It's really cool how the market went from "yeah out of these three printers this one sucks the least and after some tinkering it may work semi-reliably" to "the three are great depending on your objectives"
I do think it's worth mentioning that you can set the Bambu printers to LAN mode, avoiding the cloud risk. If you're really worried, you can even block the printer at the firewall to ensure it can never reach out. That's what we do at work, for printing designs that aren't allowed to leave the local environment. Edit: this has suddenly become much more relevant...
Bought my Prusa MK4 last year in kit form as a complete newb to the hobby, took me 3 evenings to assemble. One of the nicest combinations of instructions and parts packaging - and now I have a really good idea of how everything went together for later repairs & maintenance. The thing just works away on whatever I've thrown at it with only one failed print that I can remember (and that was because I hadn't learned how to use supports yet)
Yeah, I agree! MK4 is the best printer. But try upgrade to MK4S and you will see, that it can be much better (I know, hard to believe :D) - faster and quieter!
@@LauraBrown1 To be honest. The improvements are not very big but it's not too expensive either. The new cooling system is the most noticeable. The PCCF parts on the Nextruder are also nice.
@@jordanplays-transitandgame1690 Yes, definitely. I just don't like Chinese companies, and Bambulab in particular. It is what it is. The MK4S prints everything I want to print flawlessly and in very good quality. Of course, I know that an A1 can do the same and costs less. But I don't care. I know that the Prusa is worth the money over the years. The heating bed thing alone was enough for me with the A1. When it comes to safety, I don't trust Chinese companies at all.
I caved and got the A1 after the leaving the hobby because of Ender 3 experience. What a world of difference, I have never been so happy to *just* print.
Same experience - I got tired of baby sitting my Ender 3s and spending more time troubleshooting than actually printing. A1 just work, best decision I ever made.
@@limbeboy7 I couldnt disagree more. With an ender 3 you are forced to learn information that only impedes you. You have a goal to do x y or z with a project, and it makes you learn how to fix the bad designs of a specific model of printer. With an A1, any troubleshooting you need to figure out, youll learn as you go, and youll spend far less time doing it. The notion that being forced to info dump yourself with information you dont actually care about is a good thing, I think, is kinda wild. Its not even about enthusiast vs tool, its just a bad use of time for anyone. An enthusiast would be better off building whatever new part to 3d printing or their own printer, and a tool user doesnt need to waste that time.
Same. Started with an anet a8 in like 2017 then went cr-10> i3 mega> sidewinder X1 > A1 with ams. Going from a machine I spent hours tuning and modifying that also needed it bed manually leveled to the A1 was massive. It's so nice just hitting print and having it work 99% of the time. Oh also being able to do multi material for less than $600 with shipping and taxes, you just can't beat.
if you want to use the printer as a regular tool like a washing machine or microwave, the A1 will be fine. If you want to go deeper into this hobby, I can't imagine a better candidate to start with than the ender 3/5
As an early adopter of the SV06 when it was released, it had it share of problems. The bearing was barley greased. The thermistor for the heated bed cable was so tightly packed with the rest that it had a tendency to break. The Parts cooling fan was weak and badly placed. It ran Marlin, which was standard back in the day. BUT! The community around the SV06 is amazing. Mods came out to fix the issues and everyone was really helpful in the community groups. With a touch of Klipper as well, it really polished this budget printer into a diamond. The ACE looks like they have fixed every issue from the original and made it better. I'm still using my og SV06 ("Cation"-edition (first batch)) and a SV06 Plus regularly as well as a A1 mini. This ACE got my interested in grabbing another.
@@guestc142I've got the SV06 Plus and it has been amazing for me. What profile are you using? I've got one of r/solvol and it worked great, modified it myself to print even faster. I have not have over/under extrusion problems, only similar thing I encountered was when I mismatched the inner wall and outer wall printing speeds (the inner walls were oozing through) or when I thought I was under extruding but it was actually the filament spool slightly tangled. Have you checked your nozzle? Maybe it's clogged? How are your settings?
@TheGreatWolfYT I use pretty much every profile in prusaslicer. 0.05mm to 0.9mm. It has good and bad days, I think finding a definitive maintenance guide (step by step) would be good. Forgot to mention this, but nozzles are usually fine. I even polished one to a mirror shine to reduce petg sticking.
@@guestc142 uhm yeah but, are those made for this printer or are you using just the default profiles in prusa? Last time I checked prusa didn't have SV06 plus profiles, but maybe they added them in the meantime. When I got mine I had to manually make my own and copy the settings from the cura profile I had, and still couldn't get it to print the same. I liked the supports in prusa, but the lines were ever so thin on the model too compared to the same settings and model in cura, and I preferred that in cura it heats up the bed and then the nozzle, when prusa was heating both at the same time, making the nozzle drip plastic by the time the bed was ready too. Maybe you can change that setting but I kept to cura. Nowadays I'm looking into trying Orca Slicer, since my machine is klipper-ized and I use the browser interface to control it anyway
I have 12 of the A1’s being delivered on Monday for my classroom. It actually kind of surprised me when the shipping information came into my email a couple of days ago. I submitted a PO that I thought didn’t make it through, but did! Now six weeks later I have to figure out where to put a dozen printers.
Same. Its ridiculously easy and intuitive. The ecosystem is also very well structured. I dont know what these Chinese companies are doing, but they are rinsing competition. I also own DJI drones.
@@rendren7487 "The ecosystem is also very well structured. I dont know what these Chinese companies are doing" Yes so they can lock you in and then get all your money, just like apple or HP printers but worse. Control the world economy.
I'd guess that the ability to complete the cube and the stringing are related. Prusa seems to be doing more Z-Hop than other what avoids collide with the parts but generates a lot of stringing
Great comparison review, and well done on persuading Sovol to go open source! You are a 3D printing hero! What is the bed surface on the SV06 Ace? Did you try washing it with dish soap? As evidenced at 2:50, Angus is truly the king of 3D printing on a wobbly table 😂
Have a Prusa MK4S and it was a huge upgrade from the MK3S+ format, which was very outdated. I think the 0.4mm HF profile in PrusaSlicer isn't quite tuned well enough for the high flow. I think it needs adjustment still. I switched to a non-HF ObXidian nozzle. Slower, but better quality prints, not that the HF prints were bad, just more likely to fail, blobbing with PETG. I do, however, think the days of the unenclosed bed-slinger should come to an end. I think Prusa needs their next printer to be a full-enclosed model designed for higher temp materials and blocking drafts. It was ridiculous that the XL wasn't an enclosed system for that price. Prusa really needs to learn that people want to print more than just PLA and PETG.
I fully enclosed my Prusa MK3S because I print in the tropics where humidity regularly goes to the high 80 and temperature isbbetween 18 to 23C. Used an unused server cabinet which I'm now modding with further insulation. I still would not buy an A1 or any printer if the enclosure does not include the filament. For prints longer than 4 hours TPU Petg suffers if not fully enclosed in my experience. I store them in plastic bins with about 10-20% humidity.
Agreed on all points, my MK4S is a solid machine, but Prusa needs to redesign their flagship printer with an enclosure and likely core X-Y form. The XL looks awesome, but way too pricey. All that said, I value Prusa's open source commitment and the community. But they need to keep innovating beyond incremental improvements to keep pace with the market.
For that price? Its should print mid air. I still dont understand what the f costs so much on such small printer. And thats comming from a czech guy where prusa is located…
@@SagittarAI run a print farm with bambu, and prusa, I've had bambu break all the time and you have to buy the whole part assembly to fix it which can cost 50-60 bucks where as the prusas you only have to pay 50c for just the part that broke. Plus I've never had a prusa break, the bambu's always break. Their not bad, just for different needs.
Great video. Yeah, I was shocked when reviewing the SV06 ACE (haven't published yet). I thought my MK4S print quality was very good, then I put it alongside something I printed with the SV06 ACE, and was like "uh... what?" Anyways, contacted Prusa, because they think something is wrong with my MK4S to cause VFA's.... Impressive little printer, though, I feel that it's not as competitive on price when you consider that the other two have stronger ecosystems (multicolor, more slicer profiles, etc).
Bit of a concern if you're having issues with the MK4S as well! They want to investigate the stringing I'm getting, and I'm sure improvements could be made but all tests were at 0.2mm defaults and the sv06 ace was crazy good. Other machines definitely have the better ecosystem, so I hope by being open source sovol can differentiate themselves enough.
16:50 as someone who has a print farm (15 Bambu printers) I don't think that the short setup time is that big of a deal. I can buy 3 A1s in the price of MK4 + A1 prints faster. The 15 minutes it takes to assemble will pay off almost instantly.
I was leery about Bambu Labs but I recently bought the A1 for $299. It has been amazing and just works! Prusa has always been overpriced and it seems like it takes them numerous fixes to eventually make the printer perform as advertised. For me, bang for the buck, the Bambu has won me over. I can buy 3 of those for the cost of one Prusa. Also, that security issue you mention - call me kooky, I just turn off my printer when not in use!
@@emuboy85I mean, I have two and use them pretty much constantly. I use my P1P for bigger projects and then My A1 Mini for smaller projects while I wait. I’m thinking about picking up a third A1 with the multicolor system.
@@NotverygoodatallYour brain is broken bro lol. People want a tool, bambu sells a tool. I wanted a hobby, so I got a prusa. It's clear why people get either or.
Bought the A1 a few days ago and it’s been a great experience, printing flawlessly out of the box and letting me make a few toys to hand out during Halloween.
Another aspect to consider is whether it matters to you that Prusa is made in the EU. Personally, I love supporting an EU-based company, but I’m also aware that it’s more expensive than competitors. That’s the trade-off if you want something made in the EU-price competitiveness is challenging. One thing I especially appreciate as a creator is that Prusa printers are well-tuned with many profiles, making the printing experience much easier. That’s how I see Prusa: if you have the budget and want to support an EU company, you won’t be disappointed with the Prusa MK4S. But if that’s not a priority or you are not in position to spend more, choosing a different printer might make more sense.
"appreciate as a creator is that Prusa printers are well-tuned with many profiles" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH are you fecking kidding? And you are seriously trying to justify a PRINTED bed slinger costing a grand by saying it's EU made?. Oh sweetie it could be half that price and still be too much for EU made.
Also : you get the Eu-guaranty if something is wrong as a consumer (if you live here), including the certainty for parts and safe software. That includes the online-systems. If you go for a Chineese system, well, the company have to be opening up their things to the Chineese-government. Not always an issue, but it can well be someday (soon) with more political unrest for example. Will you be free to print parts for Ukrain drones for example? Yes, I rather stay EU.
The build quality, print quality, and support of Prusa is second to none. The Bambu crowd (and I have a X1C) constantly talk about how cheap it is - yes it is - but that does not equate to the value. I Pay more for Prusa because I value Pruse products over what you get with a cheaper China made product. I honestly don't care if a printer is 10-20% faster. I value maintainability/longevity, print quality, and how well the product is supported - and I will pay more for that because it has higher value to me.
