Bambu Lab X1C Long Term Review (6 Months)

It’s officially been 6 months since we started using @BambuLab products 😅 We’re giving you an honest review about the overall experience! From little customer support to manufacturing issues, we’re not exactly impressed…BUT tune in to hear why this is all part of the growing process!

This isn’t the first Bambu video and won’t be the last! If you haven’t already seen our videos about them, then this is your cue to open a new tab! AND for those of you who already got the scoop, make sure you are subscribed for future content!

Links:

Cards:

0:00 Intro
2:19 Dealing with fails and customer support
7:18 Bambu bonuses
10:01 Addressing issues
13:31 The future for Grant and his Bambu
19:27 Conclusion/Outro

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[joenicholson]

I think this is the only bad review of a Bambu I have seen on youtube

[NTS]

Although I have only had my X1C for 4 days at this point, I have experienced an abbreviated version of some of the issues you describe minus the customer support. I did not experience the customer support issues because as soon as my issues arrived, I went to the community through forums and youtube (your channel included) to work on my machine. I went into the purchase with the idea that their machine would just work. For the first 2 prints it did. Then the issues arrived and I have been running calibration and testing since. Having the early mentality that I am most likely going to have to fix the machine due to the slow and inadequate customer support that BL, much like many other companies provide I think set me up of better success. I am not new to 3d printing as I have been running a few SLA printers for years at this point but I am new to FDM printing. Having to troubleshoot and correct issues on my own gave me a much deeper understanding of the process. This machine as described from many of the creators on youtube is just supposed to work out of the box. While it has for some, like you it has not for me. I have it dialed in now but at a pretty significant cost of my own time and filament. I really do hope BL can up their QC and CS and provide a better experience for newbies to FDM like me. That being said a friend of mine is getting ready to purchase a new machine in the next week and I told him if he was stuck on BL, get a P1P or P1S and use Orca slicer. You don't need to spend as much money on a machine because you are sold to a customer service and quality that is not there out of the box and you might as well save the money.

[Ybalrid]

The fact that you *fixed* this thing by running carbon fiber filament through it is *wild*

[kenb]

1 year in with x1c. I have built printers and used many, including high end rigs. It has been the best experience i have ever had to date. Its amazing.

[engageintellect]

Over 1, 500 hours on my X1C. Never had a single issue. AMS has never clogged or had issues. I even skip bed leveling 90% of the time, and still get perfect first layers. The only time I have had failed prints was when I tried to do something goofy in the slicer.

Oh ya, and I run it on sport, and mode exclusively. Cause, who wants to wait…

I use sunlu PLA, PETG, Bambu PLA-CF and TPU.

I was recommended to get a x1c by 3 people I work with (engineers), who all have multiple machines with no issues to speak of.

Sounds like you got a lemon.

[nickpepper]

This is what consumers need. Completely open about pros and cons. Great job

[Bennett_Lab]

Ive been printing my on my X1 Carbon since it came out without a single issue. I have over 6 printers and nothing beats the quality and speed of my X1. For starters maybe keep yours clean at least. Looking at all that filament on the bottom gave me anxiety. I do minimum monthly maintenance and the thing runs like a gem

[woodwaker]

While their printers have been marketed towards new users, I think having experience with Creality and building two Rat Rigs has helped me. I have never contacted Bambu Support, but have fixed my own problems. Early on I realized that I would need spare parts, and they are fairly priced. I have replaced the extruders on both my X1 carbon and P1P, and have spare hot end assemblies - I use the AMS sparingly, prefer using the external spool for single color PLA. My biggest complaint is the lack of a simple network hookup - like I have running Klipper on my Rat Rigs.

[TheIncredibleMrT]

Learning to fix the bambus is the best thing you can do, i have found as a first timer that most of the fixes and maintenance really dont take that long once you get the hang of it, its just a new machine with new processes to learn

[kieran.thejasperhouse]

My printer has been no-stop perfect the last 1500hrs it's been printing I just keep it clean and maintained. Bambu is doing leap and bounds of what any company in 3D printing has ever done. Plus the updates are making it better and better.

[nrich]

I think you've highlighted a problem about Chinese products that will rear its ugly head more often if they start exporting electric cars to North America. The Chinese approach to manufacturing has and is to deliver the product to market at a cheaper price than anyone else and thus over time gain production facilities and export markets for their products. This looks good in the short term but there is a missing component in this formula - it's called after sales issues which include service, technical support, warrantee and long term reliability. You can have the highest performance machine in the world but if you can't get it serviced in a reasonable amount of time and cost then it's basically junk. Why a company would ignore or avoid identifying product problems and then effecting fixes and thus improving the machine is a major issue for me ( and I believe others ) .

[Sandwiches]

Ive been loving my X1C combo and have relatively zero issues. You may have ended up with a couple lemons but that in itself is an issue.

[lookinward]

Never had an issue with mine, very happy with it

[rache]

So glad i watched this. Bambu support was horrible to work with when UPS sent my printer back when i paid for them to hold it. Wanted me to pay $111 to get it back to me and when emailing there would be radio silence for days. I finally said i wanted a refund. Ordered August 18th and going back and forth with support has now taken me over 2 weeks and I havent even gotten a confirmation that they'll actually refund it. I really want an AMS but have been apprehensive to buy another bambu unit. I think this video has finally tipped my scale. Thank you so much!!

[TommVenable]

Thank you for the honest review, guy who looks like Loki if he became a critical engineer. I specifically looked for someone who didn’t have affiliate links and got exactly what I was looking for from this video. I still bought an X1C with AMS, but I know what to expect, and am glad I have an army of Prusa’s to keep my business moving forward while I learn my way around the Bambu.

[brandonnelson]

I have owned one for a few months now and with the exception of a failed pull here and there, it has been great. This has been running almost 24/7 for me.

[szaharfy]

This guy is super knowledgeable and I do not doubt he has the experience to back it up. I will say I work in IT and run into this type of personality very frequently who wants to solve the problem so bad that they will ignore support instructions, ignore updates, and try to customize things not meant to be customized which probably ends up conflating the issue. Also what data are you putting out that you are concerned about? You creating medical tags? Air gap your network if your worried about it being an attack vector. Going back to the data, the only way they can get better is collecting data at mass to correct the issues. I hate to tell you, every computer and phone regardless of brand is doing the same thing.

[c.j.]

Crazy. I've had only one issue which I figured out myself. Their customer service does suck. I thought about asking them and then I saw the ridiculous form they require to start a ticket and just broke down and fixed it myself. Overall my printer has been fantastic, pushing out nearly perfect prints.

[chillmike]

I think you need to accept this isn’t an open source printer and trust them to use the current firmware and such. It’s unfortunate they aren’t more open source, but you can’t see what’s going over the walled garden so you don’t know what they put in those updates. I don’t think a firmware update will “fix your parts” or whatever you said. But it seems like a complicated problem, and ignoring firmware update just seems silly to me

[neilburrows]

Great review. I bought a Prusa MK4S because as a cyber risk consultant the Bambu data security/closed source issues are show stoppers. Bambu goes against the whole maker / hacker ethos. The lack of/ inability to support reinforces the bean counter mentality...
"And it occurred to me there is no manual that deals with the real business of motorcycle maintenance, the most important aspect of all. Caring about what you are doing is considered either unimportant or taken for granted." - Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance