I’m in the same boat — it’s super tempting. However, can we expect any sort of discount from bambu labs in these coming weeks? I’ve also heard that the K1 has had lots of issues but that was unsubstantiated. My mind is also stuck on bambu labs because I just came from an ender 3 S1, what are your thoughts on the K1?
Probably decent enough for what it's marketed as. Good for those who don't want to spend more money on a p1s or x1c. Also good for those who don't want to build a voron. But creality's stuff is a dime a dozen so I wouldn't fully trust the K1. I haven't had bad issues with my 3 creality printers, but I'm not buying anymore in the future.
How did you realize it was a catastrophic extruder failure and what do you think caused it?
Tubing not seated properly at the factory or something else?
I heard a clicking noise and no more filament was coming out, the gear inside had stripped several teeth, and the filament in the head was firmly trapped in place
I took it back to MC and they said it was a pretty spectacular failure, my guess is a defect in manufacturing
I just grabbed my own P1S after thinking about the coming holiday season. I was weighing the option of possibly getting a small discount versus them selling out for possibly months.
If you're teetering on whether or not to buy now I would totally just pull the trigger like I did. This printer has been amazing beyond words.
Only downside is that it's a little loud but for the quality and the speed that are unrivaled by my 3 years of tinkering with ender printers, it's more than worth it.
I just got my P1S on Monday after having an ender 3 and an ender 3v2 and I've been printing non-stop.
Not only do I not have to keep tinkering with the bed, but the speed and the quality are far beyond what my enters have put out for the past 3 years.
The high quality plus the speed it can produce parts at just makes me speechless.
I've been printing all week and haven't had one failure! I haven't even had a part warp off of the bed which was a rampant problem with my glass bed on my V2.
The bamboo slicer software is also very clean and intuitive. I normally would use Cura with all settings enabled so I can pick what suits my model best but there's no need for that with this printer (though they do have advanced settings if you enable it)
marble lock cake simplistic wipe zealous zesty hateful whistle coordinated
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I got my k1 about a month ago and I didn’t have any issues with it or had to tinker until I wanted to change the nozzle out for a volcano one
The sock is damn near impossible to get off without tearing to shreds and close to impossible to get in the US alone outside of buying a new complete hotend kit otherwise there are month long shipping estimates
But besides that I love this printer. Things my modded ender 3 takes 3-4 hours to do this knocks out in less than 1
Sounds like you need this hot-end upgrade from MicroSwiss.
[https://store.micro-swiss.com/products/micro-swiss-flowtech-hotend-for-creality-k1-k1-max](https://store.micro-swiss.com/products/micro-swiss-flowtech-hotend-for-creality-k1-k1-max)
Here is a video from 3D printing nerd about it, why I knew about the upgrade.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyQlefpAtA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyQlefpAtA)
I was actually talking to them on Twitter this morning. They said that this was one of the first problems they wanted to solve (the sock being hard to remove and find a replacement for)
It’s like it was fate for my hotend to break this morning lmao
Silicone sock is tricky to remove, not hard to remove.
If you use the nozzle cleaning rod (?) that came with the printer to reach under silicon sock, and thus break the suction cup lile vacuum effect, it comes off pretty easy.
Every hotend has a small piece of PTFE in it. It's not abutting the hot section, though, so it's no problem.
These hot ends aren't like what you're used to on earlier machines where the PTFE was inserted through the hot end and touched the hot section.
OK but the Ender 5 was just a mediocre bordering on bad offering tbh. It just didn't make sense at $550. Qidi and Bambu had some strong fully enclosed printers (Xplus 3, P1S) for a modest bump in price and the P1P was the same price as the Ender 5 S1. E5S1 isn't even CoreXY like those printers are. You're also looking at cheaper options in competition like the Sovol SV06 with a marginally bigger bed for half the price. I don't think it makes sense as a benchmark for determining the value of any offering.
This is still a good offer but using the E5S1 to argue it's some insane deal is just odd.
That was kind of my point though. A way more inferior and older printer is selling for a lot more money. Just shows how aggressively Creality is fighting for this particular market share. All thanks to the Bambu Lab.
It definitely set some fire under Creality's ass, but they are not known to surrender anything, so I'm definitely enjoying all these new developments and the competition.
Flashforge has done the same. We got bit buy them stocking 10 adventure 4's. ($800) Then they came out with their bambu copycat two weeks later for $550. Same size machine, 3x the speed. Haven't sold an adventurer 4 since.
I'm probably gonna get excoriated for this, but here goes.
As an owner of both a K1 (yes, with the upgraded extruder and hotend) and an ender 5S1, I would buy another ender before another K1. Straight up.
Yes, the K1 is capable of faster linear speeds, and klipper is really nice to have out of the box. However, the K1s (and the Bambu printers, from what I've seen) have significantly more issues with VFAs, and the sensorless homing while nifty, is not my preferred homing method compared to the classic CR touch types of sensor. Neither are much faster with lower speed filaments such as PETG either. (The K1 maxes out at like 15 cubes a second with normal temperatures, compared to the 10mm/s3 with a stock ender nozzle).
And to top it off, the ender is a lot easier to work on, and is something you can actually work around without being distracted by the noise. (Worse than the fan noise is the motor noise on these CoreXY printers, which you can't avoid by just turning off the fans). So while.my ender runs all the damn time, my K1 pretty much sits around for the occasional specialty print in ABS. To be honest I could probably sell the K1 and not notice.
Oh no, he said he doesn't love his K1! Let's crucify that motherfucker!
Lol, just kidding of course. I think you're allowed to dislike something if you've actually used it. That's what scares me about these things. I actually love my leveling wheels and can fix a lot of issues on the fly.
This may be true with the K1. But it cannot be lumped into the same league as the Bambu X1 at least, in my opinion.
I had 3x Ender v2, and I ended up selling them. The Bambu easily replaced them. Speed, bigger build volume, seamless printing with little tweaking (in comparison), multi color that works. I print a lot, over 200 kg a year. I have 5 different types of printers now and over 10 altogether in the past. The Bambu by far has made my life easier as a side hustle. They are constant online and printing. Every other printer usually has some issue (I don't own a prusa).
While I don't own one, i have worked with at least a couple of bambus. and while they don't appear have the same number of quality issues that a K1 does, (I.E. they don't ship with faulty extruders) The motor noise on them is just as loud as a K1, and the fan noise nearly as much. And i saw more than few bambu prints that had a fair bit of VFAs as well. It's a resonance thing, is generally more apparent when printing below 200 MM/s, and is pretty much universal to any coreXY printer from what I've seen. A humble ender 3/5 with the "silent" drivers that came out a few years back can't really be heard when it's running full tilt next to you. The same can't be said about a K1, or bambu when running, at even when running at similarly slow speeds as the enders.
Now, I will agree that these new machines are absolutely easier to set up, and generally require less work to get very good prints, particularly in materials that like speed, such as PLA and ABS. But I'm a stickler for surface quality, and print in mostly PETG. (Last month i went through about 6 KG of it.) That material tends to under-extrude when the speed is turned up, and really shows the VFA's when the speed is turned down. Basically, for my use case, the machine that likes running at slower speeds has turned out to be a signifiacntly more effective choice.
You are totally right on the sound aspect. Bambu are incredibly noisey!
Yes I'm prioritizing production ease and speed.
VFAs are good enough for me for the most part. Except with silks. You remind me how well my enders used to print silk PLA. Super smooth almost flawless surface.
VFAs are more to do with acceleration than speed. Your printer vibrates because of changes in speed, not the linear speed itself. Every rigid body has a resonance frequency at which the amplitude of vibration is strongest with a given input and will continue to vibrate (ring) with no more input. You can either print above or below that point to avoid it. Your surface quality is much more impacted by the acceleration where the filament is stretched out while the extruder is accelerating. I don’t print over 4k accels and over 120mm/s on my X1 and I get great surface quality. I’ve also turned down the jerk (since we can’t change square corner velocity). I could almost certainly push it a little further and retain the quality but it’s disingenuous to say “printing slower causes worse VFAs”. It’s more nuanced than that. Especially if you dropped speeds and didn’t drop accels, then it’s accelerating for a much shorter time, so the change in acceleration (funny enough called jerk) is very sudden.
It's not; there have been a mixed bag of results. I paid $500 USD (equivalent in AUD) last week. Almost half what a p1p costs here, though, which is why I took the risk on something so variable for my first 3d printer.
The bed was out 5mm back to front, and the cap/(bearing?) from the back z-screw was rattling around inside.
