Prusa vs Bambu Round 3: MK4S & A1

[@RobertLeithan]

I love my MK4 and looking forward to upgrading it to MK4S!❤

[@elleryfg7853]

Good for you

[@petrnovotny-u7i]

I can’t wait. Upgrade for 99 USD! 😮 love it.

[@JillyHerrer]

Thanks for the review on the MK4S-sounds awesome! I’m definitely going to upgrade.

[@WolfManCrabArms]

I think I lost my suspension of disbelief with the twisty puzzle. I've printed so many of them for a charity drive on multiple bambus (A1, P1P, X1C) with default PLA settings and multiple brands of filament (Bambu, Polymaker, Sunlu, Eryone, and Numakers) and not a single one, even smaller scale ever came out even close to that bad. Not a single one would even catch, let alone get stuck

[@geordonworley5618]

If you don't tune the speed settings on a Bambu, they are set insanely high, even on the A1. Some uneven fans in the environment or other things can totally mess up an overhang or cause other issues with warping and pulling up from one corner of the bed. For the A1 it is much easier to have these issues since it isn't enclosed like the P1S or X1C. If you had your A1 in a nice place without any drafts, ideally in some kind of enclosure, then I wouldn't be surprised if you are used to not having the odd issue. Personally, I had a lot of issues with corners of prints on my A1 pulling up from the bed with PLA and PETG, which are often known for not shrinking much. I don't have any issues with this on the P1S, and in general the enclosure along with control of the exhaust fan (I keep it at 10% for consistent temps) means consistent prints in the P1S. In summary, A1 can be a bit wonky at times, although I do consider it to overall be more polished than the P1S. I think this mostly just has to do with the fact that the A1 doesn't have an enclosure and is a bedslinger. The speed settings are a tad too high by default on Bambu and require some tuning, especially for any kind of PETG, particularly for bridges, although Bambu slicer still has some bugs in regards to floating bridges at this time which are fixed in Prusa Slicer.

[@WolfManCrabArms]

@@geordonworley5618 I'm going to be honest my A1 is between a box fan and an AC vent, I get away with cleaning my bed every 10 or so prints on my P1 and X1C, but my A1 is about every 3 or the warping will overwhelm it. But even then cleaning is just hitting it with rubbing alcohol and a microfiber I dont find the default speed settings to be a problem with most filaments I use on the A1, With sunlu and numakers I usually have to lower the top surface a bit

[@NWGR]

Small correction, the A1 is $339, not $399 for the printer without AMS lite. My wife prints lots of silk filament on her A1 and mini; settings can be tuned to match the prusa quality/accuracy. SIlk also tends to be more sensitive to moisture absorption than typical PLA. The MK4S is excellent for sure, but it's just hard to justify the $1100 price when the A1 is essentially an equal, or better printer in some aspects like build volume, for 1/3 the price. Prusa is a great company, but they can't keep pretending bambu doesn't exist when designing their machines.

[@Resyektt]

I’ll still always take an a1 over the prusa due to cost. But that being said you prusa treats their employees far better than Bambu, as well as their customers. Bambu customer support sucks to deal with where as prusa is crazy easy to deal with. The added cost on prusa unfortunately doesn’t really get much bang for your buck in regards to the printer itself, but rather customer support and quality of life for the individuals producing the printer. If I had more money I’d probably get prusas just to show my support for a company that actually treats its employees well.

[@iamsenseiken]

Agreed. The comparison is strange. In practice the A1 (and for that matter the A1 mini) can match the MK4S in quality, though they may be slower to do so. However, I could a number of A1/AMS combos for the same price and easily crush the print speed issue. If we are looking at a single printer in that price range, compare it to an X1C. The MK4S with the MMU is $1369, the X1C/AMS is $1499. The X1C is the far better printer.

[@kaasmeester5903]

⁠@@ResyekttOne of the reasons I went with Prusa.

[@VicHilger]

from my experience in terms of quality I would definitely choose Prusa MK4 again

[@personwomanmancameratelevision]

The A1 is *$339* not *$399* for a single machine and $489 with the ams lite You can get 3 A1 for less than the cost of a single assembled mk4s($1017 vs $1099) There is no calculation that makes the mk4 worth it vs the competitors due to that initial price. Let's go over actual specs. mk4s($800 or $1100) has a smaller build area 250×210×220 mm, mmu3(5 colors) $299 = $1400* MMu needs to be built and takes an ridiculous about of space 3x A1 combos = 3 x 256x256x256mm build area and up to 12 colors(4 per machine) = $1467 ** AMS lite can be mounted to the side or above the printer. *shipping ~ 100, import duties~ $50 *75 Shipping cost not including tax

[@stldenise]

You are correct on the price -- I may have a typo there. Never edit after midnight.😉 And the MMU does take up a 💩ton of space. But there are Prusa users who'd rather stick a fork in their eye than buy a non-orange printer, and for them, they will be very happy with the MMU. It works greats & doesn't waste material. Sometimes money is not the only factor when making purchase decisions.

