If you’re on the fence about buying a Bambu Printer…

I have only ever owned Creality printers. I have been printing for nearly 10 years and despite having a few months here and there of down time between projects, my printers have almost always been running and running great. That said, some things you get used to doing become second nature until you see the other side…

I’ll explain…

I am used to unloading filament, and reloading new filament the traditional way (heat, purge, pull, cut, insert, purge, etc…)

I am used to prints failing due to random bed anomalies, such as a 9-point auto level on my Ender s1 pro that never actually USES the mesh it calculates.

I am used to loading up octoprint, uploading files, upgrading the interface if it needs it, allowing it to control the printer, all while the printer itself lacks any further control on its own interface as OctoPrint controls it.

I am used to dust collecting on my printer causing dirty fans, extruder, etc. which is not a print-blocker but certainly requires dealing with every so often.

I am used to print quality degrading over speeds of 100 mm/s despite manufacture promises of faster settings.

I am used to testing multiple slicers to see which one seems to actually work BEST with my printer, despite hearing over the years that it’s the printer itself that must need tuning (I’m experienced enough now to know that’s not the case.. many of you who have experienced Cura’s random updates breaking things know this). To that end, I have only used S3D slicer over the last couple years.

I am used to many other little things that are an actual annoyance when you think about it.

……..

Despite all the recent hype (and mostly false rumors & hyperbole) over Bambu firmware concerns, I hesitantly ordered a P1S with AMS. Here is my experience:

I ordered it on Sunday. It shipped Monday, I got it Tuesday. It came packaged well with fragile glass warning stickers on it.

It came with the best and clearest instructions I’ve ever received. It says it takes 15 min for full setup. I was printing after about 30 min.

I printed the fast benchy per their instructions. It printed in maybe 15 min? The quality was flawless, better than any other printer I’ve owned has done in a full 1.5 hr benchy print.

I’ve been printing nonstop with it and am ready to order a second one. This machine is a beast… it’s designed so well. Put how you feel about Apple aside, this is the Apple iPhone of the printer world…

It. Just. Works.

This thing takes away all those things above that I was “used to doing”.

I loaded the AMS with the 2 colored rolls they provide and 2 of my own. Loading is stupid simple, telling the machine in the app what I just put in (if not an auto-recognized Bambu spool) is also super simple.

Originally I expected to load a profile for this printer in S3D and go… but I thought, why not give BambuSlicer a try. I am so happy I did. It’s so simple, it’s like it was designed to work flawlessly with the printers they make (obviously). So guess what? Ditching octoprint and S3D now means I print from Bambu Slicer directly from my computer… no more exporting gcode files, uploading to octoprint, etc. The app works well too, so I can do another print from the app itself easily.

Are there minor complaints? Sure. Getting Timelapse footage off the SD card seems counterintuitive. I need to try pulling it out and just manually moving the files (assuming they exist). My only other complaint is the noise, as my latest Creality is silent despite the low hum of the fan. BUT… the noise it produces is WELCOMED because it is due to the speed, which is incredible. This thing prints at 300 better than others can at 50.

TL:DR - if you’re on the fence like I was for 2 weeks, just buy it!