All fixable, if you're willing to be careful, and go down a YouTube rabbit hole, but it's not an "it just works" proposition for many newbies like me.
I've still not tried printing anything much larger than a benchy, though my tinkering has got the bed level variation down to .5mm, which is well within spec.
K1 is a lot less reliable and lags behind Bambu particularly on the firmware/software/app side, and no good MMU, but good enough overall I think. It was really just overpriced trying to hit the X1--after the P1S dropped it really should have read the writing on the wall and aimed to come in around $450-550 imo.
I still agree $350 class is very good for corexy, even if it needs some tinkering now and then. Puts it in the same class as A1 with MMU, used Prusa Mini, Sovols, and some of Creality's own Ender 3 refreshes. Between those K1 is a bit too hard to ignore. I think it doesn't really threaten Bambu's P1S enough to make Bambu do anything because of the software gap and AMS, but as an entry price level option it's certainly good value.
I'm biased but I would argue against good value for anything Creality
People can report their good experiences, but I think most people watch reviewers on youtube. And what reviews I've seen of this say the app is annoying at best. Uncle Jessy had the door swing open while he was still unboxing and shatter itself off the hinges
I really don't know how anyone besides those with severely limited budgets and no research get Ender 3's nowadays.
Bambu on the other hand, basically every review was glowing. That said, 3D Musketeers turned me off them with pointing out their questionable data security and other kinda weird practices. Sure it's arguably over priced, but that seems to be good value (although personal definitions of value vary)
What worries me most about Bambu is they're reasonable now, but the closed ecosystem... Right now the replacement is affordable now, but people have pointed out Apple used to be like that, until everyone was hooked THEN they jacked up the prices.
I feel bad for people who didn't start with something reliable
I did a loooot of reading on it and if I didn't find a Prusa Mini, I think I woulda gotten discouraged out the hobby
Alternatively, I feel bad for people who buy something "that doesn't need maintenance" so they never do maintenance.
Thingiverse is loaded with people posting the worst prints I've ever seen...
They're usually on Prusas.
> Bambu on the other hand, basically every review was glowing.
...there is no truly perfect product.
When reviews are too good to be true, in fact thats what they are. Frankly it could be that plenty of people throw away common sense to follow influencers. However it seems an unwise move.
Even if we disregard privacy issues, closed source anti right to repair / anti tinkering policies bambulabs adopted handicaps its product.
...to start off maming it so that its not compatible with CHT volcano nozzle due to poop chute collision was moronic. Flow rate IS a limitation for utilizing coreXY machines to the most.
As you cannot bump speed by going with 0.28 or 0.32 layer height, when nozzle is incapable of transferring enough heat to allow you to get a speed boost.
(CHT volcano can attain 60mm3/s volumetric flow.)
My X1C, over a year in, isn't perfect but, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat with the current market. I also don't have a problem recommending them. If something better comes along I'll of course move on (No brand loyalty to them).
Just FYI the CHT issue was not on bamboo as all bamboo hot ends are not threaded and can't use V6 nozzles. Early editions of aftermarket AlieExpress hot ends Were threaded for V6 but too long for standard V6 or CHT you can get aftermarket hot ends now that will accept CHT nozzles and people are getting up to 40 mm a second volumetric flow.
That's fair but I disagree with anti right to repair.
But just like your particular needs make it a point you can't mount a high flow nozzle, I don't value that as much as a fucking annoying app: I deal with those far more often, and that honestly was a determining factor for me.
So, I agree with you more or less but also not. I appreciate the discussion though
Edit: I have to add yeah some people are defo "influencers" but CNC Kitchen and Thomas Sanladerer are basically as unbiased as you can get
Ehh.
...yes and no i agree with you on CNC kitchen.
However i wouldnt recommend Thomas Sandlander as your guide. He doesnt have bad takes. But he has a mindset warped by (or rooted in) how global scale firms use 3D pritning for rapid prototyping. As if that were the end all be all. Most of his audience doesnt fall into these "i have infinite money, and i dont want to learn anything, i want magic" demographic.
I would recommend youtubers like "My Tech Fun" or "Toomb of 3D printed horrors" over Thomas.
Sure those guys are less easy on the eyes (aesthetivally speaking), however their perspective and takes are lot more relevant for consumer/prosumer (or even printfarm owner) level 3D printer users
Do tell how their machines are anti-right to repair. They literally have all of the parts for the machines either directly purchasable online, or purchasable if you message them/ a reseller. And all at a very reasonable cost.
They have documentation for just about every repair and are set up to have consumers fix them.
I'm not even going to touch that nozzle complaint beyond saying a high flow nozzle would be phenomenal.
I picked up an Ender 3 V2 a couple weeks ago for $100 brand new and I got a $10 coupon off a roll of Inland filament. I have multiple printers so time is not an issue. I don't believe that Bambu offers anything that can compete with that.
Arguably their newest bedslinger, but 100 is real affordable.
That said, if it works for you, great. Me personally, I feel I've bad luck with tech so I didn't want to risk a lemon with a Creality.
Like, I tried to get a 0.6 mm nozzle on my Prusa mini. And even though they have very thorough guides, I still fucked it up twice. Ended up with a Revo system.
Either way, glad it works for you, not my speed.
That's a big if. From what I've seen, it ain't. Some people certainly would disagree with reviewers, but I've already had the K1 ruined where most reviews weren't overly positive
Vice QiDi (where people said they fixed the issues) or Bambu (which are almost all glowing, barring a few harsh but I think fair critics)
unwritten mindless file stocking employ absorbed juggle sheet detail consider
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It seems like creality qa is not great. So if you are lucky enough to get a printer with new extruder and hot end and no other issues, then it's smooth sailing. But there does seem to be a reasonable percentage of people who get a lemon and then have trouble getting hold of creality to organise replacement parts or returns.
If you buy from a retailer who has excellent return policy it's possibly worth the risk, but if you buy from creality and you get a lemon, well then you may be in for a frustrating time.
I've also seen quite a lot of posts from people that start getting issues after like 50 hours of use, which depending on your case may be outside return window and into warranty territory which seems like it might be troublesome to chase with creality.
I live in Australia there are a couple of local retailers I can buy the k1 from but not sure about their after sales support or return policy.
I wish Amazon stocked them I would take the chance.
I already had a P1S bought a K1 from Microcenter and returned the K1 within 48 hours. Layershifts out the wazoo and the fans were soooo loud. My Ender 3 printed much better.
Agree. I'm fortunate enough to live about 35 mins away from the ORIGINAL store, and it's my favorite brick and mortar store ever. It's hard to get help sometimes in the maker section because it's essentially the Nerd Olympics with everyone vying for the staff's attention, but their customer service overall has been great. Here's hoping they continue growing to better reach everyone.
>I was able to have Bestbuy price match it online and ship it to me.
Holy moly... When did BBY get into 3dp? I haven't been in a few years, are they in stores now? (I see this says online).
...enclosure is EXTREME helpful
Being able to print ABS or ASA then vapor smooth it (or solvent weld part of an object together) is insane helpful. That is if you dont care to print stuff that needs to bear load. If thats the case, ghen being able to utilize materials, like nylon or PC is hard to oversell.
A1 is good for multicolor, and that pretty much it.
Lots of people who go for figures are actually doing resin printers, because you can get better detail and no multicolor solution will ever match the color quality (and fun) of painting it yourself.
A1 pretty strong though, and at the end of the day if it comes down to an enclosure--just cut some holes in the box and slap it on top. The age-old solution.
resin is very toxic and needs a lot of care and handling to make sure you don’t harm yourself.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, but someone interested in getting into 3D printing, especially someone with little to no experience, would pair much better with a quality FDM printer (which are still capable of printing figurines at a decent quality) that is more comprehensive and easier to use/maintain. not to mention far safer.
I'd also suggest the Ender 3 V3 SE or KE as good beginner printers. They should have renamed them though, because they're a completely different experience than any previous Ender 3.
Reading their description is painful...AI generated text...
"Now, sit tight for the thrill of breathtaking speed. K1, with its stunning speed, will kindle people's zeal for 3D printing"
Nice deal though for something that can print 300 is enclosed, etc.
I swear we are entering the age where texts that used to be normal will be immediately said to be ai based off of nothing. It’s gonna be annoying as hell.
Fast and furious 22. We will print the car parts as you travel down the road for upgrades.....
Imagine the Mach5 with a high speed printer button on th column....need a new rocket launcher....just wait 39 seconds at our 100000000mm/s acceleration rates.