I chose Prusa as I personally met him and quite a lot of staff working in his facilities. And I live 20minutes by car from his warehouse. It paid off. Oh and I have to mention the joy while assembling PrusaMK4.
i really appreciate you taking time to point out which things depend on cloud connectivity, or mobile apps... or even just have manufacturers heavily pushing those things (i.e., just because the printer has a lan only mode, if it is annoying to use and the other cloud crap is heavily pushed then it doesn't mean much). Manufacturers that push their cloud connectivity or their apps are a deal breaker for me. Great review!! Hope to see you at the next OpenSauce!
You can use isopropyl alcohol to release TPU parts from smooth PEI sheets. That's how I do it. I just spray some isopropyl alcohol on the sheet and let it run down so that it can start to penetrate under the TPU print. After that it'll be a lot easier to remove.
I've built a Prusa Mk 3 & a Mk 4 from kits. A great experience and, as others have mentioned, you get to know how it goes together, so when it has to come apart for maintenance, you know where the bodies are buried. I'm presently waiting on my Mk4s upgrade. The printers are great and just work. Prusa's assembly instructions rival, if not better, Heathkit's. And that's saying something. My first printer was an Ender 3 - and what it lacked in performance, it made up for in learning how to setup and adjust a printer.
My first printer was recommended by you. Wanhao i3 Plus. I modified it heavily and fire safety it. (Bed cable rubbing raw on metal). I put grommet and changed cables, connectors, fans, print head….and a few more things
I love the *idea* of Prusa, but the value proposition isn't there anymore. The Bambu is nearly as reliable from my experience and what I've read of the Prusa, but I can get two of the A1 plus the AMS Lite for less than the price of one MK4S. Before you say that you don't need multicolor, the AMS is FIRST a massive convenience for spooling up your filament, a hedge against running out of filament mid job and having to deal with it, and a way to put labels on your print that will endure for the life of the print. Open source is great, but I have five Bambus running all the time, one K1 Max that runs most of the time, and one SV-08 that is always broken.
@@techheck3358 There is nothing I could print in multi colors that would be worth the filament waste. However, putting raised text on things would not have any waste and would be an impressive use of the AMS.
17:29 Personally I like the Prusa encoder knob. Many of my 3d printing mates are vision impaired and touch screens are a problem. With the encoders being tactile they remember the menu trees and count each click as they twist and press the knob.
I have a Bambu A1, and to be clear you can setup and use this printer without the app or an internet connection. I set mine up like this and sneaker netted the files using the micro SDCard. I have now put it online as it is really handy :) Also the A1 has a camera for monitoring, blob detection and timelapse. The printer also includes a project, tools and grease/oil for maintenance and will prompt you to use them.
My take from this comment is that you can use it offline, but they've made it intentionally cumbersome to force you online. It would have taken them zero effort to allow local network or USB control, like literally all other modern printers.
I would had it "has a camera" however the view is very low so you are only going to see the one side of most thing and the quality is low enough that with the 2 frames per second images will be deformed at times if there was a fast move at the time. Also odd yellow/green tint to the images.
i got my A1 a few weeks ago and did the journey from a china i3 clone made out of acrylic and took weeks to even pull of a successfull print, to a ender3 v1 modded to a pro version with bl touch and now the A1, im here to say that i am shocked what you get for your money today! 3d printing went crazy far
If you are still reading comments here, great video. My first printer is the BBLA1M, and it's definitely a great beginner machine, but I've found myself becoming a printer tinker so looking now for something more moddable
he already wrote in the comments here that he allegedly cannot test this so he doesn't care. he also doesn't care about many other things like noise-levels or forced cloud connections that have constant outages, about ripping off open-source software or slave-labour to achieve low prices
@@techheck3358you're not going to get a response because he was trolling. We all know he means the Bambu, and he is factually incorrect on both accounts. 😂
Great comparison as there is no one perfect machine. For many the prusa is a costly item to purchase with no great advantage shown and the capital layout for a print farm where margins can be small, it’s a hard sell today. 3 x A1’s or sovol machines for 1 x mk4s, simple maths says for the investment 3 printers is greater productivity and redundancy. The Bambu lab printers appeal is that it just works with no tinkering, it’s certainly made a lot of manufacturers step up their game and we have all benefited from this as we can see from what’s available to buy today. The sovol is more of an old school 3d printer, it works but you can make it better and the bang for the buck is undeniable.
Great seeing you put out a comparison video Angus! Yeah, for Prusa bedslinger money, I'd rather get a CoreXY machine at that price. I've got about a thousand hours on my Bambu printers and they've been flawless. It's been a night and day difference, having come from an i3 clone platform with it's endless tinkering, print failures, and manual bed leveling (and re-leveling).
Semi-correction on Prusa’s cad files. All the 3d printed parts for the mk4 are available as stp and stl files. The mk4s printable parts are only available as stl files at the moment. (But most of the mk4s parts are carried over from the mk4)
@@MakersMuse Last year, Josef appeared very worried about copying of the design and wanted to keep a time-window of not having released designs. Don't remember the exact phrasing and only remember that it was in Prusa Live.
@@MakersMusethey've been keeping the cad files on new releases secret for a certain time window since the Mini. Probably worried about losing some sales during the launch months to cloners.
Great comparison! I have the A1 and the 2nd thing I printed was a waste bin and "poop deflector". Plenty of models to choose from on MakerWorld that fix that poop issue. Some waste bins are even themed to look like Kirby sucking in the poop 🤣
It felt a tiny bit disingenuous to present that as being a legitimate issue and one he was going to have to seek a solution for when pretty much anyone who buys one prints this as their first print and never really thinks about it again!
I have an A1 and a MK4S. I really like them both for their own strengths/reasons. It would be hard for me to pick an overall winner. Even considering the AMS and MMU, which I also have. I love how unique they both are in their own ways of completing the same task, its mesmerizing to watch sometimes. If I was packing up and leaving town, and could only take 1 printer with me, it would probably be the MK4S, due to its broader repairability, and simplistic approach.
I really like my creality k1c think of getting a ender v3 as well. Bambu really turns me away with all the proprietary parts and data they get from you. I’m coming from a Ender 3 and it was great 5yrs ago but now it’s almost not worth using. The Ender made me hesitate on going back to creality and that’s why I was looking at bambu but I’m glad I went back to creality their new line up is worth it and for the price your getting a really good machine with cheap replacement parts and easy mods
Great video, thanks for posting. Between my wife (who has never 3d printed anything before she got her bambu printers) and I, we've been running four A1s and two A1 minis, along with two AMS lites since february of this year and have had zero issues. They've just been rock-solid performers. The prusa MK4S is fantastic I'm sure, but it's not 4x the price fantastic. The sovol still still seems like a printer you get if you want to focus more on the tinkering side of the hobby. I'm not worried about the locked down nature of bambu's printers at all; they absolutely would not lock their printers to only using their own filament, they'd be shooting themselves squarely in the face if they did, and they know this. The privacy concerns are valid, but over-emphasized IMHO. Using the printers in LAN mode bypasses all of that.
Great video as always Alex - thanks! At 3:00 re shipping & taxes, you mention "more on that later". I can't find that in the conclusion - assumed it would be around 17:10 or around 20:24. Did I miss those extra comments?
@@MakersMuse Thanks for clarifying. I thought you were going to note you got hit with additional shipping and import fees (GST, etc) that added significantly to the base cost.
@@PaulZeeX Shipping is an issue with Prusa. When I wanted to get more Prusament, the shipping only goes up in price whereas everywhere else you get free shipping. This was enough to make me switch suppliers.
An item of note with the MK4S if in the USA, if you order the kit you do not pay an import duty. This is why Prusa prices the kit at 799, As import duties do not start until $800 USD for purchases from the EU.
Another fact to consider with prusa printers is upgradability, even if it can be costly, it is still less than buying a new printer, and i upgraded from a MK2 -> MK2S -> MK3 -> MK3S, a thing that i do not see offered elsewhere
This is true and I upgrade the MK3 to the MK3S. But the upgrade cost to the MK4S is almost the same price as buying a new printer. So that isn't a big selling point unless you started with a MK4. I think my MK3S is great, but the XL failure and then MK4 which is basically the same as the MK3 at the end of the day, not even a larger bed and then the price. Appears Prusa can't come up with anything new. I'm waiting to see the new Bambu 1st qtr 2025, assume it will destroy the XL and for less.
You didn't upgrade to the MK4? The MK3.9 upgrade is only €300 less than a brand new MK4 kit, and I had no problem just selling my MK3S for more than that
If anything its more of a downside when you actually look at the prices of those upgrades. The price to upgrade a Mk3s to a Mk4s is literally more than the price of an A1. Its almost 2X the price of an A1. That alone makes it so irrelevant as an option its basically the same flaw that the framework laptops have where you're just better off keeping your current printer for a while and buying a newer better one when you feel an upgrade is necessary. When you consider the amount of components that need changing, the extra part count and manufacturing difficulty to make it "upgradeable" and the amount of filament a regular printer goes through in its life anyways, its not even as if its good from an efficiency or environmentally conscious point of view. At best its a footnote basically.
It’s a nice feature, but you can always sell your old printer. I sold my old mk3s with tons of upgrades for 750 CAD and bought a new P1S for 700 CAD, it’s a huge upgrade and cost me nearly nothing.
You have a 3d printer and CAD tools, design your own damn upgrades or find them online, you dont need a company like Prusa to sell you a overpriced upgrade. Acting like you don't get the ability to upgrade something like a the Sovol is stupid.
I haven't finished the video, but I've really enjoyed my A1. I built my first reprap printer all the way back in 2013, I built a MK3, loved that thing, built a couple ender 3s, modified the heck out of them, changing out motherboards and what not, learned a lot about printers. It's been very fun. But now I'm older, and I have less time to mess with stuff. The A1 just has done so well, I have a couple hundred hours of printing and zero issues yet. The price plus features is just impossible for Prusa to compete with currently. I love my Prusa, but they need to do something to compete or go the way of Ultimaker and just sell expensive printers (I think the XL is a hint of this). I'm sure you'll always have the Prusa fans who are less concerned with features and cost and more concerned with opensource-ness, but that won't take market share or create growth. Also the fact that you can get a X1 for the price of a Mk4 is wild. We're truly in the golden era of 3d printing, and I can't wait to see where it goes.
100%, in all the prints i have done i have only had 1 failed print with my A1, its just such a good reliable printer. The only other issue i have had with it was a minor feed issue that i had to clear while trying to reload some TPU
@@MaxMichel89 Sure it does but not a 3X cost. The cost is there both for prusas fat profit margins and because their printers are built in a way that does not utilize modern mass manufacturing techniques very well and requires a lot of manual labour vs more automated manufacturing processes such as robotically welded chassis etc.
@@BeefIngot Prusa doesn't have fat profit margins. That goes towards paying decent wages for European workers instead of Chinese sweatshop wages who live at the factory, only seeing their family once a year at New Years.
