I think you hit the nail right on the head. The X-Plus3 is a great example of a product that desperately wants to be a cheaper X1C, but completely missed what makes the X1C good. Ironically, the plastic bed plate that seems to be such a big liability for the X-Plus3 is actually present in the X1C, but the materials and geometry are different and don't seem to cause issues.

Please do mention the status of Anker's multiple standing GPL violations in your review. By purchasing some of their machines you are buying stolen work. Keeping in mind, if they do find themselves in actual trouble over it, they will likely bury the product and cease support for it (that seems to be the pattern with companies dealing with that sort of thing), leaving the customer high and dry. There is also no way to inspect their implementation of safety features in the firmware. Sure, those customers won't be digging through the source code, but it does mean nobody can sound the alarm and inform people of found risks. You just have to take their word for it. Creality is doing this as well to this day, willfully violating the license for the software they are using in their products. That isn't a good way to demonstrate that they are worth trusting with what for most people will be a limited budget for a big purchase.

After being unable to print anything for two weeks with an Anet A8, I picked up a Prusa i3 MK3 in July of 2018, and that made 3D printing my hobby (and partially I made a living from it in the past) which I still enjoy to this very day. This experience alone, and the fact that Prusa printers are and will be open source, and that they are based in Europe, not China, makes me gravitate towards them. So even if the Anker and the Bambu could be a better value for the money, I will still go for the i3 MK4. I like Czech beer, drive a Skoda, so it seems natural to have a Prusa :D

Bambu Lab X1C owner here. I really did not like how technical it was getting klipper up and running on my previous printer. I don’t care if software is open source or proprietary. I really appreciate that with my Bambu printer I only had to unbox it, turn it on, let it go through a self calibration process and it just works. I haven’t had a single failed print, the firmware updates brought helpful improvements, and the Bambu Studio slicer and Handy mobile apps are easy to use. The printer just works and it’s fast.

My concern is repairability and total dependence on the manufacturer for support. It is great to see stuff that works well out of the box, but it also looks like a move toward the "use it until it breaks, then buy a new one" culture.

I will stay thoroughly in the 'tinkering with marlin configs for two full weekends without making noticable improvements' category, but I am very happy that there are printers to recommend to beginners without the added 'call me for 3 hours when something goes inevitably wrong'. The shift in content from 'getting half-baked clone x to work' to learning more about CAD and creative ways to apply it is a welcome one!

This is amazing but what I fear is that most new printers will fall into the trap of being way too hard to fix and will be cloud services and will be only available to use through their apps which I HATE and I'm absolutely sure they will try to monetize it and force you to pay a subscription services and have to get the parts from them because if you don't they will brick your printer we already see this with some Filaments that you must have this type of printer If they start doing that I'm going to still hold on to my Ender 3 Edit: To those who say Just don't buy them look how that worked out for farmers who are suffering with repairing their own tractors and farm equipment and have to ship them to John Deere and iPhones if you try to replace your own screen or even the haptic motor your phone will not work even if it's a genuine Apple Part and if you try to repair something like a John Deere machine they will sue you because you don't own the software of the machine you just own the hardware if this keeps on going we will not own anything like what the WEF said you will own nothing and you will be happy

I love the upgradability of the Ender 3 platform. The Prusa mk3 was way too expensive for me, so I got an Ender 3 on sale, upgraded it to a Prusa mk3 hot-end and extruder, and similar stepper drivers. It's not as sleek or premium, but I learned so much throughout the process, I feel like it made me into an expert when it comes to budget printers. If I had to upgrade, I think the P1P and the Prusa Mk4 are very decent out of the box. Most people are not going to be willing to tinker. Most Ender 3 users never even update the Marlin firmware, so the next generation is going to really help get more people into 3D printing. The biggest issue now is what to do with your failed prints and support material. I have a huge stash and nowhere to recycle it.

I've been subscribed for a while but honestly haven't watched many of your videos recently. I watched this video on a whim and was pleasantly surprised by the level of polish and quality! I appreciate the level of effort put into the script and agree with a lot of your thoughts.

Our Bambu X1 is so fast and reliable for printing it's hard to look back. However, it does feel too complex to just dig into and swap parts once we do have a breakdown. Still going strong but doesn't feel modular or simple. Paid for itself in weeks BTW.

Thank you for staying true to principles and bringing us interesting projects and information's i learned a lot from your videos.

I'm sticking with Prusa. I love my Mk3s and plan to get a Mk3.9 upgrade kit towards the end of the year. I love the open source approach, not just for Prusa, but in general (I daily drive Linux). And with my Prusa, should I need to repair anything, I know exactly how it works, since I built it from a kit.