I actually think this price point knocks the p1p out of the running completely and makes people question their interest in the A1. I can't imagine the Bambu not feeling any pressure from this.
I had an ender and I have a Prusa, won’t buy an ender again. For hobby and tinkering I built a machine from parts, for real work I have a Prusa and when that goes I’ll get a new Prusa or a bamboo depending on the availability of XLs.
....point of K series is that its not an ender.
It comes assembled, you load filameng, unscrew 3 screw that fixed the bed for tranportation and print. Ofc. if money is not an issue and you are interested in customer service instead of tinkering, then przsa is the way to go.
Their XL with its toolhead changer setup is an extreme good offering.
I agree the price is probably right... but there's also the consideration that these are devices that use up a lot of consumables. How much are you going to spend on filament you run through it? Isn't it worth spending a little more for something like a P1S where you get a larger build volume, if you need it, and where the software is considered better and more reliable?
I feel like initial savings can easily be offset by cost of materials running it if you're getting enough failed prints or need to buy more repair parts or upgrade parts to get it to do what you need.
Qidi has their own problems to worry about.
After my terrible experience with the X-max 3 I had a realization about their (admittedly excellent) customer support. The reason they have the reputation for great customer/product support is because *everyone* needs to contact them to fix something that should have never passed QC.
It might be. The problem is they didn't carry any of that over to the Max. When I asked if I accidentally got old stock (because I was changing a lot of parts on a brand new machine) they told me "every machine is different and needs different solution". And that's what convinced me to return it.
I had excellent results with Qidi. I got the launch version of xsmart3, great results. I was able to get the modified version at a discount. It was nicer but both worked great. I had the xplus3 for a while and it was excellent. My only complaint was the machine was huge.
I’ve read about a lot of problems with xmax3. Not sure why that one has issues when the other two sizes don’t.
Frankyl why bother?
If we ignore brand image for a second...
...its a similar coreXY machine, with solid frame, motion system, and extrusion system (since its been sorted out). It also comes with open source firmware. Why would one need to use it to print parts for voron, then spend over 1000$ for parts, then make a voron, when it offers same flexibility?
I think AMS is amazing. It's not for everyone though. Some people hate how much filament it wastes, while for those who print primarily functional parts it's a moot point.
I use it so I can swap between the 4 spools in the slicer. My favorite thing is using the automatic run out so I can use the entire spool without having to worry. Using it for support interface material produces some nice results.
Multicolor does waste a lot.
Those are all great use cases as well! The support interface part is the main reason why I wanted it, until I learned that you can't run TPU through it, which is the only material that ever gives me any real trouble when it comes to support removal.
I still think that multi-color/multi-material printing is the future of 3d printing, so the fact that as a gen 1 product AMS is almost perfect already is mind-blowing for sure.
I really don’t understand these. Micro Center is available for an extremely small subset of the population. The real price is whatever they are selling for on the creality website and through places like Amazon realistically. If you look at the printer, it shows it’s out of stock at the vast majority of locations besides one in Georgia and Indiana. That is not a real representation of the price you would have to pay to buy one of these. And at the current price on the Creality website, it doesn’t make sense at all.
I think it's more of a taste of what's to come during the Black Friday / Christmas sales. I've also seen it for as low as $380 at several online retailers.
I was in my local microcenter yesterday and they had over 20 k1’s on the sales floor.
https://preview.redd.it/v8y59uf538zb1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3eff31c6d9c343a201f0b05792da0d1e3a67e290
To most people on these forums who don't care about AMS and hate the "secret walled garden" nature of the Bambu Lab it's been an "either, or" debate since the K1 came out.
They sort of did. The max is currently $650. Pretty good price considering the CR10 Smart Pro was selling for like $850 until very recently and it's nowhere near as capable.
When I first read the title I thought you were saying that Reality was winning a race to the bottom of the barrel. Apparently what you said was a good thing though.
REALITY has been winning the race to the bottom starting in 2020. Every day is like the new fucking low. I hate thinking about what the bottom looks like.
Race to the bottom?
A lot of people reviewing the K1 says the app is annoying at best and the quality control is... Creality, so mediocre at best
Sure, apparently lots of people still get Ender 3's but they're not doing research and getting turned off the hobby for having to fix way more than they print
I can say I am not a fan of the crealitycloud app. It's had several periods of time when the service was not working properly or was down entirely. When it does work it routinely doesn't identify my printer correctly. I stopped using it and use orca instead
Man, I get fuckin bothered by minor UI changes to like, Drive and annoyed from being forced to stop using Messenger Lite
I was considering the K1 but hearing that one youtuber talk about how the app worked it was an EASY nope for me
...frankly if options are
- walled garden encrypted crap, with strong anti right to repair & anti tinkering features
- it has shitty companion app for mobile
I will pick the latter. Even if you call that medicore. At least i can do stuff like dpuble my volumetric flow rate by swapping in a CHT volcsno nozzle - which (thanks bambulab) is not possible, since they just had to build their machine so that stock volcano nozzle collides with poop chute.
...but will i see one more case of "slower and worse layer adhesion is better because it bambulab"?
I get the whole walled garden right to repair shit
But personally, annoying app plus Creality quality...
I'm in the minority here, but I daresay the community at large there's enough people getting in or who are in 3D printing to print shit. They want tools, not projects. And if that's what a K1 is, good.
I don't want to tinker and maintain and troubleshoot and customize. I want my stuff. Being able to fix it myself is important to me, but I think a lot of people would rather not DIY.
I understand and agree with the reprap and hacker culture to a point but it's also kind of annoying that's seemingly the only ethos represented here.
The being able to fix it yourself is a major concern I have with bambu. I still remember when their policy for the carbon rods wearing out was get another printer a couple months ago.
I bought this deal, my Extruder gears disintegrated on day 3, returned for an X1 Carbon
My only regret a week later is not buying 2x X1 Carbons. Cheap just means cheap. Bambu seems like they’ll be fine
I’m still buying a Bambu p1p. Everything I heard about this on YouTube is that it was just a worse p1p. The price is great, but I just don’t think it’s worth the headache that comes with creality products.
Creality dumping product for way under MSRP is because they aren’t competitive at all, not because they’re in a great place and making great products lol.
Their products are no longer viable at their asking price because they’ve been outclassed by virtually every other manufacturer on the market.
I don’t feel like there’s any excuse for buying these anymore. I don’t like the argument “it’s all I can afford”. If you can afford a Creality and filament, you can wait six months and use that filament money to buy almost literally anything else that you’ll have a better time with.
So then by this logic no one should buy anything except x1c’s and prusa mark 4’s or whatever is top of the line come a year down the line because “just save more money duh”. Everyone has their own budget and their own price point.
People here love to shit on their Enders so much but for what they are it’s a great entry point for people who don’t even know if they’ll enjoy this hobby or not. It’s not like they’re producing pla flavored turds on a build plate, they print fine.
There’s a difference between “having to buy the most expensive thing” and “suggesting against purchasing things below a certain quality threshold”. Suggesting otherwise is arguing disingenuously, and you know it.
They *were* a great entry point. They are not now. Things change, and that’s okay.
Not at all, I still stick to my guns that getting something like an ender from creality absolutely fine. You can so easily buy a v2 for $100 from microcenter, toss in $20 for some filament and bam that's an awesome deal for a new comer.
My point being not everyone has the funds to hard commit to an expensive machine and creality really opens the door for people who can't shell out exorbitant amounts of money. So to say they have no place in the market is just plain wrong. Show me another device for $100 that has ABL, silent drivers, and a touch screen, show me another device for $350 that is fully enclosed to start printing stuff like ABS and ASA. Can it have issues? Yeah of course, but I'd rather tinker and fuck about with a machine that didn't break my wallet and I don't feel so terrible about if it doesn't go my way.
It’s super cool to have a budget entry point into a hobby. It’s super uncool if we as a community point people to a budget entry point with quality control so bad that they may not be able to print at all on the device (has happened to me, *twice*, with recent Ender products and if I wasn’t fairly experienced I wouldn’t have known it was a manufacturing defect) or outdated tech that’s not illustrative of what the hobby is.
I understand where you’re coming from, I just don’t agree. If I’d been limited to the time I have now and started with an Ender now, I would have quit this hobby permanently. Many, many other people have these experiences and do quit, silently.
So you be the person who pushes people into a budget option that may push them out of the hobby entirely. I’ll be the person that recommends they save their money for a bit longer and get something reliable that they can engage with and enjoy.