I love my Prusa MK3S+ and was really looking forward to upgrading it to an MK4. Then I saw that it would cost me $670 to upgrade to a printer I could buy new in kit form for $799. If you add the MMU3 to your purchase of the kit, you can buy a Bambu Lab P1S with AMS for less, which has a bigger print volume and is enclosed. If you stick with the bed slinger, I can get a brand new A1 with AMS lite for less than the cost to upgrade my current printer. And, if you live close to a MicroCenter, you can pick up a Bambu Lab printer instead of having to pay shipping. The only downside I see to the Bambu Lab printing ecosystem is the Bambu Lab printing ecosystem. I tried to download a model from their site to print on my Prusa, and the 3mf file wasn't standard and wouldn't load in PrusaSlicer. I don't like that you have to send your prints over the internet to their printers, and I don't like how they try to lock you into their filaments. I'm still torn about what I really want to do, but if I had the money to do something today, I'd probably buy a P1S with AMS. Prusa printers are just too expensive for what they offer now. Back in the MK3 days, they were the only ones on the market offering a lot of the features they had, so they were worth it. But now everyone has the same feature set, so price is a huge deciding factor.
It's sad to see how many people openly support slave labour and shitty business practices like ripping off open-source software and work from others just to save a few bucks
Useful video, thanks for the comparisons. Never owning a 3d printer we are evaluating whether we would actually benefit from owning one and then, which to buy..? Even with videos like this I still keep coming back, not a bad thing necessarily, to either the A1 or the Mini. We would have little desire to tinker and, overall, it seems that what BL are offering is closer to what we would expect in an out of box experience at a compelling price. I had been considering some of the Creality models, K13D, understanding it is of the enclosed type, perhaps some more time in the pondering stage is called for :)
Well I started with the Ender 3 and heavily modded it, then built a Prusa MK3S and that was a good but expensive upgrade and after a while had a few problems with it that I could not seem to fix and in the end gave up. That was years ago though and printers have come so far and look really good now that I'm buying an A1 combo tomorrow as an early Christmas present to myself. £389 in the current sale, I just cannot resist.
I currently have the Bambu Lab A1, and it's mainly for printing TPU, but with a few settings changes, I've only had one blip where it had a layer shift, but I think that was more my fault than anything, as the reprint didn't layer shift. Also had a nozzle clog but that was fixable with a tutorial on UA-cam involving a lighter and a really thin allen key, afterwards, printed super neatly once again. I don't really plan on modifying or tinkering with it, so it's a perfect fit for me, as I plan on using these prints in combat robotics myself.
Im still kicking myself for not going through with my early backer X1C, and getting a bad resin printer instead lol. Live and learn though, now I'm getting an A1 after getting a grip on what i like about resin printers, the simplicity of maintenance and troubleshooting.
As someone with P1S, the regular cloud outages are getting really annoying. Yes, you can switch to lan mode, but if the cloud is down, it won't let you switch. I know that fanboys are trying to downplay it as no big deal, but it is.
you don’t need lan mode. you can upload to the printer through ftps without having to enable or disable anything. i won’t tell you how, just google it. or you can just use the sd card.
Thank you for calling out the wave of innovation Bambu Labs is largely responsible for. We need to stop and think about where we might be today were it not for the release of the Carbon X1 which combined speed, print quality, multi color and usability at a price point that we could only dream about at the time. Bambu Labs thankfully set a new bar for the rest of the industry to rise to.
@@ScytheNoire Agree; Bambu took all that existing technology that only existed in the DIY space and packaged it up in products that work reliably out of the box. In the case of the A1 and A1 Mini, those features were at a price point similar to all the bed slinger clones that had proliferated.
@@ScytheNoire This is only a small part of the story. Klipper CoreXYs suffered from poor ease of use. Bambulab innovated there, and I think thats the biggest thing that they have actually done and what matters. You can see that this is the case too, because when you look at the bed slingers they make, its obvious its not the corexy design that defines what they changed, but the ease of use with all the auto sensors and reasonably tested machines before being released.
Good coverage of the options. I'm glad you have the SV06 ACE in there because I didn't know it existed and had simply heard recently: "yep, testing the SV06" from people and went "uh... what year is it?" I didn't know there was a new one. As a Prusa owner, I agree on the cost, but it's not like we know how the cost of things/profit margin so for all we know they're absolutely ripping people off or they're just keeping their head above water. Though my 2 comments on them: 1) they are conservative on speeds and have higher temps for defaults so will produce more stringing (though I still end up using defaults a vast majority of the time). 2) You found it weird on the touchscreen + encoder wheel but there's still a lot of people who hate the touch screens on many printers (even Klipper ones) and so "por que no los dos" (why not both).
I just got an Ender 3 V3 Plus to accompany my Ender 3 Max. I'm pretty happy with it so far. I'm just working on trying to find the best filament to use for prop making.
MK4S has UL GreenGuard certification. And the bed goes to 120˚C so you can print ABS, PC etc if you really want to. Stealth mode means it's far quieter than the others.
I got an A1 about a month after this published, and I've started using the "Z Hop" setting in the filament settings. That would have allowed it to finish the lattice and doesn't meaninfully increase print times
I think you should revisit your torture test on the MK4S, considering it can print higher overhang angles than any other printer currently on the market (thanks to the mentioned fan).
I like the Sovol approach here, although its not an upgrade kit for the OG SV06. Really nice that you mentioned the differences to SV07, Angus! That was one of my first thoughts because that "SV06 just with Klipper" already exists. The better competitor from Prusa would be the Mk3.5, I think! You get the speed and repairability from MK4 but for roughly the price of that Bambu A1! Just look for a used MK3 on the used market and buy the upgrade to MK3.5. This upgradeability (through design that allows that) still is unique. Neither Sovol or Bambu Lab do have that. And for those who liked Lego in their youth and enjoy building things, such an upgrade is a joy for one evening. That touch screen and Orca slicer profiles were needed in 2024 for Sovol to catch up to Bambu Lab! But with more dialed in profiles and a design that is upgradeable the next needed improvements are already noticeably. Thats a downside to these glued machines like P1P (or A1): if something important breaks or wears down (like the rods or pulleys) you cannot simply change them out without ripping glued parts apart.
If you are willing to tinker a bit with your printer, then Creality ender 3 v3 KE (klipper edition) is probably best of the bunch and cheapest, considering 1 spool of PLA will cover all the upgrades like frame stiffeners, fan duct cover, gyro calibration tool mounts and spool 90° mount adapter. Its open source and you can root it to get rid of creality’s version of klipper firmware, and make it wifi print capable with orca slicer. Yes it is not out of the box experience, but since youre buying a 3d printer, id wager this bit of tinkering should be right up your valley of interests as hobbyists. Im making 1/4 figure prints on it and it prints dang flawless if you calibrate your fillament settings properly which you should do on every printer.
People talk about the price difference but that is the main reason everything is made in China now as other counties can't even come close to competing. The amount of times i look at things on Ali Express etc and can't work out how they can even make something for that price let alone make a profit and fairly pay their workers.
The main difference is availability of parts. You build a factory in China, you get all the parts and materials stocked in hours because there is always factory making it nearby. That is main (or one of) reason why companies are building factories here. Build a factory in Europe and you have problem to stock many parts, will be expensive, importing them is expensive too. Even Prusa is buying some parts from China because they are not available anywhere else.
I just bought an A1, it literally arrived about 7 hours before this video was published lol. I'm pretty happy with it so far, to be fair it's my first printer so I don't really have anything to compare it to.
If you just want to print and not mess with the printer, you purchased the right printer. No need to compare. Also, start with eSun high speed PLA filament, cheap and print awesome on my A1 mini.
The SV06 caused me to walk away from the hobby. Constant problems. Multiple inherient design flaws. I wouldnt touch SOVOL ever again, period. Never again
After having watched numerous 3D topics and tweaks for 3 D printing I have come to the conclusion that do I really need/want a 3D printer, and the answer is yes, I do but in my own time......I have an Ender 3 but it's till on the table unused after a year or two........as time goes by the new tweaks and solutions make the early printer methods so basically out of touch with current methods, I think I'll just have to keep watching the videos as I get more entertainment watching the wheels go around than actually doing the thing........I have yet to find a 3D print I need to have but coat hangers and a wall hook for my sun hat is top of the list.
I have the Sovol 6 Plus and it’s very much a ‘printer’……I’m not a tinkerer, just want to print and it does that beautifully without having to tweak anything. The large 310 x 320 mm bed is huge bonus for me as well. I only print in PLA and for that material it performs A1……I’ve had the machine for 18months now and no issues.
I have a solvo svO2 it's a great two color machine also I decided to put clipper on my fokos Odin 5 during the raspberry pi shortage and used a maker base pie so yes it is very easy to open source the SV06 Max
How about noise level? I bought the MK4S kit. Very happy because it is very quiet while printing that is important since I live in a one room apartment. That said I agree that Prusa charges too much for the MK4S but I still bought it due to the support structure and reputation of Prusa.
@@sammiller6631 It is how you look to it. The Prusa machines are awfully expensive compared to the Chinese machines. Build and software quality may be excellent, but the price gap may be to big.
@@wilsistermans1118 TANSTAAFL. You choose whether you want to pay for better bearings, belts, materials, screws, hardware, and software support. And how much regular maintenance and parts replacements are worth to you.
I still need to print the front MK4S cover for my printer. (because it's purple). I just did the LCD cover. I couldn't make it look stock because the MMU3 caused the text to blur. So I rearraged the words and made them bigger. It looks a lot better.
Not too worried about the RFID in the Bambu AMS. On my AMS on the X1C the RFID fails to read the spools most of the time, so if they eliminated setting generic filament, the AMS would be completely useless and Bambu knows that. Bambu's filament price and quality is quite good, so I do tend to buy most of it through them. Good point about the poops. By far the most annoying aspect of their printers is having to print a poop bucket. But I' never want to go back to not having a multi-material loader like the AMS. I rarely print with multiple filaments, but just having it load and purge filament automatically is a game changer for those of us who just use the printer as a tool.
By the way Aurora tech reviewed the prusa mk4s + mmu3 combo. She found that the mk4s wastes the least amount of filament in any multi-material setup. And it doesn't fling poop all over.
I have owned 3 Sovol printers. The IDEX version, a bedslinger, and the Voron clone sv08. All were good out of the box but failed after a few months. And all failed in ways that destroyed something. I had two print beds damaged beyond repair and all three damaged the print head. Sovol support was nonexistent. I repaired all three printers by buying parts. Getting the printers working again was a long grind. And then they died again. I have given up on Sovol.
you will be able to make countless comparisons, Prusa will always be the best printers for their reliability and print quality, I am not a Prusa fan boy (almost) but Prusa will always be above all.
The only feature that is locked behind the bambu cloud being turned on is canceling individual failed objects from the batch on the print bed. It's a big feature imo. But nothing else is locked out of offline or lan mode.
There certainly are other features unjustly locked behind going through their servers, such as the Multi-Device Management tab and accessing the contents of the printer's SD card in Bambu Studio (though FTP does work), but the printer is still perfectly usable without the cloud features. I only had my A1 mini connected to their cloud for a few weeks after I got it. I've been running it through LAN Only Mode ever since. My A1 (non-mini) was set to LAN Only Mode as soon as I got through the setup. I think it's also worth pointing out the spool RFID tag system is only on the AMS. There is no reader for external spools, so 'a firmware update to lock down the ecosystem' would only break the AMS... unless they also want to brick every printer that doesn't have an AMS, which would probably be a massive class-action lawsuit.
@@vt-1493 I really don't consider SD card management an online feature at all 🤣 to be honest I never realized some of the AMS controls where locked out because I don't have one... and you can see all the controls in the slicer even without having an AMS. thought another important one I didn't mention is Firmware updates. thought that can be a good and a bad thing at once (if you think the updates lock out features or improves something you do want)
A useful video! I’m looking to upgrade and want to spend less time tinkering, and more time printing. The A1 is looking good for me so far. I’ve seen some beautiful prints out of one of the fully enclosed Enders, just can’t remember which one. I want to do more ABS just for the post-printing advantages. 👍🏻
awesome vid! i have a ender 3 V3 KE and would love a vid showing some of these cheaper models in the same format, im very happy with the KE so far and got it on a good sale on amazon
I understand what entices people to get the Bambu Lab A1. It's a lot of printer for a little money, but the Prusa is just better for me. I do not have the stringing issue that you see on either MK4S :)
@@MakersMuse No stringing on my MK4 and MK4S. And I print Speed and Structural. There are a few MK4s that have this. On most of them it was a defective hotend thermistor
I have been using a SV06 Plus with klipper for the better part of the year, and really tested it's limits trying for both fast and quality prints. It works amazingly well and since I'm the thinkering type, I love how accessible everything is. Took it apart completely once and put it back together in about 3h, with calibrations for printing too. I often see now stls reported to print in 4-6h or more, and I print them in about 2h. Or one that claimed 2 of days of printing and I managed to make it in ~7h. True that most of those settings are done in the slicer, but the machine keeps up. I've been printing organic models (realistic reptile skulls) and miniatures meant for resin printing on it and they look good. Not resin good, but not painfully fdm looking either. And this is on a .4 nozzle with 0.2 layer height, on 0.16 layers it looks even better. Looking forward to getting a .2 nozzle to try out. All in all, insanely happy with it. Durable, well made, thinker friendly, exactly what I need.
I'd be curious to know what modifications you made for it, and where you found the information of how to perform them. I have an SV06 plus, but I stopped using it once I got a P1S after the SVS6 Plus was failing to print fairly simple parts. I'd really love to upgrade it and have two printers.
@@SorinMarkov6666 the physical changes I did were to install klipper (and a klipper screen) and disassemble it to oil the bearings. I've never ran this printer without klipper though so I don't know how it behaves on Marlin
If Sovol spent more time tuning their profiles and used a higher quality PEI sheet - that would make it a lot more appealing. Hopefully the release product also offers an option to get it assembled. They're getting close. It would be great to be able to get an open source printer that's competitive with Bambu.
I'm still happy with my MK3S+. upgraded from Ender 3 about 5 years ago. Just waiting for Prusa core one kit to be released. I'm pretty sure not gonna go back to any other brands
I abandoned Prusa when my Mk3s kept failing the thermal profile thing they introduced in a firmware update, because I dared to upgrade a few things from stock. Bought an X1C and have never looked back. I don't think I'd ever go back to a bed slinger. Smaller footprint for the same or larger build volume with core xy plus an enclosure, win, win.
I have a Prusa Mini and Bambu A1 Mini + A1. Honestly I thought the quality and speed of the Prusa Mk4S would have walked over the others here, disappointing for the price premium. Love the auto-flow dynamics calibration and fast nozzle swap on the A1, so much so that I would get the A1 instead of the higher end Bambu P1S because of it. Recently started printing on the 0.2 nozzle using the custom Fat Dragon Games profile + Meta PLA and blown away, closest thing to resin on FDM... all on one of the cheapest printers on the market.
But you don't have the level of control on the BL printers that you do on a Prusa. You have access to a lot of parameters on the Prusa that BL doesn't let you access.
I have the original sv06, The sovol probe is not fit for the task, can't get the bed leveled, even with 83 probe points. Could only achieve a good first layer after manual leveling with a dial gauge. Also can't get rid of ugly layer lines, have almost replaced the entire printer with new parts. Could better have invested in other printer.
I find the price proposition a bit difficult considering the price of Sovol's SV08 at the moment. But great review, it is really unbelievable where are we from Ender 3 times :)
you should have used the prusa satin sheet (assuming you have one) to print TPU. It's much easier to get the print off. If you don't have one I recommend it. It's my go to build plate.
Great Review. I enjoy all of your reviews you are very thorough with them and they are very well produced. Thank you for your time, very much appreciated! Debating on getting a lower cost 256 min size printer to add to my collection thinking would like to have one more multi color capable unit and have never gone path of Bambu labs. I know there software looks amazing and all, think may break down and spend for the A1 with multi color but not final on my decision yet. I do have several QIDI machines which get tons of use due to heated chamber benefits for the amount of engineering grade materials I run. Current printers I use all the time are the Plus4(have the new board update for heated chamber for 115v fix and this printer just plain works amazing and offers the large 305 footprint It has been a dream at the $799 price point purchased in late September). I am still awaiting the AMS release for it, QIDI support has been great to deal with, just hope in the future they learn from the heated chamber board mistake, think they will: fingers crossed I am rooting for them because folks in support been so great to deal with. I also own and run a Q1 pro 24/7 along with an= Xsmart3. These printers primarily run only ABS 24/7 and do an incredible job, they have been extremely reliable and fast machines quickly and easily amassing hundreds of print hours with an incredibly high success rate. I retired my Ender 3v2 which was highly modified and ran a direct drive, this was my first unit which I really learned all the fine details of 3d printing on. I would like a machine capable of multicolor debating going path of Voron with multihead setup just because I enjoy these types of projects. At the same time I would save money if I went the Bambu A1 path. This machine would primarily be used for PETG and PLA, not sure if A1 is rated for ABS? What are your thoughts on this, should I break down and go with the masses and treat myself to Bambu software which is very obvious a great software? I am bit of open source snob and do not like fact that my prints get sent across their network. My Plus4 is dedicated to engineering grade materials, I would like complimentary printer to handle multi color jobs believe most of the time I would be doing PETG and ABS being realist. I am not huge fan of PLA for mere fact that it distorts if exposed to sun in quick order. I have become huge fan of ABS, because it is durable and has higher temp values plus affordable, it is also easiest type to post process for finished models. Never knew 4 years ago this hobby would send me down the path it did, the hobby grew on me fast, especially over the past two years since print speeds, hardware, and software has come so far. It seems now that the technology is advancing at a rapid pace..........hmmmm for that reason a highly upgradeable Voron which can be bit future proofed might be on my Wishlist. May have to bite the bullet and get one of each, the market is getting flooded with many offerings and we still have to see what Bambu is releasing which has been delayed! The A1 just looks like a great machine, I am curious about Bambu software and like fact that the community is so large and settings seem amazingly easy. I am kind of answering my own questions here, but does the A1 do ABS? If yes, does it do ABS well on large footprint ABS prints? Feel free to chime in on A1 and those who may have done ABS on it.
I don't see the low cost bed slingers surviving Bambu Labs printers onslaught. Anyone would be stupid to buy any low cost bed slinger other than a Bambu Labs A1 or A1 Mini.
Back in the day I thought the Sovol SV06 was impressive, but when the SV07 came out sure it might be faster, but who cares when it has stupid bed springs. Not long after that even creality got rid of them. So hopefully the SV06 ACE is auto-z as well. But I remember hearing the beds were trash and a 3rd party bed was highly recommended. I guess that hasn't changed.
opensource is like buying a car which can't hold idles, turns only left and has deep pink tint on windshield for some reason - but It's opensource! feel free to fix and modify it yourself ! isn't it awesome ?! and opensource customers be like - omg cant wait to buy it. we have so much free time and money to "tinker" with products instead of just using them reliably.
It's really cool how the market went from "yeah out of these three printers this one sucks the least and after some tinkering it may work semi-reliably" to "the three are great depending on your objectives"
Yeah! So stoked to live in the age now where 3D Printers actually do what they advertise.
9:55 I appreciated the synchronization of your saying “snap” with the actual snapping off of that piece of lattice. Chef’s kiss.
Hah, thanks! I spent a little too much time lining that up...
I didn't notice it specifically, but now that you mention it, a very nice touch
I do think it's worth mentioning that you can set the Bambu printers to LAN mode, avoiding the cloud risk. If you're really worried, you can even block the printer at the firewall to ensure it can never reach out. That's what we do at work, for printing designs that aren't allowed to leave the local environment.
Edit: this has suddenly become much more relevant...
I've heard that you can no longer do that with a recent firmware update. Have you found this to be true?
Bought my Prusa MK4 last year in kit form as a complete newb to the hobby, took me 3 evenings to assemble. One of the nicest combinations of instructions and parts packaging - and now I have a really good idea of how everything went together for later repairs & maintenance. The thing just works away on whatever I've thrown at it with only one failed print that I can remember (and that was because I hadn't learned how to use supports yet)
Yeah, I agree! MK4 is the best printer. But try upgrade to MK4S and you will see, that it can be much better (I know, hard to believe :D) - faster and quieter!
@@LauraBrown1 To be honest. The improvements are not very big but it's not too expensive either. The new cooling system is the most noticeable. The PCCF parts on the Nextruder are also nice.
Bro bought a MK4 over a Bambu A1 😂
My condolences
@@jordanplays-transitandgame1690 Yes, definitely. I just don't like Chinese companies, and Bambulab in particular. It is what it is.
The MK4S prints everything I want to print flawlessly and in very good quality. Of course, I know that an A1 can do the same and costs less. But I don't care. I know that the Prusa is worth the money over the years.
The heating bed thing alone was enough for me with the A1. When it comes to safety, I don't trust Chinese companies at all.
@@jordanplays-transitandgame1690 always those ridiculous bambutrolls
Fantastic look at these three machines! Definitely some things to consider when going for a print farm.
I caved and got the A1 after the leaving the hobby because of Ender 3 experience. What a world of difference, I have never been so happy to *just* print.
Ender 3 us a right of passage for anyone serious. Without it i dont think i would be able to troubleshoot A1
Same experience - I got tired of baby sitting my Ender 3s and spending more time troubleshooting than actually printing. A1 just work, best decision I ever made.
@@limbeboy7 I couldnt disagree more. With an ender 3 you are forced to learn information that only impedes you. You have a goal to do x y or z with a project, and it makes you learn how to fix the bad designs of a specific model of printer.
With an A1, any troubleshooting you need to figure out, youll learn as you go, and youll spend far less time doing it.
The notion that being forced to info dump yourself with information you dont actually care about is a good thing, I think, is kinda wild.
Its not even about enthusiast vs tool, its just a bad use of time for anyone.
An enthusiast would be better off building whatever new part to 3d printing or their own printer, and a tool user doesnt need to waste that time.
Same. Started with an anet a8 in like 2017 then went cr-10> i3 mega> sidewinder X1 > A1 with ams. Going from a machine I spent hours tuning and modifying that also needed it bed manually leveled to the A1 was massive. It's so nice just hitting print and having it work 99% of the time. Oh also being able to do multi material for less than $600 with shipping and taxes, you just can't beat.
if you want to use the printer as a regular tool like a washing machine or microwave, the A1 will be fine. If you want to go deeper into this hobby, I can't imagine a better candidate to start with than the ender 3/5
As an early adopter of the SV06 when it was released, it had it share of problems.