Don't know about ankermake, but I know prusa and bamub aren't friends. prusa is pro open source and bambu lab is anti open source(even though they love using open source innovations), to the point of trying to patent features that have been in use for years. They even void your warranty if you mod your bambu priner, such as using the hydra AMS system.

i genuinely appreciate that prusa printers (and many corexy designs) are designed with 3d printed parts in mind. meaning if something breaks, i can reprint it and not worry about the change in mechanical properties from metal to plastic. and this also goes along with those printers being easily repairable through third party vendors. while i will credit bambulab for having very reasonably priced replacement parts, the fact i can only buy through a single source is kind of annoying. also being reliant on the company to design upgrades that fit the printer and my needs rather than being able to use open source designs made by anyone. before i bought my mk3s+, the p1p was really the only other printer in that price point i was cross shopping, and that was only because it actually had a way for me to buy replacement parts. while not everyone wants to tinker on their printer, right to repair is very important in electronics. both for the consumer to save money on repairs but also by creating less e-waste by being able to make those repairs. using your own analogy, it would be like buying a car that "just works" until you get a flat tire and can only buy replacements from the original manufacturer. or the new subscription models we're seeing rolled out for infotainment or heated seat upgrades.

I went the other way, started with Ender, was always fixing it and learned I liked the experience and now I am building a Voron

I started with the Snapmaker from kickstarter but due to continued problems and very slow prints, it started gathering dust. After seeing many good reviews for Bambu Lab (and also having a DJI drone), I decided to try again with the X1C. What a difference! Worked out of the box and takes between 1/10 and 1/4th of the time to print. Have had for 2 weeks and printing non stop, making toys for my granddaughter and useful parts. I am not a tinkerer, so this is exactly what I wanted. I did have a clogged extruder (due to a stupid mistake on my part), but the online videos were good enough to walk me through taking it off, and I was up and running again in a couple hours. Have some spare parts on hand in case of future problems, and they are priced rather reasonably. I think everyone benefits from competition, so hope others start making printers that just work! Thanks for all your thoughtful reviews and videos, love your channel.

I have a new project that my Prusa mini is too small for but i know my cr-10 and sidewinder x2 won't make the perfect print I need. I'm 99% sure I'm going to get a MK3s... Its not the latest and greatest but its PROVEN. Thats all i care about these days. Bambu was tempting but i want something that is easy to get parts from anywhere in the world, not just from the manufacturer.

I think that with this closed approach will backfire really quick for the users. You want a feature that could be added with free octoprint plug in? Play $200. You are comfortable with "Slicer A"? Too bad. That works only with brand A.

I'm so thankful to myself for starting out my 3d printing journey with an ANET A8 in early 2017. There's nothing better than bolting together acrylic pieces, wiring a janky motherboard to an even more janky power supply. That's where you really learned how a 3d printer works, all these fancy new printers are beginner friendly, but fail to explain the tech in general tbh.

Tech support would be a start. My Cr10 V3 arrived with one motor with a bent shaft, almost certainly not in transit. Zero response from Creality so had to buy a motor. No problem it you know what you're doing but a problem for complete beginners. Next priority would be auto bed levelling without having to add a CRTouch. My first printer but great when setup properly. KZfaqrs like you were/are an enormous help!

You always make sense. Great video.

Great Video Michael - Very insightful, like your previous video on this topic. 👌😎

Finally a guy that knows what's he's talking about. You got my scenario perfect, I written mods, uploaded things to thingiverse that other people still print till today, but abandoned my 3d printer cause it kept failing at one point. The troubleshooting took tooo long so the thought of leveling the bed and troubleshooting all the time was annoying so it gathered dust. I eventually gave it to a friend, but I don't think they have the skills to use it properly. I'm thinking about buying a new one and will pay upto $1000 if all these issues are fixed. No bobbles no seems, no under/over extrusion. Perfect retraction with no oozing and supports that are perfect with no scars. Then you have a winner!

I agree. I'm not a tinkerer, I just want to print and some day design my own things. I bought my first Prusa mini in January. I had such a great experience that I now have a new Prusa Mk 4. I could have been stuck trying to get a knock off working and would have left the hobby.

My Heavily modded ended 3 will always hold a place in my heart

I really appreciate this video. I missed the early days of 3D printing and am glad to see that there are options that don't require the steep learning curve that folks like you went through so that maybe I can jump in and not feel perpetually 5 years behind the times.