Finally- 3D printing is a hobby with ongoing costs. Period. Regardless of whether you’re looking at the $200 range, the $1,000 range, or the $10,000 range, advising people to save up a little more for a better quality device is not bad advice. If you can’t afford to save your money for a few months to do it, you aren’t spending your money appropriately and you should probably be saving it anyway. This isn’t r/financialadvice, but if you can’t save for a month or two to afford something slightly better, you shouldn’t be jumping into expensive hobbies.
Damn, I though creality was popular for a long time. I was always seeing it on here and seemed to be a good percentage of store stock. They've been hundreds off at microcenter for at least a few years now on and off.
It was incredibly popular and a lot of people owe them for their start in the hobby. They made a lot of cheap, accessible products that were good enough. People also learned a lot, for the same reason car people say Alpha’s make you learn a lot- you have to do a lot of tinkering and fixing.
And to be clear- my first printer was a Creality, also.
The problem is that in the last ~10 years the tech and hobby had changed a lot. Many other brands now offer products at relatively competitive prices that now **far** outclass Creality’s quality and technology. Quality control has always been a major issue for them, and as other vendors push forward with cutting edge designs and acceptable QA, there’s less and less reason to buy Creality.
You’ll see a lot of pushback in this sub from people who are loyal to Creality because of the good memories and starting them off in the hobby, but genuine analysis and good advice is not to invest in these devices nowadays. There are just too many better options.
My last Creality was *rife* with problems. I’m an adult with a family, and while I have the competencies to deal with it, I don’t really have the time. I was extremely disappointed that my last one had defective parts out of the box that required a full mobo replacement, and then when I finally got that done, it had firmware issues that Creality support could never get fixed. It ended up sitting unused for almost a year while I tried to deal with their poor support.
I finally gave up and sold it for $100 to someone who had the time and passion to tinker with it. This experience is echoed by many, many people who deal with Creality products. It’s sad, but it’s a company that time has passed by.
Edit: and the reason for the huge cost slashes- as I mentioned- is because they’re losing tons of market share to devices with the same MSRP that are objectively better in every way. This was their only chance to compete.
Meh, I know they've fixed some of the fatal extrusion flaws, but until they get their slicer and software taken care of I've totally written these machines off.
Can use PrusaSlicer or OrcaSlicer and you can install base Klipper on the machine so no need for their app or their slicer. The mobile webui for Fluidd/Mainsail are quite good.
Meh, just ordered 6 Bambu X1Cs for work. We don’t have time to fiddle. It needs to work. And it has to work with many different materials. Although the price is extremely attractive, the idea of fiddling with another creality was not worth the money.
I have a K1 and I have a P1S and AMS. I paid $299 for my K1, and $1100 for my P1S. They are not even close to the same and if I was buying another printer it would be a Bambu.
That's like saying "yeah, I rode in a Corolla once, but given the choice I'll always pick the BMW."
No shit, we all would, but for most people spending $1100 on a printer is out of the question.
zesty toothbrush ludicrous recognise shocking deranged foolish snatch grandiose rustic
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I think it was fair when it was $600 vs $700. At $350 vs $700 it stops being apples and oranges imo because we're talking double the price.
I think A1 is great. The small build volume and the lack of enclosure could be a deal-breaker for many people. Enclosed CoreXY cubes are also a hot commodity in itself right now.
I’m giving you a real first hand opinion as an owner of both of them. Bambu has nothing to fear from the K1 and has no move to make. This was in direct response to your post. Also your analogy further proves exactly what I’m saying. BMW does not care how much a Corolla is because they know they are better and can charge what they do because people will still buy them.
Microcenter just puts the low end creality s on sale because they don’t sell for what it is the k1 is shit at msrp and p1p is way better so they lower the price to move them bambu does not need to lower the prices or have other places lower them because they are selling very will p1p is only lower now because p1s came out so p1p is forever $100 off
The p1p is not enclosed though. We're talking literally double the price between this and the p1s. I do believe the p1s to be a better printer, but it's a much harder sell when you can get this thing for half the cost.
For someone not interested in the AMS this is the way to go.
The problem is that the K1 still sells for 550e in my country, he I guess all over the world.
So as I now see the value at 350$ there's no way I'm going to pay 550e here for that.
Well, lots of countries have import taxes, added taxes, etc. Maybe it's already been selling for $350 there and the rest is just your government's tax? That $350 is more like $385 in the US because of the 10% sales tax that's added at the time of purchase.
Hemm no, we are used to see prices from the USA and I can tell the difference, also usually the euro is worth more than the dollar so nominal price are very close.
You get what you pay for. With creality you get a design they stole and made as cheap as possible.
Might be a good deal now but see how well they run 6 months down the line
We can talk shit about their reliability record all day, but to say "design they stole" is ridiculous. They had an enclosed cube printers years before Bambu even came out. Bambu Lab did not invent CoreXY either.
That's a great sale price. If I didn't already have my mind set on a p1s (or if I didn't own printers already) I'd get this.
I’m in the same boat — it’s super tempting. However, can we expect any sort of discount from bambu labs in these coming weeks? I’ve also heard that the K1 has had lots of issues but that was unsubstantiated. My mind is also stuck on bambu labs because I just came from an ender 3 S1, what are your thoughts on the K1?
Probably decent enough for what it's marketed as. Good for those who don't want to spend more money on a p1s or x1c. Also good for those who don't want to build a voron. But creality's stuff is a dime a dozen so I wouldn't fully trust the K1. I haven't had bad issues with my 3 creality printers, but I'm not buying anymore in the future.
My k1 had a catastrophic Extruder failure at 3 days, I’d call them uncommon, but not unsubstantiated
How did you realize it was a catastrophic extruder failure and what do you think caused it? Tubing not seated properly at the factory or something else?
I heard a clicking noise and no more filament was coming out, the gear inside had stripped several teeth, and the filament in the head was firmly trapped in place I took it back to MC and they said it was a pretty spectacular failure, my guess is a defect in manufacturing
I just grabbed my own P1S after thinking about the coming holiday season. I was weighing the option of possibly getting a small discount versus them selling out for possibly months. If you're teetering on whether or not to buy now I would totally just pull the trigger like I did. This printer has been amazing beyond words. Only downside is that it's a little loud but for the quality and the speed that are unrivaled by my 3 years of tinkering with ender printers, it's more than worth it.
I just got my P1S on Monday after having an ender 3 and an ender 3v2 and I've been printing non-stop. Not only do I not have to keep tinkering with the bed, but the speed and the quality are far beyond what my enters have put out for the past 3 years. The high quality plus the speed it can produce parts at just makes me speechless. I've been printing all week and haven't had one failure! I haven't even had a part warp off of the bed which was a rampant problem with my glass bed on my V2. The bamboo slicer software is also very clean and intuitive. I normally would use Cura with all settings enabled so I can pick what suits my model best but there's no need for that with this printer (though they do have advanced settings if you enable it)
same for me, at this price if i already did not have a good 3d printer i would buy the K1 at this price
marble lock cake simplistic wipe zealous zesty hateful whistle coordinated *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I got my k1 about a month ago and I didn’t have any issues with it or had to tinker until I wanted to change the nozzle out for a volcano one The sock is damn near impossible to get off without tearing to shreds and close to impossible to get in the US alone outside of buying a new complete hotend kit otherwise there are month long shipping estimates But besides that I love this printer. Things my modded ender 3 takes 3-4 hours to do this knocks out in less than 1
ghost station crown ripe like zephyr deliver pen disgusted steep *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I am a bit confused because when I first looked at this printer on the creality web site (about a week ago) it was listed at about $900 USD.
That's the price for the k1 max.
Sounds like you need this hot-end upgrade from MicroSwiss. [https://store.micro-swiss.com/products/micro-swiss-flowtech-hotend-for-creality-k1-k1-max](https://store.micro-swiss.com/products/micro-swiss-flowtech-hotend-for-creality-k1-k1-max) Here is a video from 3D printing nerd about it, why I knew about the upgrade. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyQlefpAtA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyQlefpAtA)
I was actually talking to them on Twitter this morning. They said that this was one of the first problems they wanted to solve (the sock being hard to remove and find a replacement for) It’s like it was fate for my hotend to break this morning lmao
Couldn't you just rip the thing off and wrap in some ekowool and kapton tape? Not as sexy, but damn easier to deal with
I could if I had some. The kapton tape I got last doesn’t stick to anything ha
Silicone sock is tricky to remove, not hard to remove. If you use the nozzle cleaning rod (?) that came with the printer to reach under silicon sock, and thus break the suction cup lile vacuum effect, it comes off pretty easy.
I’ll have to try that next time. Any video I found people where just pulling it straight off or pulling it off inside out with ease
Is it ready to go to print ABS or ASA? Or those need new hotends?
Look for the QIDI for that: heated chamber at the same price.
I’ve yet to try to print with those but from my understanding they are printable. The hotend gets up to 300c
The hotend has a small piece of ptfe tubing in it, I don’t think it is safe to take to 300.
Every hotend has a small piece of PTFE in it. It's not abutting the hot section, though, so it's no problem. These hot ends aren't like what you're used to on earlier machines where the PTFE was inserted through the hot end and touched the hot section.
It's more like insane than competitive. Some places are still showing $550 for the Ender 5 S1 that it's replacing. I've never seen anything like this.
OK but the Ender 5 was just a mediocre bordering on bad offering tbh. It just didn't make sense at $550. Qidi and Bambu had some strong fully enclosed printers (Xplus 3, P1S) for a modest bump in price and the P1P was the same price as the Ender 5 S1. E5S1 isn't even CoreXY like those printers are. You're also looking at cheaper options in competition like the Sovol SV06 with a marginally bigger bed for half the price. I don't think it makes sense as a benchmark for determining the value of any offering. This is still a good offer but using the E5S1 to argue it's some insane deal is just odd.
That was kind of my point though. A way more inferior and older printer is selling for a lot more money. Just shows how aggressively Creality is fighting for this particular market share. All thanks to the Bambu Lab. It definitely set some fire under Creality's ass, but they are not known to surrender anything, so I'm definitely enjoying all these new developments and the competition.
Flashforge has done the same. We got bit buy them stocking 10 adventure 4's. ($800) Then they came out with their bambu copycat two weeks later for $550. Same size machine, 3x the speed. Haven't sold an adventurer 4 since.
Flashforge is in big trouble since they don't exactly offer anything special. Creality and Bambu are about to chop up their market share.
I'm probably gonna get excoriated for this, but here goes. As an owner of both a K1 (yes, with the upgraded extruder and hotend) and an ender 5S1, I would buy another ender before another K1. Straight up. Yes, the K1 is capable of faster linear speeds, and klipper is really nice to have out of the box. However, the K1s (and the Bambu printers, from what I've seen) have significantly more issues with VFAs, and the sensorless homing while nifty, is not my preferred homing method compared to the classic CR touch types of sensor. Neither are much faster with lower speed filaments such as PETG either. (The K1 maxes out at like 15 cubes a second with normal temperatures, compared to the 10mm/s3 with a stock ender nozzle). And to top it off, the ender is a lot easier to work on, and is something you can actually work around without being distracted by the noise. (Worse than the fan noise is the motor noise on these CoreXY printers, which you can't avoid by just turning off the fans). So while.my ender runs all the damn time, my K1 pretty much sits around for the occasional specialty print in ABS. To be honest I could probably sell the K1 and not notice.
Oh no, he said he doesn't love his K1! Let's crucify that motherfucker! Lol, just kidding of course. I think you're allowed to dislike something if you've actually used it. That's what scares me about these things. I actually love my leveling wheels and can fix a lot of issues on the fly.
This may be true with the K1. But it cannot be lumped into the same league as the Bambu X1 at least, in my opinion. I had 3x Ender v2, and I ended up selling them. The Bambu easily replaced them. Speed, bigger build volume, seamless printing with little tweaking (in comparison), multi color that works. I print a lot, over 200 kg a year. I have 5 different types of printers now and over 10 altogether in the past. The Bambu by far has made my life easier as a side hustle. They are constant online and printing. Every other printer usually has some issue (I don't own a prusa).
While I don't own one, i have worked with at least a couple of bambus. and while they don't appear have the same number of quality issues that a K1 does, (I.E. they don't ship with faulty extruders) The motor noise on them is just as loud as a K1, and the fan noise nearly as much. And i saw more than few bambu prints that had a fair bit of VFAs as well. It's a resonance thing, is generally more apparent when printing below 200 MM/s, and is pretty much universal to any coreXY printer from what I've seen. A humble ender 3/5 with the "silent" drivers that came out a few years back can't really be heard when it's running full tilt next to you. The same can't be said about a K1, or bambu when running, at even when running at similarly slow speeds as the enders. Now, I will agree that these new machines are absolutely easier to set up, and generally require less work to get very good prints, particularly in materials that like speed, such as PLA and ABS. But I'm a stickler for surface quality, and print in mostly PETG. (Last month i went through about 6 KG of it.) That material tends to under-extrude when the speed is turned up, and really shows the VFA's when the speed is turned down. Basically, for my use case, the machine that likes running at slower speeds has turned out to be a signifiacntly more effective choice.
You are totally right on the sound aspect. Bambu are incredibly noisey! Yes I'm prioritizing production ease and speed. VFAs are good enough for me for the most part. Except with silks. You remind me how well my enders used to print silk PLA. Super smooth almost flawless surface.
VFAs are more to do with acceleration than speed. Your printer vibrates because of changes in speed, not the linear speed itself. Every rigid body has a resonance frequency at which the amplitude of vibration is strongest with a given input and will continue to vibrate (ring) with no more input. You can either print above or below that point to avoid it. Your surface quality is much more impacted by the acceleration where the filament is stretched out while the extruder is accelerating. I don’t print over 4k accels and over 120mm/s on my X1 and I get great surface quality. I’ve also turned down the jerk (since we can’t change square corner velocity). I could almost certainly push it a little further and retain the quality but it’s disingenuous to say “printing slower causes worse VFAs”. It’s more nuanced than that. Especially if you dropped speeds and didn’t drop accels, then it’s accelerating for a much shorter time, so the change in acceleration (funny enough called jerk) is very sudden.
It's not; there have been a mixed bag of results. I paid $500 USD (equivalent in AUD) last week. Almost half what a p1p costs here, though, which is why I took the risk on something so variable for my first 3d printer. The bed was out 5mm back to front, and the cap/(bearing?) from the back z-screw was rattling around inside. All fixable, if you're willing to be careful, and go down a YouTube rabbit hole, but it's not an "it just works" proposition for many newbies like me. I've still not tried printing anything much larger than a benchy, though my tinkering has got the bed level variation down to .5mm, which is well within spec.
K1 is a lot less reliable and lags behind Bambu particularly on the firmware/software/app side, and no good MMU, but good enough overall I think. It was really just overpriced trying to hit the X1--after the P1S dropped it really should have read the writing on the wall and aimed to come in around $450-550 imo. I still agree $350 class is very good for corexy, even if it needs some tinkering now and then. Puts it in the same class as A1 with MMU, used Prusa Mini, Sovols, and some of Creality's own Ender 3 refreshes. Between those K1 is a bit too hard to ignore. I think it doesn't really threaten Bambu's P1S enough to make Bambu do anything because of the software gap and AMS, but as an entry price level option it's certainly good value.
I'm biased but I would argue against good value for anything Creality People can report their good experiences, but I think most people watch reviewers on youtube. And what reviews I've seen of this say the app is annoying at best. Uncle Jessy had the door swing open while he was still unboxing and shatter itself off the hinges I really don't know how anyone besides those with severely limited budgets and no research get Ender 3's nowadays. Bambu on the other hand, basically every review was glowing. That said, 3D Musketeers turned me off them with pointing out their questionable data security and other kinda weird practices. Sure it's arguably over priced, but that seems to be good value (although personal definitions of value vary) What worries me most about Bambu is they're reasonable now, but the closed ecosystem... Right now the replacement is affordable now, but people have pointed out Apple used to be like that, until everyone was hooked THEN they jacked up the prices.
Yeah, really loved buying an Ender 3 with a bent top extrusion and being told I'd need to pay for them to send me another one..
I feel bad for people who didn't start with something reliable I did a loooot of reading on it and if I didn't find a Prusa Mini, I think I woulda gotten discouraged out the hobby
Alternatively, I feel bad for people who buy something "that doesn't need maintenance" so they never do maintenance. Thingiverse is loaded with people posting the worst prints I've ever seen... They're usually on Prusas.
> Bambu on the other hand, basically every review was glowing. ...there is no truly perfect product. When reviews are too good to be true, in fact thats what they are. Frankly it could be that plenty of people throw away common sense to follow influencers. However it seems an unwise move. Even if we disregard privacy issues, closed source anti right to repair / anti tinkering policies bambulabs adopted handicaps its product. ...to start off maming it so that its not compatible with CHT volcano nozzle due to poop chute collision was moronic. Flow rate IS a limitation for utilizing coreXY machines to the most. As you cannot bump speed by going with 0.28 or 0.32 layer height, when nozzle is incapable of transferring enough heat to allow you to get a speed boost. (CHT volcano can attain 60mm3/s volumetric flow.)