The bearing was barley greased. The thermistor for the heated bed cable was so tightly packed with the rest that it had a tendency to break. The Parts cooling fan was weak and badly placed. It ran Marlin, which was standard back in the day.
BUT! The community around the SV06 is amazing. Mods came out to fix the issues and everyone was really helpful in the community groups. With a touch of Klipper as well, it really polished this budget printer into a diamond.
The ACE looks like they have fixed every issue from the original and made it better. I'm still using my og SV06 ("Cation"-edition (first batch)) and a SV06 Plus regularly as well as a A1 mini. This ACE got my interested in grabbing another.
I have a SV06 PLUS, but I'm frustrated at how it simultaneously underextrudes and ocerextrudes. I'd beg someone to spend a day helping me out lol
@@guestc142I've got the SV06 Plus and it has been amazing for me. What profile are you using?
I've got one of r/solvol and it worked great, modified it myself to print even faster. I have not have over/under extrusion problems, only similar thing I encountered was when I mismatched the inner wall and outer wall printing speeds (the inner walls were oozing through) or when I thought I was under extruding but it was actually the filament spool slightly tangled.
Have you checked your nozzle? Maybe it's clogged? How are your settings?
@TheGreatWolfYT I use pretty much every profile in prusaslicer. 0.05mm to 0.9mm. It has good and bad days, I think finding a definitive maintenance guide (step by step) would be good.
Forgot to mention this, but nozzles are usually fine. I even polished one to a mirror shine to reduce petg sticking.
@@guestc142 uhm yeah but, are those made for this printer or are you using just the default profiles in prusa?
Last time I checked prusa didn't have SV06 plus profiles, but maybe they added them in the meantime. When I got mine I had to manually make my own and copy the settings from the cura profile I had, and still couldn't get it to print the same.
I liked the supports in prusa, but the lines were ever so thin on the model too compared to the same settings and model in cura, and I preferred that in cura it heats up the bed and then the nozzle, when prusa was heating both at the same time, making the nozzle drip plastic by the time the bed was ready too. Maybe you can change that setting but I kept to cura.
Nowadays I'm looking into trying Orca Slicer, since my machine is klipper-ized and I use the browser interface to control it anyway
@TheGreatWolfYT Prusaslicer has sv06 plus profiles yea
I have 12 of the A1’s being delivered on Monday for my classroom. It actually kind of surprised me when the shipping information came into my email a couple of days ago. I submitted a PO that I thought didn’t make it through, but did! Now six weeks later I have to figure out where to put a dozen printers.
good problem to have lol
I actually like that the mk4s has 3d printed parts. I printed mine (including the injection molded ones) in purple. I have a purple printer!
I do like the kits. I got both my mk3s+ and my mk4 (now mk4s) as kits.
What kind of filament did you use?
@@joeking433 esun PETG purple
ive been 3d printing almost as long as this channel has existed and the a1 just blows my mind.
Same. Its ridiculously easy and intuitive. The ecosystem is also very well structured. I dont know what these Chinese companies are doing, but they are rinsing competition. I also own DJI drones.
@@rendren7487 it also contains patents.
@@rendren7487 "The ecosystem is also very well structured. I dont know what these Chinese companies are doing" Yes so they can lock you in and then get all your money, just like apple or HP printers but worse. Control the world economy.
I'd guess that the ability to complete the cube and the stringing are related. Prusa seems to be doing more Z-Hop than other what avoids collide with the parts but generates a lot of stringing
Great comparison review, and well done on persuading Sovol to go open source! You are a 3D printing hero!
What is the bed surface on the SV06 Ace? Did you try washing it with dish soap?
As evidenced at 2:50, Angus is truly the king of 3D printing on a wobbly table 😂
I always love hearing your opinions. Thanks so much for everything you do
Have a Prusa MK4S and it was a huge upgrade from the MK3S+ format, which was very outdated.
I think the 0.4mm HF profile in PrusaSlicer isn't quite tuned well enough for the high flow. I think it needs adjustment still. I switched to a non-HF ObXidian nozzle. Slower, but better quality prints, not that the HF prints were bad, just more likely to fail, blobbing with PETG.
I do, however, think the days of the unenclosed bed-slinger should come to an end. I think Prusa needs their next printer to be a full-enclosed model designed for higher temp materials and blocking drafts. It was ridiculous that the XL wasn't an enclosed system for that price. Prusa really needs to learn that people want to print more than just PLA and PETG.
I fully enclosed my Prusa MK3S because I print in the tropics where humidity regularly goes to the high 80 and temperature isbbetween 18 to 23C. Used an unused server cabinet which I'm now modding with further insulation. I still would not buy an A1 or any printer if the enclosure does not include the filament. For prints longer than 4 hours TPU Petg suffers if not fully enclosed in my experience. I store them in plastic bins with about 10-20% humidity.
Agreed on all points, my MK4S is a solid machine, but Prusa needs to redesign their flagship printer with an enclosure and likely core X-Y form. The XL looks awesome, but way too pricey. All that said, I value Prusa's open source commitment and the community. But they need to keep innovating beyond incremental improvements to keep pace with the market.
Enclosure can be as Simple as a cardboard Box.. Seriously!
CoreXY machines are the logical upgrade from Bed slingers.
Perfect timing as Prusa just announced the Core One.
Core One is out now :)
I saw it printing on several printers, even though not all of them, but the MK4 is a really good machine. And now this upgrade is a great game changer
For that price? Its should print mid air. I still dont understand what the f costs so much on such small printer. And thats comming from a czech guy where prusa is located…
@@SagittarAI run a print farm with bambu, and prusa, I've had bambu break all the time and you have to buy the whole part assembly to fix it which can cost 50-60 bucks where as the prusas you only have to pay 50c for just the part that broke. Plus I've never had a prusa break, the bambu's always break. Their not bad, just for different needs.
Great video. Yeah, I was shocked when reviewing the SV06 ACE (haven't published yet). I thought my MK4S print quality was very good, then I put it alongside something I printed with the SV06 ACE, and was like "uh... what?" Anyways, contacted Prusa, because they think something is wrong with my MK4S to cause VFA's....
Impressive little printer, though, I feel that it's not as competitive on price when you consider that the other two have stronger ecosystems (multicolor, more slicer profiles, etc).
Bit of a concern if you're having issues with the MK4S as well! They want to investigate the stringing I'm getting, and I'm sure improvements could be made but all tests were at 0.2mm defaults and the sv06 ace was crazy good. Other machines definitely have the better ecosystem, so I hope by being open source sovol can differentiate themselves enough.
@@MakersMuse How worn is your Prusa nozzle?
@@LexxDesign3D not at all, barely 10hrs on the machine.
You make a good point, though I feel like people overlook the value of the complete open-source.
As always a great review, warts and all. You do a great job Mr Maker!!!!
16:50 as someone who has a print farm (15 Bambu printers) I don't think that the short setup time is that big of a deal. I can buy 3 A1s in the price of MK4 + A1 prints faster. The 15 minutes it takes to assemble will pay off almost instantly.
I was leery about Bambu Labs but I recently bought the A1 for $299. It has been amazing and just works! Prusa has always been overpriced and it seems like it takes them numerous fixes to eventually make the printer perform as advertised. For me, bang for the buck, the Bambu has won me over. I can buy 3 of those for the cost of one Prusa. Also, that security issue you mention - call me kooky, I just turn off my printer when not in use!
Do you need 3 of them?
@@emuboy85I mean, I have two and use them pretty much constantly. I use my P1P for bigger projects and then My A1 Mini for smaller projects while I wait. I’m thinking about picking up a third A1 with the multicolor system.
@@idkwhattohaveasausername5828 do so, they have black friday. AMAZING DEALS aspecially if you live in europe
You have sold your soul
@@NotverygoodatallYour brain is broken bro lol. People want a tool, bambu sells a tool. I wanted a hobby, so I got a prusa. It's clear why people get either or.
Bought the A1 a few days ago and it’s been a great experience, printing flawlessly out of the box and letting me make a few toys to hand out during Halloween.
Another aspect to consider is whether it matters to you that Prusa is made in the EU. Personally, I love supporting an EU-based company, but I’m also aware that it’s more expensive than competitors. That’s the trade-off if you want something made in the EU-price competitiveness is challenging.
One thing I especially appreciate as a creator is that Prusa printers are well-tuned with many profiles, making the printing experience much easier. That’s how I see Prusa: if you have the budget and want to support an EU company, you won’t be disappointed with the Prusa MK4S. But if that’s not a priority or you are not in position to spend more, choosing a different printer might make more sense.
"appreciate as a creator is that Prusa printers are well-tuned with many profiles" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH are you fecking kidding?
And you are seriously trying to justify a PRINTED bed slinger costing a grand by saying it's EU made?. Oh sweetie it could be half that price and still be too much for EU made.
Also : you get the Eu-guaranty if something is wrong as a consumer (if you live here), including the certainty for parts and safe software.
That includes the online-systems.
If you go for a Chineese system, well, the company have to be opening up their things to the Chineese-government. Not always an issue, but it can well be someday (soon) with more political unrest for example.
Will you be free to print parts for Ukrain drones for example? Yes, I rather stay EU.
The build quality, print quality, and support of Prusa is second to none. The Bambu crowd (and I have a X1C) constantly talk about how cheap it is - yes it is - but that does not equate to the value. I Pay more for Prusa because I value Pruse products over what you get with a cheaper China made product. I honestly don't care if a printer is 10-20% faster. I value maintainability/longevity, print quality, and how well the product is supported - and I will pay more for that because it has higher value to me.
I chose Prusa as I personally met him and quite a lot of staff working in his facilities. And I live 20minutes by car from his warehouse. It paid off. Oh and I have to mention the joy while assembling PrusaMK4.
@@paulhuckabyare you actually saying Bambu is cheaply made cause I cant let that slide
i really appreciate you taking time to point out which things depend on cloud connectivity, or mobile apps... or even just have manufacturers heavily pushing those things (i.e., just because the printer has a lan only mode, if it is annoying to use and the other cloud crap is heavily pushed then it doesn't mean much). Manufacturers that push their cloud connectivity or their apps are a deal breaker for me. Great review!! Hope to see you at the next OpenSauce!
You can use isopropyl alcohol to release TPU parts from smooth PEI sheets. That's how I do it. I just spray some isopropyl alcohol on the sheet and let it run down so that it can start to penetrate under the TPU print. After that it'll be a lot easier to remove.
Always a great video from Angus. 3 great printers even for print farming
I've built a Prusa Mk 3 & a Mk 4 from kits. A great experience and, as others have mentioned, you get to know how it goes together, so when it has to come apart for maintenance, you know where the bodies are buried. I'm presently waiting on my Mk4s upgrade.
The printers are great and just work. Prusa's assembly instructions rival, if not better, Heathkit's. And that's saying something.
