu A1 that are sparking and smoking.
As a Prusa fan boy, I think an A1 and MK4 are in my near future. I think a comparison between the AMS and MMU3 is in order though. Excellent video.
I definitely want to run that test too!
Great video. The A1 with ams lite $560 vs the mk4 with mmu3 $1400. I’m sorry but Prusa has to do better. I love Prusa’s and still have my mk3s+ but times have changed and Prusa has to roll with the punches. One of the best parts of Bambulab is their distribution strategy. Microcentre move is so smart. Bambulab even treat Canadians with quick shipping, the printer ships in within 5 days, no duties, no paperwork.
You can’t possibly expect Prusa to lower their prices to match Bambu Lab since the Prusa printers are built in the EU.
@@pixlpionierthen they need to either actually innovate or find a better way to do whatever it is they do now since they are losing the speed, quality, and price game.
@@pixlpionierand price is going to end the company because you can't provide a worse machine at 4x the cost and expect to ride on fangirl loyalists
@@pixlpionier Part of their problem is scaling up, which is such a hard problem for growing companies that it's often referred to as "crossing the chasm". If you build your business in a garage and your product does well, you shouldn't build a bigger garage with your earnings; you attract new capital and build an actual factory. Prusa seems to want to grow organically, which rarely works.
The plastic parts of the Prusa printers still come from a print farm rather than being injection molded. While it's nice that we can print our own replacements straight from the manufacturer's files, from a cost perspective that is utterly nuts. Prusa charges €40 to print the MMU3 parts for you instead of just sending you the required filament with the kit, and there aren't even that many parts to print. That is how expensive it is. They still follow the RepRap model: design as a kit and sell to hobbyists. Bambu designs with manufacture and assembly in mind, and that's a big factor in driving down costs (besides producing in China). Prusa ships from Czechia, Bambu has an actual distribution network.
As for these printers... I only have experience with the Prusa MK4 (and it's an awesome printer), not with the Bambu A1. But from reviews like these, I'd say that these two printers are evenly matched in terms of quality, ease of use, ecosystems: each has some advantages and drawbacks. But with the A1 costing less than half of the MK4, it's not even a competition.
The real turning point comes after this matchup. Bambu has been able to ride the coattails of the open source printer community for a very long way, but they are capable of innovating, and I suspect they will pull far ahead of the competition with their next models, not just on price but on features. Prusa need to change gears and drive down costs. Today I might still choose the MK4 over the A1, given Prusa's excellent customer service, and for ideological reasons. But if the company carries on as before, I suspect that in a couple of years it'll be the end.
@@kaasmeester5903Bambulabs were simply designed for the mass market.
The tools are the most expensive. But the parts are all the cheaper. The disadvantage is flexibility. That is why the x1 is not yet available in a larger size.
Chinese manufacturers like to use the cheapest possible material.
Durability and repairability are not the top priority.
Anyone who has ever assembled a Prusa kit will notice the high quality of the parts. This starts with the screws.
Even things like safety requirements are much stricter with a European company.
All this has its price.
Whether you want to pay it is up to you to decide.
not going to use the acceleration like it's not moving lol
After buying an Ender knowing it was to learn on the hard way (I'm an experienced technician from jet fighter avionics on down and have built PCs for many years) the garbage build quality is an insult even at the price, for example loosely tapped self-unscrewing bed adjustment wheels. I will never suggest an Ender to anyone but for 190 bucks on sale I bought an S1 Plus knowing it wouldn't be for long. Most buyers are not techies or experienced with machinery. They would more wisely save their money because "cheap" is often much more expensive in the long run.
This may hurt some feelings, but I've always thought that the 3D printed parts used in the Prusa were just a gimmick. It's time to put the "hacker" to bed and start making real products. Buy the Prusa if you want to play, but the Bambu if you are serious about 3D printing.
This is the comparison I've been waiting for, everyone else is comparing it to the X1. Crazy how the A1 is more or less on par with the MK4 for a fraction of the price
not really when its produced in china with cheaper electronics.
A fraction of the price? A1 with AMS is over 700. You can't get off of Bambu's website without spending more than that because they use online carsalesman techniques on you. My MK4 was 799 shipped to me. Granted, I hope I get my MMU3 sometime in this century.
@@chethammerhe’s talking about the a1 without the ams
@@thegarageluthier you really think all the parts in a Prusa are sourced in their own backyard? Come on now, EVERYTHING comes from China in some way. And just because something is made overseas, doesn't make it inferior. Chinese manufacturing has really stepped up in quality.
