Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?  

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Yes that's true, although I was just referring to feature set etc. I like to unbox something I have purchased knowing I can do X, Y, and Z - rather then unbox something that I know can do certain tasks, but its not been enabled yet, and I have no idea when, or if, it will be enabled.... just feels wrong to me - marketing features but then keeping the customer base in limbo about when they will get it.....

Posted by: @thejiral

 

Posted by: @iftibashir

Above all else, at least I know what I'm getting with that printer from the moment I unbox it, rather then promised features with no timescales. 

Actually you don't. Print performance of the X1 is well known by now. Durability, maintenance and self-servicability mid-term are in the best case big unknowns.
Of course, if those latter points aren't big issues for you, then the X1 looks like a great deal. While we have no long term data on the Mk4 either, obviously, we do have the track record of that printer series and long term experience with those and the company. 

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Any comments on the noise from the X1C?

I'm used the noise from a MK3S+ which I feel is acceptable and not an annoyance. Is the X1C really that much louder (considering they market it as a quite printer, and its in an enclosure)?

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Posted by: @iftibashir

Any comments on the noise from the X1C?

I'm used the noise from a MK3S+ which I feel is acceptable and not an annoyance. Is the X1C really that much louder (considering they market it as a quite printer, and its in an enclosure)?

It is absolutely noisier.  I would not use it in my house or any room that is multi-use.  The noise goes up with how fast your print.  Faster equals more noise.  My MK3S prints at about 25-45 decibels.  The XIC and PIP prints at 55-70 decibels in its fastest mode.  If you slow it down, it was in the mid 40s.   

I have significant hearing loss and the X1C is noticible to me and interferes with my concentration.  I have banished it to my workshop.  

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Thank you!!

My current MK3S+ is in my office at home, which is on the same level as our bedrooms - although I rarely run overnight, I do want to keep noise down in that area! I've been back and forward like a yoyo, but looks like I may stick with my MK4 order in that case!....

Posted by: @cwbullet

 

Posted by: @iftibashir

Any comments on the noise from the X1C?

I'm used the noise from a MK3S+ which I feel is acceptable and not an annoyance. Is the X1C really that much louder (considering they market it as a quite printer, and its in an enclosure)?

It is absolutely noisier.  I would not use it in my house or any room that is multi-use.  The noise goes up with how fast your print.  Faster equals more noise.  My MK3S prints at about 25-45 decibels.  The XIC and PIP prints at 55-70 decibels in its fastest mode.  If you slow it down, it was in the mid 40s.   

I have significant hearing loss and the X1C is noticible to me and interferes with my concentration.  I have banished it to my workshop.  

RE:

1 thing I've been most disappointed with is the quality of the TCP stack that Prusa has developed for their products. If you read the GitHub bugs, it seems the Wifi xfer rate for a gcode can be as slow as 0.1Mbs (MK4) . The Mini didn't support wifi until about 2 years after it was released, and the Ethernet port of the mini doesn't do Ping properly and this bug report is still languishing in GitHub 2 months later (I can think of no more important debugging tool than Ping).. The MK3 has zero TCP capability and if your gcode is very dense (lots of x/y movements on arcs)there are reports that the USB connection has an issue keeping up. On the X1C that I'm testing now, we sent a somewhat large gcode for an RC car chassis (6 hr print on MK3s) and I didn't even notice any lag.. TCP stack firmware needs to be rock solid and efficient. This appears to, historically, been a really weak point for Prusa and I don't read any improvement in this area. For me, OctoPrint is a saving grace for my Mk3. Others who now have an MK4 can describe their experience with the Wired and Wireless connections for the MK4.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I was thinking of a Bamboo, but the need to use the cloud is a no go for me. I know, most people show their whole life in the net, but there are also enviroments where a chineese cloud servive is a no go.

RE:

Posted by: @wil

I was thinking of a Bamboo, but the need to use the cloud is a no go for me. I know, most people show their whole life in the net, but there are also enviroments where a chineese cloud servive is a no go.

Bambu Lab printers also feature a LAN mode so you don't have to use their cloud and only share files with your printer through your local network.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Here's the info.

https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/remote-control

Posted by: @tt-3

 

Posted by: @wil

I was thinking of a Bamboo, but the need to use the cloud is a no go for me. I know, most people show their whole life in the net, but there are also enviroments where a chineese cloud servive is a no go.

Bambu Lab printers also feature a LAN mode so you don't have to use their cloud and only share file with your printer through your local network.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

The noise put me off. Going with MK4 for now but will watch BambuLabs closely with a view to purchasing in the future once it has matured a little……

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

If Bambu shapes up their proprietary-ness, It'd be my next printer.  For now though, it looks like my next printer will finally be a Voron.  It won't be a Prusa again or at least for a while.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Ya.. with the better pricing and availability of competitor core-XYs, shipping, and tariffs, it doesn't seem reasonable to sink $ into high priced bed-slingers anymore. 