My first printer was an Ender 3 - and what it lacked in performance, it made up for in learning how to setup and adjust a printer.
16:20 well done, it would be a deciding factor and I will support for it.
love the floppy table, really shows off the speed
My first printer was recommended by you. Wanhao i3 Plus. I modified it heavily and fire safety it. (Bed cable rubbing raw on metal). I put grommet and changed cables, connectors, fans, print head….and a few more things
I love the *idea* of Prusa, but the value proposition isn't there anymore. The Bambu is nearly as reliable from my experience and what I've read of the Prusa, but I can get two of the A1 plus the AMS Lite for less than the price of one MK4S. Before you say that you don't need multicolor, the AMS is FIRST a massive convenience for spooling up your filament, a hedge against running out of filament mid job and having to deal with it, and a way to put labels on your print that will endure for the life of the print. Open source is great, but I have five Bambus running all the time, one K1 Max that runs most of the time, and one SV-08 that is always broken.
And you can use the AMS not just for multicolour or as a fallback, but also as multi material printing - for supports
@@techheck3358 There is nothing I could print in multi colors that would be worth the filament waste. However, putting raised text on things would not have any waste and would be an impressive use of the AMS.
17:29 Personally I like the Prusa encoder knob. Many of my 3d printing mates are vision impaired and touch screens are a problem. With the encoders being tactile they remember the menu trees and count each click as they twist and press the knob.
I have a Bambu A1, and to be clear you can setup and use this printer without the app or an internet connection. I set mine up like this and sneaker netted the files using the micro SDCard. I have now put it online as it is really handy :)
Also the A1 has a camera for monitoring, blob detection and timelapse. The printer also includes a project, tools and grease/oil for maintenance and will prompt you to use them.
Awesome comment, I was worried about the privacy of our creations. I'll likely invest in the A1 tyty
My take from this comment is that you can use it offline, but they've made it intentionally cumbersome to force you online. It would have taken them zero effort to allow local network or USB control, like literally all other modern printers.
I would had it "has a camera" however the view is very low so you are only going to see the one side of most thing and the quality is low enough that with the 2 frames per second images will be deformed at times if there was a fast move at the time. Also odd yellow/green tint to the images.
@@marsrevolutionary but you can control it from the local network without the cloud lol
@@sowa705 I was unaware of this. All comments I've read or watched so far indicated that the SD card was the only non-cloud solution.
i got my A1 a few weeks ago and did the journey from a china i3 clone made out of acrylic and took weeks to even pull of a successfull print, to a ender3 v1 modded to a pro version with bl touch and now the A1, im here to say that i am shocked what you get for your money today! 3d printing went crazy far
If you are still reading comments here, great video.
My first printer is the BBLA1M, and it's definitely a great beginner machine, but I've found myself becoming a printer tinker so looking now for something more moddable
I think one major factor you missed is the support from the manufacturer.
I have an old MK3 from Prusa and I still get 24/7 support from them.
he already wrote in the comments here that he allegedly cannot test this so he doesn't care. he also doesn't care about many other things like noise-levels or forced cloud connections that have constant outages, about ripping off open-source software or slave-labour to achieve low prices
@@hanswurst9866which printer does forced cloud and rips off open source?
You shouldn't need 24/7 support for a 3D printer. Actually, for a good printer you shouldn't need support at all.
@@techheck3358you're not going to get a response because he was trolling. We all know he means the Bambu, and he is factually incorrect on both accounts. 😂
@@dennisjames9091 Absolutely, I only needed it once in 5 years but it was there when I needed it.
Great comparison as there is no one perfect machine. For many the prusa is a costly item to purchase with no great advantage shown and the capital layout for a print farm where margins can be small, it’s a hard sell today. 3 x A1’s or sovol machines for 1 x mk4s, simple maths says for the investment 3 printers is greater productivity and redundancy.
The Bambu lab printers appeal is that it just works with no tinkering, it’s certainly made a lot of manufacturers step up their game and we have all benefited from this as we can see from what’s available to buy today.
The sovol is more of an old school 3d printer, it works but you can make it better and the bang for the buck is undeniable.
Great seeing you put out a comparison video Angus! Yeah, for Prusa bedslinger money, I'd rather get a CoreXY machine at that price. I've got about a thousand hours on my Bambu printers and they've been flawless. It's been a night and day difference, having come from an i3 clone platform with it's endless tinkering, print failures, and manual bed leveling (and re-leveling).
Semi-correction on Prusa’s cad files. All the 3d printed parts for the mk4 are available as stp and stl files. The mk4s printable parts are only available as stl files at the moment. (But most of the mk4s parts are carried over from the mk4)
Glad they've got stp for the previous versions, but why not the MK4S? It's not a great look imo
It took a while for the mk4 stp to show up. I don’t know why they waited so long. Maybe we’ll eventually get the mk4s files.
@@MakersMuse Last year, Josef appeared very worried about copying of the design and wanted to keep a time-window of not having released designs. Don't remember the exact phrasing and only remember that it was in Prusa Live.
@@MakersMusethey've been keeping the cad files on new releases secret for a certain time window since the Mini. Probably worried about losing some sales during the launch months to cloners.
Considering the price point, Sovol is the way to go for us mere mortal DIY enthusiasts.
It's $39 cheaper than the A1! Why wouldn't you spend the extra $39 and get the A1???
@@joeking433 facts.
Great comparison! I have the A1 and the 2nd thing I printed was a waste bin and "poop deflector". Plenty of models to choose from on MakerWorld that fix that poop issue. Some waste bins are even themed to look like Kirby sucking in the poop 🤣
It felt a tiny bit disingenuous to present that as being a legitimate issue and one he was going to have to seek a solution for when pretty much anyone who buys one prints this as their first print and never really thinks about it again!
I have an A1 and a MK4S. I really like them both for their own strengths/reasons. It would be hard for me to pick an overall winner. Even considering the AMS and MMU, which I also have. I love how unique they both are in their own ways of completing the same task, its mesmerizing to watch sometimes. If I was packing up and leaving town, and could only take 1 printer with me, it would probably be the MK4S, due to its broader repairability, and simplistic approach.
Sovol open sourcing that is pretty awesome.
I really like my creality k1c think of getting a ender v3 as well. Bambu really turns me away with all the proprietary parts and data they get from you. I’m coming from a Ender 3 and it was great 5yrs ago but now it’s almost not worth using. The Ender made me hesitate on going back to creality and that’s why I was looking at bambu but I’m glad I went back to creality their new line up is worth it and for the price your getting a really good machine with cheap replacement parts and easy mods
It’s crazy to see how much budget 3d printers have changed since Bambu Lab entered the competition.
Thanks to ruthless slave-labour and ripping off open-source software made by others
Great video, thanks for posting. Between my wife (who has never 3d printed anything before she got her bambu printers) and I, we've been running four A1s and two A1 minis, along with two AMS lites since february of this year and have had zero issues. They've just been rock-solid performers. The prusa MK4S is fantastic I'm sure, but it's not 4x the price fantastic. The sovol still still seems like a printer you get if you want to focus more on the tinkering side of the hobby. I'm not worried about the locked down nature of bambu's printers at all; they absolutely would not lock their printers to only using their own filament, they'd be shooting themselves squarely in the face if they did, and they know this. The privacy concerns are valid, but over-emphasized IMHO. Using the printers in LAN mode bypasses all of that.
Last week I just got the Bambu A1 combo coming from ender and elegoo neptune 4 plus. What a difference! Build area is small but OK.
Great video as always Alex - thanks! At 3:00 re shipping & taxes, you mention "more on that later". I can't find that in the conclusion - assumed it would be around 17:10 or around 20:24. Did I miss those extra comments?
Thanks! The elaboration was on the high price point compared to the others, in the video conclusion.
@@MakersMuse Thanks for clarifying. I thought you were going to note you got hit with additional shipping and import fees (GST, etc) that added significantly to the base cost.
@@PaulZeeX Shipping is an issue with Prusa. When I wanted to get more Prusament, the shipping only goes up in price whereas everywhere else you get free shipping. This was enough to make me switch suppliers.
@JulesHatton Thanks - appreciated Jules.
Keep in mind that Prusa MK4 is much more expensive than Bambu A1. Prusa costs locally €1099, while bambu only €340.
An item of note with the MK4S if in the USA, if you order the kit you do not pay an import duty. This is why Prusa prices the kit at 799, As import duties do not start until $800 USD for purchases from the EU.
Another fact to consider with prusa printers is upgradability, even if it can be costly, it is still less than buying a new printer, and i upgraded from a MK2 -> MK2S -> MK3 -> MK3S, a thing that i do not see offered elsewhere
This is true and I upgrade the MK3 to the MK3S. But the upgrade cost to the MK4S is almost the same price as buying a new printer. So that isn't a big selling point unless you started with a MK4. I think my MK3S is great, but the XL failure and then MK4 which is basically the same as the MK3 at the end of the day, not even a larger bed and then the price. Appears Prusa can't come up with anything new. I'm waiting to see the new Bambu 1st qtr 2025, assume it will destroy the XL and for less.
You didn't upgrade to the MK4?
The MK3.9 upgrade is only €300 less than a brand new MK4 kit, and I had no problem just selling my MK3S for more than that
If anything its more of a downside when you actually look at the prices of those upgrades.
The price to upgrade a Mk3s to a Mk4s is literally more than the price of an A1. Its almost 2X the price of an A1. That alone makes it so irrelevant as an option its basically the same flaw that the framework laptops have where you're just better off keeping your current printer for a while and buying a newer better one when you feel an upgrade is necessary.
When you consider the amount of components that need changing, the extra part count and manufacturing difficulty to make it "upgradeable" and the amount of filament a regular printer goes through in its life anyways, its not even as if its good from an efficiency or environmentally conscious point of view. At best its a footnote basically.
It’s a nice feature, but you can always sell your old printer. I sold my old mk3s with tons of upgrades for 750 CAD and bought a new P1S for 700 CAD, it’s a huge upgrade and cost me nearly nothing.
You have a 3d printer and CAD tools, design your own damn upgrades or find them online, you dont need a company like Prusa to sell you a overpriced upgrade. Acting like you don't get the ability to upgrade something like a the Sovol is stupid.
I haven't finished the video, but I've really enjoyed my A1. I built my first reprap printer all the way back in 2013, I built a MK3, loved that thing, built a couple ender 3s, modified the heck out of them, changing out motherboards and what not, learned a lot about printers. It's been very fun.
But now I'm older, and I have less time to mess with stuff. The A1 just has done so well, I have a couple hundred hours of printing and zero issues yet. The price plus features is just impossible for Prusa to compete with currently. I love my Prusa, but they need to do something to compete or go the way of Ultimaker and just sell expensive printers (I think the XL is a hint of this). I'm sure you'll always have the Prusa fans who are less concerned with features and cost and more concerned with opensource-ness, but that won't take market share or create growth.
Also the fact that you can get a X1 for the price of a Mk4 is wild. We're truly in the golden era of 3d printing, and I can't wait to see where it goes.
Producing Not in China comes at a cost, and It IS Sure Handy to have prusa stay around. You dont want to have only Chinese printers on the Market...
