If you buy a Prusa in non-kit form, it's not any harder to unbox or operate, and more reliable, while generally achieving somewhat better results. Without phoning home and while maintaining the software Bambu forked theirs from.
A recent review coming to a similar conclusion was Maker Muse' review of bedslingers.
It's a channel I respect a lot, because he has over the years relentlessly disclosed emails of companies trying to bribe or lean on him, or threaten him, and refused to play along.
Most other 3D printing content is essentially paid advertising -- including, I suspect, the carefully constructed brand narrative of Bambu as the first "fire and forget" printers, as if they somehow elevated the art form, when really the user experience is not substantially different.
You do not need to tinker or problem-solve with other modern well-reviewing printers, nor do they fail more prints. My MK4 hasn't failed a single print in a year (i.e. since I bought it), and I haven't had to do any sort of maintenance.
> while generally achieving somewhat better results
I agree with this.
I'd also like to add that my Prusa Mk3s+ is significantly slower than my P1S. Also, without the MMU it still cost more than my P1S with AMS. Choosing a Prusa is making a philosophical choice, because it's certainly not about convenience, speed, versatility (considering you need to buy a separate enclosure and pricey MMU), bed size, or price. It's a choice you make because you're okay with spending a lot more to support an open platform where you can flash your own firmware without voiding your warranty, not because you want a better experience.
The mk4 and mk3 are vastly different machines. If you want to compare the P1S, do it against a contemporary machine. Of course a machine released several years after the mk3 is faster.
If I were starting today I'd definitely choose the Core One over the P1S (thanks to this rug pull). It's vastly more expensive, and the MMU isn't worth it from what I've heard, and the build volume is significantly smaller, but I don't think I'd go with Bambu after this week.
I wouldn't buy any new Prusa printer until it's been in the wild at least a year, they tend to be very buggy at launch.
They also have no multimaterial support at launch, the MMU3 will not work with the Core One until they release an update, which they've not yet given a timeline for.
Conveniently left out that the Prusa definitely cannot do a lot of things that the popular Bambu models can do quite well, like filaments beyond PETG and PLA, multimaterial printing, etc.
The MMU isn't remotely comparable to the AMS though, it's finnicky, regularly breaks and needs a heck of a lot of tinkering for most people to get right. One slightly different filament and you have to start over.
Not to mention its just a messy product. Heck the new Core One doesn't even have support for it at launch which is pretty unforgivable.
Maybe bamboo printers were too cheap which lead them towards their subscription based model.
Everyone complains about enshittification (YouTube ads, subscription models etc..), but then refuse to pay the real price premium goods and services cost. You get what you pay for.
There is no security threat, it's an excuse. I own a printer and operate it in LAN mode. It requires authentication with 8 digit code.
If you think they care about security, let me remind you that this company used to connect to their cloud in plaintext. The only security they really care about is that of their revenue.
If they actually cared about security, they would let us disconnect these printers from the cloud completely and allow us to manage our own mTLS certificates.
I don't know the details or if it's true, but someone who was in the firmware beta claimed there was //commented-out code about different subscription tears. Maybe just a test, maybe for print farms .. maybe it was all a lie.
But yeah, the enshitification economy has made people justifiably paranoid that if a product starts exhibiting new capabilities or features that would seem to support or enable a move towards subscriptions, it’s a good bet that that is in fact the trajectory of the platform.
But afaik Bambu has neither confirmed nor denied that this is in the works.
I am an idiot, and my Prusa MK3S+ (bought assembled, not as a kit) has been me-proof for years, and delivered fantastic print quality all along. My wife is not a techie and she gets good use out of it too. Their newer printers seem to be even better.
Out of ignorance and curiosity about 3d printing I bought a Prusa Mini a few years ago. My 10 year old (at the time) son took to using it immediately and figured out how to use it almost entirely on his own. It has been a great experience. I was thinking of upgrading to something larger and this drama has made the decision an easy one for me.
Based on recommendations here a couple years ago I built a Prusa Mk3 from a kit (right before the mk4 came out). Building it took a while but I think was a worthwhile investment of my time and I think of it as a system I can understand rather than as a black box.
I had a little bit of trouble with it maybe six months ago (repeatedly tripped offline during prints from a thermal issue) but Prusa's online support talked me through recalibrating it and it's been trouble-free since then.
One thing to be said for Prusa is that their support is actually knowledgeable and experienced. You're not going to get a tier 1 support person who has never touched a printer and is just reading from a script.
I bought an A1 after years of fiddling with an Ender. It made 3D printing fun again.
The whole situation reminds me of drones. DJI is (maybe) questionable but their products are without competition when you look at price and quality. Bambu products are also fantastic.
On second thought TP-Link fits too. My TP-Link mesh network just works perfectly. So do their smart plugs.
I did the same- replaced an Ender with an A1. Unfortunately, I’ve had it 10 days and have yet to be able to print anything. Won’t calibrate and cannot update firmware. Seems like a commonly reported issue but tech support is still bumbling around with no useful suggestions. I foresee it going back.
Not yet, but other brands are stepping up their quality. I just bought a Creality K2 Plus, and it's almost on par with my X1C (and has some features I prefer, like the CFS, their version of the AMS)
Is there another brand that is idiot proof?