That's exactly what I always think. It's so pleasant to listen to and just relax. Sure video about details of printer are nice. But I find it pleasant to just try it out together
Now THIS is the kind of printer review content I needed! Love the shorts but please please please keep this stuff up. Your style is so straight to the point, easy, real. Great editing, also. The amount of time this took is not lost on us.
@@UnwrittenGamingftn Yeah, they did the same with the input Shaper and Pressure Advance that were advertised but not (initially) shipped. Definitely feels like a bit of a rushed released
Like the unavailable input shaping they pushed this printer out the door because they were freaking out about boobs taking all their market share. It was totally the wrong move. It just makes their printer look more inferior.
Prusa announced they had it free of "Vertical Fine Artifacts"... On the bust-base, it seemed like VFA. EDIT: absolutely, on the pink/blue wolf it is full of patterns.
Yeah, sadly still there and I don’t like the messaging otherwise (although heavily reduced *may mean* free of to some people, but that seems sneaky). On this note, didn’t someone make a mod for leadscrews that “cured” this? I saw the video in my feed a while back, but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.
Nice and honest review. Personally I wanted to move away from Chinese stuff, a friend of mine reported he was very happy with his Mk 4, and ease of maintenance is a plus for me. Those points sealed the deal for me, so I passed on the Bambu and my Mk 4 will be arriving shortly 😊
@@jmsubs529some people value simple to use and maintain even if there is a premium. Some people also want to avoid Chinese made and/or developed products based on politics. What is great is we should be able to make that choice without judgement.
@@jmsubs529 A closed source Chinese walled garden cloud only product is indeed inferior to a well known brand with a huge community. The Bambo looks nicer, but the MK4 gives me a way better feeling for long time support and security. Search for "3D printer nightmare fuel: Bambu X1C and P1P started printing while owners were asleep"
@@jmsubs529 I don't know what company to buy from anymore. Definitely not bambu though, I just cannot justify giving away my privacy. I do not agree with them being able to acess the camera in the printer or being sent encrypted logs about my usage. And after the ghost print incident where printers started randomly in the night and many printers were damaged by that I cannot trust a company like that. It is unfortunate because their product does seem really nice. Even in mihai's shorts I see many problems he has with his bambu printers from AMS problems to layer shifts. Once bambu irons out their issues and if they rethink their privacy policies maybe I will consider them again. Prusa's printer sare expensive and reliable with similar features to the bambu machine but with so many other lower price and reliable printers many people might not consider them as well.
@@jmsubs529I bought the MK4 myself, it works straight out of the box, and there is no dependency cloud and stuff. The designs stay with you. The best part I like about the MK4 is that the parts are printable and can be replaced easily. I disagree that it’s an inferior product
the ease of use of the bambu printers is lightyears ahead. i start my prints from the phone and observe them from work in case something is not working. its like an apple product in terms of ease of use.
I cancelled my mk4 after it got postponed a few times and got the X1C ... Looking at this I must admit I am glad I did. Thank you Prusa for constantly delaying my order. In hindsight the price is just too much for what it is.
I've got a P1P, and it's clear how much better CoreXY tech is, than bed slingers. Prusa dropped the ball with the MK4, and now they're completely on the backfoot. It doesn't seem like they have any answer to the new wave of CoreXY printers that are now dominating the market.
The lawsuit stopped me from purchasing the PS1. Along with the fact that the Prusa has better dimensional accuracy than the BL units (I print mostly functional items so this is important). I understand that Prusa Will also be in the group of Srat patent issues, but the open source assures I can continue to use and maintain the a Prusa since it is totally open, unlike BL.
I had been waiting for the Prusa XL, but then the Bambu X1C+AMS appeared. I waited a bit to see how it was performing in the real world, then pulled the trigger and bought one. It completely transformed my 3D printing life; 3D printing became a tool instead of a project of its is own :-) The Mk4 certainly seems to print reliably enough, but the Bambu is just *so* much faster, and the AMS is a dream. (I actually only do multicolor prints very rarely, but love having four different filaments to choose from, all kept totally dry and ready to go whenever I want them.m The Mk4 looks to me like just what it is: A well-optimized design from 5 years ado. I’m so glad I went with the X1C.
Prusa thought they have won the game with MK3, however everyone moved away and Prusa stayed, now I think they will never catch-up....I also purchased a Bambu X1C with AMS and you can't even compare it, two different leagues, we have some MK3s and they have all had problems, we had to service them and wait for parts, meanwhile Bambu was printing almost nonstop
@@Pavl9k my bambu has had a few problems. Only one that was a major problem is that the tool cable shorted and blew up two boards. Bambu however did help me quickly and sent me two replacement boards and a tool head cable free of charge which arrived in 2 days. But yea I agree with what you were saying Prusa can’t ask for 1k* now for a bed slinger when they are printers like the p1p p1s k1 k1 max for a lot cheaper. Which have bigger build volume enclosed faster better quality
@@ZFGFZDGDFG Our Bambu only got filament stuck in the hotend heatsink, our fault for using old and brittle filament, I took it out and it goes again like nothing happened, I was afraid that it will be very user unfriendly but actually it is well designed and stuff can be serviced quickly with basic tools...don't get me wrong I like Prusa (started printing on MK3s) but I will keep hating until he gets his s...t straight
@@Pavl9k and sadly enough I don't think they will change because from his social media posts, Prusa himself just seems butthurt. He keeps indirectly accusing bambu of things, like when he posted on twitter about how bambuslicer is just a copy of prusa slicer, as if everyone didn't already know that because bambu has been very open about it from the start. Then he was posting on reddit, saying that chinese brands copy ideas, and indirectly accusing BL of the same. The guy just seems like he can't handle that he needs to change his company's ways or else the world will leave them behind.
It's mad to me that Prusa is still making a bed slinger. It's ancient tech at this point. Even madder is they're charging vastly more for it, than some of the new Core XY's that absolutely spank Prusa in regards to speed.
bedslingers could be different, e.g. look at the bambulabs ones, or elegoo ones on linear rails, but this... it's just glorified Anet A8. Yes, I know that A8 itself a knock-off from Prusa i3, but how people are still buying - makes me wonder, tbh.
The gap between Prusa and Bambu is enormous, and growing! To be competitive, Prusa needs to invest in a mass-production printer design, as well as automation. The Mk4 is too expensive to produce.
Granted valid to an extent (will see how Prusa XL with toolchanger fairs), *BUT* short of the production engineering and Injection Mold tooling, Bambu basically took *existing Open Source RnD* then pretend they did all of it. Short of the *proprietary lidar stuff we will never be able to tinker with/test*, what does the Bambu do that a VORON, HevORT, or RatRig can’t? Again there is nuance to this, but just because they add an Apple Aesthetic to a Voron, doesn’t make them the people pushing the industry forward. The Open Source Developers are.
@@ericlotze7724 Bambu successfully mass-produced a high-speed printer: Injection molding, stamping, and robotic welding. Prusa needs to adapt to this or die. Hand assembled craft printers can not compete with automated, high-tooling mass-production.
@@3er24t4g1 eh. Despite all that Bambulab isn’t *that much* cheaper; it’s no Ender 3. Also I’d love to have them follow the Open Pricing Standard, but I wonder what the material vs labor vs upkeep costs are for both companies. Also, i doubt this, but as with Meta’s Occulus/Meta Headsets, Subsidies can make prices sneaky. As with the Ender 3 I won’t fault people if they NEED a printer ASAP and can only afford those, but at the same time I’d say buy a Prusa, or one of the MANY Open Source designs that are better than Bambulab’s Stuff (Voron, HevORT, RatRig, VZBot, 247Zero Bot, etc) (Most of what makes the Bambulabs short of the *shiny case* was DEVELOPED by those people)
Some people seem to miss that those high speed profiles are just for prototyping. If you want to have robust parts you have to turn down the speed anyway.
Bambu's start sequence is one of the most underrated things about the X1. Being able to confidently start a print and walk away was a hobbyist workflow game changer
Granted I’m pretty sure it’s a simple G-Code Fix where you lower the nozzle temp during probing. Pretty sure this was just common knowledge, not magic by the Company Notorious for Using Other People’s Work (and calling it proprietary…)
Prusa Slicer has a automatic support painting feature that works really well. Putting supports only where you need it. Your Thrall bust looked like it was using the Build Plate only option.
I am not sure I would review it… Honestly I don’t see the point: it is an expensive printer without any outstanding feature. PS: price can be a feature. To me, when I see an Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro at 250 bucks I can recommend it eyes closed.
This is really surprising, because of all the tubers I watch who cover 3d printing, I think you might be the one with the highest opinion on bed slingers in general. Seems like a swing and a miss to me.
I mean aside from the XL this is their current flagship printer, right? It’s the one I see at the top first thing on their website. This is wild. Bambu and this are not even remotely in the same league.
I mean you are not wrong. The Bambu and Prusa owners are completely different. Really depends on what the user values. Being easy to repair, looking good in the office, open-source vs locked, primarily offline vs primarily online cloud, being quiet vs loud, built-in enclosure...
@@TheMikolasZuza or prefering prints that are multiple times faster. Or multi-color. Or an actually finished product. Or maybe all of that with a cheaper price point. So many considerations
@@user-fo7mf9nd2h Exactly. Different customer groups. I for example do like prints that are stronger, not half of my filament going down a poop chute and not only soft- but also hardware upgrades for years and years. I also like that part of my money goes into Printables and PrusaSlicer, that workers are payed a reasonable wage and other open source projects are supported financially too.
They just recently released a new firmware for the MMU2 that rebuilt the code entirely. I was having issues with an MMU2 at work, but once I updated the firmware, it basically just worked
Love my mk4, was worth every penny. Assembly was maybe a bit complex, but once done, its self-diagnostics found my one mistake, and after that it's been printing perfectly. That was the weirdest thing about it, I expected there to be a few days of "getting used to it", but it's been hard at work next to my Mk3 since day#1, not a single failed print. There are still a few software bugs on PrusaConnect, but the printer itself is completely fire-and-forget, including nozzle changing.