@@MaxMichel89 No doubt, but I just hope they figure something out, so they don't just go out of business.
100%, in all the prints i have done i have only had 1 failed print with my A1, its just such a good reliable printer.
The only other issue i have had with it was a minor feed issue that i had to clear while trying to reload some TPU
@@MaxMichel89 Sure it does but not a 3X cost. The cost is there both for prusas fat profit margins and because their printers are built in a way that does not utilize modern mass manufacturing techniques very well and requires a lot of manual labour vs more automated manufacturing processes such as robotically welded chassis etc.
@@BeefIngot Prusa doesn't have fat profit margins. That goes towards paying decent wages for European workers instead of Chinese sweatshop wages who live at the factory, only seeing their family once a year at New Years.
It’s like having a car, I get some cars can be projects but you also need a car to get you from point a to be reliably
I love my Prusa MK3S+ and was really looking forward to upgrading it to an MK4. Then I saw that it would cost me $670 to upgrade to a printer I could buy new in kit form for $799. If you add the MMU3 to your purchase of the kit, you can buy a Bambu Lab P1S with AMS for less, which has a bigger print volume and is enclosed. If you stick with the bed slinger, I can get a brand new A1 with AMS lite for less than the cost to upgrade my current printer.
And, if you live close to a MicroCenter, you can pick up a Bambu Lab printer instead of having to pay shipping.
The only downside I see to the Bambu Lab printing ecosystem is the Bambu Lab printing ecosystem. I tried to download a model from their site to print on my Prusa, and the 3mf file wasn't standard and wouldn't load in PrusaSlicer. I don't like that you have to send your prints over the internet to their printers, and I don't like how they try to lock you into their filaments.
I'm still torn about what I really want to do, but if I had the money to do something today, I'd probably buy a P1S with AMS. Prusa printers are just too expensive for what they offer now. Back in the MK3 days, they were the only ones on the market offering a lot of the features they had, so they were worth it. But now everyone has the same feature set, so price is a huge deciding factor.
Hub Bambuu doesnt have to be sent over the internet, it has a lan mode that I use in my network so only my pc can access it.....
Try the A1 in the sales with the AMS. Trust me you won't go back
It's sad to see how many people openly support slave labour and shitty business practices like ripping off open-source software and work from others just to save a few bucks
I just ordered the mk4s kit this afternoon so we’ll see how that goes. It will be my first 3D printer.
Useful video, thanks for the comparisons.
Never owning a 3d printer we are evaluating whether we would actually benefit from owning one and then, which to buy..?
Even with videos like this I still keep coming back, not a bad thing necessarily, to either the A1 or the Mini. We would have little desire to tinker and, overall, it seems that what BL are offering is closer to what we would expect in an out of box experience at a compelling price.
I had been considering some of the Creality models, K13D, understanding it is of the enclosed type, perhaps some more time in the pondering stage is called for :)
Well I started with the Ender 3 and heavily modded it, then built a Prusa MK3S and that was a good but expensive upgrade and after a while had a few problems with it that I could not seem to fix and in the end gave up. That was years ago though and printers have come so far and look really good now that I'm buying an A1 combo tomorrow as an early Christmas present to myself. £389 in the current sale, I just cannot resist.
I currently have the Bambu Lab A1, and it's mainly for printing TPU, but with a few settings changes, I've only had one blip where it had a layer shift, but I think that was more my fault than anything, as the reprint didn't layer shift. Also had a nozzle clog but that was fixable with a tutorial on UA-cam involving a lighter and a really thin allen key, afterwards, printed super neatly once again. I don't really plan on modifying or tinkering with it, so it's a perfect fit for me, as I plan on using these prints in combat robotics myself.
Im still kicking myself for not going through with my early backer X1C, and getting a bad resin printer instead lol. Live and learn though, now I'm getting an A1 after getting a grip on what i like about resin printers, the simplicity of maintenance and troubleshooting.
If you intend to print nylon, get an X1C.
@johnsullivan8673 I don't.
As someone with P1S, the regular cloud outages are getting really annoying. Yes, you can switch to lan mode, but if the cloud is down, it won't let you switch. I know that fanboys are trying to downplay it as no big deal, but it is.
a1 mini here, europe region. daily printing ive never seen an outage yet
@kekkodance Lucky you. Look at Bambu lab subreddit.
damm I didnt even think of that, I live in canada so Ive never experienced this
you don’t need lan mode. you can upload to the printer through ftps without having to enable or disable anything. i won’t tell you how, just google it. or you can just use the sd card.
You seriously can't switch to LAN mode with the cloud down?
That's messed up.
Thank you for calling out the wave of innovation Bambu Labs is largely responsible for. We need to stop and think about where we might be today were it not for the release of the Carbon X1 which combined speed, print quality, multi color and usability at a price point that we could only dream about at the time. Bambu Labs thankfully set a new bar for the rest of the industry to rise to.
Uh huh, Bambu just took it's innovations from the Voron and other DIY designs.
@@ScytheNoire Agree; Bambu took all that existing technology that only existed in the DIY space and packaged it up in products that work reliably out of the box. In the case of the A1 and A1 Mini, those features were at a price point similar to all the bed slinger clones that had proliferated.
@@ScytheNoire This is only a small part of the story. Klipper CoreXYs suffered from poor ease of use. Bambulab innovated there, and I think thats the biggest thing that they have actually done and what matters. You can see that this is the case too, because when you look at the bed slingers they make, its obvious its not the corexy design that defines what they changed, but the ease of use with all the auto sensors and reasonably tested machines before being released.
you mean the wave of stealing other people's innovations, right?
I have an sv06, standard bed size. The thing falls apart every 50 print hours, but customer service/free replacement parts has been easy
Good coverage of the options. I'm glad you have the SV06 ACE in there because I didn't know it existed and had simply heard recently: "yep, testing the SV06" from people and went "uh... what year is it?" I didn't know there was a new one. As a Prusa owner, I agree on the cost, but it's not like we know how the cost of things/profit margin so for all we know they're absolutely ripping people off or they're just keeping their head above water. Though my 2 comments on them: 1) they are conservative on speeds and have higher temps for defaults so will produce more stringing (though I still end up using defaults a vast majority of the time). 2) You found it weird on the touchscreen + encoder wheel but there's still a lot of people who hate the touch screens on many printers (even Klipper ones) and so "por que no los dos" (why not both).
I just got an Ender 3 V3 Plus to accompany my Ender 3 Max.
I'm pretty happy with it so far. I'm just working on trying to find the best filament to use for prop making.
MK4S has UL GreenGuard certification. And the bed goes to 120˚C so you can print ABS, PC etc if you really want to. Stealth mode means it's far quieter than the others.
You cant print ABS parts in any open bed printer or you will get a lot of warping
@@captainheat2314But you can house the MK4. Which Bambulab does not allow, by the way.
I print pccf with the MK4 without any problems.
I got an A1 about a month after this published, and I've started using the "Z Hop" setting in the filament settings. That would have allowed it to finish the lattice and doesn't meaninfully increase print times
I think you should revisit your torture test on the MK4S, considering it can print higher overhang angles than any other printer currently on the market (thanks to the mentioned fan).
I like the Sovol approach here, although its not an upgrade kit for the OG SV06.
Really nice that you mentioned the differences to SV07, Angus! That was one of my first thoughts because that "SV06 just with Klipper" already exists.
The better competitor from Prusa would be the Mk3.5, I think!
You get the speed and repairability from MK4 but for roughly the price of that Bambu A1! Just look for a used MK3 on the used market and buy the upgrade to MK3.5.
This upgradeability (through design that allows that) still is unique. Neither Sovol or Bambu Lab do have that. And for those who liked Lego in their youth and enjoy building things, such an upgrade is a joy for one evening.
That touch screen and Orca slicer profiles were needed in 2024 for Sovol to catch up to Bambu Lab! But with more dialed in profiles and a design that is upgradeable the next needed improvements are already noticeably.
Thats a downside to these glued machines like P1P (or A1): if something important breaks or wears down (like the rods or pulleys) you cannot simply change them out without ripping glued parts apart.
If you are willing to tinker a bit with your printer, then Creality ender 3 v3 KE (klipper edition) is probably best of the bunch and cheapest, considering 1 spool of PLA will cover all the upgrades like frame stiffeners, fan duct cover, gyro calibration tool mounts and spool 90° mount adapter. Its open source and you can root it to get rid of creality’s version of klipper firmware, and make it wifi print capable with orca slicer. Yes it is not out of the box experience, but since youre buying a 3d printer, id wager this bit of tinkering should be right up your valley of interests as hobbyists. Im making 1/4 figure prints on it and it prints dang flawless if you calibrate your fillament settings properly which you should do on every printer.
People talk about the price difference but that is the main reason everything is made in China now as other counties can't even come close to competing. The amount of times i look at things on Ali Express etc and can't work out how they can even make something for that price let alone make a profit and fairly pay their workers.
Fair pay ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha good one!
The main difference is availability of parts. You build a factory in China, you get all the parts and materials stocked in hours because there is always factory making it nearby. That is main (or one of) reason why companies are building factories here. Build a factory in Europe and you have problem to stock many parts, will be expensive, importing them is expensive too. Even Prusa is buying some parts from China because they are not available anywhere else.
I just bought an A1, it literally arrived about 7 hours before this video was published lol. I'm pretty happy with it so far, to be fair it's my first printer so I don't really have anything to compare it to.
If you just want to print and not mess with the printer, you purchased the right printer. No need to compare. Also, start with eSun high speed PLA filament, cheap and print awesome on my A1 mini.
I have an A1 and A1 Mini... Purge settings can be as low as .55 and flush to infill will reduce the poop tremendously
The SV06 caused me to walk away from the hobby. Constant problems. Multiple inherient design flaws. I wouldnt touch SOVOL ever again, period. Never again
After having watched numerous 3D topics and tweaks for 3 D printing I have come to the conclusion that do I really need/want a 3D printer, and the answer is yes, I do but in my own time......I have an Ender 3 but it's till on the table unused after a year or two........as time goes by the new tweaks and solutions make the early printer methods so basically out of touch with current methods, I think I'll just have to keep watching the videos as I get more entertainment watching the wheels go around than actually doing the thing........I have yet to find a 3D print I need to have but coat hangers and a wall hook for my sun hat is top of the list.
I have the Sovol 6 Plus and it’s very much a ‘printer’……I’m not a tinkerer, just want to print and it does that beautifully without having to tweak anything. The large 310 x 320 mm bed is huge bonus for me as well. I only print in PLA and for that material it performs A1……I’ve had the machine for 18months now and no issues.
"No more bed slingers." - Bambu Lab
"Look! We made a bed slinger!" - Also Bambu Lab
and made with slave labour
I have a solvo svO2 it's a great two color machine also I decided to put clipper on my fokos Odin 5 during the raspberry pi shortage and used a maker base pie so yes it is very easy to open source the SV06 Max
How about noise level? I bought the MK4S kit. Very happy because it is very quiet while printing that is important since I live in a one room apartment. That said I agree that Prusa charges too much for the MK4S but I still bought it due to the support structure and reputation of Prusa.