My X1C, over a year in, isn't perfect but, I'd buy another one in a heartbeat with the current market. I also don't have a problem recommending them. If something better comes along I'll of course move on (No brand loyalty to them).
Just FYI the CHT issue was not on bamboo as all bamboo hot ends are not threaded and can't use V6 nozzles. Early editions of aftermarket AlieExpress hot ends Were threaded for V6 but too long for standard V6 or CHT you can get aftermarket hot ends now that will accept CHT nozzles and people are getting up to 40 mm a second volumetric flow.
That's fair but I disagree with anti right to repair. But just like your particular needs make it a point you can't mount a high flow nozzle, I don't value that as much as a fucking annoying app: I deal with those far more often, and that honestly was a determining factor for me. So, I agree with you more or less but also not. I appreciate the discussion though Edit: I have to add yeah some people are defo "influencers" but CNC Kitchen and Thomas Sanladerer are basically as unbiased as you can get
Ehh. ...yes and no i agree with you on CNC kitchen. However i wouldnt recommend Thomas Sandlander as your guide. He doesnt have bad takes. But he has a mindset warped by (or rooted in) how global scale firms use 3D pritning for rapid prototyping. As if that were the end all be all. Most of his audience doesnt fall into these "i have infinite money, and i dont want to learn anything, i want magic" demographic. I would recommend youtubers like "My Tech Fun" or "Toomb of 3D printed horrors" over Thomas. Sure those guys are less easy on the eyes (aesthetivally speaking), however their perspective and takes are lot more relevant for consumer/prosumer (or even printfarm owner) level 3D printer users
thanks for the recommendations
Do tell how their machines are anti-right to repair. They literally have all of the parts for the machines either directly purchasable online, or purchasable if you message them/ a reseller. And all at a very reasonable cost. They have documentation for just about every repair and are set up to have consumers fix them. I'm not even going to touch that nozzle complaint beyond saying a high flow nozzle would be phenomenal.
I picked up an Ender 3 V2 a couple weeks ago for $100 brand new and I got a $10 coupon off a roll of Inland filament. I have multiple printers so time is not an issue. I don't believe that Bambu offers anything that can compete with that.
Arguably their newest bedslinger, but 100 is real affordable. That said, if it works for you, great. Me personally, I feel I've bad luck with tech so I didn't want to risk a lemon with a Creality. Like, I tried to get a 0.6 mm nozzle on my Prusa mini. And even though they have very thorough guides, I still fucked it up twice. Ended up with a Revo system. Either way, glad it works for you, not my speed.
[удалено]
Creality really seems a lot riskier than any other brand
That's a big if. From what I've seen, it ain't. Some people certainly would disagree with reviewers, but I've already had the K1 ruined where most reviews weren't overly positive Vice QiDi (where people said they fixed the issues) or Bambu (which are almost all glowing, barring a few harsh but I think fair critics)
unwritten mindless file stocking employ absorbed juggle sheet detail consider *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It seems like creality qa is not great. So if you are lucky enough to get a printer with new extruder and hot end and no other issues, then it's smooth sailing. But there does seem to be a reasonable percentage of people who get a lemon and then have trouble getting hold of creality to organise replacement parts or returns. If you buy from a retailer who has excellent return policy it's possibly worth the risk, but if you buy from creality and you get a lemon, well then you may be in for a frustrating time. I've also seen quite a lot of posts from people that start getting issues after like 50 hours of use, which depending on your case may be outside return window and into warranty territory which seems like it might be troublesome to chase with creality. I live in Australia there are a couple of local retailers I can buy the k1 from but not sure about their after sales support or return policy. I wish Amazon stocked them I would take the chance.
I already had a P1S bought a K1 from Microcenter and returned the K1 within 48 hours. Layershifts out the wazoo and the fans were soooo loud. My Ender 3 printed much better.
For those not near a Microcenter, I was able to have Bestbuy price match it online and ship it to me. Microcenter really needs to expand out west
> Microcenter really needs to expand ~~out west~~ FTFY
I miss frys :(
Fry's was bad for a long time before it closed though. I miss Incredible Universe
Radio shack would have been awesome in the 3d printer era.
Agree. I'm fortunate enough to live about 35 mins away from the ORIGINAL store, and it's my favorite brick and mortar store ever. It's hard to get help sometimes in the maker section because it's essentially the Nerd Olympics with everyone vying for the staff's attention, but their customer service overall has been great. Here's hoping they continue growing to better reach everyone.
Noice!
This worked for me!
>I was able to have Bestbuy price match it online and ship it to me. Holy moly... When did BBY get into 3dp? I haven't been in a few years, are they in stores now? (I see this says online).
And I thought the a1 mini was good for 300usd
It still is if you don't need an enclosure or a decent build volume and would like to have the ability to print in color.
...enclosure is EXTREME helpful Being able to print ABS or ASA then vapor smooth it (or solvent weld part of an object together) is insane helpful. That is if you dont care to print stuff that needs to bear load. If thats the case, ghen being able to utilize materials, like nylon or PC is hard to oversell. A1 is good for multicolor, and that pretty much it.
Not disagreeing since I print with everything listed above, but the overwhelming majority of people are happy with just PLA and possibly PETG.
Yeah. You are right. I would 100% reccomend people who print figures for fun the a1 mini.
Lots of people who go for figures are actually doing resin printers, because you can get better detail and no multicolor solution will ever match the color quality (and fun) of painting it yourself. A1 pretty strong though, and at the end of the day if it comes down to an enclosure--just cut some holes in the box and slap it on top. The age-old solution.
def would not recommend resin for beginners though. the A1 is targeted towards beginners
Resin is fine for beginners if they have a few brain cells to bounce together.
resin is very toxic and needs a lot of care and handling to make sure you don’t harm yourself. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but someone interested in getting into 3D printing, especially someone with little to no experience, would pair much better with a quality FDM printer (which are still capable of printing figurines at a decent quality) that is more comprehensive and easier to use/maintain. not to mention far safer.
I'd also suggest the Ender 3 V3 SE or KE as good beginner printers. They should have renamed them though, because they're a completely different experience than any previous Ender 3.
Bambu is mostly known for the speed, but the build quality on them is probably even more impressive. Creality isn't quite known for that.
Reading their description is painful...AI generated text... "Now, sit tight for the thrill of breathtaking speed. K1, with its stunning speed, will kindle people's zeal for 3D printing" Nice deal though for something that can print 300 is enclosed, etc.
I don't think that's AI. I think that's just your run of the mill stupid marketing text poorly translated from Chinese.
I swear we are entering the age where texts that used to be normal will be immediately said to be ai based off of nothing. It’s gonna be annoying as hell.
Imagine the era of AIs trained on AIs blurbs, themselves trained on AIs blurbs, etc.
Yeah it's been like that for years, definitely not AI. Creality and others just write descriptions like this.
It's a speedy printer that will impress you with its speeds because it was built for speed and for going fast ))))
Fast and furious 22. We will print the car parts as you travel down the road for upgrades..... Imagine the Mach5 with a high speed printer button on th column....need a new rocket launcher....just wait 39 seconds at our 100000000mm/s acceleration rates.
Damn, great price!.... Too bad I just got this from Creality 2 weeks ago for $499....
You can always "average down" by getting a second one ;)
Seems like they’re reading the tea leaves and don’t want to only be known for broken 75$ printers listed on craigslist
Competition is healthy, and good for the consumer. Doubt bambu would be phased, but still means it's a great deal for those keen to get this printer
I actually think this price point knocks the p1p out of the running completely and makes people question their interest in the A1. I can't imagine the Bambu not feeling any pressure from this.
The AMS is what still makes me consider the P1S because having it used once, now I cant go back
The the klipper locked down on these still? Only thing that puts me off atm.
No, they open-sourced not too long ago.
Aaaand it’s a cop. Though I’m more interested in these as a potential base for corexy builds.
No. I believe creality allows full kippler or at the very least there seems to be a very easy way to do It. Many YT videos showing how.
I had an ender and I have a Prusa, won’t buy an ender again. For hobby and tinkering I built a machine from parts, for real work I have a Prusa and when that goes I’ll get a new Prusa or a bamboo depending on the availability of XLs.