What do you think of some of the surface artifacting and ringing? I found them to be less than desirable for a machine that was suppose to have so much time and experience to mature. It doesn't even have true inputshaping
@@mynt4033What is true input shaping even? They're using a model averaged from data from thousands of printers, instead of just one. Same result. As for artefacts, yes, it seems to produce a few, but they are within tolerance.
@@Standbackforscience You need an IMU on board to account and calibrate for individual vibrations. It's not a problem you can "just average". It's different for all printers. Even the same build. If the frequency is ever so slightly off, you get constructive interference on vibrations and it makes it far worse. Every review has proven that input shaping results in a fuzzy surface mess for the MK4 and I'm not surprised. Plus, averaging it no longer permits individual customizations, which is a shame considering Prusa encouraged a ton of customizations.
Why are they so rattly and noisy? Also, I never understood why manufacturers have the start gcode where the nozzle is in the air while it heats up. I made my own custom gcode where it puts the nozzle .4mm above the bed right in front of the prime line starting point, and then it extrudes 5mm to make a small blob so it pulls plastic off nozzle as it jumps 10mm to start the prime line, so I never have to fool around with tweezers trying to grab filament off the nozzle while its printing. It makes no sense why such an established company wouldn't have better start gcode to prevent filament getting in the way of the print.
I actually went straight to an X1C when starting out and was kinda annoyed by the kinks in the AMS....BUT, after watching this I've never been happier with that decision. I take for granted just how annoying it is to simply change a filament on a MK4.
@@Traitorman..Proverbs26.11don't forget that Nowadays people complain about cars that don't open the rear boot by pressing one button of pass your shoe under the rear bumper, because using your hands to open the boot is old tech 🤷
Thanks for the video. The interface on the MK4 would drive me crazy... so much clicking about and beeping... I've become spoiled with the KlipperScreen and Bambu printers I've been using. Kinda glad I cancelled my MK4... But I DO still want an XL with 5 print heads ;)
Love prusa, but this printer really isn't good enough for it's price point anymore. Bambu has the P1S with 4 color printing for €200 less than this. Open source is great, and building in Europe is admirable, but the mk4 needed to be much more of an upgrade than it was in reality.
Exactly, Prusa has fallen behind quite a long way. Printers in the same price range of the mk4 kit are much better. The mk4 was outdated when it was released, that just shows how far behind they are. There really aren’t any excuses Prusa can make for the mk4, they have continued charging a large amount for the mk3 for years so funding shouldn’t really be an issue and the mk4 is just a slightly upgraded mk3. There really isn’t anything that innovative about it, it is just an mk3 with a few upgrades that pretty much anyone could add cheaply, the main changes are just a 32 bit mainboard, a new extruder, 0.9 degree stepper (which anyone could have added anyway) and a load cell, nothing really that impressive. The amounts Prusa is charging for the upgrade kits is ridiculous too, to convert the mk3 to an mk4 you might as well just buy an mk4 kit. Prusa has done too little, too late, to actually compete again and produce modern printers it needs to be much better. If it is going to cost more than the likes of the P1S (although the P1P is a better comparison due to it being an open air printer too and makes it look even worse for Prusa) then they need to produce a printer that has similar or better results. Even look at the AMS, how many times has Prusa attempted their MMU and how well do they actually work? Then Bambu labs releases the AMS and apart from some minor problems it just works. Why couldn’t Prusa make a reliable and functional multi material system? Bambu have totally wiped the floor with Prusa and not just in one area, their printers and multi material systems are much better. Hopefully this has been a wake up call for Prusa and they will start actually innovating again but it would take them a lot of work even just to catch up with what is currently available, not to mention what will be available in the future. They have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to reclaim their reputation and I don’t know if they can do it.
I'm still not sure what people expect. It's an upgrade of the i3 line. One that added all the things people complained about on their MK3s and more. The name MK4 is exactly telling us that: The 4th Mark / model of the i3 - a proven workhorse. Sure, Bambu's coreXY are impressive and have a more advanced motion system. But I for one like that I can fix my printer with parts I can either print or buy in an electronic shop around the corner. I am not a fan of having all my print files in the cloud too. I have used Prusa's 24/7 live support and it helped fix issues in a day. I also find it funny that people complain about the MMU which works fine for a lot of people (and especially do so after the latest firmware upgrades), but praise the AMS and it's "minor problems" which includes such minor things like a lot of spools not working because of size or material, filament breaking in places that are hard to get to, roller holders breaking and what not. It's also not a good idea to print abrasives with the AMS, is it? Overall these are different machines for different customer groups and ALL have their advantages and flaws. I always feel like people are comparing the latest Toyota Hilux model with a Mercedes SUV. Sure, the Mercedes is faster and better looking. But in a few years one will be used with a machine gun mounted on the bed and the other one will be shot at… ;-)
@@ulaB Your compairson is flawed for a few reasons. First, your facts are wrong. You are not required to connect to the cloud system, LAN only or SD card works fine. Seconldy, replacement parts for the bambu are all insanely cheap and ship fast. If some proprietary part on the prusa like the nozzle breaks, you have to wait a couple weeks for shipping and pay crazy taxes. (I've ordered from both companies) Secondly, it's not even debatable that the AMS is worse than the MMU. People don't want a project multi material system that needs hours of tinkering and software updates to work. Even though the AMS doesn't work with some materials, these limitations are clearly highlighted, and if you follow their instruction, you wont have any problems. I like your comparison of the Toyota Hilux vs the Mercedes SUV. But imagine this, if both the Hilux and Mercedes were $30k new, which one would you get?
@morbus5726 An old Hilux, because it's more practical, for what I need it to do and I can repair it with a hammer. The LAN only and SD modes were added after people complained, weren't they? You still need the cloud for firmware upgrades? Nobody knows what data is being sent then. Log files are encrypted, so nobody knows what is being stored in them either. Most people don't care about that - which is fine, but I do and have to. Import taxes are not Prusa's fault. Being in the EU, I don't have to pay extra and shipping is fast too. I can get most parts from different shops if I wanted to anyway. As I've said. People have different requirements for their tools. All these tools have advantages and disadvantages. I prefer one, you prefer the other. You shouldn't call my choice flawed, because it doesn't fit you. BTW I never understood people having so many issues with the MMU2. I have maybe calibrated it for an hour. All I had to do was setup the two filament sensors. After that it worked fine. Perhaps it's because I print with Prusament PETG most of the time or I was just lucky. I have even printed TPU with it even though I've been told it doesn't work correctly. The only mod I did some time later was the PTFE adapters in the back. No tubes with different diameters, nothing. I don't even use a filament buffer. My filament just dangles from the table. I was quite angry with myself because I had it laying around for nearly a year before I added it. I was scared because of all the horror stories I read before. And after I wasn't sure why people were so mad about it.
@@ulaB LAN mode and SD card mode were NOT added because people asked, it was there from the get go. Do a bit of research before confidently stating facts. I agree that it's personal preference, but now many people do you think would pick a Toyota Hilux over a new Mercedes SUV for the same price? Not all people care about open source, or want to print their own replacement parts. People want things that work, and nowadays, people care less about privacy. I personally run my bambu's in LAN only mode, but the majority of people don't care at all.
Thanks for this. I have the bambu x1c and love it, but before that had debated getting a prusa Mk3 or an XL. Went with the x1c for price and speed of delivery, and love it. Maybe the XL will be in my future but for now I’m happy.
I had a rumbling noise like yours while printing. I used a 3 cm garden paving slab on a dense foam pad. All the noise is over. Even the downstairs neighbour doesn't complain about the strange noise.
MK4 is an iteration of a proven design that is easy to setup, maintain, and repair. It has also been designed to be safe to operate, have an emergency stop button that works. Things that are signed off in its Declaration of Conformity under the Machinery Directive. Other printers have no such documentation, I'm not even sure if they should be sold in EU. As a product reviewer/industrial designer, you should mention these intagible yet important things to your audience who rely on you to inform them.
Ok, Ive seen some ridiculous points before, but this is absurd. A 3d printer with nema 17s isnt going to tear off someones arm, or light your house on fire (we are well past the days of the Anet A8). Those things you mentioned are the sort of things that on paper, to someone who knows nothing sound like they might matter, but literally do not matter at all. Every printer has multiple stop buttons. I know Bambulabs for instance have multiple, from the screen, to a physical button, to the power switch. It just literally does not matter. As for easy to setup and maintain.... he covered those, and I think if we are honest, we know that a Bambulab easily wins on those two fronts, so the thing thats left is repairability, where very obviously Prusa wins there. Basically, none of your comment is really the smoking gun it sounds like its trying to be. Maybe its not, I know tone is hard over the internet, but it just bothered me it felt like you were presenting 3d printers as some dangerous industrial machinery. Like there is no where close to even half a horse power of power anywhere in the motion systems of a consumer 3d printer.
@@BeefIngotthat's your opinion, while what was stated is the law in most jurisdictions. i.e. consumer products have to meet various health and safety standards, and these standards are required to be made publicly known. Consumers do not know that they are protected by product liability laws, while certain people are willfully ignorant, giving cover to companies that could've designed safer and better products for everyone. This was a lawsuit filed last year by a deceased man's parents for a printer fire that caused his demise. regmedia.co.uk/2022/06/09/alibaba_3d_printer.pdf
Super entertaining and informative video as always. It's a really interesting time in the 3D printer product life cycle going from specialist machines to consumer goods as you mentioned. It'll be really interesting to see how Prusa react to the newer products making this leap given all the effort that has recently gone into these machines (MK4 and XL). Being a bigger company, their ability to pivot is likely going to be much slower than these new entrants, but I'm really interested to see whether that had preempted this and we will see some results soon (unlikely imo) or what they bring to the table in their next gen printers in a few years given they'll have to skip a generation to keep up with the latest tech. Can't wait to see how it unfolds! Can't fault my MK3s, they do exactly what I need them to do and are super reliable, so they're a win for me!
Crealtiy is even bigger than Prusa and they made the pivot extremely quick. Prusa has made numerous statements saying speed is not the future and can't do good prints... well, he has been proven wrong and his stubborness is going to hold back his companies progression.
