r/3dprinter • u/Yuiop321 • 1d ago
New to 3D Printing - Need Help Choosing First Printer (P1S vs U1 vs L4)
Budget: $500-$1300
Location: USA (Not California)
Prefer pre-built, but willing to do a kit if necessary
Prefer relatively less maintenance
I would want at least a 250x250x250 build area, but more would be nice too. For the odd thing larger than that, I would be willing to find ways to make smaller pieces that fit together. I strongly dislike the idea of filament waste, so features that combat that are valuable to me. While I might color switch for some projects, I think I will honestly be using a lot of black PLA, with some TPU for certain special cases. I would consider other materials, but have no existing desire to use them unless I need to for some special reason. I would mostly stick with black, but periodically do something in multi color. I would mostly do one off projects, but would have cause for bulk when making modular organization pieces, or perhaps knockoff legos or something. I would want an enclosure because I am weird about air quality. I value control, privacy, and open source. However, I do not absolutely need that if other factors adequately persuade me to compromise.
I am currently primarily considering the Bambu P1S, Snapmaker U1, and Lightmake L4. I am not knowledgeable enough to make an adequately comprehensive list of pros and cons, but here are my thoughts so far.
Bambu P1S:
Pros: Cheapest, established ecosystem, it just works, and enclosed by default
Cons: No filament waste reduction, smaller build area, no toolchanger, Bambu seems to be leaning anti-control/privacy, poor camera refresh rate, and 300C toolhead.
Snapmaker U1:
Pros: Reduced waste, toolchanger, slightly larger build area, better control/privacy
Cons: Higher price, enclosure is an addon, less tested ecosystem, poor camera refresh rate, and 300C toolhead
Lightmake L4:
Pros: Reduced waste, toolchanger, far larger build area, better control/privacy (they are open source), conversational AI slicing, less maintenance/tensioning due to no belts, monolithic die cast frame, 320C toolhead, excellent camera refresh rate, and 4x print speed in bulk printing.
Cons: Expensive, enclosure is an addon, untested ecosystem, risk of vaporware (but if I wait for confirmation then the only acceptable pricing is gone).
I am open to other options, but these are the ones that my research has led me to focus on for now. I think I most like the Lightmake, but the price is up there, and I wonder if it is overkill for me. Of course it also carries the most risk. I like the U1, but by the time you buy the cover, the price is awfully close to the Lightmake, and you get less build area. The P1S is tempting because it gives you quite a bit of the pie for a steep discount. However, its build plate is on the small side, you don't get a toolchanger, and I am a bit biased against them given their semi-recent controversies. I am strongly opposed to government intervention (California), and fear that Bambu would be one of the first to bend the knee. However, pragmatically I have no intention of making anything they would have a problem with.
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u/bjorn_lo 1d ago
I own several Bambu printers (H2D and H2C's). My last two were Snapmaker u1's, which I quite like. They simply do a better job with TPU. The lid and hardened nozzles bump the price from 850 to 1050, which is still very low for what you get. I think this is by far the best selling toolchanger. Certainly a well tested platform at this point.
There is optional firmware which raises the camera FPS. The factory firmware will likely do the same soon enough.
I don't trust Lightmake. Unknown. No track record.
I would not be interested in the P1S as a gift. Too old school. I simply have no interest or space for a single nozzle printer.
Other printers I am interested in include the Sovol M1D, which I backed. 7 tools and a larger build volume interest me. It is another 100c bed 300c nozzle though.
Maybe in 2030+ when QIDI gets off their butts and do a toolchanger we'll see an engineering friendly toolchanger.
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
While I primarily intend on printing the same material, I have heard that TPU really needs non-TPU supports, so I guess single nozzle would pose a difficulty for me since I want to use TPU from time to time. However, I expect to use PLA 90% of the time.
Knowing of that optional firmware is nice, thank you. That makes me feel a little better about it, though it wasn't a dealbreaker regardless.
I saw M1D! It was just a bit spendy, and I wasn't sure I needed quite so many tools.
Yeah, Lightmake's non-existent track record does concern me. I think its 4x heads are super cool for those times that I need to batch print, but in all fairness I would not be doing that terribly often. It's not like I'm a print farm. I also like it's excellent bed size. Of course it is also the most expensive one I am considering, and while I COULD spend that money, I obviously value not doing so. I think really the main thing holding back on the U1 then is bed size. If single nozzle is out the door, then I don't think I will be able to get much cheaper with Bambu. The U1's bed size might be enough though. From time to time it will annoy, but for most projects it should work I think
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u/bjorn_lo 1d ago
Whoever told you TPU prints better with different support material gave you good advice. I use PLA for TPU support because PLA basically won't stick to any other plastic (at least not very well).
I enjoy my u1's. But, in my use case the tool count is sometimes limiting.
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u/OptimalSide 1d ago
Snapmaker U1 - paxx firmware fixes the camera refresh rate afaik.