We are going forward by going backwards. The OG 3d printing guys will remember Wanhao, Zotrax, Ultimaker and especially the DaVinci 3d printers, before the Ender 3, before the Tevo Tarantula, you could get a good looking 3d printer that worked fine but was hard to fix, and sometime was very locked down. Then we had the tinkering era, now locked down again. My guess is that if the voron or ratrig push through this time and more suppliers start offering kits, we'll be back in tinkering era

When it came to printers I've owned 5 different fdm models over the years and have seen improvements with recent models that were formally races to the bottom. Elegoo in particular was making better versions each time rather than making 6 versions of the same thing, some more or less expensive (tho they did release some too close to each other). Thanks to you I ended up building a ratrig v-core 3.1 500 and it's become my favorite thing. Being able to easily update firmware once I had built my ratrig was such a relief and even though there isn't central support the discord is better than most I've experienced. As much as I do like seeing these more well put together machines I do hope they keep themselves at least partly open source. Bambu definitely paved the way for a new generation as we're seeing clones coming up pretty quickly. They've also benefited from community mods like the hydra for their AMS.

The biggest concerns are walled gardens and inability to get parts. Oh, and COST!

My hobby is messing with my 3d printers and after building and designing my own it would take a lot for me to buy a new printer again. The Bambu X1C and AMS for multi material is the only one that could change my mind, but it's just too much money and I am not a fan of the cloud software or not having the option to repair it myself. I am very happy that these new machines are going to make life easier for people that just want to print and not have to setup profiles, fix poor cooling ect. If you use the correct parts and understand how they work you can make your own kits that can print just as fast, if not faster and have the same quality too. It's an exciting time to be into 3d printers and I wished everyone could just get along without mine is better than yours attitude.

I bought a CR10s like back in 2016 or 2017 and it still is going strong. However I definitely follow the "Its a hobby" approach. Over the time I changed the printing bed, put linear rails on it, changed the mainboard, changed the hotend, made it standalone without its electronic box, put a touch screen on it and installed klipper. Nowadays it does 175mm/s maxing out the hotend, or 120mm/s putting out quality prints. Both at 2500mm/s². We have 5 Prusas I3 MK3s at work, along with a BambuLab x1c and a Raise3D Pro2 Plus. The Bambu really is a different story in speed and quality compared to the other ones. But having such a highly modified CR10s at home I invested a lot of time and effort in which puts out quality prints in a decent ammount of time, as well as the access to something new at work, also for private use if nescessary, it's hard to justify buying something like the bambu for still a lot of money 😂

Excellent summary of things as they stand at the moment.

They've solved the issue of being able to print out of the box. But I wonder how easy they will be to troubleshoot and fix or adjust, when inevitably the belts become loose, nozzles become clogged, bearings become gritty, extruder parts start to wear out. With the streamlined designs of these "next gen" printers, it looks like it may be harder to get into them with a screwdriver.

Great video and thanks for all of the information about 3d printer

I think Bambulab is going to be the DJI of the 3D printer industry. In the beginning of the drone industry there was DJI (closed source) and 3DR (open source). After a couple of years DJI ate them up and dominated in performance and price. With the X1 carbon coming in at only $100 more than the Prusa MK4 and the P1P way below that I think Prusa will start to lose significant market share. The bambulab printers look more DJI’ish and refined.

Pretty much summed it all up. You and Angus my two most watched makers.

One of the most honestly view of the 3d market, thanks for sharing ❤

Pretty wild how load 2023 3d printers are! I really appreciate your content. : )

Quality content as always! From my POV there is space for both the newer, more 'corporate' as you say, printers and the existing Prusa/more diy approach. Manufacturing companies that care more about uptime can benefit from these neer style machines where replacement parts are a couple of days away and can be just dropped in, while I see a prusa machine to be a middle ground between reliability, tinkering and a developing platform, just look at how many projects have been spun off of those printers such as multi axis printing. I'd love to had BambuLabs release their PA tuning software and hardware, but in the end of the day I know the community will built something similar if not better and more compatible with a plethora of platforms. I'm happy to see the 500-1000 monies market expand as it's still attainable for people who want to buy a reliable machine but don't need an industrial one for the price of the average high end smartphone today. I'm also glad there're the me2 printers too, because thye set the price so low it's easier to enter the hobby. In the end of the day, you get what you pay for, and as long as the price is not higher than the offered quality, I don't mind. An ender 3 is a cheap machine that produces ok prints, but it's because of its price it created a robust community around it. If it costed 400ish like a Prusa mini, without a comparable print quality, it'd be actually bad. We as consumers need to be educated in what to expect from each pricepoint and thankfully chanels like yours exist and do an excellent job at being consummer and community facing and supporting.