A lot of people in comments comparing against the bambu. You should do a head to head to head speed and quality test once the official input shaper firmware is released.
I have different printers and when printing for days and weeks it is a very great advantage if you can do the repairing, servicing and enhancing yourself with a prusa model.
I got my first printer, an Ender 3 S1, in April of 2023 and from the second I got it, I fantasized about one day upgrading to a Prusa MK4. A couple months ago, in June of 2024, I finally had enough money to buy a MK4, but I had been seeing a lot of stuff about Bambu printers and how great they are, so I decided to look into them and see if they're better than Prusa printers. The Prusa fanboys are adamant about the MK4's superiority because "it's open source" and "made in Prague," but ultimately I was sold on Bambu. I picked up a P1S during their summer sale, which came pre-assembled for somewhere in the neighborhood of $600. If I would've bought the cheapest MK4, I would've spent about $200 more and it would be a kit that I would have to spend several hours putting together. I liked the P1S so much, I wound up buying an AMS before the sale ended and I've had about 2 weeks now. The Bambu is amazing and I'm so glad I didn't listen to the Prusa fanboys who are stuck in 2019 with their slow bed slinger. I don't care that my printer isn't open source and that it's made in China when it blows Prusa out of the water.
I admire Prusa for their ideology (open source, built in EU), but they didn't innovate past the previous plateau. Bambu did. Bambu devices were the first printers that were a monumental step forward for the entire industry. Prusa rested on its laurels for so long and was content to be the "least terrible" printer in a sea of terrible printers. Every reasonable person should respect and appreciate Bambu for being the wake-up call for the whole industry.
This seems to be pretty disappointing. The printer seems very much unfinished, and does not seem to be as reliable as how I understand Prusa's normally are.
I think Prusa in this is a step behind other brands like Bambu Lab o Creality with the K1. I have de mk3s and the prusa mini but if I had to buy a new one I would buy a Bambu lab or some core xy with klipper and modern things. This model is like a generation behind.
The K1 is made from cheap plastic and is a huge security risk because it runs a fully managed Linux box that you have no control over. 10/10 would never buy one.
Yeah the mk4 is just a slightly upgraded mk3. It wouldn’t take much knowledge or time to upgrade an mk3 or even cheaper 3D printers to be better than the mk4, just add Klipper and you will probably end up with better results than the mk4, that ringing and other artefacts are terrible.
@@dark_xdark132 I agree, I love my Mini too, is the printer that I use the most and the more efficient, but for sure new and better printers are coming and I am open to that. I see a new generation of printers and Prusa right now is not in that wave. For sure they will ride that wave but right now none of their printers at least in my opinion is next gen. I saw in printables a very interesting project to make the Mini a core xy that I will try once its mature enought. My comment is not to put hate on Prusa printers. I like them, but I see that right they are behind and now I prefer other type of printers. Meaby I am a little bit dissapointed with them. I was expecting more of Prusa or something new or disruptive, and I think I´m not the only one. But that is because they are the best in what they do and I think they can do much better.
honestly, I bought a prusa XL more than 1 year ago, and I patiently waited for the availability, that I quickly confirmed. I found the printer at a first glance a bit rushed, but now, with the new firmware with PA and Input shaping, everything is as expected, I also like the fact that this is a first glance use, no headaches, I personally used a fully modified replicator that I had reprogrammed with marlin and modded extensively, I also used a prusa mk2 from a friend of mine...and XL is just in another level, you can't compare to something that can compete but doesn't have all the possibilities and feature that this printer has and could have in the near future.
Prusa needs to figure out the pre-print purge process. My MK3S always left filament on the bed from the probe and had filament oozing on the nozzle. I used some custom start gcode to heat the nozzle to 140c during the probe process to fix it. Example of mine for the MK3S M83 ; extruder relative mode M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; set bed temp M109 S160 ; Set extruder temp before bed level M190 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; wait for bed temp G28 W ; home all without mesh bed level G80 ; mesh bed leveling M109 S[first_layer_temperature] ; wait for extruder temp G1 Y-3.0 F1000.0 ; go outside print area G92 E0.0 G1 E8 ; Purge Bubble G1 X60.0 E9.0 F1000.0 ; intro line G1 X100.0 E12.5 F1000.0 ; intro line G92 E0.0
@@JohnOlson True, i would love an update on how all of the things would have gone with the latest and greatest firmware. Also granted I don’t think it *should be* this was, but if the MK3 is a good clue, even Tom Sanladerer’s Original Review cited all sorts of Software/Firmware issues but they are all solved now, so here’s to hoping.
@@ericlotze7724 I've had my MK4 kit since June. I ordered day 1, within the first hour. Its been printing a lot. I stayed away from the Input Shaper alpha until version 3?, and its been rock solid. I don't use it for a business but 2Km of filament, 20 days of print via statistics and not a single issue so far. I print mostly PLA, PETG on it. (ASA on my MK3s). I sold my P1P and got the MK4. I'm very happy with my choice. YMMV.
really like your content & style. completely agree with you, was thinking the same thing the whole time -- this is a fantastic printer, 3 years ago... it's just not good enough now. I was going to buy this, but the long lead time led me to get an x1c. the difference between the two is just so large, and seemingly prusa doesn't even comprehend that. everything about the x1c is refined and makes this look primitive.
Took me a couple of tries to figure it out - but at the screen where it tells you to wait and there is a continue prompt - do *NOT* press that continue button. It's a bit of bad UI design, but you are really expected to wait and that button is only if it doesn't work. They can definitely improve the UI, it's pretty weak. That said, still a pretty solid printer and has good support - and I'm into tinkering and not into proprietary, so I like that I can do stuff with it.
Connecting to wifi should be a 30 second at most process, with most devices even as low as a few seconds. There is really no excuse for having to enter wifi details on a usb stick or it taking that long to connect. I believe the P1P and P1S may use similar wifi hardware (esp32 I believe it may also be the main controller for the printer, although Prusa may be using an esp8266 based module for some reason) and they don’t have those issues.
@@stan110 I was on about the Wi-Fi module. Most STM32 microcontrollers do not have built in wifi, the wifi module used in prusas is the ESP01 which is an ESP8266. There is still no excuse for it being that slow.
@@conorstewart2214 P1P and P1S use proper linux single board computer for handling wifi as well as klipper inside. Good luck with uploading 10+MB files over that module. Basically you need to compare Duet/Marlin against Klipper, and the winner wouldn't be Duet nor Marlin. 7-8 years ago that could've make sense, when RPi was pretty slow and klipper wasn't a good competitor, but nowadays... OrangePi Zero 3 with 1Gb of RAM costs just 20 eur, but the possibilities are insane
What an excellent video, crazy to see so many little bugs/glitches in the menus and setup processes for such a pricey bed-slinger. Seems like a great printer but all the little issues and the fact that there are now so many cheaper competitors, I don't see myself getting one :/
Honestly, a few of these were just him. Like all the filament loads/unloads. I’ve never had an issue with it. The progress bar stays at 99% signaling it’s about to retract for you and he kept pulling it every time. Pretty sure he managed to trick the filament sensor that way a few times in this video. As for WiFi, I’ll admit it’s pretty archaic. I only used it wired, so never had to deal with that.
I have a mk4 and I will say it is a good printer, and I really do like it but when compared to other printers like the bambu it doesn’t hold up to them
Prusa have fallen behind massively. Their latest flagship is just an mk3 with a few upgrades just about anyone could add. Literally just put a decent mainboard in a mk3 and add Klipper with a raspberry pi and you are probably already just as good as the mk4, even closer if you add a Revo hot end. The mk4 was outdated when it released. Prusa have a lot of work ahead of them to catch up.
@@aaronchamberlain4698 I feel like this I'd a half hearted criticism. He was pretty reasonable and shouldn't have to know about weird quirks of the product. You're buying a 3d printer, you aren't house hunting for a house with "character".
i strongly disagree with the appliances point. Prusa Kits were always the best choice cuz you got familiar with your printer. you know how its build and you know how to replace something. while the bamboo labs printers are leaning towards convenience with their design, they are a pain in the but to repair, should something fail, speaking from experience with my Bambu Lab X1-Carbon.
I think its rather simplistic to pretend that their missed step here is anything to do with being open source. You have to remember that their opensource nature is a tradeoff. They got a ton of free work over the years from other people due to it, and now act like somehow its unfair when other people use the other side of the coin, and get their free work too, when thats the entire point of the agreement: no one has to reinvent the wheel. Whats more, the area that they are behind in is clearly hardware, and they are not only open source in name alone (where are the MK4 Cad files? Last I checked they still havent been released), and in that area, none of the most modern printers are copying them, because they aren't at a place to be copied from. So yea, waaaaaaay less about Prusa being a nice guy and waaaaay more about them taking too long and resting on their laurels. I hope that they actually do commit to open source in any practical sense, but their pr suggests they want to move away from it more, which to me, kills any reason for me to like the brand.
I had prusa, went to bambu p1p and when i see this it makes me not want to go back. I am sorry but prusa really need to step up their game of they want to be relevant anymore. I really loved my mk3s+ but better times are here.
Hey Mihai, nice video. I‘ve seen in the reflection of the screen that you filmend (at least most of it) with your phone. My question is how do you record the audio? Also with your phone? Quality is really good and I’m still looking for ways to improve my own videos.
Anyone know what website he uses for those supports on most of his builds. I use this app for 3d printing and it only uses squares as supports for 3d prints and doesn't branch out like his.
HAve you ever met Joseph Prusa, I have and he is a total ASSHOLE and I'm trying to be nice!!! Whatever disrespect he gets is well deserved and then some!!!
You were called trolls because you made it a point to repeat the “minor criticism” on all Prusa videos as if they were major points and called them deal breakers.
@@NOBLE-wo5rr On the other hand is it easy to grasp the problem of having to register on an app to even get the Bambu going. And there is, of course, the ongoing mystery of the need to encrypt log files used for support. One might argue that the logfiles are OK, but HOW DO YOU KNOW. And why are they so huge? What is leeched and transmitted from your computer? And everything on a Bambu being proprietary means that they can sell them cheap, get some valuable customer data and not least, make sure that everything needed for upgrade or repair is bought from them. Do I hear you protect the reputation of HP and Canon for the way they have perverted the printer market?