[@NoMercyFtw]

Yep and the tolerances on my A1 and A1 mini are superb I never have any problems with tolerances, the only thing that I can see that's actually better on the prusa is the overhangs and those are tests or models that that you provided so I have no clue if there is some type of trickery going on, but I would definitely rather 2 A1's and an A1 mini over one MKS

[@oneanother1]

Wish bambulab were open source, feel like my data is being collected by them. Its like CCP spy machine vs prusa EU tax. Either way prusa just too expensive for me. At least creality still does open source.

[@NoMercyFtw]

@@oneanother1 yeah exactly and unless you're in a government job and your privacy is very important, most people are going to save the money and not go with prusa

[@NWGR]

@@oneanother1 You can use your bambu printers offline. They're even launching FW update via SD card sometime soon. Creality quality is a huge step below a bambu or prusa. We'll see how the K2 turns out though.

[@Microtic]

There's an assembled MMU3 now! 🎉

[@ripmax333]

Personally I would compare the Prusa mk4s with the Bambu lab P1P, the twisty puzzle accuracy was impressive though, It's one thing that puts me more towards Prusa. I'm still undecided between the MK4s kit with enclosure and MMu or Bambu X1 carbon with MMU.

[@stldenise]

I will say the MMU requires a lot of real estate -- more than even the A1 with the lite AMS. I'm working up a color comparison for a future article, seeing if I can stall long enough for Creality's system to make to me.

[@ripmax333]

@@stldenise you mean the Prusa MMU needs more improvements?

[@stldenise]

@@ripmax333 No, it works fantastic. It just takes up a lot of table space.

[@herr_rossi69]

I have the MK4 with MMU3 and it works very well. Multicolor prints are faster with the Prusa and have much less waste. On the other hand, it takes up more space and an AMS is more convenient to use. But you can use all filament rolls with Prusa. I wouldn't buy a Bambulab at the moment as new devices have been announced for this year. How the current devices will be supported in the future is not yet known.

[@ripmax333]

@@herr_rossi69 does the MMU3 Fits inside the prusa enclosure?

[@miguelt.7997]

Just printed Twisty Puzzle on my P1S, came absolutely perfect. No tolerance issues. The 3mf downloaded from your link was specifically for a P1S, not for the A1, wonder if affected the tolerances on the A1

[@ivansmith654]

Hello I found Twisty Puzzle in Printables very cool I just have one question I don't my 3D printer yet coming soon, but how is this done? Can you make a video on this thanks?

[@georgenovtekov4351]

Prusa are so behind… I would like to see something new from them. Its bluntly stupid to compare something that cost 1100 with something that cost 350. X1 will be much better choice for comparison.

[@NWGR]

But then the only apples to apples comparison is the price itself. The X1C would manhandle the MK4S. The A1 is the better comparison because they're both high speed bed slingers. For $339, the A1 holds its own. The Mk4S may be marginally better in print quality (which can be tuned with slicer settings), but it sure isn't 3x the cost of the A1 better.

[@georgenovtekov4351]

@@NWGR I agree that they share common design. From engineering point of view despite the low cost A1 is better build got superior bearings, worse extruder and it is much more sophisticated in terms of of sensors. And it got trash part cooling from where print quality is worse in the shown prints. The worst thing for Prusa is that they introduce subpar printer again for triple the price of their competitors. For 799$ I can get even Voron kit wich will be better value and will be coreXY. I really don’t get it they are still trying to ship the most inferior design in price categories of the most optimal like coreXY.

[@NWGR]

@@georgenovtekov4351 What's wrong with the A1 extruder? I have three A1s in my house and haven't had any issues. As for part cooling, I wouldn't take the results from this particular video as definitive; many of us have excellent print quality with the current part cooling config. I'd say it's just fine; maybe not amazing, but certainly not trash. It does what it needs to. It would universally show in prints if it was that bad, and being that we live in the age of social media and the like, it would spread like wildfire. And yeah, it seems like Prusa just want to coast along on their brand loyalty and modest improvements. That's not enough in 2024.

[@georgenovtekov4351]

@@NWGR Nothing is wrong with A1 extruder but its not on par with Prusa as they are going for the best there. Also A1 extruder is prone to failure. It print good but lack flow. X1 extruder is also not on par with BMG for example. It use fix tension despite it can be modified. I had to modify mine as it was so hard from the factory that it often chewed filaments. Otherwise its good extruder.

[@yelowcake]

I think its a good comparison because they're both bed slingers but the cost of a prusa doesn't make sense when you could get a bambu xy core p1s or p1p for less and get the same or better preformance out the box. Its hard to justify the cost of any prusa vs a bambu printer when they're not giving you anything better or different worth the additional cost. If they outsourced their manufacturing their printers would cost half the price.