Great video as always, Michael! I like the fact that 3DP is becoming more mainstream, but not open sourcing the designs is an issue, since 3DP was contributed by people out of their will, and having it stolen and also closed behind corporate doors is not as good.

Planetary gears with the SV07 just show how trends take off with the "Race to the Bottom." Copy cat clones are fair game and drive competition in terms of cost. But not as fast with regard to quality and innovation. I am sure Sovol products like the SV07 print well at the cost of the conditions and machining tolerances and stanards. Mt first printer was a Sv01 that I purchased at a thrift store, then modded to death and it was a great learning experience, even in the end converted to a laser cutter, but after the years I would rather spend my monies elsewhere after diving into the market and having learned more.

Michael, I need some help with a few simple prototypes in Onshape. I am learning slowly, but need to get 3 or 4 designs done in meantime Are you still doing this or can you suggest a source?

I love my Anycubic I3 Mega. I'm printing on it now. The one improvement I would like is if the SD card slot was an off-the-shelf arduino version. My SD card slot broke recently, and I couldn't get a replacement SD card slot anywhere. I solved the problem by installing Klipper. I hope future 3D printers are not closed source with proprietary components.

Great video. Thanks for expanding my perspective. Could you please review the Makertech ProForge 4.

Once a pellet feeder becomes a reality for these machines and we can buy the pellets from a local supermarket then 3D printing will have come of age. Otherwise, all of the topics you raise are valid, shame that you don't have a K1 review in the pipeline.

Hi I know this would be asked many times before but what are your suggestions for school printers. Thanks

This is very timely. I started my 3DP journey with your videos and an ender 3 pro back in 2018. I used it constantly for a couple of years, printing components for work and generally having enough time to enjoy tinkering. But its sat idle these past couple of years and I just no longer have the time for “will it work, won’t it work” tinkering and I would relish a much more reliable, plug and play, “inkjet printer” style product. Bambu is a tad too young as a product line for me to feel comfortable with investing in them, but with another 6 months of real world long term reviews I might feel better. It feels like I’d buy a MK2 version of these products, or at least when the software bugs and hardware flaws have been polished out. A successful second gen of products also indicate a successful and thriving company to rely on, too. Either way, exiting times for those who want to only use 3D printers as tools rather than toys!

G'day, Michael Again! 16:02 You're a prize for both manufacturers and consumers.

It's a really exciting time to be using 3d printers. I got started with an Aquila, but I'm eyeing a K1 or P1P as a second one. Having a lot of fun, and I've helped friends make custom parts that they need for their small businesses.

Good video. Why don't you upgrade that MK3 behind you and make a video on its conversion to an MK4.

Once again a great video. Looking forward to the Anker Make review.

Man I feel this so much. I bought a Sovol SV01 Pro a few months ago and I've had a terrible time getting it to work right. To be clear, I think it's me, not the machine. I largely want it as a tool. I have limited time to tinker and I have a number of other hobbies that take up my time. I want something that just works out of the box and needs limited intervention from me. I will probably end up with one of the printers you mentioned soon b/c I just don't have the patience to mess with this thing. You nailed it in this video!

Nice Review - Question, based on all your testing what other Product in the market competes with Bambu X1-Carbon Combo in termes of multi-coloring print, doesn't matter wether its double nozzle or single, of which it does look like a double nozzle works best with multi-coloring. ?

For me I'm praying prusa don't change the 3d printed parts approach. Their printers are as good as any others "iPhone-looking" ones out there at working out of the box, but the open-source software and 3d-printed parts make them leagues above anything in the price range in terms of maintainability and running costs. I see that as a moat/competitive advantage, not as a drawback. I realize for a widest market average consumer aesthetics might come first, but i REALLY hope that doesn't make prusa bend to tge trends and abandon what makes them the best in the non-industrial/hobbyist segment by far.