The MK4 is made in Europe so it is more expensive than it normally would be if it were made in China. I wish I had known that before I purchased mine. I thought more money = superior product but it turns out that more money = made in a higher cost nation. It makes nice parts though and I think it's open source? Perhaps it can be upgraded.
Bambu Lab printer is the best to date, the nozzle cleaning is great and flow calibration is on point, you just connect it and watch it printing progress from the comfort of your phone. The Mk4 doesnt have any of these features and as expensive if not more compared to the P1P and the P1S. Speaking from past printers including the Prusa MK3S+, the Bambu P1P - P1S is the best for all users.
Salut Mihai, ai vrea sa incerci un nou gantry si hotend assembly in stil vzbot? Eu si cu prietenul meu din Germania am lucrat la un design pentru awd si un nou gantry pentru tronxy x5, aceeasi platforma ca vzbot ul.
It’s a bit expensive, but totally worth it. I bought my MK4 , my first 3D printer. I just wanted something to work without any hassle and the MK4 does not disappoint.
Then, why purge at all as a default? And why isn't there two options, one to change without purge and one that purges a reasonable amount for a color/material change?
@@NOBLE-wo5rr Well. If you pay that much money, just to swap filaments, you might be doing it wrong. ;-) That said - there are a lot of people that don't need to purge more, because they change to the same color. Printfarms for example. That would mean a lot of unnecessary waste. So they would complain instead (and they paid a lot more than you). And it is more difficult to pull the filament back in than to extrude more. What you get for $1000 is the option to change the code yourself or at least report an issue on GitHub. - as others have done instead of just complaining. :-)
The poor quality of some of those structural prints is inexcusable in a production printer in my opinion.. they look like they were made by an Ender 3 which has been run over by a car 😅
Hi, do I need to buy the printer casing if I want to print in pet or is it not necessary? Is the case useful in terms of noise, will it bother me when I'm sleeping if my printer is in my room without a case? Thank you for your answers.
It's perhaps the quietest printer I have. Could help to add a foam material underneath to reduce vibration transfer into the desk. I don't know if a case would make it quieter; could be the opposite.
i am currently using a elegoo neptune 3 pro and for some reason after moving it just never printed thing well or even at ALL ever again so i am considering getting a mk4
The MK4 is a nice machine but the price is just way too high for what you get. I feel Prusa got a little lazy with bringing in new features and/or reducing price to stay competitive since they have been so well known for years now. Everyone knew Prusa as the printers that ''just work'', and it seems like they expected that hype to just keep on living for ever. Taking years and years to just marginally improve an ancient bed-slinger machine while the rest of the market are competing for more and more ease-of-use features and reliability for a lower price. Prusa were able to sell more expensive machines because other brands struggled with reliability, but today you get dirt cheap Chinese machines that work just as well. I fear Prusa might run their company into the ground within the next 5 years if they don't change. I have barely heard of anyone switching from one brand to Prusa for a while now, the people who buy new Prusa machines are the people who already had a printer of that brand from before. It's starting to look like the car manufacturer Saab before they went out of business, 90% of people who bought new Saabs already had a Saab. They didn't bring in any new customers. Prusa used to be the top of the line when it came to hobby machines. Back in the day you either got yourself a cheap sketchy Chinese machine that needed tinkering but was usable, or you paid extra to get the luxury Prusa machine. Now you have cheap Chinese machines that work really well with some tinkering, you have Bambu and maybe soon Creality up in the sorta pricey range that work super well, but then you have Prusa with a machine that performs in the middle of these with the price of the top dogs. I heavily considered a MK4 before I went the Bambu route, but I have still been checking UA-cam several times a week for new videos on the MK4 and XL because the machines still excite me a little. What's weird is that the printers have been for sale for a while yet I struggle to find any good and interesting videos, just a ton of people with trouble or paid reviews. I'm really curious what the future brings for this company, I really don't want to see them disappear yet I also think they need to change drastically if they want to stay in business.
Prusa has always been great at keeping the youtubers in there good books, just like when most customers waited months to get the new bed they created for the Mk3 but all the youtubers were getting them straight away. I think they all have a skewed view of Prusa printers because they get so much free stuff and because Prusa has a lot of history behind it, the reality is this printer would be called outdated and overpriced if anyone other than Prusa made it.
nowadays there's even a few "el cheapo" chinese printers like sovol sv08 which prints just out of the box. Indeed you can tinker, but with good parts you'll essentially get a good printer. Voron Design did an exceptional job by creating their designs which gained popularity not because "they're designed in EU" or something like that, but just because the designs are amazing. And e.g. some chinese manufacturers do their paybacks to the community as well: that SV08 was heavily influenced by Voron 2.4, and they do pay some percentage off their margin to Voron Design team. I see that kind of collaboration as a best one: people who can design - they design, manufacturers with great production capabilities essentially adapt some parts of the design to manufacturing needs, and they do pay back to the community
@@NOBLE-wo5rrjust get a sovol. Prusa cool and all but it’s not worth it unless you trying to start a business with a prusa. Bambu really came in and shook the whole game up
I wonder if Prusa is going to try to lower their prices? I just bought a Bambu Labs A1. I would have bought a Prusa if they could sell a mk4 for like $500.
@@AshBashVids I don't believe that for a minute! More likely it's because Chinese labor and materials are cheaper. But even Chinese labor is now getting high and manufacturers are looking for cheaper labor in places like Vietnam, Mexico, and Indonesia. I think Prusa is probably seeing really high margins and can afford to lower prices. If they don't I really wonder how long they can compete in the budget printer market.
@@joeking433 "I don't believe that for a minute! " Facts don't care about your feelings. The A1, if made in the EU, would easily cost just as much as the mk4, if not more.
@@joeking433 "The average mainland Chinese yearly wage is more than in the Czech Republic, bub! " What... reality are you living in?!? Fucking hell, didn't think I'd see this level of stupidity here. The sheer irony on claiming I'm pulling stuff out of my arse, especially when I'm literally talking about basic facts that you can look up anywhere online. Chinese workers are paid fuck all, especially workers in large sweatshops. Far less than any EU country. Think about it, why do you think the cheapest stuff is all from China, including 3D printers? Low wages and government subsidies/funding. It's why all the major corporations - Apple etc, all have factories over there.
I like this style of inner monologue, no hype, no exposition, stream of consciousness review.
I loved watching this - it was just like hanging out and discovering about it together. Nice video, Mihai!
So glad!
Ya my two favourite 3d UA-camrs
That's exactly what I always think. It's so pleasant to listen to and just relax. Sure video about details of printer are nice. But I find it pleasant to just try it out together
Now THIS is the kind of printer review content I needed!
Love the shorts but please please please keep this stuff up. Your style is so straight to the point, easy, real.
Great editing, also. The amount of time this took is not lost on us.
The Mk4 is the printer we all wanted 3 years ago....... Too little too late IMO
What's really weird is that the LCD is touch screen, just it's not enabled in software (yet)
It's a sign prusa rushed this out so they have something out that can "compete" with bamboolabs
@@UnwrittenGamingftn Yeah, they did the same with the input Shaper and Pressure Advance that were advertised but not (initially) shipped. Definitely feels like a bit of a rushed released
@@kkrizzz It's like releasing a game half broken and fixing it later. It's a disgrace. Prusa has gotten too full of themselves
Like the unavailable input shaping they pushed this printer out the door because they were freaking out about boobs taking all their market share. It was totally the wrong move. It just makes their printer look more inferior.
@@KieranShort Exactly, it shows just how far behind and unprepared their were.
Love the honest review. You are telling it as it is, no excuses. Stay awesome!
30:54 "This would be a great printer a few years ago" - this is exactly what I'm thinking.
Prusa announced they had it free of "Vertical Fine Artifacts"... On the bust-base, it seemed like VFA. EDIT: absolutely, on the pink/blue wolf it is full of patterns.
The most printer problems are sitting in front of it!
@@petermarkk1408lol😂
Yeah, sadly still there and I don’t like the messaging otherwise (although heavily reduced *may mean* free of to some people, but that seems sneaky). On this note, didn’t someone make a mod for leadscrews that “cured” this? I saw the video in my feed a while back, but haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.
@@ericlotze7724 VFAs are not cause by the Z Axis, it's caused by the XY motors
@@AlexanderGutschexactly: the VFA are basically the XY “fingerprint”, when microstepping doesn’t produce a linear output.
Nice and honest review. Personally I wanted to move away from Chinese stuff, a friend of mine reported he was very happy with his Mk 4, and ease of maintenance is a plus for me. Those points sealed the deal for me, so I passed on the Bambu and my Mk 4 will be arriving shortly 😊
@@jmsubs529some people value simple to use and maintain even if there is a premium. Some people also want to avoid Chinese made and/or developed products based on politics. What is great is we should be able to make that choice without judgement.
@@jmsubs529 A closed source Chinese walled garden cloud only product is indeed inferior to a well known brand with a huge community. The Bambo looks nicer, but the MK4 gives me a way better feeling for long time support and security. Search for "3D printer nightmare fuel: Bambu X1C and P1P started printing while owners were asleep"
@@jmsubs529 I don't know what company to buy from anymore. Definitely not bambu though, I just cannot justify giving away my privacy. I do not agree with them being able to acess the camera in the printer or being sent encrypted logs about my usage. And after the ghost print incident where printers started randomly in the night and many printers were damaged by that I cannot trust a company like that. It is unfortunate because their product does seem really nice. Even in mihai's shorts I see many problems he has with his bambu printers from AMS problems to layer shifts. Once bambu irons out their issues and if they rethink their privacy policies maybe I will consider them again. Prusa's printer sare expensive and reliable with similar features to the bambu machine but with so many other lower price and reliable printers many people might not consider them as well.
@@jmsubs529I bought the MK4 myself, it works straight out of the box, and there is no dependency cloud and stuff. The designs stay with you. The best part I like about the MK4 is that the parts are printable and can be replaced easily. I disagree that it’s an inferior product
the ease of use of the bambu printers is lightyears ahead. i start my prints from the phone and observe them from work in case something is not working. its like an apple product in terms of ease of use.