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

 

The noise put me off.

It's definitely noisy, but not terribly. If I close the door to the room I have it in I can't hear it from the outside room. Fans tend to be the loudest part when printing at higher temps.

If on a scale my Ender S1 is a 1 and MK3S is an 5, then the X1C would be 8.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Not sure if it was asked before, I kinda skipped to the 6th page...  But will Prusa be releasing their alpha firmware any time soon?  The one that enables the Fast (draft) printing?  I believe they call it "input shaping"?   Also, there is a touchscreen that's not enabled either?  Any thoughts on these 2?

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I asked myself the same question as the thread title. Yes, I am (was) a Prusa fanboy. I was DEFINITELY going down the MK4 route. My only question was to upgrade my MK3+ or buy the MK4 kit for only a little bit more. As I was about to place my order, I ran into a Bambu video. Then watched another and by the end of a YouTube binge session, I placed my Bambu X1C+AMS order.

I am NOT at all disappointed so far. The speed and quality are top notch. Yes I'm concerned with longevity and repair-ability. But so far, parts are available for order and are VERY reasonable. Are there issues with Bambu? Short answer, yes. Some are growing pains (customer support), some are issues with openness and some were engineering tradeoffs. But in the end, I wanted a printer that let me iterate through the design process as rapidly as possible..and man-oh-man can I. The speed is phenomenal while keeping print quality pretty high. With OrcaSlicer, the slicer complaints are taken car of because it's a direct fork of Bambu Studio (which is a fork of PrusaSlicer) but it has the advanced settings that Bambu removed.

I am rooting for Prusa while also wondering how they are going to catch up to the new lightning fast, inexpensive, CoreXY. Prusa has had little innovation in the last several years while also raising prices. The new kid on the block did their homework (searched the interwebs for nearly every innovation in the X1C) and assembled a slick/top notch product. Bed slingers better watch out. And speaking of bed slingers, that design really limits speed due to inertia of the bed with heavy material. Also, tall and slender prints just torque off the bed unless you have excellent adhesion and keep it slow. The MK4 will never catch up to any CoreXY because, physics.

I recently saw this video and agree with most of his grips of Prusa. Dear Prusa Research... We Need To Talk.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

I concur for the most part, but it is overhyped.  I have had issues with first-layer adhesion, especially on the textured sheet on the X1C and P1P.  I had an X1 that I sold.  It is a good printer, and I am not upset with my purchase, but it is not a "game changer."   I will say that the first layer issues were fixed with hair spray which something I rarely needed with Prusa Plates or printers.  

In general, the print quality is on par with a Prusa.   

Posted by: @davejavu

I asked myself the same question as the thread title. Yes, I am (was) a Prusa fanboy. I was DEFINITELY going down the MK4 route. My only question was to upgrade my MK3+ or buy the MK4 kit for only a little bit more. As I was about to place my order, I ran into a Bambu video. Then watched another and by the end of a YouTube binge session, I placed my Bambu X1C+AMS order.

I am NOT at all disappointed so far. The speed and quality are top notch. Yes I'm concerned with longevity and repair-ability. But so far, parts are available for order and are VERY reasonable. Are there issues with Bambu? Short answer, yes. Some are growing pains (customer support), some are issues with openness and some were engineering tradeoffs. But in the end, I wanted a printer that let me iterate through the design process as rapidly as possible..and man-oh-man can I. The speed is phenomenal while keeping print quality pretty high. With OrcaSlicer, the slicer complaints are taken car of because it's a direct fork of Bambu Studio (which is a fork of PrusaSlicer) but it has the advanced settings that Bambu removed.

I am rooting for Prusa while also wondering how they are going to catch up to the new lightning fast, inexpensive, CoreXY. Prusa has had little innovation in the last several years while also raising prices. The new kid on the block did their homework (searched the interwebs for nearly every innovation in the X1C) and assembled a slick/top notch product. Bed slingers better watch out. And speaking of bed slingers, that design really limits speed due to inertia of the bed with heavy material. Also, tall and slender prints just torque off the bed unless you have excellent adhesion and keep it slow. The MK4 will never catch up to any CoreXY because, physics.

I recently saw this video and agree with most of his grips of Prusa. Dear Prusa Research... We Need To Talk.

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

@Davejavu
The main reason for the speed difference between Bambulab X1 and Mk4 are not bed slinger vs CoreXY but that Mk4 has no mature implementation of input shaper yet. That and because profiles on a Prusa are focused on quality. The stock settings on the X1 are focused on speed, also when that means that extrusion rates are so high that the extruder is already entering territory of underextrusion and insufficient melting of the filament. Don't get me wrong, this can still be a reasonable thing for prototyping for example. But the thing is, that in custom profiles you can set such a focus also on a Prusa. As long as the printed model isn't huge, the advantage of the coreXY will be limited over the bed slinger. It is at large printers like the XL where CoreXY is the clearly superior option. 

