I’m (mostly) happy with my Prusa XL - This is what it took

The launch of the Prusa XL was delayed and problematic. My own difficulties were documented in a previous video. I’ve now modified and upgraded the printer to the latest spec, and thankfully it is now working much better. In this video, I take you through the process and identify where the XL excels and struggles versus the competition.

Thanks very much to Shane for his patience and support.

This printer was purchased with my own money. All opinions expressed are my own.

0:00 Introduction

0:39 Recapping the state of the printer

1:51 Updates from Prusa

3:01 Contact with Prusa

3:45 Filament dryness

4:47 Changes and modifications
I also printed this front nozzle scrubber but I might not need it anymore:

8:56 Print results
Part cooling torture test:

12:36 Octoprint and webcam

13:39 Newest alpha firmware

14:22 Would I recommend the XL to others?

16:24 Conclusion

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[markwebcraft]

I couldn't imagine spending 5000+ USD on a half finished project. I think you handled this as well as you could. Thanks for the info.

[AverysHouseD]

They announced the switched to 0.4mm nozzles 6 days after I got my XL.
Even with the 30% discount, having to buy them is not a way to keep good will with customers.

[larrycleeton]

Your patience is biased by your YouTube presence. Your initial experience with the printer was frustrating. Despite investing a significant amount of money, the printer struggled with basic tasks, leaving you quite disappointed. Over time, the results improved, although they still fall short of what you should expect. Nevertheless, you find solace in the fact that you are at least getting something out of it. However, I believe Prusa should be held more accountable for these issues. As a prominent player in the 3D printing industry, they can’t rely on their past reputation as a small, scrappy company. If this were a CNC milling machine, you would have returned it without hesitation.

[propheteyebert]

I like the subtle humor, printing the Finding Nemo fish and orange sushi.

[LincolnWorld]

even them calling it "fully assembled" instead "mostly assembled" doesn't sit well with me. I've seen people who do 3D printing YT videos for a living say it took more than 3 hours to finish assembling the "fully assembled" printer. If it was less than 20 minutes to get it running, I can see calling it "fully assembled", but not multiple hours.

I think the main reason people have said they bought prusa printers in the past it was because of "just working", and it being a trust worthy company. It doesn't seem like the XL offers either of those things. I am so glad I went with a Bambu. Maybe in a few years, they will make an XL without all the problems, that comes actually assembled, has a proper enclosure, and a camera in it like almost every modern descent printer not made by them.

Reputations take a long time to build, but sometimes just a moment to fall apart.
Before Bambu Labs, they could have gotten away with this, but not anymore.

Now they are focusing a lot on schools and commercial clients. Makerbot did the same thing, and they are now pretty irrelevant in the consumer space. I wonder if prusa is going to follow suit.

[Culky]

When they revealed the XL I was very tempted, but given Prusa's track record I thought I'd probably wait for the inevitable XL Mk3S+ in a couple of years. Thanks to all the early adopters that will hopefully iron out all these issues in the meantime.

[wiseovertime]

HONEST Review. This makes my #3rd PRUSA Printer purchase in 5 years. After waiting since Nov 21, 2021.. I finally received my August 22, 2024 full factory assembled Prusa XL 5 Tool head printer yesterday. I carefully took my time to properly follow all instructions to assemble and set up my printer to make sure the assembly was executed perfectly. All tests and All calibrations passed and were successfully completed the very 1st attempt. All showed green check marks and heated properly for all 5 heads. All filaments we’re also loaded 1st try to all 5 heads and extruded PLA in all five heads successfully the first attempt. My first test print was also perfect and flawless. I could not have been happier, and I was glad I took the extra time to make sure it was perfect. My second attempt was to print the PLA, PLA, Flex wrist CT scan model that comes on the flash drive with the printer, but my # 2 head suddenly gave an error message on the screen and the printer shut off and rebooted. The same error message appeared after booting that the thermistor or heat resistor wire has a problem and may be damaged? How, This was just a few minutes after all 5 heads had just heated and passed calibration tests and extruded PLA seamlessly. How is this possible? Nothing touched the printer. I stayed up trying to troubleshoot last night for two hours and spent another hour and a half this morning and an hour just now with support agents attempting to figure out how this went from functioning perfect and passing test to failing without the printer ever being touched, to an error? I spoke with 2 Prusa customer support agents who are unable to understand how to help me and make this right. This is very frustrating after 5 hours of careful assembly, I've lost 4-5 more hours trouble shooting the defective #2 Nextruder after it had just heated up and passed calibration. I asked PRUSA for help and support and tried to explain as friendly as possible that I can't waste any more time on this. I sent pictures and asked to please help me and make this right so I don't lose any more of my time on my brand new $5000 printer. Prusa's solution WAS NOT to overnight me 1 fully assembled Nextruder Replacement with a little store credit or to include a couple extra boxes of filament for the troubles I've had and loss of time on a brand new factory assembled unit, but instead they asked me to carry the burden and do all the work to spend another 2-3 hours 60 steps, disassembling the defective Nextruder, along with another perfectly working Nextruder and swap parts and reassemble to narrow down which part component is defective. And if that does not work, they want me to move on the dissembling both Nextruders again and swapping the next parts to check which adds another 2-3 hours. Keep in mind, I paid $500 extra for FULL factory assembled unit so I did not have to deal with issues or worry about each individual part or waste time making it look as clean as they can from the factory. I don't want to have the burden of not routing all wires and tucking lines back as perfect as they did because I am not as good as they are. Plus I'd have to recalibrate everything again afterwards. I'm a loyal Prusa customer for over 5 years, buy their Prusament filamnet regularly and have convinced my friends and others to purchase Prusa. Is their support satisfactory ? I feel this is not right and unacceptable. Am I off here to expect Prusa to replace the defective Nextruder with a new fully assembled unit like I originally paid for? It's business. I have to support my customers this way in my business, or I'll lose customers to my competitors who also offer this type of support. I'll remove this review once PRUSA steps up to the plate and takes ownership to make this right. Does this seem fair to deal with on a brand-new factory assembled unit or should PRUSA do the right thing here?