I cancelled my mk4 after it got postponed a few times and got the X1C ... Looking at this I must admit I am glad I did. Thank you Prusa for constantly delaying my order. In hindsight the price is just too much for what it is.
You should be awarded for having the balls to say that
I've got a P1P, and it's clear how much better CoreXY tech is, than bed slingers. Prusa dropped the ball with the MK4, and now they're completely on the backfoot. It doesn't seem like they have any answer to the new wave of CoreXY printers that are now dominating the market.
@@georgestone8099they have one, their just not selling it to the general public.
The lawsuit stopped me from purchasing the PS1. Along with the fact that the Prusa has better dimensional accuracy than the BL units (I print mostly functional items so this is important). I understand that Prusa Will also be in the group of Srat patent issues, but the open source assures I can continue to use and maintain the a Prusa since it is totally open, unlike BL.
I had been waiting for the Prusa XL, but then the Bambu X1C+AMS appeared. I waited a bit to see how it was performing in the real world, then pulled the trigger and bought one.
It completely transformed my 3D printing life; 3D printing became a tool instead of a project of its is own :-)
The Mk4 certainly seems to print reliably enough, but the Bambu is just *so* much faster, and the AMS is a dream. (I actually only do multicolor prints very rarely, but love having four different filaments to choose from, all kept totally dry and ready to go whenever I want them.m
The Mk4 looks to me like just what it is: A well-optimized design from 5 years ado. I’m so glad I went with the X1C.
i dont know why prusa is basically recycling the same machine and improving it slightly. they need to come out with a corexy machine
Prusa thought they have won the game with MK3, however everyone moved away and Prusa stayed, now I think they will never catch-up....I also purchased a Bambu X1C with AMS and you can't even compare it, two different leagues, we have some MK3s and they have all had problems, we had to service them and wait for parts, meanwhile Bambu was printing almost nonstop
@@Pavl9k my bambu has had a few problems. Only one that was a major problem is that the tool cable shorted and blew up two boards. Bambu however did help me quickly and sent me two replacement boards and a tool head cable free of charge which arrived in 2 days. But yea I agree with what you were saying Prusa can’t ask for 1k* now for a bed slinger when they are printers like the p1p p1s k1 k1 max for a lot cheaper. Which have bigger build volume enclosed faster better quality
@@ZFGFZDGDFG Our Bambu only got filament stuck in the hotend heatsink, our fault for using old and brittle filament, I took it out and it goes again like nothing happened, I was afraid that it will be very user unfriendly but actually it is well designed and stuff can be serviced quickly with basic tools...don't get me wrong I like Prusa (started printing on MK3s) but I will keep hating until he gets his s...t straight
@@Pavl9k and sadly enough I don't think they will change because from his social media posts, Prusa himself just seems butthurt. He keeps indirectly accusing bambu of things, like when he posted on twitter about how bambuslicer is just a copy of prusa slicer, as if everyone didn't already know that because bambu has been very open about it from the start. Then he was posting on reddit, saying that chinese brands copy ideas, and indirectly accusing BL of the same. The guy just seems like he can't handle that he needs to change his company's ways or else the world will leave them behind.
So glad I canceled my hour 1 mk4 order and went with the X1C instead. Now two of them. Life is good! Love your content Mihai-stay awesome!
It's mad to me that Prusa is still making a bed slinger. It's ancient tech at this point.
Even madder is they're charging vastly more for it, than some of the new Core XY's that absolutely spank Prusa in regards to speed.
bedslingers could be different, e.g. look at the bambulabs ones, or elegoo ones on linear rails, but this... it's just glorified Anet A8. Yes, I know that A8 itself a knock-off from Prusa i3, but how people are still buying - makes me wonder, tbh.
I love your videos they are SO GOOD you are for sure my fav 3d printing ytber
FOR SURE
I like how he has printers brand new just chilling In There boxes
The gap between Prusa and Bambu is enormous, and growing! To be competitive, Prusa needs to invest in a mass-production printer design, as well as automation. The Mk4 is too expensive to produce.
It also prints too slow by today's standards.
Granted valid to an extent (will see how Prusa XL with toolchanger fairs), *BUT* short of the production engineering and Injection Mold tooling, Bambu basically took *existing Open Source RnD* then pretend they did all of it.
Short of the *proprietary lidar stuff we will never be able to tinker with/test*, what does the Bambu do that a VORON, HevORT, or RatRig can’t?
Again there is nuance to this, but just because they add an Apple Aesthetic to a Voron, doesn’t make them the people pushing the industry forward. The Open Source Developers are.
@@ericlotze7724 Bambu successfully mass-produced a high-speed printer: Injection molding, stamping, and robotic welding. Prusa needs to adapt to this or die. Hand assembled craft printers can not compete with automated, high-tooling mass-production.
@@3er24t4g1 eh. Despite all that Bambulab isn’t *that much* cheaper; it’s no Ender 3. Also I’d love to have them follow the Open Pricing Standard, but I wonder what the material vs labor vs upkeep costs are for both companies.
Also, i doubt this, but as with Meta’s Occulus/Meta Headsets, Subsidies can make prices sneaky.
As with the Ender 3 I won’t fault people if they NEED a printer ASAP and can only afford those, but at the same time I’d say buy a Prusa, or one of the MANY Open Source designs that are better than Bambulab’s Stuff (Voron, HevORT, RatRig, VZBot, 247Zero Bot, etc) (Most of what makes the Bambulabs short of the *shiny case* was DEVELOPED by those people)
Some people seem to miss that those high speed profiles are just for prototyping. If you want to have robust parts you have to turn down the speed anyway.
The days are gone of having to remove filament from the bed due to probing
Thanks bambu 😊
Bambu's start sequence is one of the most underrated things about the X1. Being able to confidently start a print and walk away was a hobbyist workflow game changer
Granted I’m pretty sure it’s a simple G-Code Fix where you lower the nozzle temp during probing. Pretty sure this was just common knowledge, not magic by the Company Notorious for Using Other People’s Work (and calling it proprietary…)
Bambu is amazing
"AUTO-MAGICALLY, i LIKE THAT!"
Prusa Slicer has a automatic support painting feature that works really well. Putting supports only where you need it. Your Thrall bust looked like it was using the Build Plate only option.
I have a P1P/2 MK3S+ and a MK4! Won’t miss any of them!
PRUSA was going to send me one, but I think he changed his mind 😢
Did you cancel your order or anything
😄 thanks for the visit Nathan. Love your content!
I am not sure I would review it… Honestly I don’t see the point: it is an expensive printer without any outstanding feature.
PS: price can be a feature. To me, when I see an Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro at 250 bucks I can recommend it eyes closed.
Must be because you had him sign your K1 😅
This is really surprising, because of all the tubers I watch who cover 3d printing, I think you might be the one with the highest opinion on bed slingers in general. Seems like a swing and a miss to me.
Watching you print with 1 filament feels like I went back in time 😂
Oh boy this long format Mihai videos feel like Christmas ❤
I mean aside from the XL this is their current flagship printer, right? It’s the one I see at the top first thing on their website. This is wild. Bambu and this are not even remotely in the same league.
I mean you are not wrong. The Bambu and Prusa owners are completely different. Really depends on what the user values. Being easy to repair, looking good in the office, open-source vs locked, primarily offline vs primarily online cloud, being quiet vs loud, built-in enclosure...
@@TheMikolasZuza or prefering prints that are multiple times faster. Or multi-color. Or an actually finished product. Or maybe all of that with a cheaper price point. So many considerations
@@user-fo7mf9nd2h Exactly. Different customer groups. I for example do like prints that are stronger, not half of my filament going down a poop chute and not only soft- but also hardware upgrades for years and years. I also like that part of my money goes into Printables and PrusaSlicer, that workers are payed a reasonable wage and other open source projects are supported financially too.
Always happy when mihai uploads a long vid. 😃
They just recently released a new firmware for the MMU2 that rebuilt the code entirely. I was having issues with an MMU2 at work, but once I updated the firmware, it basically just worked
Love my mk4, was worth every penny. Assembly was maybe a bit complex, but once done, its self-diagnostics found my one mistake, and after that it's been printing perfectly. That was the weirdest thing about it, I expected there to be a few days of "getting used to it", but it's been hard at work next to my Mk3 since day#1, not a single failed print. There are still a few software bugs on PrusaConnect, but the printer itself is completely fire-and-forget, including nozzle changing.
What do you think of some of the surface artifacting and ringing? I found them to be less than desirable for a machine that was suppose to have so much time and experience to mature. It doesn't even have true inputshaping
@@mynt4033What is true input shaping even? They're using a model averaged from data from thousands of printers, instead of just one. Same result. As for artefacts, yes, it seems to produce a few, but they are within tolerance.
@@Standbackforscience You need an IMU on board to account and calibrate for individual vibrations. It's not a problem you can "just average". It's different for all printers. Even the same build. If the frequency is ever so slightly off, you get constructive interference on vibrations and it makes it far worse. Every review has proven that input shaping results in a fuzzy surface mess for the MK4 and I'm not surprised.
Plus, averaging it no longer permits individual customizations, which is a shame considering Prusa encouraged a ton of customizations.
@@mynt4033Get a voron.
Great review Mihai!
Thanks for sharing👏👏👏
Why are they so rattly and noisy? Also, I never understood why manufacturers have the start gcode where the nozzle is in the air while it heats up. I made my own custom gcode where it puts the nozzle .4mm above the bed right in front of the prime line starting point, and then it extrudes 5mm to make a small blob so it pulls plastic off nozzle as it jumps 10mm to start the prime line, so I never have to fool around with tweezers trying to grab filament off the nozzle while its printing. It makes no sense why such an established company wouldn't have better start gcode to prevent filament getting in the way of the print.
I actually went straight to an X1C when starting out and was kinda annoyed by the kinks in the AMS....BUT, after watching this I've never been happier with that decision. I take for granted just how annoying it is to simply change a filament on a MK4.
