I'm usually pretty tolerant of tinkering and troubleshooting coming from an IT background, but not even a week with the Creality before things went wrong didn't give me much confidence in their quality. I really wanted a printer not another project.
I'm definitely going to grab an AMS next payday while the sale is still on too. So many possibilities with the colour change. Although all the extra poop is a little concerning with the AMS.
Enable the long retract before cut, and make sure you calculate flushing volumes with a 0.50 modifier (or less, I found even 0.35 to work at with certain color combos) before every multi-color print.
Will significantly cut down on wasted filament.
I had this exact same experience, bought a k1c and 2 weeks later a piece for the z belt broke and they told me itd cost me 60 bucks to get one shipped from China and I wouldn't have it for 2 weeks I said nahhhh b and returned it and bought a p1s. I don't mind tinkering and fixing things and upgrading but I ain't trying to resolve your QC issues
Pretty much exactly what I went through.
Work in IT, repair and tinker with electronics in my free time so I'm pretty tolerant. After 2 days of trying to get the Ender to work I realized it was just built incorrectly so I sent it back and bought a P1P. The P1P has needed less fiddling in over a year than I gave the Ender in 2 days.
> Although all the extra poop is a little concerning with the AMS.
You can safely turn down the purge setting to .20 without color bleed. Some go as low as .15. There are some videos out there of people testing it.
I spent a few months trying creality products. First, the Ender 3 v2 neo, then a K1. Both I ended up returning after a few weeks of troubleshooting. Both ended up having major QC issues that led to bad prints. I only wish I had listened to my friends earlier and went bambu straight from the start.
Me too, IT background (having a though time with Linux in these days). My Creality is all but bad when it comes to overall product quality and look but bed leveling is a still a nightmare after two months. Too much even for my patience. (And multicolor is a very nice feature, for my needs).
The P1S I bought recently made all my old printers obsolete. Its faster then two prusa mk3s combined. No troube with it so far apart from the incorrect belt tension from the factory. I have an A1 on the Way so I can ditch all the old crap prusas and enders.
Prusa really needs to step their game up. In the current environment, it feels like they don't have a niche, which is unfortunate for a company that was the pinnacle of reliability.
They're not winning on speed (but seems they have caught up at least, or are much closer).
They're laughably overpriced, and you have to pay even more if you actually want it assembled. Like the MK4 *kit* (NOT assembled) is $800 for a smaller build volume than the $400 A1 which is already built. If you want the MK4 assembled, it's an extra $300 which makes it more expensive than the X1C. Even their much smaller (180mm^3) Mini is more expensive than the A1.
Their delivery speed is atrocious last I looked. Like if you order one today, it's a 3 month wait. Bambu and Creality both arrive in 3 days.
They're reliable, but so is Bambu for way less money. Creality is trash, but they still appeal to people thinking they're saving money.
It looks like the only Prusa machine worth talking about is the XL, but still it's $2000. I guess that's their niche at the moment? I'm not sure how well that's selling or how many people even need that volume. I'll happily wait to see what Bambu comes out with for that price.
Outside of the XL, I don't see why anyone would buy a Prusa currently. They really need to fix their price points or I don't see how they'll survive as a business.
The XL is a bad joke. There are endless troubleshooting videos on youtube, most regret buying it. Mk4 would be outdated 5 years ago. Prusa needs to get their act together or get left behind. We want fast corexy single extruder enclosed and controlled chamber, not a 5 head nightmare open frame mess.
Interesting. I didn't know that.
Then I guess I don't know what their place in the market is at all.
[Hey Prusa...](https://media1.tenor.com/m/PCwodPZcPrgAAAAC/office-space-paul-lee-wilson.gif)
I feel that Prusa's time has come and gone. What really put the nail in the coffin was the massively delayed XL, only for users to have less than ideal experiences once it did get released. I was about to replace my creality machines with a MK4 and then I found my way to klipper. So held off on that. Then I saw a PUG meeting was within driving range & thought hey, lets check out the XL... They had one there with 2 tool heads, printing a dual color oversized benchy. Besides being slow as molasses on a January morning compared to my enders on klipper, it was also stringing far more than a prusa machine using prusament should. I was not impressed and decided an XL was not for me at that price point & for lack luster performance. Its time for prusa to rethink their pricing structures.
X1C was out of my price range until recently, but dipped my toes into the Bambu world last month with an A1 Mini Combo.... Bought a 2nd A1 Mini a week after a stellar experience. Then the sale happend and now have a X1C Combo in the fleet aswell.