Really love your analogy with cars. Like you, I am passionate by cars and two months ago I got an ender 5 as "tool" for a hobby project. Got immediately hooked and many times frustrated with cheap parts breaking down. Fast forward to today, my ender 5 has only frames, PSU, 1 endstop, belts, carriage and lead screw that are still original. I am voronizing My ender 5 (aka Vorender ®️), and a lot thanks to you. In the process of redesigning your biqu h2 mounts to allow for easy swap of volcano and regular V6 nozzles (also adjusted dimensions as didn't quite work well for the h2 500). From v422, v427 and now manta8p, with silicone heated bed (Lord be praised for this wonder), next will up is input shaping and later linear rails as part of core xying it. It will always have the original frame at least (with some reinforcements). Now, my fear is that the these new printers make it not worth it to be a tinkerer. If with all I learned I can't get a quality and speed up to par of a bambu, then I will be putting a lot of effort into something that will not perform as good as the ones from that could even be cheaper to buy ready to print. It's like if China launched 30k super sports car, that can kick the butt of a Lambo, looked even better and was easy to maintain. For the guys spending 20k on on forged pistons, performance intake manifolds, turbos, and lvl 2 and 3 stage tuning on their average volkswagen L, it seems pointless if the 30k Chinese can simply lap you out, if you catch my drift. So I am a bit afraid that this tinkerer community will start to dwingle and eventually fade and market become complicated, not only for sourcing, but to actually making a business of it.

I have an ender 3v2 at home and an AnkerMake M5 at work and it's great to print quickly at work but there's something special about my ender at home. I'm looking forward to the new AnyCubic coming out soon

Ive been using the creality machines for a while tinkering away with a lot of upgrades and headaches that goes with them. Starting with the endear 5. I’m fed up. After buying my first Prusa mk3s a few years ago there’s really no looking back. The printer just works! Such a plug and play machine that gives excellent results almost every time. With the clones I’ve found myself always having to tinker while with the Prusa being an honest and no bs machine I can just make things and not worry about when the next clog is going to happen or if I need to upgrade. The new machines might be good but personally I’m going for Prusa 100%. The only drawback is the limited size but there’s a reason for that. Prusa have thought of everything from loading filaments to levelling and the slicer software. I will still use my bigger machines when needed but when printing quality and detail it’s Prusa all the way.

7:50 So the 3D printer doesn't print the black filament unless it has cyan?

Hi Michael, I think I'm up the road (same suburb) from you and am expecting a K1 in the near future. Happy to let you unbox and review if you want.

Thks

Seems to be a very exciting era in 3d printing. I started out with a cheap ender 3. Still like this printer, and learned a lot while improving it along the way. I hope there will always be cheap reliable printers available that work out of the box. "OPEN SOURCE" seems to be the key for learning. The rest is a secret.

Good recap of the era we are in

It was awesome being able to tinker and fix problems. But now a days, I just want something that works if I don't print something for half a year. (Of course, I'll dehydrate the filament before the print) My last printer worked fine 90% of the time. I sold it last week after picking up a used Prusa Mini, cause it had a problem come back after sitting for like 8 months. Tried troubleshooting it for a few hours, and gave up. Sold it along with a tiny backup printer for 100 bucks. Didn't care to try and get money out of it, just wanted the space. The Mini has been perfect, besides a problem of the head crashing into the print when it finishes. But turns out that's just something that can happen if the firmware is out of date? Well, it's been perfect after updating the firmware. About 80-100 hours of printing so far in just the first week of owning it. Not running into any problems, and being able to just trust the printer has reignited my interest in 3d printing.

When I buy a desktop 2D printer, I don't want to tinker but when they inevitably get issues (inkjets especially clogging, mechanical issues, software issues, manufacturers taking advantage of users with proprietry limitatations e.g. ink cartridges) there should be some way to fix the property you own. This isn't the same as, and doesn't mean it should require tinkering to work in the first place, or repetitive and poorly instructed tinkering to maintain because these things can be designed out. I mean when there is an unexpected failure or your property leaves it's warranty period it's still possible to do maintenance and repairs. If the current 2D printers on the market tell us anything it's that this idea seems unlikely. I would like to be proven wrong. Furthermore, the argument of "just don't buy them" isn't valid with 2D printers either as there are no manufactuers making printers which are repairable to any significant degree. The major merit of open source design is that manufacturers aren't able to leverage the power they have over the consumer when a design is wholely proprietary because the consumer retains the ability to understand the inner workings and perform diagnostics. Losing options in 3D printing does seem unlikely though due to the nature of the community but all it takes is some clever business strategies (loss leaders, subsidising cost through some other means at the expense of the user, environment and industry progression) and you've just created a whole load of waste all while making it harder for honest businesses to compete. Failure to recognise these strategies before it's too late is important and I appreciate channels like cnckitchen for highlighting these issues and sparking debate on this to help progress 3D printing for everyone.

Hm I'm skeptic. How long will the apps are supported? How long will be spare parts buyable? For example: The Nozzle at bamboo labs printer is proprietary

I am sick and tired of tinkering, fixing, modding, etc. I can't wait to buy an X1C and for the next generation of these products. I like to use 3d printing to enhance my current hobbies not tinker the printer itself.