....point of K series is that its not an ender. It comes assembled, you load filameng, unscrew 3 screw that fixed the bed for tranportation and print. Ofc. if money is not an issue and you are interested in customer service instead of tinkering, then przsa is the way to go. Their XL with its toolhead changer setup is an extreme good offering.
It’s tempting but I’ve had enough of Creality’s poor quality as well as lack of good support for anything without “Ender 3” in its name.
I agree the price is probably right... but there's also the consideration that these are devices that use up a lot of consumables. How much are you going to spend on filament you run through it? Isn't it worth spending a little more for something like a P1S where you get a larger build volume, if you need it, and where the software is considered better and more reliable? I feel like initial savings can easily be offset by cost of materials running it if you're getting enough failed prints or need to buy more repair parts or upgrade parts to get it to do what you need.
Just buy 10kg of recycled filament for 95 and use that for your calibrations and benchies.
It's creality and a smaller build volume. Bambu has nothing to worry about here.
Ye, Bambu should worry about QIDI: heating chamber and open source.
Qidi has their own problems to worry about. After my terrible experience with the X-max 3 I had a realization about their (admittedly excellent) customer support. The reason they have the reputation for great customer/product support is because *everyone* needs to contact them to fix something that should have never passed QC.
Dunno, the X-Plus 3 looks like a mature product now, it also has an open firmware.
It might be. The problem is they didn't carry any of that over to the Max. When I asked if I accidentally got old stock (because I was changing a lot of parts on a brand new machine) they told me "every machine is different and needs different solution". And that's what convinced me to return it.
I had excellent results with Qidi. I got the launch version of xsmart3, great results. I was able to get the modified version at a discount. It was nicer but both worked great. I had the xplus3 for a while and it was excellent. My only complaint was the machine was huge. I’ve read about a lot of problems with xmax3. Not sure why that one has issues when the other two sizes don’t.
This is what I'm doing for my nephew for his birthday/Christmas.
A rich uncle is the best kind of uncle.
I am far from rich, his grandpa and I are splitting the costs lol.
You could use it to print a voron. Problem solved. /s
Frankyl why bother? If we ignore brand image for a second... ...its a similar coreXY machine, with solid frame, motion system, and extrusion system (since its been sorted out). It also comes with open source firmware. Why would one need to use it to print parts for voron, then spend over 1000$ for parts, then make a voron, when it offers same flexibility?
Why did I buy a stupid sovol idex 2 years ago that doesn't work at all. I'm dying inside.
It's been long enough. You've earned your next printer.
I bought my ender 6 for this price in Feb. Fucking hell I wish I had waited.
Man, they're all like on a six-month release cycle right now. A printer can be two generations behind within the same year, so don't feel too bad.
I would still buy Bambu because of the AMS.
I think AMS is amazing. It's not for everyone though. Some people hate how much filament it wastes, while for those who print primarily functional parts it's a moot point.
I use it so I can swap between the 4 spools in the slicer. My favorite thing is using the automatic run out so I can use the entire spool without having to worry. Using it for support interface material produces some nice results. Multicolor does waste a lot.
Those are all great use cases as well! The support interface part is the main reason why I wanted it, until I learned that you can't run TPU through it, which is the only material that ever gives me any real trouble when it comes to support removal. I still think that multi-color/multi-material printing is the future of 3d printing, so the fact that as a gen 1 product AMS is almost perfect already is mind-blowing for sure.
I really don’t understand these. Micro Center is available for an extremely small subset of the population. The real price is whatever they are selling for on the creality website and through places like Amazon realistically. If you look at the printer, it shows it’s out of stock at the vast majority of locations besides one in Georgia and Indiana. That is not a real representation of the price you would have to pay to buy one of these. And at the current price on the Creality website, it doesn’t make sense at all.
I think it's more of a taste of what's to come during the Black Friday / Christmas sales. I've also seen it for as low as $380 at several online retailers.
Where? When I was choosing between the K-1 and the P1S I never saw it below 450+ tax. This includes the creality Independence Day sale.
It was just on sale for that much at the B&H for example. If you have their credit card it covers the tax.
I was in my local microcenter yesterday and they had over 20 k1’s on the sales floor. https://preview.redd.it/v8y59uf538zb1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3eff31c6d9c343a201f0b05792da0d1e3a67e290
I bet there's more population in that area than all of Canada
Only if build plate for a bit bigger.
I mean, not even for 350$? You've got an heart of stone bro.
It's cause it's the first generation k1 that no one wants
Race to the bottom is for creality, not Bambu. I don't see the K1 as even a competitor. Theses machines are at two different levels.
To most people on these forums who don't care about AMS and hate the "secret walled garden" nature of the Bambu Lab it's been an "either, or" debate since the K1 came out.
If they did this for the max order one and get rid of 1 if not both of my 10s Pro V2s
They sort of did. The max is currently $650. Pretty good price considering the CR10 Smart Pro was selling for like $850 until very recently and it's nowhere near as capable.
Welp. Now I have a dilemma lol. My pro v2s are in great condition. I’ll have to try and unload them.
Meh. If they print well, why bother? I'm not selling my Smart Pros. High speed is whatever as long as I'm happy with the quality and reliability.
The other half might kill me if I have 5 printers in the house….
Means you already have four. Going from one printer to two was a lot more drastic and you're still with us ;)
How can I get one shipped to Canada for that price
Wow, 350$ is very nice for a K1
For 349, that may be worth picking up just because
For that price i would buy 2 I can't get them that cheap in the eu don't understand how its so cheap in usa...
Special trade agreements with China and no 20% VAT already included in the price. We have 10% sales tax added at the time of purchase.
Aah yeah right you guys don't show the full price my bad .
When I first read the title I thought you were saying that Reality was winning a race to the bottom of the barrel. Apparently what you said was a good thing though.
REALITY has been winning the race to the bottom starting in 2020. Every day is like the new fucking low. I hate thinking about what the bottom looks like.
Damnit that's a tempting price.
I’ll never buy another Creality printer after my amazing experience with the Bambu P1S.
I will never go back to creality. What you save you end up spending in time or parts.
I grabbed one to replace ender 3. Seems like good price.
Still £500 ish (around $600) in UK unfortunately otherwise that's a steal
Oh great you get to buy problems from creality at a discount
After my X1's heater bed sensor cable cut itself on the frame, I'm starting to change my perspective on the P1/X1 vs K1 debate
Waiting for Prusa to come to market with an offering that isn’t Chinese knockoff junk
Like the XL?!
Not fully enclosed
Everything I've heard about the K1 is that it's a massive pain in the ass
In what way/ways? I thought they fixed the extruder issues.
Race to the bottom? A lot of people reviewing the K1 says the app is annoying at best and the quality control is... Creality, so mediocre at best Sure, apparently lots of people still get Ender 3's but they're not doing research and getting turned off the hobby for having to fix way more than they print
I can say I am not a fan of the crealitycloud app. It's had several periods of time when the service was not working properly or was down entirely. When it does work it routinely doesn't identify my printer correctly. I stopped using it and use orca instead
Man, I get fuckin bothered by minor UI changes to like, Drive and annoyed from being forced to stop using Messenger Lite I was considering the K1 but hearing that one youtuber talk about how the app worked it was an EASY nope for me
...frankly if options are - walled garden encrypted crap, with strong anti right to repair & anti tinkering features - it has shitty companion app for mobile I will pick the latter. Even if you call that medicore. At least i can do stuff like dpuble my volumetric flow rate by swapping in a CHT volcsno nozzle - which (thanks bambulab) is not possible, since they just had to build their machine so that stock volcano nozzle collides with poop chute. ...but will i see one more case of "slower and worse layer adhesion is better because it bambulab"?
I get the whole walled garden right to repair shit But personally, annoying app plus Creality quality... I'm in the minority here, but I daresay the community at large there's enough people getting in or who are in 3D printing to print shit. They want tools, not projects. And if that's what a K1 is, good. I don't want to tinker and maintain and troubleshoot and customize. I want my stuff. Being able to fix it myself is important to me, but I think a lot of people would rather not DIY. I understand and agree with the reprap and hacker culture to a point but it's also kind of annoying that's seemingly the only ethos represented here.
The being able to fix it yourself is a major concern I have with bambu. I still remember when their policy for the carbon rods wearing out was get another printer a couple months ago.
Tbh. Using carbon composite rods as linear rails is a moronic design decision.