I don't think that the Mk4 will surpass the X1 in speed even if you push it. The X1 does have some weight advantages on the X-axis etc, but they differences won't be all that large once you run the Mk4 with a well optimized input shaper implementation and an optimized custom print profile. That is why I think it is critical that Prusa comes up with something like that, a first step has been made already but they aren't quite there yet. This is however primarily a software challenge, rather than hardware. 

Prusa does seem to have a smaller CoreXY design already but does not sell it individually for the hobbyist market. Not sure why, but I don't think the bed slinger design of the Mk4 is such a large handicap as many make it out to be in its size class. 

All of that said, the X1 is definitely a hard competition for Prusa and Prusa needes to up the game if it wants to stay relevant as a printer manufacturer for the hobbyist market. In my opinion, the thing that makes the X1 quite compelling is that you get for its money also a very compact enclosure which enables to print more technical materials with less compromises. 

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

There is also the question of whether Bambulab will survive all the Chinese clones, which are also much cheaper. Prusa has it.

I'm excited when the next generation comes to Bambulab. And above all, how long the old printers will still be supported.

For me, none of the new corexy comes into question because of the volume alone. They also have their disadvantages. Some x axle is heavier than a mk4 bed. Of course, anyone who prints a lot of larger and solid things is better off with a corexy. Then the speed factor is also more important.

I actually have enough space on my Mini. I'm mainly concerned with input shaping to print a little faster but above all more beautifully. And it looks like the Mk4 prints faster and better than the X1 in a test. Both by default. Ultimately, of course, the Bambulab can print even faster.

But if it prints worse than the prusa in standard......

RE:

I think BambuLabs have a fantastic first printer. There's no doubt they shook up the 3D printing market, which is an accomplishment on its own. It seems they listened to what users in the industry were after and implemented everything in the one, neat, package. However, it needs more time to bed in before we can judge reliability, and that's what Prusa have - a proven track record. I also didnt want to go back to the 'old days' of using glue sticks for the bed!

I was back and forward between the X1 carbon and the MK4. Decided to go with the MK4 in the end and now that I am supposed to be close to shipping [I hope] I will most likely continue to wait, but I was very tempted to cancel and switch to the X1 at several points throughout the past few weeks.....

If BambuLabs prove themselves over the longevity aspects, then it will most likely be my next printer......

RE:

Do you own one?  If not, it is conjecture.  I know it is a good printer.  I own one of each and use the.  I sold my original X1 because I did not need it.  In general, you are probably right that it needs more time printing.  I will tell you it is more cheaply made.  Time will tell if it is a "fantastic printer".  The more cheaply made might bite them.  

Posted by: @iftibashir

I think BambuLabs have a fantastic first printer. There's no doubt they shook up the 3D printing market, which is an accomplishment on its own. It seems they listened to what users in the industry were after and implemented everything in the one, neat, package. However, it needs more time to bed in before we can judge reliability, and that's what Prusa have - a proven track record. I also didnt want to go back to the 'old days' of using glue sticks for the bed!

I was back and forward between the X1 carbon and the MK4. Decided to go with the MK4 in the end and now that I am supposed to be close to shipping [I hope] I will most likely continue to wait, but I was very tempted to cancel and switch to the X1 at several points throughout the past few weeks.....

If BambuLabs prove themselves over the longevity aspects, then it will most likely be my next printer......

RE: Prusa MK4 vs Bambu?

Completely agree - I’m just going off of the feature set etc, which is why I can’t mention any quality differences. When I said a fantastic printer I was referring to the feature set with the AMS, built in camera, nozzle cleaning, etc - all items that create a great overall, all-in-one, package for all types of users. But yes, I agree, it needs more time to test longevity, especially if it feels cheaply made etc!

Posted by: @cwbullet

Do you own one?  If not, it is conjecture.  I know it is a good printer.  I own one of each and use the.  I sold my original X1 because I did not need it.  In general, you are probably right that it needs more time printing.  I will tell you it is more cheaply made.  Time will tell if it is a "fantastic printer".  The more cheaply made might bite them.  

Posted by: @iftibashir

I think BambuLabs have a fantastic first printer. There's no doubt they shook up the 3D printing market, which is an accomplishment on its own. It seems they listened to what users in the industry were after and implemented everything in the one, neat, package. However, it needs more time to bed in before we can judge reliability, and that's what Prusa have - a proven track record. I also didnt want to go back to the 'old days' of using glue sticks for the bed!

I was back and forward between the X1 carbon and the MK4. Decided to go with the MK4 in the end and now that I am supposed to be close to shipping [I hope] I will most likely continue to wait, but I was very tempted to cancel and switch to the X1 at several points throughout the past few weeks.....

If BambuLabs prove themselves over the longevity aspects, then it will most likely be my next printer......