The problem with all the BambuLabs is the extremly low limited temperature of the printbeds. The Bed of my Prusa Mini+ can be controlled stable at 100°C - the Bambu A1mini reaches only 80°C. My Prusa MK3S+ can be controlled stable at 120°C - while the Bambu A1 can only reach 100°C. With my Prusas I often print ASA - this is not possible with the Bambu A1mini. So Bambulabs are for me at this time a No Go.
Actually the A1 can go to 100C on the bed. The initial info was a typo. The A1 mini is limited to 80C
@@richardbertacchi5016 ... this is exactly what I wrote.
MK=120°C, Mini+=100°C --- A1=100°C, A1mini=80°C.
The difference is in both cases 20°C lower for the Bambus.
for the pricepoint its better to compare the mk4 with the bambu P1S or even X1c. Even those combos blow prusa out of the water.
Now do the p1s.. still cheaper
@@viktorjanzi8827 And how many filaments that need a 120c bed are you printing in an OPEN SIDED printer? NONE.
I can’t imagine spending more than a couple hundred on a bed slinger in TYOOL 2023.
So what? You cant, I can. And with joy, because not supporting chinese brand.
Not much of a battle. A1 bundle is similar cost to prusa bare. Then prusa wants more for AMS. Bambu has out engineered prusa too, IMO.
Also Prusa is open source
A1 vs P1 Pls :)))
A clear table with parameters could help.
One thing . Closed source vs open source. I can remember a certain few “ Revolutionary “ 3d printer companies that went belly up and the printers are now paperweights because everything was closed source and preparatory. Not to mention the possible privacy issues.
the firmware of the X1 series was recently reverese engineered, the slicer is open source and the hardware is not that complicated, most of the stuff can be sourced from after market sources now except some core components - but realistically: if bambu lab would go out of business, there would be soon a few mods where you just replace the logic components with components from, lets say the voron project and have a functioning printer again - the Fysetc Spider mainboard for example costs about 60 bucks
since prusa also closes hardware (especially features on the MK4) you would have the same "issue" after all
Bambu stated from the beginning that if they shut down, all designs, patents, schematics, and software code will be made open source.
Why they now went bed slinger is beyond me. Anyway I only run VORONs as I like open source and I like building machines which I can then, easily, trouble shoot and fix. But why Bambu moved to a bed slinger is a bit strange.
You can’t really compare the A1 to the P1P corexy compared to a bed slinger.
Why not? If printed parts result is very dimilar, than why not?
You can just get a P1P, P1S or even the amazing X1C which is flawless and can do multiple AMS. Which hold the material, keep it dry and just works. Prusa is starting to get outdated and just expensive, plus there own MMU system you have to make your own way to store material and waste room space plus if you want to enclose the printer it's just more space it needs (which most people don't have). I own and X1C and it's has done me well for the last 8 months plus I have upgraded it here and there just to add better lighting and sound insulation. BTW I don't use the lidar that much I just do my own calibrations which is fun to me and I know that I can get the best results. Now MMU can be wasteful but there are new change G-Codes which can make it faster and waste less and changing a few sicer settings can go a long way. I am in the stages of testing all this as I write this.
I definitely don't think you can compare the X1C with the Mk4, it's a different category of printer and despite this I think the Mk4 comes out better.
If it were to be a fair comparison of two printers, compare the X1C with the Prusa XL.
X1C is always worse in terms of material consumption, amount of waste and print speed.
I have an Ender, been sitting in the basement for the last 3 years unused.
I want to print, not tinker.
I got a A1 Mini this week, and I am very happy with it (paid $333.00 with shipping and taxes).
F**k that Ender.
would of been great if you sjown a bit more quality comparisons of quality, seems bambuu quality is worse than prusa.
"Hey Rick, check this out!"
Both have small print volumes and one is proprietary closed source and the other is way too expensive... I'd rather buy an Ender 3 and mod it and learn something instead of using a black box with a button on it to click "Print" and wait for tech support if something goes wrong or end up being forced to buy a new printer because they don't make parts for my now "old" proprietary printer anymore.
As someone who tried to make an ender a prusa. Don't. I'm not sure why you think you'd have to call tech support. It's still a printer after all, and much easier to work on then an ender or prusa. And aftermarket parts just keep rolling in, that's what happens when you sell the most printers.
I bought the a1 with the AMS for $620 to the door. For another $300, you get the privilege of owning the Prusia for no better performance and no AMS. No thanks.
The real question is two a1 combos v mk4
The A1 is a no brainer, it is worth 10x more than the MK4 by used materials. Look at those sturdy linear guides and nice build quality, the production costs of the MK4 are probably a tenth of the A1. the MK4 is all name, its worth around 200 euro's tops.