You are a very good KZfaqr. ❤

corporate entities taking advantage of the opensource communities is nothing new. they've been doing it for years. The problem is, most open source licensing is "wide open" in nature, and not at all restrictive towards predatory companies who use the open source materials, slightly alter it (mostly branding or aesthetics), and never contribute back to the community they've taken from in any meaningful way. This approach of allowing for-profit entities to come in, and pilfer resources without giving back to the community not only stifles innovation, but actively drowns out the innovators. I really wish we could implement an open source license that restricts corporate entities from effectively stealing open source projects, making minute changes just enough to close source it and charge a premium. You need not look any further than Streamlabs vs OBS. Streamlabs simply took the code, skinned it with a massive amount of up-sell and a theme, and gave absolutely NOTHING back to the OBS project. They even went so far as to use shady tactics to make their software appear at top of searches, and appear to be the synonymous with OBS

If the os isn't open and I can't buy off the shelf parts, I don't want it

I've had good luck with FlashForge's more advanced models (Adventurer 4 and Finder 3). I actually bought a second Adventurer after my first one was stolen. Both of them still produce the occasional serving of spaghetti, and the Adventurer had a weird problem where the tube came loose from the hotend assembly (that was easily fixed with a little CA glue), but they're quite reliable and beginner-friendly. They do still require a couple little steps of pre-learning, such as leveling/Z-offset adjustment, but once they're dialed in they're pretty solid. I do agree that plug-and-play convenience is the next gold standard, though given that I'm already established I think I'll stick with what I've got.

been watching 3d printers for a decade, only this year did I find something I liked that fits my dollar and maintenance time budget, the Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro. It's trying to be this premium experience and got about 90% of the way for under $250. Packaging was excellent, the manual has a bill of materials, the bolts are in labeled ziplocks. Straightforward assembly of a dozen bolts and a half dozen plugs. Two issues with the manual: doesn't explain _how tight_ to tighten the belts; doesn't point out that you can tangle the runout sensor cable and a drive belt if you wrap the cable around it. Touchscreen UI is adequate, physical touchscreen response is good. Firmware updates require unscrewing the screen housing. Manual doesn't explain cold pulls or tell you to bed level without filament present, so drips have interfered with my z-offset. Aside from those minor details my first print succeeded without issue. The only failure I've had in my first spool was after a firmware update, because the firmware update reset the Z-offset, which isn't mentioned in their docs.

@teachingtech Which mid range (£800 avg), core xy, enclosed printer do u recommend?

A neptune 3 pro also ticks all the boxes, and the support was also great, you should check it out

Funny my ratrig vcore 3 is sitting 2 feet from me running 1000vel/15000accel and I barely hear it.

As someone that 3d prints professionally, I'm going to stick to open source 3d printers because they lead to more improvements/better designed printers and are cheaper+easier to fix. I hope any company that doesn't follow open source falls like the Fortus brand so we can all have better printers.

The thing about Prusa, and I don't think they get enough credit for this (and people are quick to say "Prusa machines are too expensive"), is that they support the entire 3D Printing community, not just Prusa customers. I'm referring to PrusaSlicer, which they've gone out of their way to make available (and usable) for all 3D printers, and Printables, which is available to everyone, not just Prusa's customers. When buying a 3D Printer, I think one needs to look at the whole picture - ask yourself, does the company not only provide a good product with quality parts, and provide post-sales support, but do they ALSO innovate and move the industry forward (remember Prusa announcing PEI-coated spring steel sheets and what a game changer it was? And how they didn't patent it?)... ...or does the company not contribute anything back, close-sources it's software and firmware, and/or file patents?

I think everything you said is pretty spot on and my only comment about the whole thing is with the new printers I hate the fact you have to go back to the manufacturer for parts

I was really tempted to pick up a p1p as my first corexy machine, but it's closed source nature is something that scares me than makes me angry. What if they shut their doors and replacement parts are unavailable and cheap knock offs just aren't up to oem spec? I'm building a mecury 1.1 kit for the ender 5 pro with klipper as we speak, and it's my first ever big build because i want to make sure that the machine can be repaired and upgraded by open source, high quality products. I hope creality with the k1 series machines will be open source, but i have a hunch that it won't be.