[ScytheNoire]

As a Prusa owner, I'm very disappointed in the release of the XL and how they've handled all the issues that have come up.
We all should expect better, especially for a printer at that price, that isn't even enclosed.
I hope Bambu does a large size, with multi-nozzle printing, so we can see what the competitors can do.

[Gefionius]

As a Prusa XL owner, I think this was a very fair review. I still have some stringing/blobbing esp with PETG, but am hoping the new firmware and filament settings will get us squared away. I used to count on my mk3 to print reliably and I need that confidence back.

[NWGR]

You nailed it with the AAA video game analogy. This is simply too expensive and bug ridden for a product that's supposed to carry the prusa name. The amount of tinkering and trouble shooting you had to do would make even creality printers cringe. Bambu Lab really shook up the 3d printing landscape. All these other printer manufacturers really need to take note and try to be more competitive. I've been 3d printing for about 5 years now, and never has my experience gone as smoothly as it has with my A1 mini. Being "closed" isn't the boogeyman that a lot of 3d printing early adopters think it is, and being "open" doesn't always mean accessible to all.

[Livingdiceman]

I am halfway through this video and it is very clear that this printer's value is nowhere near the 5k price tag. I admire his patience. This clunker would have been a return to sender the first week for me.

[kevinmccarty]

A YouTuber that buys the product and gives honest review. That’s rare. You’ve earned a subscriber. Keep up the good work

[daneverhart]

I share your wish for multi-nozzle size support. I'm hopeful to see this in an upcoming firmware and slicer update, but not holding my breath. And I totally agree with your discouragement of preordering another Prusa. The pre-order still took two years, and didn't prove to be a bargain in any way. This was my first Prusa order, and despite the anxiety of the wait and frustration of critical further development after delivery, Prusa still ranks highest in my book (so far). I do recommend that Prusa continue to develop the XL into perfection, while QUIETLY developing their next mind blowing release and to not open up to preorders until it's actually in production. Next wish (largely self serving, I'll admit), is that they expanded a manufacturing facility somewhere within the Americas in order to satisfy demand and lower shipping costs. Thanks, Michael, for another great video!

[woodwaker]

I have had problems with my 5 head XL, but am fortunate that I did not need prints right away. Got to spend the time and had help from Chris Riley to get most of the issues resolved. The software updates have been very helpful and I think we will see more soon

[bce.gatien]

hard but fair, I do value your opinion, keep the good work

[crashkg]

I had stringing issues on my MK4 and I changed the Z hop to ramping. Travel Lift: Lift height .2, max lift 1.5, ramp slope 1. This got rid of all my stringing issues.

[ScottDuensing]

Excellent overview / review of the growing pains of a new printer. MUCH appreciated!

[Bretto]

I have had similar issues with mine, and like you some have gotten better with the same fixes. Some still have yet to be fixed. I agree that for the money, I would absolutely not buy this printer, i love the idea of the multi-tool xl and hope prusa can perfect it, or if not them, then someone else. While it was easy to contact support and they tried to help with some of the issues, when they couldn't fix others instead of offering a repair or replace they just told me to wait for future software updates that will hopefully fix it. I'll admit i was a bit of a prusa fan boy before this endeavor, I am no longer...

[virginiyawilce]

Thank you for your review and also for the fact that you did not accepted new printer for free, because this truly shows your commitment to improvements and honest review.

[metalor]

Thanks for reviewing this one mate. Looks like I'll be waiting for Bambu's XL printer.