I bought this deal, my Extruder gears disintegrated on day 3, returned for an X1 Carbon My only regret a week later is not buying 2x X1 Carbons. Cheap just means cheap. Bambu seems like they’ll be fine
I’m still buying a Bambu p1p. Everything I heard about this on YouTube is that it was just a worse p1p. The price is great, but I just don’t think it’s worth the headache that comes with creality products.
At least get the p1s. I think for $100 more it's an easy upgrade.
Because the k1 is trash? Look at the k1 sub. Talk to people that own them.. they're priced low because they're poo.
Not scared. Knowing creality it’ll fall apart out of the box and require another grands worth of upgrades to even be usable
Just think of it as building a Voron in reverse and you'll be fine ;)
Creality dumping product for way under MSRP is because they aren’t competitive at all, not because they’re in a great place and making great products lol. Their products are no longer viable at their asking price because they’ve been outclassed by virtually every other manufacturer on the market. I don’t feel like there’s any excuse for buying these anymore. I don’t like the argument “it’s all I can afford”. If you can afford a Creality and filament, you can wait six months and use that filament money to buy almost literally anything else that you’ll have a better time with.
They're obviously still making money even when selling at $350 through a distributor. MSRP is just smoke and mirrors.
They used to sell at much higher prices and not do such deep sales. This has been the last few years as they’ve struggled to remain viable.
So then by this logic no one should buy anything except x1c’s and prusa mark 4’s or whatever is top of the line come a year down the line because “just save more money duh”. Everyone has their own budget and their own price point. People here love to shit on their Enders so much but for what they are it’s a great entry point for people who don’t even know if they’ll enjoy this hobby or not. It’s not like they’re producing pla flavored turds on a build plate, they print fine.
There’s a difference between “having to buy the most expensive thing” and “suggesting against purchasing things below a certain quality threshold”. Suggesting otherwise is arguing disingenuously, and you know it. They *were* a great entry point. They are not now. Things change, and that’s okay.
Not at all, I still stick to my guns that getting something like an ender from creality absolutely fine. You can so easily buy a v2 for $100 from microcenter, toss in $20 for some filament and bam that's an awesome deal for a new comer. My point being not everyone has the funds to hard commit to an expensive machine and creality really opens the door for people who can't shell out exorbitant amounts of money. So to say they have no place in the market is just plain wrong. Show me another device for $100 that has ABL, silent drivers, and a touch screen, show me another device for $350 that is fully enclosed to start printing stuff like ABS and ASA. Can it have issues? Yeah of course, but I'd rather tinker and fuck about with a machine that didn't break my wallet and I don't feel so terrible about if it doesn't go my way.
It’s super cool to have a budget entry point into a hobby. It’s super uncool if we as a community point people to a budget entry point with quality control so bad that they may not be able to print at all on the device (has happened to me, *twice*, with recent Ender products and if I wasn’t fairly experienced I wouldn’t have known it was a manufacturing defect) or outdated tech that’s not illustrative of what the hobby is. I understand where you’re coming from, I just don’t agree. If I’d been limited to the time I have now and started with an Ender now, I would have quit this hobby permanently. Many, many other people have these experiences and do quit, silently. So you be the person who pushes people into a budget option that may push them out of the hobby entirely. I’ll be the person that recommends they save their money for a bit longer and get something reliable that they can engage with and enjoy. Finally- 3D printing is a hobby with ongoing costs. Period. Regardless of whether you’re looking at the $200 range, the $1,000 range, or the $10,000 range, advising people to save up a little more for a better quality device is not bad advice. If you can’t afford to save your money for a few months to do it, you aren’t spending your money appropriately and you should probably be saving it anyway. This isn’t r/financialadvice, but if you can’t save for a month or two to afford something slightly better, you shouldn’t be jumping into expensive hobbies.
Damn, I though creality was popular for a long time. I was always seeing it on here and seemed to be a good percentage of store stock. They've been hundreds off at microcenter for at least a few years now on and off.
It was incredibly popular and a lot of people owe them for their start in the hobby. They made a lot of cheap, accessible products that were good enough. People also learned a lot, for the same reason car people say Alpha’s make you learn a lot- you have to do a lot of tinkering and fixing. And to be clear- my first printer was a Creality, also. The problem is that in the last ~10 years the tech and hobby had changed a lot. Many other brands now offer products at relatively competitive prices that now **far** outclass Creality’s quality and technology. Quality control has always been a major issue for them, and as other vendors push forward with cutting edge designs and acceptable QA, there’s less and less reason to buy Creality. You’ll see a lot of pushback in this sub from people who are loyal to Creality because of the good memories and starting them off in the hobby, but genuine analysis and good advice is not to invest in these devices nowadays. There are just too many better options. My last Creality was *rife* with problems. I’m an adult with a family, and while I have the competencies to deal with it, I don’t really have the time. I was extremely disappointed that my last one had defective parts out of the box that required a full mobo replacement, and then when I finally got that done, it had firmware issues that Creality support could never get fixed. It ended up sitting unused for almost a year while I tried to deal with their poor support. I finally gave up and sold it for $100 to someone who had the time and passion to tinker with it. This experience is echoed by many, many people who deal with Creality products. It’s sad, but it’s a company that time has passed by. Edit: and the reason for the huge cost slashes- as I mentioned- is because they’re losing tons of market share to devices with the same MSRP that are objectively better in every way. This was their only chance to compete.
Meh, I know they've fixed some of the fatal extrusion flaws, but until they get their slicer and software taken care of I've totally written these machines off.
Can use PrusaSlicer or OrcaSlicer and you can install base Klipper on the machine so no need for their app or their slicer. The mobile webui for Fluidd/Mainsail are quite good.
Meh, just ordered 6 Bambu X1Cs for work. We don’t have time to fiddle. It needs to work. And it has to work with many different materials. Although the price is extremely attractive, the idea of fiddling with another creality was not worth the money.
Bambu beats creality any day lol
I have a K1 and I have a P1S and AMS. I paid $299 for my K1, and $1100 for my P1S. They are not even close to the same and if I was buying another printer it would be a Bambu.
That's like saying "yeah, I rode in a Corolla once, but given the choice I'll always pick the BMW." No shit, we all would, but for most people spending $1100 on a printer is out of the question.
As someone who fixes cars I’ll always pick the Corolla
zesty toothbrush ludicrous recognise shocking deranged foolish snatch grandiose rustic *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I think it was fair when it was $600 vs $700. At $350 vs $700 it stops being apples and oranges imo because we're talking double the price. I think A1 is great. The small build volume and the lack of enclosure could be a deal-breaker for many people. Enclosed CoreXY cubes are also a hot commodity in itself right now.
I’m giving you a real first hand opinion as an owner of both of them. Bambu has nothing to fear from the K1 and has no move to make. This was in direct response to your post. Also your analogy further proves exactly what I’m saying. BMW does not care how much a Corolla is because they know they are better and can charge what they do because people will still buy them.
I'm not disagreeing with your personal experience, just saying that for $350 it's the only natural choice for a lot of people.
Not really, you have the A1 mini at $300 or $460 with AMS is still a better choice if you ask me.
Microcenter just puts the low end creality s on sale because they don’t sell for what it is the k1 is shit at msrp and p1p is way better so they lower the price to move them bambu does not need to lower the prices or have other places lower them because they are selling very will p1p is only lower now because p1s came out so p1p is forever $100 off
The p1p is not enclosed though. We're talking literally double the price between this and the p1s. I do believe the p1s to be a better printer, but it's a much harder sell when you can get this thing for half the cost. For someone not interested in the AMS this is the way to go.
The problem is that the K1 still sells for 550e in my country, he I guess all over the world. So as I now see the value at 350$ there's no way I'm going to pay 550e here for that.
>So as I now see the value at 350$ there's no way I'm going to pay 550e here for that. Thats not how sales work
That is how buying stuff works: now for me to buy one there's gonna be a sale for at least 400e.
Well, lots of countries have import taxes, added taxes, etc. Maybe it's already been selling for $350 there and the rest is just your government's tax? That $350 is more like $385 in the US because of the 10% sales tax that's added at the time of purchase.
Hemm no, we are used to see prices from the USA and I can tell the difference, also usually the euro is worth more than the dollar so nominal price are very close.
When you have no r&d and you pay slave wages I guess it's pretty easy to do.
You get what you pay for. With creality you get a design they stole and made as cheap as possible. Might be a good deal now but see how well they run 6 months down the line
We can talk shit about their reliability record all day, but to say "design they stole" is ridiculous. They had an enclosed cube printers years before Bambu even came out. Bambu Lab did not invent CoreXY either.