Prusa doesn't charge too much. Chinese sweatshops charge too little.
@@sammiller6631what is that stupid argument.
@@sammiller6631 Good point.
@@sammiller6631 It is how you look to it. The Prusa machines are awfully expensive compared to the Chinese machines. Build and software quality may be excellent, but the price gap may be to big.
@@wilsistermans1118 TANSTAAFL. You choose whether you want to pay for better bearings, belts, materials, screws, hardware, and software support. And how much regular maintenance and parts replacements are worth to you.
I still need to print the front MK4S cover for my printer. (because it's purple). I just did the LCD cover. I couldn't make it look stock because the MMU3 caused the text to blur. So I rearraged the words and made them bigger. It looks a lot better.
Not too worried about the RFID in the Bambu AMS. On my AMS on the X1C the RFID fails to read the spools most of the time, so if they eliminated setting generic filament, the AMS would be completely useless and Bambu knows that. Bambu's filament price and quality is quite good, so I do tend to buy most of it through them.
Good point about the poops. By far the most annoying aspect of their printers is having to print a poop bucket. But I' never want to go back to not having a multi-material loader like the AMS. I rarely print with multiple filaments, but just having it load and purge filament automatically is a game changer for those of us who just use the printer as a tool.
By the way Aurora tech reviewed the prusa mk4s + mmu3 combo. She found that the mk4s wastes the least amount of filament in any multi-material setup. And it doesn't fling poop all over.
A1 and ams lite has been amazing for me. It hasn’t sat still for long since I got it.
I have owned 3 Sovol printers. The IDEX version, a bedslinger, and the Voron clone sv08. All were good out of the box but failed after a few months. And all failed in ways that destroyed something. I had two print beds damaged beyond repair and all three damaged the print head. Sovol support was nonexistent. I repaired all three printers by buying parts. Getting the printers working again was a long grind. And then they died again. I have given up on Sovol.
you will be able to make countless comparisons, Prusa will always be the best printers for their reliability and print quality, I am not a Prusa fan boy (almost) but Prusa will always be above all.
The only feature that is locked behind the bambu cloud being turned on is canceling individual failed objects from the batch on the print bed.
It's a big feature imo. But nothing else is locked out of offline or lan mode.
There certainly are other features unjustly locked behind going through their servers, such as the Multi-Device Management tab and accessing the contents of the printer's SD card in Bambu Studio (though FTP does work), but the printer is still perfectly usable without the cloud features.
I only had my A1 mini connected to their cloud for a few weeks after I got it. I've been running it through LAN Only Mode ever since. My A1 (non-mini) was set to LAN Only Mode as soon as I got through the setup.
I think it's also worth pointing out the spool RFID tag system is only on the AMS. There is no reader for external spools, so 'a firmware update to lock down the ecosystem' would only break the AMS... unless they also want to brick every printer that doesn't have an AMS, which would probably be a massive class-action lawsuit.
@@vt-1493 I really don't consider SD card management an online feature at all 🤣 to be honest I never realized some of the AMS controls where locked out because I don't have one... and you can see all the controls in the slicer even without having an AMS. thought another important one I didn't mention is Firmware updates. thought that can be a good and a bad thing at once (if you think the updates lock out features or improves something you do want)
@@vt-1493if that happens im sending them my burning printer lol
A useful video! I’m looking to upgrade and want to spend less time tinkering, and more time printing. The A1 is looking good for me so far. I’ve seen some beautiful prints out of one of the fully enclosed Enders, just can’t remember which one. I want to do more ABS just for the post-printing advantages. 👍🏻
Would love a similar one if these videos on core-xy printers (P1S, Qidi & Flashfore or the upcoming Anycubic S1 etc).
awesome vid! i have a ender 3 V3 KE and would love a vid showing some of these cheaper models in the same format, im very happy with the KE so far and got it on a good sale on amazon
I understand what entices people to get the Bambu Lab A1. It's a lot of printer for a little money, but the Prusa is just better for me. I do not have the stringing issue that you see on either MK4S :)
I used the .2 speed profile, wondering if that's making a difference
@ I always use structural, so it's very possible 😊
@@MakersMuse No stringing on my MK4 and MK4S. And I print Speed and Structural. There are a few MK4s that have this. On most of them it was a defective hotend thermistor
I have been using a SV06 Plus with klipper for the better part of the year, and really tested it's limits trying for both fast and quality prints.
It works amazingly well and since I'm the thinkering type, I love how accessible everything is. Took it apart completely once and put it back together in about 3h, with calibrations for printing too.
I often see now stls reported to print in 4-6h or more, and I print them in about 2h. Or one that claimed 2 of days of printing and I managed to make it in ~7h.
True that most of those settings are done in the slicer, but the machine keeps up. I've been printing organic models (realistic reptile skulls) and miniatures meant for resin printing on it and they look good. Not resin good, but not painfully fdm looking either.
And this is on a .4 nozzle with 0.2 layer height, on 0.16 layers it looks even better. Looking forward to getting a .2 nozzle to try out.
All in all, insanely happy with it. Durable, well made, thinker friendly, exactly what I need.
I'd be curious to know what modifications you made for it, and where you found the information of how to perform them. I have an SV06 plus, but I stopped using it once I got a P1S after the SVS6 Plus was failing to print fairly simple parts. I'd really love to upgrade it and have two printers.
@@SorinMarkov6666 the physical changes I did were to install klipper (and a klipper screen) and disassemble it to oil the bearings.
I've never ran this printer without klipper though so I don't know how it behaves on Marlin
If Sovol spent more time tuning their profiles and used a higher quality PEI sheet - that would make it a lot more appealing. Hopefully the release product also offers an option to get it assembled. They're getting close. It would be great to be able to get an open source printer that's competitive with Bambu.
I'm still happy with my MK3S+. upgraded from Ender 3 about 5 years ago. Just waiting for Prusa core one kit to be released. I'm pretty sure not gonna go back to any other brands
I abandoned Prusa when my Mk3s kept failing the thermal profile thing they introduced in a firmware update, because I dared to upgrade a few things from stock. Bought an X1C and have never looked back. I don't think I'd ever go back to a bed slinger. Smaller footprint for the same or larger build volume with core xy plus an enclosure, win, win.
I have a Prusa Mini and Bambu A1 Mini + A1. Honestly I thought the quality and speed of the Prusa Mk4S would have walked over the others here, disappointing for the price premium. Love the auto-flow dynamics calibration and fast nozzle swap on the A1, so much so that I would get the A1 instead of the higher end Bambu P1S because of it. Recently started printing on the 0.2 nozzle using the custom Fat Dragon Games profile + Meta PLA and blown away, closest thing to resin on FDM... all on one of the cheapest printers on the market.
But you don't have the level of control on the BL printers that you do on a Prusa. You have access to a lot of parameters on the Prusa that BL doesn't let you access.
@@joeking433 OrcaSlicer probably addresses that.
I have the original sv06, The sovol probe is not fit for the task, can't get the bed leveled, even with 83 probe points. Could only achieve a good first layer after manual leveling with a dial gauge. Also can't get rid of ugly layer lines, have almost replaced the entire printer with new parts. Could better have invested in other printer.
I find the price proposition a bit difficult considering the price of Sovol's SV08 at the moment. But great review, it is really unbelievable where are we from Ender 3 times :)
you should have used the prusa satin sheet (assuming you have one) to print TPU. It's much easier to get the print off. If you don't have one I recommend it. It's my go to build plate.
Thanks, Angus!
Great Review. I enjoy all of your reviews you are very thorough with them and they are very well produced. Thank you for your time, very much appreciated! Debating on getting a lower cost 256 min size printer to add to my collection thinking would like to have one more multi color capable unit and have never gone path of Bambu labs. I know there software looks amazing and all, think may break down and spend for the A1 with multi color but not final on my decision yet. I do have several QIDI machines which get tons of use due to heated chamber benefits for the amount of engineering grade materials I run. Current printers I use all the time are the Plus4(have the new board update for heated chamber for 115v fix and this printer just plain works amazing and offers the large 305 footprint It has been a dream at the $799 price point purchased in late September). I am still awaiting the AMS release for it, QIDI support has been great to deal with, just hope in the future they learn from the heated chamber board mistake, think they will: fingers crossed I am rooting for them because folks in support been so great to deal with. I also own and run a Q1 pro 24/7 along with an= Xsmart3. These printers primarily run only ABS 24/7 and do an incredible job, they have been extremely reliable and fast machines quickly and easily amassing hundreds of print hours with an incredibly high success rate.
I retired my Ender 3v2 which was highly modified and ran a direct drive, this was my first unit which I really learned all the fine details of 3d printing on. I would like a machine capable of multicolor debating going path of Voron with multihead setup just because I enjoy these types of projects. At the same time I would save money if I went the Bambu A1 path. This machine would primarily be used for PETG and PLA, not sure if A1 is rated for ABS? What are your thoughts on this, should I break down and go with the masses and treat myself to Bambu software which is very obvious a great software? I am bit of open source snob and do not like fact that my prints get sent across their network. My Plus4 is dedicated to engineering grade materials, I would like complimentary printer to handle multi color jobs believe most of the time I would be doing PETG and ABS being realist. I am not huge fan of PLA for mere fact that it distorts if exposed to sun in quick order. I have become huge fan of ABS, because it is durable and has higher temp values plus affordable, it is also easiest type to post process for finished models. Never knew 4 years ago this hobby would send me down the path it did, the hobby grew on me fast, especially over the past two years since print speeds, hardware, and software has come so far. It seems now that the technology is advancing at a rapid pace..........hmmmm for that reason a highly upgradeable Voron which can be bit future proofed might be on my Wishlist. May have to bite the bullet and get one of each, the market is getting flooded with many offerings and we still have to see what Bambu is releasing which has been delayed! The A1 just looks like a great machine, I am curious about Bambu software and like fact that the community is so large and settings seem amazingly easy. I am kind of answering my own questions here, but does the A1 do ABS? If yes, does it do ABS well on large footprint ABS prints? Feel free to chime in on A1 and those who may have done ABS on it.
I have an Elegoo neptune 4 pro and it has been amazing for me so far. I've been using it for about a month now
I don't see the low cost bed slingers surviving Bambu Labs printers onslaught. Anyone would be stupid to buy any low cost bed slinger other than a Bambu Labs A1 or A1 Mini.
Back in the day I thought the Sovol SV06 was impressive, but when the SV07 came out sure it might be faster, but who cares when it has stupid bed springs. Not long after that even creality got rid of them. So hopefully the SV06 ACE is auto-z as well. But I remember hearing the beds were trash and a 3rd party bed was highly recommended. I guess that hasn't changed.
opensource is like buying a car which can't hold idles, turns only left and has deep pink tint on windshield for some reason
- but It's opensource! feel free to fix and modify it yourself ! isn't it awesome ?!
and opensource customers be like - omg cant wait to buy it. we have so much free time and money to "tinker" with products instead of just using them reliably.
12:16 does this have linear rails instead of rods? That's really nice. Kinda wish i could've gotten this a year ago instead of my basic SV06 lol
No it has SG20 or 15...
@eaman11 oh that's a little disappointing. Oh well