Nice video, as always. Please mention what non-chinese consumer grade printers are available. Thanks

Thanks a bunch for all the info, Michael! 😊 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

really curious about the ankermake. They just upgraded to 500mm/s. I couldn't believe it when i saw it on a Cartesian style printer. I've read that MANY people have had QC issues and problems though. I'm really interested if it's comparable to the P1P

I have had good luck with my affordable printers. I always went for bang for the buck. QQ-S pro was fast and bigger than standard bedslingers at $299 when I bought it, very few problems. Lotmaxx Shark v2 dual color and laser engraver, more problems but they were normal bedslingers problems I wasn't used to, SV04 best index under $500 bucks, more basic bedslingers problems but the extra dual extruder issues. If any of these came ready to print no tinkering I would easily have paid an extra 100 to 200 more. Disappointing that none of the new age printers have a larger build volume and are all closer to $1000 than $500 wich is my Max for a mostly hobby tool( I have paid for them all with selling my services and prints, but not enough to say it's profitable for me at least). I enjoyed designing things and seeing the final product being used more than making the problems go away.

I do want to make a shredder set up for the Bambu poop. I know you have a couple machines for that already. Have you thought about injection molding?

My goal is to get a Prusa i4 or the XL one. Currently own a Tevo Tarantula (clone that barely printed after lots of mods and super dangerous!), an Up! Mini that handled ABS like a fricken champ, and lastly an Artillery X1 v4 with a +18"^3 build area that's alright at best. With printing at home I don't entirely trust letting run unsupervised at night.

premium look and feel is all i need

I have been waiting years to get into 3D printing. For someone that knows nothing about 3D printing the X1 Carbon allowed me to get over that hurdle. It allows me to print stuff without knowing about the details. Then, allowing me to gradually understand how it all works. Run, walk, crawl

I experimented with multiple expensive printers, commercial pro etc etc, The printer i settled with and am happy with it nearly every single time i print, is the Bambu carbon x1c. I honestly dont like telling people as i dont want more competition than i already have lol. But its a bloody great market leading printer. I would call it the equivalent of the colour office photo copier. Sure you gotta put paper in or filament, but it just works 9.9/10 times.

The thing that really confuses me about the noise aspect of 3d printers is that even when using fans, it’s definitely not hard to make the printer silent. Plenty of people (including me) upgrade their printers to use super silent noctua fans and these upgrades are so efficient that I can’t even hear my Ender3 when it’s running even tough it’s right next to my desk. I just don’t get why manufacturers don’t sell their printers with these fans pre-installed from the factory and instead still try to advertise printers that run at 40db+ as „silent“ when they are loud enough to be distracting when you try to work or sleep in the same room.

I personally like to work on my printer and troubleshoot as well. These new "High End" printers take that away mostly. They can keep them

I think this was well covered. An interesting set of questions that came to mind that I don't think has been asked: where in the home are we expecting these printers to go? We have appliances that we actively hide (washer and dryer, sewing machines, various cooking tools... all things we put away/cover when not used), tools that are in the open (knives, fancy vacuums, etc.), things we use with nice remote controls but are otherwise not nice (HVAC is the main one that comes to mind). Also, size and noise... a nice printer that is loud will get kept off unless needed or will get put into a room to not be seen... but if we're controlling them with apps and controls at a distance, then is it not similar to a HVAC system where it doesn't need to look nice so long as it does it's job on demand? And as stated, size: a 3D printer the size of a microwave will be useful for "I want a new door handle" or "I need a new phone stand" but there will be enough times something larger is needed. But a 3D printer the size of a dish washer is going to have the question if spending so much for that larger size that doesn't get used frequently (seriously, like it or not, it's going to be charged more for a larger unit even if the parts aren't different besides a larger extrusion/cove) + much longer print times, do people want that in some displayable form or will it be hidden away. I think having repair guides built into the printer is important. My food delivery doesn't show up, I don't go "well, time to email the company" and have a lot of back and forth to figure out what meal I have an issue with... I hit "help" in the app and say my food didn't arrive and it's done. A single mom of 3 who got a "consumer" 3D printer isn't going to sit there for an hour to unjam the printer. She wants a popup saying "there's a jam. Please wait while it cools... please pull the 2 latches that are illuminated... now, slide the hotend out... Now insert the new hotend and push the 2 latches in until you hear a click. The print will now resume. Your printer is still under warranty, would you like to exchange the extruder for a replacement?" The software needs to be easier then it is now. I can write a Python script to connect to an API and control my AC, use a 3rd party app to control a smart bulb, and use a website to do my homework (just run with it, no need to nit pick on the homework details). But a lot of people will use the little box that came with the home or the app that the light bulb's instruction manual says to download. I want to take the printer out, download an app, scan a QR code and go. Browse through existing models and say "print" and have the app and/or printer guide me through that I need to load. I shouldn't need to figure out supports, layer heights, temps, etc. I want the fire truck in red... period. Actually, I want it in red, with black wheels, and shiny silver ladder and other chrome bits. Some printers like Bambu get closer to that but still not "leave it with that single mom of 3" from before. But having that ability to no-effort the print while also having the advanced, do it step by step/hand hold the printer, is going to be important. Especially since the "advanced" one is usually what is needed for diagnosing why it went wrong. Oddly, price won't be too much of an issue. You can buy a cheap car, washing machine, and computer. And people will say "yea, it's cheap... but it works". Those same people get a raise/bonus/tax refund, buy the more expensive one/luxury and go "wow, this is so much better then what I had before" even if the car still drove to work and back, the clothes still got clean, and you could still go and watch a KZfaq video or something on the computer. Arguing "Oh no, it's $300. $500. $1000" more doesn't matter to the home consumer. They will buy what they can afford, that does what they want, and often with recommendations from someone they trust. And that last one is important... if a family member asked me today for a printer to buy, I would ask them a set of questions. I would make a decision based on the answers. But it means that if 1/2 or more of the community wants an open source printer (saw a couple polls around that recently), then when a family member asks for a recommendation, there's a good chance an open source printer will be recommended. If someone asks the family member what they got and they go "well, my cousin is big into these and said to get X" then the friend might also get X. "Open source doesn't matter" until people are buying off word of mouth, and the original voice said "buy open source". And all you need is "see, I could fix your printer because it was open source. If it wasn't, you'd have to wait for the repair man/some part to arrive and then their instructions on how to install it", then that person who knows nothing about 3D printers and doesn't care about open source suddenly goes "then I'm happy it's open source" and you can throw the argument out. Also, a trusted source going "oh, they copied someone else, don't get them" is powerful from someone who is trusted to advise on what to get.