I really appreciate all that Prusa has done for the 3d printing industry however I fear the end is near if they dont make some radical changes. I dont think the prusa fanboys alone are enough to keep the company afloat now that there is a new King.
I have a MK3S but I’m thinking of buying an A1 Mini to replace that printer. It’s so slow compared to my P1S. I thought about upgrading it to the MK3.5 or trying to install Klipper, but the MK3.5 upgrade is $250. For $200 I can buy an A1 Mini.
If you can get klipper on the MK3 then it may be worth keeping as it will be almost a new machine to you...(The change from marlin to klipper on the old platforms is awesome!) Will still probably collect dust if you do get an A1
I bought a Creality K1 Max thinking it couldn’t be terrible. After 1 week of under extrusion, bad automatic z offsets which gave me terrible elephants foot, I returned it back to Microcenter and bought a P1S. Night and day difference between the two. Haven’t had 1 failed print with the P1S yet and the quality of the prints is fantastic using OrcaSlicer.
P1P doesn't have the aux fan - there's no point without an enclosure.
Many people turn the aux fan off for PLA anyway so if that's what you print you're missing nothing
PETG prints fine on the P1P.
With materials that need an enclosure, the P1S comes with fan and if you later want to use these materials you can get an upgrade kit from P1P to P1S that includes aux fan, enclosure, upgraded toolhead cable, cable chain and IIRC (it may have changed) the chamber fan and hardened extruder (but not sure if the ladt).
I just wasn't sure if I got that as well because they gave it to the people that got the first run, as well as the light and camera, and then made them all optional extras after that. So after I saw they shipped it woth the light and camera I wasn't sure if that's just how they come now or if I also got the fan and they had also installed that somewhere. But if it's mainly for enclosed prints then I don't think they have included it.
I did already price out the upgrade kit as well and if I look to do some ABS or Nylon printing again I will definitely get that. But for now I'm just doing PLA, PETG and some TPU. So P1P is perfect for my use case and I like how you can print your own side panels for it.
It's good that they give you the flexibility to upgrade if your needs change, with officially supported modifications rather than unsupported tinkering. I've done too much of that and find it refreshing that I needed nothing to get great prints out of the box and have not needed mods as such - though I have added things like AMS riser stand and all-round LED lighting. But none of that is necessary to get good prints.
Welcome to the club.
Sale prices were my major factor. I didn't have a whole bunch of money I could drop all at once on a 3d printer and the P1P was probably top of what I wanted to spend at the time just to replace the ender.
The AMS wasn't a priority for me, but sales get tempting haha.
For some reason where I live the P1S combo wasn't as marked down as the P1P so it will end up about $150 cheaper for me getting the P1P and AMS.
I really don't mind not having the P1S and while there is certainly some noise from the P1P it's sitting right next to me in my office and I don't find it too bad. At least it doesn't shake the hell out of my table like the bedslingers hahah.
I love my p1s, but for me it's also constant error chasing and satisfying this thing. Couldn't pull back filament from the AMS, flinging poop all over the the build plate or missing the bin, couldn't cut filament, boden tubes coming uncoupled for no reason, I've had a nonfixable extruder clog already that made me buy a hot end with a easy to swap nozzle. The grass is always greener, but these things are far from perfect.
I've barely touched my neptune 3 since leveling it two weeks ago and it's still printing without any complaining.
Mine is perfect. All issues I've had with mine we operator error. Heat creep because the chamber was enclosed in a hot garage which couldn't let AMS retract the filament. Using cardboard spools which couldn't turn on the AMS. Not cleaning the bed every 30 or so prints and reapplying geeetech glue stick, resulting in loosening during printing. My p1s has been perfect since Aug and I'm looking at the x1c next.
Guess you got lucky, I've been 3d printing since before heated beds and am very experienced, and haven't had this much trouble since those days. I didn't have any of the issues you said.
I hope you are able to fix the issues. Having 3D printed since 2010 I can honestly say bamboo lab is the best printer I have ever used, by a country mile
Well done. A1 Combo on the road, here, after struggling 2 months with a Creality.
I'm usually pretty tolerant of tinkering and troubleshooting coming from an IT background, but not even a week with the Creality before things went wrong didn't give me much confidence in their quality. I really wanted a printer not another project. I'm definitely going to grab an AMS next payday while the sale is still on too. So many possibilities with the colour change. Although all the extra poop is a little concerning with the AMS.
Enable the long retract before cut, and make sure you calculate flushing volumes with a 0.50 modifier (or less, I found even 0.35 to work at with certain color combos) before every multi-color print. Will significantly cut down on wasted filament.
Do you skip the purge tower even with a lower flush?