Annoying to change the filament on MK4???
You are desperately searching for arguments to justify your spyware printer.
@@Traitorman..Proverbs26.11 I mean…I just sit back and it changes itself…so yeah man, this is a downgrade 🤷🏻♂️
COPE!@@Traitorman..Proverbs26.11
@@Traitorman..Proverbs26.11don't forget that Nowadays people complain about cars that don't open the rear boot by pressing one button of pass your shoe under the rear bumper, because using your hands to open the boot is old tech 🤷
Thanks for the video. The interface on the MK4 would drive me crazy... so much clicking about and beeping... I've become spoiled with the KlipperScreen and Bambu printers I've been using. Kinda glad I cancelled my MK4... But I DO still want an XL with 5 print heads ;)
In this video: the art of subtlety.
BRAVO! 🙌🏼😁😜
Love prusa, but this printer really isn't good enough for it's price point anymore. Bambu has the P1S with 4 color printing for €200 less than this. Open source is great, and building in Europe is admirable, but the mk4 needed to be much more of an upgrade than it was in reality.
Exactly, Prusa has fallen behind quite a long way. Printers in the same price range of the mk4 kit are much better. The mk4 was outdated when it was released, that just shows how far behind they are. There really aren’t any excuses Prusa can make for the mk4, they have continued charging a large amount for the mk3 for years so funding shouldn’t really be an issue and the mk4 is just a slightly upgraded mk3. There really isn’t anything that innovative about it, it is just an mk3 with a few upgrades that pretty much anyone could add cheaply, the main changes are just a 32 bit mainboard, a new extruder, 0.9 degree stepper (which anyone could have added anyway) and a load cell, nothing really that impressive. The amounts Prusa is charging for the upgrade kits is ridiculous too, to convert the mk3 to an mk4 you might as well just buy an mk4 kit.
Prusa has done too little, too late, to actually compete again and produce modern printers it needs to be much better. If it is going to cost more than the likes of the P1S (although the P1P is a better comparison due to it being an open air printer too and makes it look even worse for Prusa) then they need to produce a printer that has similar or better results.
Even look at the AMS, how many times has Prusa attempted their MMU and how well do they actually work? Then Bambu labs releases the AMS and apart from some minor problems it just works. Why couldn’t Prusa make a reliable and functional multi material system? Bambu have totally wiped the floor with Prusa and not just in one area, their printers and multi material systems are much better.
Hopefully this has been a wake up call for Prusa and they will start actually innovating again but it would take them a lot of work even just to catch up with what is currently available, not to mention what will be available in the future. They have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to reclaim their reputation and I don’t know if they can do it.
I'm still not sure what people expect. It's an upgrade of the i3 line. One that added all the things people complained about on their MK3s and more. The name MK4 is exactly telling us that: The 4th Mark / model of the i3 - a proven workhorse.
Sure, Bambu's coreXY are impressive and have a more advanced motion system. But I for one like that I can fix my printer with parts I can either print or buy in an electronic shop around the corner. I am not a fan of having all my print files in the cloud too. I have used Prusa's 24/7 live support and it helped fix issues in a day.
I also find it funny that people complain about the MMU which works fine for a lot of people (and especially do so after the latest firmware upgrades), but praise the AMS and it's "minor problems" which includes such minor things like a lot of spools not working because of size or material, filament breaking in places that are hard to get to, roller holders breaking and what not. It's also not a good idea to print abrasives with the AMS, is it?
Overall these are different machines for different customer groups and ALL have their advantages and flaws.
I always feel like people are comparing the latest Toyota Hilux model with a Mercedes SUV. Sure, the Mercedes is faster and better looking. But in a few years one will be used with a machine gun mounted on the bed and the other one will be shot at… ;-)
@@ulaB Your compairson is flawed for a few reasons. First, your facts are wrong. You are not required to connect to the cloud system, LAN only or SD card works fine. Seconldy, replacement parts for the bambu are all insanely cheap and ship fast. If some proprietary part on the prusa like the nozzle breaks, you have to wait a couple weeks for shipping and pay crazy taxes. (I've ordered from both companies)
Secondly, it's not even debatable that the AMS is worse than the MMU. People don't want a project multi material system that needs hours of tinkering and software updates to work. Even though the AMS doesn't work with some materials, these limitations are clearly highlighted, and if you follow their instruction, you wont have any problems.
I like your comparison of the Toyota Hilux vs the Mercedes SUV. But imagine this, if both the Hilux and Mercedes were $30k new, which one would you get?
@morbus5726 An old Hilux, because it's more practical, for what I need it to do and I can repair it with a hammer.
The LAN only and SD modes were added after people complained, weren't they? You still need the cloud for firmware upgrades? Nobody knows what data is being sent then. Log files are encrypted, so nobody knows what is being stored in them either. Most people don't care about that - which is fine, but I do and have to.
Import taxes are not Prusa's fault. Being in the EU, I don't have to pay extra and shipping is fast too. I can get most parts from different shops if I wanted to anyway.
As I've said. People have different requirements for their tools. All these tools have advantages and disadvantages. I prefer one, you prefer the other. You shouldn't call my choice flawed, because it doesn't fit you.
BTW I never understood people having so many issues with the MMU2. I have maybe calibrated it for an hour. All I had to do was setup the two filament sensors. After that it worked fine. Perhaps it's because I print with Prusament PETG most of the time or I was just lucky. I have even printed TPU with it even though I've been told it doesn't work correctly. The only mod I did some time later was the PTFE adapters in the back. No tubes with different diameters, nothing. I don't even use a filament buffer. My filament just dangles from the table.
I was quite angry with myself because I had it laying around for nearly a year before I added it. I was scared because of all the horror stories I read before. And after I wasn't sure why people were so mad about it.
@@ulaB LAN mode and SD card mode were NOT added because people asked, it was there from the get go. Do a bit of research before confidently stating facts.
I agree that it's personal preference, but now many people do you think would pick a Toyota Hilux over a new Mercedes SUV for the same price?
Not all people care about open source, or want to print their own replacement parts. People want things that work, and nowadays, people care less about privacy.
I personally run my bambu's in LAN only mode, but the majority of people don't care at all.
Can you also test printing tpu with your printer tests? It will be better showing what printers are capable of
Thanks for this. I have the bambu x1c and love it, but before that had debated getting a prusa Mk3 or an XL. Went with the x1c for price and speed of delivery, and love it. Maybe the XL will be in my future but for now I’m happy.
Thank you for the great review and insights on the MK4.
The shorts are great but I love the your long format videos.
Feeliks like using a 2005 3D Printer. So glad I bought my Bambulab X1
Same, so glad I cancelled my MK4 order.
BBL really changed the game
I had a rumbling noise like yours while printing.
I used a 3 cm garden paving slab on a dense foam pad.
All the noise is over. Even the downstairs neighbour doesn't complain about the strange noise.
MK4 is an iteration of a proven design that is easy to setup, maintain, and repair. It has also been designed to be safe to operate, have an emergency stop button that works. Things that are signed off in its Declaration of Conformity under the Machinery Directive. Other printers have no such documentation, I'm not even sure if they should be sold in EU. As a product reviewer/industrial designer, you should mention these intagible yet important things to your audience who rely on you to inform them.
Ok, Ive seen some ridiculous points before, but this is absurd.
A 3d printer with nema 17s isnt going to tear off someones arm, or light your house on fire (we are well past the days of the Anet A8).
Those things you mentioned are the sort of things that on paper, to someone who knows nothing sound like they might matter, but literally do not matter at all.
Every printer has multiple stop buttons. I know Bambulabs for instance have multiple, from the screen, to a physical button, to the power switch.
It just literally does not matter.
As for easy to setup and maintain.... he covered those, and I think if we are honest, we know that a Bambulab easily wins on those two fronts, so the thing thats left is repairability, where very obviously Prusa wins there.
Basically, none of your comment is really the smoking gun it sounds like its trying to be. Maybe its not, I know tone is hard over the internet, but it just bothered me it felt like you were presenting 3d printers as some dangerous industrial machinery. Like there is no where close to even half a horse power of power anywhere in the motion systems of a consumer 3d printer.
@@BeefIngotthat's your opinion, while what was stated is the law in most jurisdictions. i.e. consumer products have to meet various health and safety standards, and these standards are required to be made publicly known. Consumers do not know that they are protected by product liability laws, while certain people are willfully ignorant, giving cover to companies that could've designed safer and better products for everyone.
This was a lawsuit filed last year by a deceased man's parents for a printer fire that caused his demise. regmedia.co.uk/2022/06/09/alibaba_3d_printer.pdf
And also the fact that for Bambu your design files have to be sent to a server in China
Literally something that nobody in the 3D print world has ever cared about. if we did then all the self made printers would have it.
Super entertaining and informative video as always. It's a really interesting time in the 3D printer product life cycle going from specialist machines to consumer goods as you mentioned. It'll be really interesting to see how Prusa react to the newer products making this leap given all the effort that has recently gone into these machines (MK4 and XL). Being a bigger company, their ability to pivot is likely going to be much slower than these new entrants, but I'm really interested to see whether that had preempted this and we will see some results soon (unlikely imo) or what they bring to the table in their next gen printers in a few years given they'll have to skip a generation to keep up with the latest tech. Can't wait to see how it unfolds!
Can't fault my MK3s, they do exactly what I need them to do and are super reliable, so they're a win for me!
Crealtiy is even bigger than Prusa and they made the pivot extremely quick. Prusa has made numerous statements saying speed is not the future and can't do good prints... well, he has been proven wrong and his stubborness is going to hold back his companies progression.
@@JustinRaymondUtah ??? the MK4 can do input shaping. what are you talking about lol
A lot of people in comments comparing against the bambu. You should do a head to head to head speed and quality test once the official input shaper firmware is released.
This was like a ASMR video of printers
I have different printers and when printing for days and weeks it is a very great advantage if you can do the repairing, servicing and enhancing yourself with a prusa model.
"Looks very organized." That comment about the filament made me laugh out loud
way more enjoyable than a boring review, thanks!
