Now that I've had the X1 Carbon for 3+ months, I can definitively say it's not a Prusa competitor. What I mean by that is they are not aimed at the same audience, and each has it's pros and cons.
On the pro side for both:
Both have been very reliable for me. More reliable than any other printer brands I've ever owned, although a few (Ankermake x5) are coming close.
Both now have an active community of users that are very helpful. Prusa on their own website, and Bambu on Reddit, or their discord channel.
Both are actively developed by their manufacturers - ie, consistent firmware and software updates.
Pro's unique to my Prusa
because of the open-source nature of the entire printer (including firmware), there is an entire industry of third-party add-ons available that can fundamentally change the printer's capabilities.
A few I own:
1) third party nozzles and hotends
View attachment 553899
This was a really cool idea that didn't work out so well in real life, but you would NEVER see something like this available for the Bambu, because it required firmware modifications to work effectively.
2) attachments
View attachment 553900
This adds the ability to move a printed plate off the build surface, move a new plate onto the build base and start printing again without any intervention. Again, requires firmware modifications, and non-proprietary printable pieces that replace the open-source pieces on the printer.
View attachment 553903
This one hasn't arrived yet, but it adds the ability to have 25 different nozzles available automatically throughout the print! You could print with three different nozzle sizes, 15 different colors, and 5 different filament types all within the same print.
View attachment 553904
Again, requires both open-source firmware, as well as open-source hardware and electronics to fully integrate into the printer.
Con's of the Prusa
Speed - it's still essentially a second-generation printer. Finely tuned, but very slow compared to the Bambu or other newer printers on the market or coming out (X5, Cetus2, etc...)
barebones - You can see this as an advantage, or disadvantage.... I've had to purchase and print a lot of add-ons to get it to a very reliable stage. I'm not talking about the crazy stuff in the 'pro' section, basic things like filament guides, extruder cable reinforcements, screw caps, and vibration dampeners that probably should have been incorporated into the original design over time, but I had a failed print over. I've also built some more expensive things like an enclosure to keep temperature stability on long prints, which is really required unless it's in a temperature-controlled office.
Pros of the Bambu X1 Carbon
It works out of the box. You don't need to put anything together, you don't need to hand calibrate anything, although you do need to press the "calibrate" button :> things like Z offset, bed leveling, and flow optimization are all automated.
It's fast.... how fast? You can watch it print this benchy and the printer looks like it's in timelapse
For fun, I've tried to drive my MK3S+ up in speed, and it turns into a mess quickly. The X1 is easily 1.5x to 3x faster printing single color, and up to 5x faster printing color assuming you want the same quality out of both. If you are ok with a lower quality you can push the Bambu even further, and it won't turn into a mess.
Color, or multi-spool printing - the AMS system on the Bambu is much, much better than the MMU. You can add up to 16 different filaments into 1 printer and it will handle all of the filament changes without an issue. I used to switch out spools when one was low because I didn't want to run out of filament mid-print. Now, I can just add a second spool of the same color and the printer will completely use one spool, then auto switch to the next spool of the same type automatically. My Prusa may get up there when I finally get my swapper3d, but as of right now it's not even close.
Very good for remote management. With its "AI" it can auto-detect first-layer problems, or spaghetti and automatically pause the print, and you can check it remotely with its integrated camera. I've added a camera to watch my Prusa, but it won't auto-pause, or do other trickery that the Bambu can do.
Con's of the X1
Proprietary. I've touched on this before in this forum, but all of the cool things you can add to the Prusa won't be possible unless Bambu decides to open up the hardware and software. You really need to make sure what it does today is all that you will want, as there is no guarantee they will add the feature you want/need in the future. I submitted what I believe to be a bug in their firmware on their GitHub repository and they relabeled it "feature request". I argued asking for something to work consistently is not a feature request, but they are in control.
Similarly, I bought a PEI textured plate from matterhackers (
https://www.matterhackers.com/store...oated-pei-build-plate-steel-sheet/sk/MQ477EJH) before one was available from Bambu. Because it didn't have any plate markings for the printer to read, it would pause before every print and say "can't read build plate type". VERY ANNOYING! Wasn't until the latest build they allow you to bypass this check if you are using a third-party build plate.
High speed or High quality really requires their own filament or similar filament in quality/price. My Prusa is much more forgiving on third-party filament, which means it costs less to print. The cheapest filament I've found that works consistently is Sunlu.
availability - this is similar to #1 but the only place you can get Bambu replacement parts, or filament is from Bambu, and they are often out of stock. I've been wanting to buy more PA-CF and engineering support filament for quite a while without luck.
I'm a security guy, so I'd love to look at the network traffic and the binaries. We report vulnerabilities and pressure vendors (large and small) to fix them where I work.