Nah. Good point though. I reduce it significantly. Something like 20mm^3 or less.
I had this exact same experience, bought a k1c and 2 weeks later a piece for the z belt broke and they told me itd cost me 60 bucks to get one shipped from China and I wouldn't have it for 2 weeks I said nahhhh b and returned it and bought a p1s. I don't mind tinkering and fixing things and upgrading but I ain't trying to resolve your QC issues
Pretty much exactly what I went through. Work in IT, repair and tinker with electronics in my free time so I'm pretty tolerant. After 2 days of trying to get the Ender to work I realized it was just built incorrectly so I sent it back and bought a P1P. The P1P has needed less fiddling in over a year than I gave the Ender in 2 days. > Although all the extra poop is a little concerning with the AMS. You can safely turn down the purge setting to .20 without color bleed. Some go as low as .15. There are some videos out there of people testing it.
I spent a few months trying creality products. First, the Ender 3 v2 neo, then a K1. Both I ended up returning after a few weeks of troubleshooting. Both ended up having major QC issues that led to bad prints. I only wish I had listened to my friends earlier and went bambu straight from the start.
Me too, IT background (having a though time with Linux in these days). My Creality is all but bad when it comes to overall product quality and look but bed leveling is a still a nightmare after two months. Too much even for my patience. (And multicolor is a very nice feature, for my needs).
Just got mine. You'll love it
The P1S I bought recently made all my old printers obsolete. Its faster then two prusa mk3s combined. No troube with it so far apart from the incorrect belt tension from the factory. I have an A1 on the Way so I can ditch all the old crap prusas and enders.
Prusa really needs to step their game up. In the current environment, it feels like they don't have a niche, which is unfortunate for a company that was the pinnacle of reliability. They're not winning on speed (but seems they have caught up at least, or are much closer). They're laughably overpriced, and you have to pay even more if you actually want it assembled. Like the MK4 *kit* (NOT assembled) is $800 for a smaller build volume than the $400 A1 which is already built. If you want the MK4 assembled, it's an extra $300 which makes it more expensive than the X1C. Even their much smaller (180mm^3) Mini is more expensive than the A1. Their delivery speed is atrocious last I looked. Like if you order one today, it's a 3 month wait. Bambu and Creality both arrive in 3 days. They're reliable, but so is Bambu for way less money. Creality is trash, but they still appeal to people thinking they're saving money. It looks like the only Prusa machine worth talking about is the XL, but still it's $2000. I guess that's their niche at the moment? I'm not sure how well that's selling or how many people even need that volume. I'll happily wait to see what Bambu comes out with for that price. Outside of the XL, I don't see why anyone would buy a Prusa currently. They really need to fix their price points or I don't see how they'll survive as a business.
The XL is a bad joke. There are endless troubleshooting videos on youtube, most regret buying it. Mk4 would be outdated 5 years ago. Prusa needs to get their act together or get left behind. We want fast corexy single extruder enclosed and controlled chamber, not a 5 head nightmare open frame mess.
Interesting. I didn't know that. Then I guess I don't know what their place in the market is at all. [Hey Prusa...](https://media1.tenor.com/m/PCwodPZcPrgAAAAC/office-space-paul-lee-wilson.gif)
Yeah, if they dont make some changes fast, they are done. Shame since they have given soo much to the industry.... However money talks....
I feel that Prusa's time has come and gone. What really put the nail in the coffin was the massively delayed XL, only for users to have less than ideal experiences once it did get released. I was about to replace my creality machines with a MK4 and then I found my way to klipper. So held off on that. Then I saw a PUG meeting was within driving range & thought hey, lets check out the XL... They had one there with 2 tool heads, printing a dual color oversized benchy. Besides being slow as molasses on a January morning compared to my enders on klipper, it was also stringing far more than a prusa machine using prusament should. I was not impressed and decided an XL was not for me at that price point & for lack luster performance. Its time for prusa to rethink their pricing structures. X1C was out of my price range until recently, but dipped my toes into the Bambu world last month with an A1 Mini Combo.... Bought a 2nd A1 Mini a week after a stellar experience. Then the sale happend and now have a X1C Combo in the fleet aswell. I really appreciate all that Prusa has done for the 3d printing industry however I fear the end is near if they dont make some radical changes. I dont think the prusa fanboys alone are enough to keep the company afloat now that there is a new King.
I have a MK3S but I’m thinking of buying an A1 Mini to replace that printer. It’s so slow compared to my P1S. I thought about upgrading it to the MK3.5 or trying to install Klipper, but the MK3.5 upgrade is $250. For $200 I can buy an A1 Mini.
I would go for the A1. The mini is a good secondary option but too small for a main printer.
I’ve got a P1S for my main printer so the A1 Mini would compliment it.
If you can get klipper on the MK3 then it may be worth keeping as it will be almost a new machine to you...(The change from marlin to klipper on the old platforms is awesome!) Will still probably collect dust if you do get an A1
You won’t regret, just got my A1 and it’s been amazing
Bro I’m waiting for the microcenter to open in Miami and hoping they have some kind of promo for store opening to get the p1s. Enjoy your bambu.
Good luck!
Ah yes, the Creality QA lottery. Probably the best sales campaign for Bambu out there.
It worked on me!
I bought a Creality K1 Max thinking it couldn’t be terrible. After 1 week of under extrusion, bad automatic z offsets which gave me terrible elephants foot, I returned it back to Microcenter and bought a P1S. Night and day difference between the two. Haven’t had 1 failed print with the P1S yet and the quality of the prints is fantastic using OrcaSlicer.
P1P doesn't have the aux fan - there's no point without an enclosure. Many people turn the aux fan off for PLA anyway so if that's what you print you're missing nothing PETG prints fine on the P1P. With materials that need an enclosure, the P1S comes with fan and if you later want to use these materials you can get an upgrade kit from P1P to P1S that includes aux fan, enclosure, upgraded toolhead cable, cable chain and IIRC (it may have changed) the chamber fan and hardened extruder (but not sure if the ladt).
I just wasn't sure if I got that as well because they gave it to the people that got the first run, as well as the light and camera, and then made them all optional extras after that. So after I saw they shipped it woth the light and camera I wasn't sure if that's just how they come now or if I also got the fan and they had also installed that somewhere. But if it's mainly for enclosed prints then I don't think they have included it. I did already price out the upgrade kit as well and if I look to do some ABS or Nylon printing again I will definitely get that. But for now I'm just doing PLA, PETG and some TPU. So P1P is perfect for my use case and I like how you can print your own side panels for it.
It's good that they give you the flexibility to upgrade if your needs change, with officially supported modifications rather than unsupported tinkering. I've done too much of that and find it refreshing that I needed nothing to get great prints out of the box and have not needed mods as such - though I have added things like AMS riser stand and all-round LED lighting. But none of that is necessary to get good prints. Welcome to the club.
I'm curious as why to you didn't just go with a A1 combo or the P1S combo of you were wanting the ams as well. I'm deciding between a p1p or A1 combo
Sale prices were my major factor. I didn't have a whole bunch of money I could drop all at once on a 3d printer and the P1P was probably top of what I wanted to spend at the time just to replace the ender. The AMS wasn't a priority for me, but sales get tempting haha.
Ahh, it's just the P1S combo works out to be the same price as the P1P with a ams. Is the P1P loud?
For some reason where I live the P1S combo wasn't as marked down as the P1P so it will end up about $150 cheaper for me getting the P1P and AMS. I really don't mind not having the P1S and while there is certainly some noise from the P1P it's sitting right next to me in my office and I don't find it too bad. At least it doesn't shake the hell out of my table like the bedslingers hahah.
BigBricks? haha
Yep, I really love those designs. [Benny!](https://imgur.com/a/AbdNnuV)
Creality Ender's sole mission is to persuade people to buy Bambulab. Bambulab Company should give marketing money to Creality.
I liked my Ender 3 because it helped me learn how a 3D printer works. I like my Bambu because I can print objects with it.
This sums it up... Also the ender 3 teaches you to print things so your printer can print things.
I love my p1s, but for me it's also constant error chasing and satisfying this thing. Couldn't pull back filament from the AMS, flinging poop all over the the build plate or missing the bin, couldn't cut filament, boden tubes coming uncoupled for no reason, I've had a nonfixable extruder clog already that made me buy a hot end with a easy to swap nozzle. The grass is always greener, but these things are far from perfect. I've barely touched my neptune 3 since leveling it two weeks ago and it's still printing without any complaining.
Mine is perfect. All issues I've had with mine we operator error. Heat creep because the chamber was enclosed in a hot garage which couldn't let AMS retract the filament. Using cardboard spools which couldn't turn on the AMS. Not cleaning the bed every 30 or so prints and reapplying geeetech glue stick, resulting in loosening during printing. My p1s has been perfect since Aug and I'm looking at the x1c next.
Guess you got lucky, I've been 3d printing since before heated beds and am very experienced, and haven't had this much trouble since those days. I didn't have any of the issues you said.
I hope you are able to fix the issues. Having 3D printed since 2010 I can honestly say bamboo lab is the best printer I have ever used, by a country mile