have you ever tested a zonestar z9v5 pro?

I for one actually prefer exposed fasteners and wiring on my printers. While it doesn’t look clean, it makes diagnosing and fixing issues much faster due to the increased visibility.

I bought an Anycubic Kobra and made prints that were from STLs created on Tinker CAD. One can buy nearly 5 Kobras for the price of one Prusa. My Kobra didn’t let me down once.

I have to admit, my first 3D printer was a Pursa clone, a Geeetech I3 pro in fact, and I still have it almost 10 years later, and well, it still works, but it's a bit worn out xD and I also have to admit, I just ordered another Geeetech printer, mostly because I am poor and it was cheap, bigger than the old one, and hopefully at least somewhat better. But I was happy with my I3, so I think I will be happy with my Mizar Max too

I want a core xy race to the bottom... My ender 3 doesn't make me money so spending a bunch of money doesn't make sense.

First off, this is a great video with just enough detail of what this experience can be like for hobbyists. Those in the comments can agree or not HOWEVER.... As someone who, in the early 2000's who has a degree in 3D design and animation, I purly wanted a printer that just prints my ideas for both practicality and fun. I dont have the strong desire to tinker with a piece of hardware. Learneing an entirely new to me program after 20 years, and having a full time day job ( not in my degree) makes it hard to pick my battles between frustration and just wanting to see my ideas be realized. I prefer to put my effort into my learning CAD as a skill. Closed system or not, im not trying to make a living off my printer. I ended up with the X1C myself and couldn't be happier. Projects 3d printed today took me 30-40 hours in college as the methods were to ptint out paper with assemple. So when people say well learn how to fix your own printer, take and every day object, model it, print it assemble and tell me why this matters . A 3D printer 20 years ago would have been all I ever wanted, not an option. Let people choose their own printer, think more wholestically about what one values in life 🤔👍

I’m so glad you mentioned the K1, looking terrible atm.

Personally, I find the proprietary closed-source vs open source approach difference enough to go for Prusa. I think the open source approach and philosophy is worth supporting and the 3d printing space would be lesser without it. Proprietary parts move us away from 3d printers being repairable, and cloud services are something to always be wary of.

I got an ender 3 a couple years ago. It was fun but the amount of tinkering made it way too frustrating. Recently got an X1C and the experience has been so positive its hard to care about some of the higher level "moral" issues. Maybe something breaks in a month and I wish i had a more repairable machine but i dont see a world where we get the 3d printing future we dream of just with open source tech. I think part of the issue here us we have a lot of people who dont like seeing the "struggle" taken out of the hobby because it makes them feel special that they had to spend days to get usable results out of a printer.

Very akin to Mac vs Windows/Linux computers. Expensive, somewhat proprietary, but reliable vs user friendly, less proprietary, inexpensive, cloneable, etc. Nice vid!