That is in fact a touchscreen but they didn’t utilize that feature for whatever reason
I got my first printer, an Ender 3 S1, in April of 2023 and from the second I got it, I fantasized about one day upgrading to a Prusa MK4. A couple months ago, in June of 2024, I finally had enough money to buy a MK4, but I had been seeing a lot of stuff about Bambu printers and how great they are, so I decided to look into them and see if they're better than Prusa printers. The Prusa fanboys are adamant about the MK4's superiority because "it's open source" and "made in Prague," but ultimately I was sold on Bambu. I picked up a P1S during their summer sale, which came pre-assembled for somewhere in the neighborhood of $600. If I would've bought the cheapest MK4, I would've spent about $200 more and it would be a kit that I would have to spend several hours putting together. I liked the P1S so much, I wound up buying an AMS before the sale ended and I've had about 2 weeks now. The Bambu is amazing and I'm so glad I didn't listen to the Prusa fanboys who are stuck in 2019 with their slow bed slinger. I don't care that my printer isn't open source and that it's made in China when it blows Prusa out of the water.
I love the new lcd, the old lcd is so unpolished and sensitive.
that's an interesting benchy shaped object you printed there
I admire Prusa for their ideology (open source, built in EU), but they didn't innovate past the previous plateau. Bambu did. Bambu devices were the first printers that were a monumental step forward for the entire industry.
Prusa rested on its laurels for so long and was content to be the "least terrible" printer in a sea of terrible printers. Every reasonable person should respect and appreciate Bambu for being the wake-up call for the whole industry.
That Josef guy needs to know his price isn't working anymore for what his products offer.
This seems to be pretty disappointing. The printer seems very much unfinished, and does not seem to be as reliable as how I understand Prusa's normally are.
I think Prusa in this is a step behind other brands like Bambu Lab o Creality with the K1. I have de mk3s and the prusa mini but if I had to buy a new one I would buy a Bambu lab or some core xy with klipper and modern things. This model is like a generation behind.
The K1 is made from cheap plastic and is a huge security risk because it runs a fully managed Linux box that you have no control over. 10/10 would never buy one.
An Ender 5 converted to klipper and user modded would probably be better than a k1, lol.
Yeah the mk4 is just a slightly upgraded mk3. It wouldn’t take much knowledge or time to upgrade an mk3 or even cheaper 3D printers to be better than the mk4, just add Klipper and you will probably end up with better results than the mk4, that ringing and other artefacts are terrible.
The prusa mini is a great mini printer as long as you don't care about speed, I love my mini more than my voron
@@dark_xdark132 I agree, I love my Mini too, is the printer that I use the most and the more efficient, but for sure new and better printers are coming and I am open to that.
I see a new generation of printers and Prusa right now is not in that wave.
For sure they will ride that wave but right now none of their printers at least in my opinion is next gen.
I saw in printables a very interesting project to make the Mini a core xy that I will try once its mature enought.
My comment is not to put hate on Prusa printers. I like them, but I see that right they are behind and now I prefer other type of printers.
Meaby I am a little bit dissapointed with them. I was expecting more of Prusa or something new or disruptive, and I think I´m not the only one. But that is because they are the best in what they do and I think they can do much better.
honestly, I bought a prusa XL more than 1 year ago, and I patiently waited for the availability, that I quickly confirmed.
I found the printer at a first glance a bit rushed, but now, with the new firmware with PA and Input shaping, everything is as expected, I also like the fact that this is a first glance use, no headaches, I personally used a fully modified replicator that I had reprogrammed with marlin and modded extensively, I also used a prusa mk2 from a friend of mine...and XL is just in another level, you can't compare to something that can compete but doesn't have all the possibilities and feature that this printer has and could have in the near future.
LOL, I just love your humor.
Prusa needs to figure out the pre-print purge process. My MK3S always left filament on the bed from the probe and had filament oozing on the nozzle.
I used some custom start gcode to heat the nozzle to 140c during the probe process to fix it.
Example of mine for the MK3S
M83 ; extruder relative mode
M140 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; set bed temp
M109 S160 ; Set extruder temp before bed level
M190 S[first_layer_bed_temperature] ; wait for bed temp
G28 W ; home all without mesh bed level
G80 ; mesh bed leveling
M109 S[first_layer_temperature] ; wait for extruder temp
G1 Y-3.0 F1000.0 ; go outside print area
G92 E0.0
G1 E8 ; Purge Bubble
G1 X60.0 E9.0 F1000.0 ; intro line
G1 X100.0 E12.5 F1000.0 ; intro line
G92 E0.0
Same Problem with my Mk3s too.
Pretty sure the first prints in the video were with older firmware. Not sure how long it sat in the box, but the purge changed in newer firmware.
@@JohnOlson True, i would love an update on how all of the things would have gone with the latest and greatest firmware. Also granted I don’t think it *should be* this was, but if the MK3 is a good clue, even Tom Sanladerer’s Original Review cited all sorts of Software/Firmware issues but they are all solved now, so here’s to hoping.
@@ericlotze7724 I've had my MK4 kit since June. I ordered day 1, within the first hour. Its been printing a lot. I stayed away from the Input Shaper alpha until version 3?, and its been rock solid. I don't use it for a business but 2Km of filament, 20 days of print via statistics and not a single issue so far. I print mostly PLA, PETG on it. (ASA on my MK3s). I sold my P1P and got the MK4. I'm very happy with my choice. YMMV.
Prusa does the bed testing at a lower temperature with the MK4.
Love your videos.
Its the best Printer for the Money. I have the x1c too but if you Touch both you will go for prusa. And better Print quality
Great testing. Thank you.
really like your content & style. completely agree with you, was thinking the same thing the whole time -- this is a fantastic printer, 3 years ago... it's just not good enough now. I was going to buy this, but the long lead time led me to get an x1c. the difference between the two is just so large, and seemingly prusa doesn't even comprehend that. everything about the x1c is refined and makes this look primitive.
Took me a couple of tries to figure it out - but at the screen where it tells you to wait and there is a continue prompt - do *NOT* press that continue button. It's a bit of bad UI design, but you are really expected to wait and that button is only if it doesn't work. They can definitely improve the UI, it's pretty weak. That said, still a pretty solid printer and has good support - and I'm into tinkering and not into proprietary, so I like that I can do stuff with it.
Connecting to wifi should be a 30 second at most process, with most devices even as low as a few seconds. There is really no excuse for having to enter wifi details on a usb stick or it taking that long to connect. I believe the P1P and P1S may use similar wifi hardware (esp32 I believe it may also be the main controller for the printer, although Prusa may be using an esp8266 based module for some reason) and they don’t have those issues.
It’s not made for speed, but fail proof.
@@conorstewart2214the microcontroller prusa uses is not a ESP32 but a STM32.
@@stan110 I was on about the Wi-Fi module. Most STM32 microcontrollers do not have built in wifi, the wifi module used in prusas is the ESP01 which is an ESP8266. There is still no excuse for it being that slow.
@@conorstewart2214 P1P and P1S use proper linux single board computer for handling wifi as well as klipper inside. Good luck with uploading 10+MB files over that module.
Basically you need to compare Duet/Marlin against Klipper, and the winner wouldn't be Duet nor Marlin. 7-8 years ago that could've make sense, when RPi was pretty slow and klipper wasn't a good competitor, but nowadays... OrangePi Zero 3 with 1Gb of RAM costs just 20 eur, but the possibilities are insane
What an excellent video, crazy to see so many little bugs/glitches in the menus and setup processes for such a pricey bed-slinger. Seems like a great printer but all the little issues and the fact that there are now so many cheaper competitors, I don't see myself getting one :/
Honestly, a few of these were just him. Like all the filament loads/unloads. I’ve never had an issue with it.
The progress bar stays at 99% signaling it’s about to retract for you and he kept pulling it every time. Pretty sure he managed to trick the filament sensor that way a few times in this video.
As for WiFi, I’ll admit it’s pretty archaic. I only used it wired, so never had to deal with that.
I have a mk4 and I will say it is a good printer, and I really do like it but when compared to other printers like the bambu it doesn’t hold up to them
Prusa have fallen behind massively. Their latest flagship is just an mk3 with a few upgrades just about anyone could add. Literally just put a decent mainboard in a mk3 and add Klipper with a raspberry pi and you are probably already just as good as the mk4, even closer if you add a Revo hot end.
The mk4 was outdated when it released. Prusa have a lot of work ahead of them to catch up.
@@AptMantis2278that is a very subjective opinion, it highly depends what you compare them on.
@@aaronchamberlain4698 I feel like this I'd a half hearted criticism. He was pretty reasonable and shouldn't have to know about weird quirks of the product. You're buying a 3d printer, you aren't house hunting for a house with "character".
I would kill for a prusa but they send you free ones? Good lord.
i strongly disagree with the appliances point.
Prusa Kits were always the best choice cuz you got familiar with your printer. you know how its build and you know how to replace something.
while the bamboo labs printers are leaning towards convenience with their design, they are a pain in the but to repair, should something fail, speaking from experience with my Bambu Lab X1-Carbon.
“Left side is the lucky side” never has my ocd bothered me so…right sides the lucky side!
Passed on Mk4 (after owning a Mk3s for a number of years) and went Bambu. Haven't looked back.
I like the results
You might say this is about 1/3 open source hardware, and the software still open. Prusa being a nice guy, won't keep him in the running printer wise.
I think its rather simplistic to pretend that their missed step here is anything to do with being open source.
You have to remember that their opensource nature is a tradeoff. They got a ton of free work over the years from other people due to it, and now act like somehow its unfair when other people use the other side of the coin, and get their free work too, when thats the entire point of the agreement: no one has to reinvent the wheel.
Whats more, the area that they are behind in is clearly hardware, and they are not only open source in name alone (where are the MK4 Cad files? Last I checked they still havent been released), and in that area, none of the most modern printers are copying them, because they aren't at a place to be copied from.
So yea, waaaaaaay less about Prusa being a nice guy and waaaaay more about them taking too long and resting on their laurels.
I hope that they actually do commit to open source in any practical sense, but their pr suggests they want to move away from it more, which to me, kills any reason for me to like the brand.