[@hotfix7387]

I see you physically comparing the twisty puzzle and the egg prints between PRUSA MK4S and the Bambu Lab A1, but I don't think I heard anything about how long each print took, what settings were used (regardless of if they were default settings or customized settings), or if you were using the exact same models (like starting from the same generic STL file or using customized 3MFs). So, while the comparison of the twisty puzzle you provided shows visual and functional differences, there appears to be missing context. I hope you do a follow up video where you go a little more in depth into the difference of the twisty puzzle prints. I.E. How you printed them, what settings were used (default or customized - it would be good to get a side-by-side comparison), and how long each took. Thank you for holding your embargo as long as you did, I can appreciate how that must have been driving you crazy. 🙂

[@stldenise]

OMG, I should never edit at 2am. It's pretty hard to fix video, but I can post a short and then link it with a card. FYI, the Prusa did it in 3 hours & the A1 in 3 hours & a half. Same file (a 3mf from the designer -- that is linked) and both doing 2 walls, default speeds, 2 walls & bare lightning infill. I'll let them rerun the file and get exact times. 😊

[@SirHackaL0t.]

What is the ‘S’ for?

[@stldenise]

I'm not exactly sure -- they used it on the MK 3 also. Probably something like "super" or "superior". Though Prusa did name the boards after his dog...

[@herr_rossi69]

Maybe second

[@ripmax333]

I guess it's for Speed.

[@atnfn]

EDIT: Didn't realize they sell em cheaper atm, this was the price a few days ago. You can get nearly 4 Bambu Lab A1s for the price of one Prusa Mk4s. That price difference is kinda hard to justify. In Europe at least the MK4s and the X1C cost the same 1300€ .MK4s is 1200€ but if the upgrade is another 100€ then they are the same.

[@LarryBerg]

Did you calibrate the filament for the A1?

[@stldenise]

Nope. Didn't calibrate it for the Prusa either. Both got a roll of their house brand (the blue is Bambu PLA), some Matterhackers Quantum & the gray is ePax high speed pla.

[@drewmakesstuff]

Would love to see a comparison between MK4s and X1C or P1P

[@elleryfg7853]

I'm sorry Denise but you're clearly just running ads for Prusa. This just feels like a shill video. This is NOT a comparison video. This is just an ad video for Prusa

[@stldenise]

Thanks for watching, anyway. I do appreciate the criticism. 😊

[@Official_Skypaper]

Prusa the goat

[@perlusion5946]

This is definetely a good comparison. A tour does not make someone a shill, as Denise also tells about the great things of her A1. Other 3DKZbinrs are bigger shills, and I recognize one from a mile away

[@herr_rossi69]

Maybe Bambulab buyers should also realize that their printers are just machines, not miracles. Like everything, some things work better and some worse.

[@elleryfg7853]

@@herr_rossi69 maybe you shouldn't assume things. I'm not a Bambu Lab user. I've had Prusa printers since 2018. Currently own two MK3S and can't justify throwing more money on them to upgrade them to the next generation. It just not practical unless you have $500 or more burning a hole in your pocket

[@Radhiant]

super upgrade for 99 usd

[@kekkodance]

this feels like an ad for prusa.

[@starblazer13]

the A1 can easily print that twisty puzzle... there's nothing that makes the MK4S shine. If you can't do it on the A1, the error is on your part.

[@Resyektt]

Watch Robert cowans video, the mk4s does overhangs better than the X1 I love my a1 and recommend it to everyone but the mk4s has better quality.

[@starblazer13]

@@Resyektt sure not disagreeing on that, but saying the A1 can't print the puzzle... that's very misleading.

[@Resyektt]

@@starblazer13 I agree, sorry, I should of been more clear

[@elleryfg7853]

@@Resyektt Not quite accurate. Check his latest video.

[@defdaz]

Insanely expensive. WTF?!

[@HERBWind]

I don't like Chinese stuff and I support good companies, that's why I chose Prusa and I wouldn't change, I'm very satisfied with MK4S ugrade

[@jordaynerjr]

This is one of those videos where I just questioned why even make it this was not a real comparison you hand-picked two examples that would make the A1 look bad

[@ReindersVictor]

Prusa 👏✌🤟this product from prusa is good and I really like the upgrade I'm already downloading the app

[@did3d523]

amator test

[@leowys6889]

Plain Bias Review

[@kitchenbriks3685]

Put the mk4 vs a p1s or x1. The mk4 is overpriced last gen trash.

[@Resyektt]

Robert Cowan did a video comparing it to the x1 and the mk4s handled overhangs significantly better.

[@elleryfg7853]

@@Resyektt you should take a look at his latest video on that subject

[@Resyektt]

@@elleryfg7853will do thank you for the update

[@user-jh1mq2ih2u]

This is an add not a comparison of apples to apples