4 ms·

Prusa's printers also worked out of the box. They cost slightly more, and their staff aren't volunteers.

by Symbiote 1mo ago

dspillett 1mo ago
More than slightly more, certainly when comparing like-for-like, particularly when considering multi-material features.
- ChickeNES 1mo ago
  It's a worse printer too. Not to mention overpriced since it's built in the EU
  - gilfaethwy 1mo ago
    > overpriced since it's built in the EU Externalized costs are real. "Overpriced because it's built in the EU" implicitly argues that there are no fundamental differences between the labor conditions, environmental controls, and societal impact of the production process.
    - ChickeNES 1mo ago
      Yes, those do not concern me. I already buy plenty of stuff from China, so a 3D printer is no different, why would I make an exception?
      - legastenigga 1mo ago
        [dead]
      - fn-mote 1mo ago
        I am confident that my job cannot be outsourced to China, but I still worry a lot about outsourcing everything else in my life. I recognize that my neighbors could easily lose their jobs to the same forces that are causing me to buy a Bambu printer.
        inigyou 1mo ago
        They will lose their jobs no matter what you buy, because that's not up to you, but up to billionaires
nomel 1mo ago
No they did not. Calibrating flow and pressure advance was entirely manual. Vibration compensation/input shaping did not exist until 2023 [1], and was also entirely manual. The Pursa XL (only thing remotely comparable) was over double the price [2], with the Core One (Bambu competitor) not coming out until 2024 [2]. Their MMU was a clusterfuck of tinkering [4], so when Bambu released the AMS, people were trying to figure out ways to get it to work on the Prusa! Even now, the new Prusa MMU alone is almost as much as a Bambu + AMS!. Bambu shook the industry because it was better in all ways that mattered if you actually wanted to make something. [1] https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/prusa-research-unveils-mk4-input-shaping-firmware https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/prusa-research-unveils-mk4-inp... [2] https://www.3docity.com.au/blogs/3dprinting/corexy-printers-compared-bambu-x1-vs-prusa-xl-vs-voron-2-4-which-is-best?srsltid=AfmBOoqm7JhqFIt891w1KGhGNxWU-RyA7ypObAcs95fiui47J-DToAcv https://www.3docity.com.au/blogs/3dprinting/corexy-printers-... [3] https://toms3d.org/2025/02/11/finally-prusa-takes-on-bambu-core-one-review-and-x1c-comparison/ https://toms3d.org/2025/02/11/finally-prusa-takes-on-bambu-c... [4] https://www.reddit.com/r/prusa3d/comments/x3m76q/did_you_regret_buying_a_mmu2s_or_are_you_happy/ https://www.reddit.com/r/prusa3d/comments/x3m76q/did_you_reg...
- Palomides 1mo ago
  if you absolutely needed a huge multi color/material printer, sure, but a prusa i3 mkwhatever was entirely adequate for normal 3d printing out of the box
  - nomel 1mo ago
    Nope. You will get absolute shite prints if you skip the manual, eyeballed, first layer cals [1]. Bambu manual effort is a few seconds [2] of navigating a menu, then print. But, these cal's are NOT equivalent, with Bambu doing linear advance cal and input shaping (completely manual on i3). Prusa being "adequate" (and expensive) is partly why Bambu now has 41% of the market, while Prusa has < 3% [3]. [1] https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=245 https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=245 and https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=524 https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=524 [2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XruRPpODE6Q https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XruRPpODE6Q. [3] https://www.3dprintingjournal.com/p/consolidation-has-become-a-fact-90 https://www.3dprintingjournal.com/p/consolidation-has-become...
mrheosuper 1mo ago
>slightly more I wouldn't say "50%" is slightly more.
poulpy123 1mo ago
At the time I bought my bambulab X1C there was nothing at the level for a similar price (or even more expensive)
cyberrock 1mo ago
Setting aside printer capability, to a lot of users, wifi would be a top requirement for "working out of the box", and unfortunately i3 MK3S+ didn't have it before Bambu hit the market. On one hand, I understand how they ended up there, because their contemporary rivals Creality and Anycubic didn't include it either, and most of their userbase understood that they needed to run Octoprint on a Pi Zero or buy Prusa's wifi module. But on the other hand, if anyone did any bit of market research, they would realize this is quite an abrasive purchasing experience for a $10 wifi module. It just felt stingy.

Prusa's printers also worked out of the box. They cost slightly more, and their staff aren't volunteers.

dspillett 1mo ago

More than slightly more, certainly when comparing like-for-like, particularly when considering multi-material features.

ChickeNES 1mo ago
It's a worse printer too. Not to mention overpriced since it's built in the EU
- gilfaethwy 1mo ago
  > overpriced since it's built in the EU Externalized costs are real. "Overpriced because it's built in the EU" implicitly argues that there are no fundamental differences between the labor conditions, environmental controls, and societal impact of the production process.
  - ChickeNES 1mo ago
    Yes, those do not concern me. I already buy plenty of stuff from China, so a 3D printer is no different, why would I make an exception?
    - legastenigga 1mo ago
      [dead]
    - fn-mote 1mo ago
      I am confident that my job cannot be outsourced to China, but I still worry a lot about outsourcing everything else in my life. I recognize that my neighbors could easily lose their jobs to the same forces that are causing me to buy a Bambu printer.
      - inigyou 1mo ago
        They will lose their jobs no matter what you buy, because that's not up to you, but up to billionaires

nomel 1mo ago

No they did not. Calibrating flow and pressure advance was entirely manual. Vibration compensation/input shaping did not exist until 2023 [1], and was also entirely manual. The Pursa XL (only thing remotely comparable) was over double the price [2], with the Core One (Bambu competitor) not coming out until 2024 [2]. Their MMU was a clusterfuck of tinkering [4], so when Bambu released the AMS, people were trying to figure out ways to get it to work on the Prusa! Even now, the new Prusa MMU alone is almost as much as a Bambu + AMS!. Bambu shook the industry because it was better in all ways that mattered if you actually wanted to make something. [1] https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/prusa-research-unveils-mk4-input-shaping-firmware https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/prusa-research-unveils-mk4-inp... [2] https://www.3docity.com.au/blogs/3dprinting/corexy-printers-compared-bambu-x1-vs-prusa-xl-vs-voron-2-4-which-is-best?srsltid=AfmBOoqm7JhqFIt891w1KGhGNxWU-RyA7ypObAcs95fiui47J-DToAcv https://www.3docity.com.au/blogs/3dprinting/corexy-printers-... [3] https://toms3d.org/2025/02/11/finally-prusa-takes-on-bambu-core-one-review-and-x1c-comparison/ https://toms3d.org/2025/02/11/finally-prusa-takes-on-bambu-c... [4] https://www.reddit.com/r/prusa3d/comments/x3m76q/did_you_regret_buying_a_mmu2s_or_are_you_happy/ https://www.reddit.com/r/prusa3d/comments/x3m76q/did_you_reg...

Palomides 1mo ago
if you absolutely needed a huge multi color/material printer, sure, but a prusa i3 mkwhatever was entirely adequate for normal 3d printing out of the box
- nomel 1mo ago
  Nope. You will get absolute shite prints if you skip the manual, eyeballed, first layer cals [1]. Bambu manual effort is a few seconds [2] of navigating a menu, then print. But, these cal's are NOT equivalent, with Bambu doing linear advance cal and input shaping (completely manual on i3). Prusa being "adequate" (and expensive) is partly why Bambu now has 41% of the market, while Prusa has < 3% [3]. [1] https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=245 https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=245 and https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=524 https://youtu.be/GE-lrRbU124&t=524 [2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XruRPpODE6Q https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XruRPpODE6Q. [3] https://www.3dprintingjournal.com/p/consolidation-has-become-a-fact-90 https://www.3dprintingjournal.com/p/consolidation-has-become...

mrheosuper 1mo ago

>slightly more I wouldn't say "50%" is slightly more.

poulpy123 1mo ago

At the time I bought my bambulab X1C there was nothing at the level for a similar price (or even more expensive)

cyberrock 1mo ago

Setting aside printer capability, to a lot of users, wifi would be a top requirement for "working out of the box", and unfortunately i3 MK3S+ didn't have it before Bambu hit the market. On one hand, I understand how they ended up there, because their contemporary rivals Creality and Anycubic didn't include it either, and most of their userbase understood that they needed to run Octoprint on a Pi Zero or buy Prusa's wifi module. But on the other hand, if anyone did any bit of market research, they would realize this is quite an abrasive purchasing experience for a $10 wifi module. It just felt stingy.