I had prusa, went to bambu p1p and when i see this it makes me not want to go back. I am sorry but prusa really need to step up their game of they want to be relevant anymore. I really loved my mk3s+ but better times are here.
Hey Mihai, nice video.
I‘ve seen in the reflection of the screen that you filmend (at least most of it) with your phone. My question is how do you record the audio? Also with your phone?
Quality is really good and I’m still looking for ways to improve my own videos.
Anyone know what website he uses for those supports on most of his builds. I use this app for 3d printing and it only uses squares as supports for 3d prints and doesn't branch out like his.
Finaly🥳🥳🥳
The disrespect for Prusa in these comments seems a bit extreme… Until I remember that Prusa himself called us “Trolls” for minor criticisms.
HAve you ever met Joseph Prusa, I have and he is a total ASSHOLE and I'm trying to be nice!!! Whatever disrespect he gets is well deserved and then some!!!
You were called trolls because you made it a point to repeat the “minor criticism” on all Prusa videos as if they were major points and called them deal breakers.
you cant really blame them when the MK4 costs $1100... Its outdated for the price point and you guys cannot seem to grasp that.
@@NOBLE-wo5rr
On the other hand is it easy to grasp the problem of having to register on an app to even get the Bambu going.
And there is, of course, the ongoing mystery of the need to encrypt log files used for support.
One might argue that the logfiles are OK, but HOW DO YOU KNOW.
And why are they so huge? What is leeched and transmitted from your computer?
And everything on a Bambu being proprietary means that they can sell them cheap, get some valuable customer data and not least, make sure that everything needed for upgrade or repair is bought from them.
Do I hear you protect the reputation of HP and Canon for the way they have perverted the printer market?
The MK4 is made in Europe so it is more expensive than it normally would be if it were made in China. I wish I had known that before I purchased mine. I thought more money = superior product but it turns out that more money = made in a higher cost nation. It makes nice parts though and I think it's open source? Perhaps it can be upgraded.
It is open source, you won't have any problems for future updates or upgrades.
Bambu Lab printer is the best to date, the nozzle cleaning is great and flow calibration is on point, you just connect it and watch it printing progress from the comfort of your phone. The Mk4 doesnt have any of these features and as expensive if not more compared to the P1P and the P1S. Speaking from past printers including the Prusa MK3S+, the Bambu P1P - P1S is the best for all users.
Salut Mihai, ai vrea sa incerci un nou gantry si hotend assembly in stil vzbot? Eu si cu prietenul meu din Germania am lucrat la un design pentru awd si un nou gantry pentru tronxy x5, aceeasi platforma ca vzbot ul.
is it worth the price ?
would you suggest this for beginners who are really into 3d printer (that's me) and starting for the first time?
Better get abambu lab
It’s a bit expensive, but totally worth it. I bought my MK4 , my first 3D printer. I just wanted something to work without any hassle and the MK4 does not disappoint.
if its your only printer you have nothing to compare it to. bambu labs is far better @@arbjful
for price per performance, get the P1P
The insufficient purge is probably in case you change to a filament of the same color.
Then, why purge at all as a default? And why isn't there two options, one to change without purge and one that purges a reasonable amount for a color/material change?
@@bunker1213 There is? It's called "purge more".
@@ulaB and why should I have to do that 2-3 times extra manually everytime I change filament?
@@ulaB for the cost of $1100 there is no reason I should have to stand there and press the button 2-5 times lmfao.
@@NOBLE-wo5rr Well. If you pay that much money, just to swap filaments, you might be doing it wrong. ;-)
That said - there are a lot of people that don't need to purge more, because they change to the same color. Printfarms for example. That would mean a lot of unnecessary waste. So they would complain instead (and they paid a lot more than you). And it is more difficult to pull the filament back in than to extrude more.
What you get for $1000 is the option to change the code yourself or at least report an issue on GitHub. - as others have done instead of just complaining. :-)
The poor quality of some of those structural prints is inexcusable in a production printer in my opinion.. they look like they were made by an Ender 3 which has been run over by a car 😅
My Mk3s+ never printed as nice as my Ender 3. Sad.
Better the bambulab print quality or mk4 ?
Yep. You definitely need to be patient
Me hyped for world's fastest benchy record 5 seconds later me:🥹
How does it work with generic, no-name $1.50/spool filament?
I´m just wondering how you´ve mangeged to get these kind of supports on the bust. What are they called?
“Organic” supports in PrusaSlicer >= v2.6. May be called tree supports elsewhere?
WOW❤❤❤
Hi, do I need to buy the printer casing if I want to print in pet or is it not necessary? Is the case useful in terms of noise, will it bother me when I'm sleeping if my printer is in my room without a case? Thank you for your answers.
It's perhaps the quietest printer I have. Could help to add a foam material underneath to reduce vibration transfer into the desk. I don't know if a case would make it quieter; could be the opposite.
@@MihaiDesigns thank you for your response
$1200 for this nonsense.
i am currently using a elegoo neptune 3 pro and for some reason after moving it just never printed thing well or even at ALL ever again so i am considering getting a mk4
What happens to all the printers when you are done testing them?
The MK4 is a nice machine but the price is just way too high for what you get. I feel Prusa got a little lazy with bringing in new features and/or reducing price to stay competitive since they have been so well known for years now. Everyone knew Prusa as the printers that ''just work'', and it seems like they expected that hype to just keep on living for ever.
Taking years and years to just marginally improve an ancient bed-slinger machine while the rest of the market are competing for more and more ease-of-use features and reliability for a lower price. Prusa were able to sell more expensive machines because other brands struggled with reliability, but today you get dirt cheap Chinese machines that work just as well.
I fear Prusa might run their company into the ground within the next 5 years if they don't change. I have barely heard of anyone switching from one brand to Prusa for a while now, the people who buy new Prusa machines are the people who already had a printer of that brand from before.
It's starting to look like the car manufacturer Saab before they went out of business, 90% of people who bought new Saabs already had a Saab. They didn't bring in any new customers.
Prusa used to be the top of the line when it came to hobby machines. Back in the day you either got yourself a cheap sketchy Chinese machine that needed tinkering but was usable, or you paid extra to get the luxury Prusa machine.
Now you have cheap Chinese machines that work really well with some tinkering, you have Bambu and maybe soon Creality up in the sorta pricey range that work super well, but then you have Prusa with a machine that performs in the middle of these with the price of the top dogs.
I heavily considered a MK4 before I went the Bambu route, but I have still been checking UA-cam several times a week for new videos on the MK4 and XL because the machines still excite me a little.
What's weird is that the printers have been for sale for a while yet I struggle to find any good and interesting videos, just a ton of people with trouble or paid reviews.
I'm really curious what the future brings for this company, I really don't want to see them disappear yet I also think they need to change drastically if they want to stay in business.
Prusa has always been great at keeping the youtubers in there good books, just like when most customers waited months to get the new bed they created for the Mk3 but all the youtubers were getting them straight away. I think they all have a skewed view of Prusa printers because they get so much free stuff and because Prusa has a lot of history behind it, the reality is this printer would be called outdated and overpriced if anyone other than Prusa made it.
nowadays there's even a few "el cheapo" chinese printers like sovol sv08 which prints just out of the box. Indeed you can tinker, but with good parts you'll essentially get a good printer. Voron Design did an exceptional job by creating their designs which gained popularity not because "they're designed in EU" or something like that, but just because the designs are amazing. And e.g. some chinese manufacturers do their paybacks to the community as well: that SV08 was heavily influenced by Voron 2.4, and they do pay some percentage off their margin to Voron Design team. I see that kind of collaboration as a best one: people who can design - they design, manufacturers with great production capabilities essentially adapt some parts of the design to manufacturing needs, and they do pay back to the community
I've found that the mk4 that I use leaves spots on the bed when leveling. It has been getting worse over time but still prints great.
Great vid as always. Where can I find the cabinet you use? Thanks!
the support on the thrall bust-stand could have been so easily avoided if the model had the ledge be a 45 degree
You should try to test how it prints at lower layer heights. Like 0.15mm or 0.1mm with the standard 0.4mm nozzle.
"a still shit, and another still shit" 😂❤
I love how youtube reviewers make a mess of the nozzle with globs of melted filament all over it. We dont do that with printer we pay cash for
The amount of purge 😭😭
This would be an amazing printer for $350.
If Prusa was working with Chinese sweat shop wages maybe but they pay there staff fairly
And how would that fund the development of the PrusaSlicer?
@@justas7463 Prusa slicer is already made the only features mainly made are by pull requests on Git lmao
@@justas7463 so they need $800 more to fuel their slicer? cope
@@NOBLE-wo5rrjust get a sovol. Prusa cool and all but it’s not worth it unless you trying to start a business with a prusa. Bambu really came in and shook the whole game up
I thought it was not supposed to probe the bed and print immediately because of this new scale sensor.
I wonder if Prusa is going to try to lower their prices? I just bought a Bambu Labs A1. I would have bought a Prusa if they could sell a mk4 for like $500.
....that's not going to happen. A1 can be so cheap because of Chinese subisidies.
@@AshBashVids I don't believe that for a minute! More likely it's because Chinese labor and materials are cheaper. But even Chinese labor is now getting high and manufacturers are looking for cheaper labor in places like Vietnam, Mexico, and Indonesia.
I think Prusa is probably seeing really high margins and can afford to lower prices. If they don't I really wonder how long they can compete in the budget printer market.
@@joeking433 "I don't believe that for a minute! "
Facts don't care about your feelings. The A1, if made in the EU, would easily cost just as much as the mk4, if not more.
@@joeking433 "The average mainland Chinese yearly wage is more than in the Czech Republic, bub! "
What... reality are you living in?!? Fucking hell, didn't think I'd see this level of stupidity here. The sheer irony on claiming I'm pulling stuff out of my arse, especially when I'm literally talking about basic facts that you can look up anywhere online.
Chinese workers are paid fuck all, especially workers in large sweatshops. Far less than any EU country.
Think about it, why do you think the cheapest stuff is all from China, including 3D printers? Low wages and government subsidies/funding. It's why all the major corporations - Apple etc, all have factories over there.