Ho trasferito tutto il lavoro da Prusa a Bambu. In termini economici ho guadagnato un buon valore nella vendita delle stampanti usate Prusa andate tutte in una settimana. Eco sistema Bambu ti consente ottenere una velocità e una qualità di vendita dei prodotti molto superiore, semplicemente si volta pagina. Essendo io europeo sono sconsolato dal recente scivolone di Josef ma quando si lavora si tiene conto dei propri interessi, io ho sposato solo mia moglie ... felice stampa a tutti 🌈
The Mk4 is simply outdated. Why buy more expensive and a printer with printed parts? Without a camera and the possibility of color printing in the base?
The A1 looks like the better printer top get, there don't seem to be any real negatives , you failed to mention the User Interface w the PRUSA still using the dated Click Wheel method which is a shame for such and expensive printer.
That's a good point! I believe the MK4 screen is a touch screen and they just .... haven't turned it on yet. 🙄
Touch screen on Anycubic i3 Mega was _so good_ I changed it to RepRap discount graphics screen with clickwheel 😅
Touch is not automatically better, it's all down to usability design.
The Bambu will print great for a few months then, because it's as cheaply made as all low dollar 3d printers you may as well throw it away. People buy Kias for the same reason.
shows you dont know what you're talking about.
@@do7185 Which one, Bambu or Kia and how many articles do you want cited?
@@chethammer so from personal experience you bought a Bambu printer and ended up throwing it away after a few months?
@@do7185 Not taking a chance on a printer that's 1200 with virtually no track record to speak of. There are a lot of good printers and a whole lot more crappy ones. I've been watching people give glowing remarks on Enders for years and they have an absolutely awful track record. In a couple years, if Bambu proves itself, then I might consider one. Especially if they can get the multicolor working right and cheaply. That is one thing I hate about Prusa's. Have to throw 4K at them to get multicolor built in.
Do me a favor and stop spreading false assumptions. Bambu makes great printers. I have an A1, P1P, X1 and X1Cs all with AMS units and they work well for what I make. Was one of the first to buy a P1P and replace all my prusas. Didn’t regret the move one bit. Most of the naysayers are Prusa fanboys who can’t accept the fact that another company released a better printer with a working multicolor unit cheaper than an obsolete overpriced mk3+.
Thank you for making this video. For such a long time the bamboo seemed like it had zero problems, but as with everything they do have. Our next printer is definitely going to be a prusa!
Not bad at all for this review but I believe the A1 is the clear superior printer. Better and more polished design. The MK4 is just a beefier MK3S+ with a not so polished input shaping and still running Marlin. Long term because BL printer haven't being time tested and customer service are Prusa's only advantages. If I was buying a printer today I'd definitely take my chances wiht the A1
There is nothing wrong with Marlin. Klipper is hot right now but not superior to Marlin.
@@MrKornnuggetAnd to be honest, the Prusa firmware no longer has much to do with Marlin.
Input Shaper was ported from Klipper, for example.
@@herr_rossi69 Open source projects. So it is possible to merge whatever You want.
Impossible for the ones with closed source firmware.
@@donkeymarco I meant that in a positive way. For me, something like Bambulab is not an option.
Bambu wins this full hands down. The Prusa is WAY overpriced for what you get.
The video kind of comes access as a Prusa fan trying really hard not to say the A1 utterly shits on the I4
Living under rock 😢
I don't see a real reason to by the MK4 over the A1
By the time prusa releases there mmu bs we'll have a whole new line of bambu printers making prusa obsolete 😂
Rumor has it prusa will be releasing their gold mmu sometime on a friday, of any year.
Some rumblings over a possible Bambu resin printer for mid 2024
it's helmet class 4 ppl with smol headz
For a first time "hobby", Prusa is way way too expensive. When I started out, I think the MK3 did not come assembled and an experienced person will take 8-10 hours. Heck, I was still deciding between bed size, 8-10 hrs to put together? OUCH! I decided on an Ender. Today, if I were starting out, for price/performance of A1 or MK4, there are 3 models of Elegoo 4. However, I would go with the slower Elegoo 3 Pro which have larger build but slower and no multi-filament, but use standard parts. If I were starting a print farm and wanted decades of proven reliability, I may go Prusa (MAY). Prusa has had years to enhance/update their tech, and nothing until Bambu Labs. Now Prusa has all these new tech?
Elegoo firmware "distribution model" via google drive is a joke.
My modified ender 5 pro prints so well its just hard to justify the A1 or Prussa. This thing is laying down amazing quality
How are you comparing two printers in completely different piece points, even the bamboo p1p is cheaper than Prussia. What a joke.
Price isn’t everything.
@@gregoryamer agreed, you can get a very capable cheap printer. But when the $1.2k printer is noticable worse than the $400 printer...it's pretty relevant
Apparently A1 is no more value because Bambu Lab decided to keep it secret just few days after A1 mini arrived…..