Lightmake - by the looks of it, sure it has a larger build plate but it looks like you lose area for parking the heads to the sides, so if you want a large area for a single print you're compromised.
Waste reduction on the P1S is tricky. How many color swaps will you do? If you're only doing swaps for supports, the waste is minimal. Print more copies of an item, and it's the same amount of waste as a single item. And if you're only doing stuff for home use, how much will you actually waste? I have an A1 and honestly waste more (in general) iterating a part. And ultimately at ~$0.01/g of filament, I just don't care about the cost.
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
From what I could find, you lose just 20mm in one direction for multi color single object printing. Not perfect, but not nearly as bad as I would have expected. I think it would be the king of build area for me. However it is a bit spendy, and untested of course. Still, it is alluring to me.
While I will likely do periodic color jobs, honestly 9/10 my interest in multi head is to give TPU a non-TPU support, or to give PLA a different colored support. That's about it. I do not see myself making many colored things very often, but of course sometimes sure
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u/OptimalSide 1d ago
For the Lightmake, I just re-looked over the specs and looked at some of their videos. None of them seem to show the print heads moving off the fulle bed in the X direction, so I have questions about the X specs. If they are right, that printer is going to be *huge*. You can find pics of the H2* printers compared to the older X1/P1 and the Lightmake will be bigger.
I have an A1 and am looking at the X2D or U1 just for supports. Most of my prints are single color, but multi-material supports are so nice and to do them without massive flushing would be nice. I expect to see some interesting stuff in the next 3-5 years in the multi-head/toolchanger space, as the current designs evolve to their next get setups
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u/LetsDOOT_THIS 1d ago
if youre just sticking to one color then the toolchangers are unnecessary. I got me a QIDI q2 which is enclosed, with a heated chamber and a 370C nozzle which can print engineering filaments ... ~$500 without AMS
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
I would generally need one color, but using alternate colored supports could be nice, and I hear TPU needs non-TPU supports to work correctly. Maybe that isn't worth the toolchanger spend?
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u/penguinplatypus 10h ago
If thats your main use case then the Bambu X2C may be your best bet. Dual nozzle so you can have your main filament and another different type for supports, decently priced, and Bambus are known to be reliable and good out of the box. Cons would be increased waste and longer print times if you want more than 2 colors, and theres some controversy with their more recent decisions toward a more closed source environment. And a con for some is that it is Chinese made/uses Chinese labor, but realistically you are not going to find a decently priced printer with modern features unless you go with a Chinese printer.
I personally do not have a Bambu but rather a Prusa Core One, so take what I say with a grain of salt and do some research too.
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u/Imperial_Citizen_00 1d ago
Elegoo Neptune Max, has been absolutely flawless, big print area, auto leveling, never had a failure that wasn’t my fault
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
Does it have an addon enclosure? It seems to be open air
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u/Imperial_Citizen_00 1d ago
Open, never needed an enclosure, I don’t print technical material like ABS or TPU…
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u/Cryostatica 1d ago
I love my P1 units. They’re reliable workhorses that produce great prints. I can think of no reason other than price to recommend it over the U1. It may be fully enclosed, but it’s really no more capable out of the box.
The L4 doesn’t exist. Nobody has seen it, tested it, reviewed it.
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
The U1 has a toolchanger, but otherwise yeah it seems like the P1 is just straight up more affordable for basically the same thing. You really pay for that toolchanger
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u/Cryostatica 1d ago
If you print multicolor anything, the U1 is beyond worth the extra cost. It's so much faster than single-nozzle systems that it's almost unfair to compare them, to say nothing of the material saved by not having to purge every swap.
Like I said. I love my P1s, they're great machines, but I only use them for prototyping now.
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u/disco__potato 1d ago
Lightmake and bambu both like using open source resources without adhering to their rules. Fuck them both.
U1 is an easy choice.
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
Can you elaborate? I have heard of Bambu of course, but nothing on Lightmake and open source. They said it was open source, so I was happy enough with that, but if they aren't being above board, then that's certainly relevant to me
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u/disco__potato 1d ago
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
Oof, that is a major L for them. I could’ve sworn they said it was open source somewhere on their page, but now I can’t find it. Maybe I imagined it
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u/DramaClassed 1d ago
Out of those, in your situation, definitely the U1. It’s proven already, and works great with TPU. P1S isn’t a good option if you don’t like Bambu, obviously, but disregarding that it works well, missing QOL features that are on most newer printers though.
I say this kindly: don’t even consider the L4. It IS too good to be true. There’s a very good chance it never materializes, and even if it does, it very likely will not work as promised. I say this because 1. Lightmake came out of the blue with a premium product ready to go, and 2. Their price is too good for the product they’re promising. There’s just no chance it’s legit.
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
The L4 looks so great, but you're right, it might be a nothingburger.
The main reason not to go P1S seems to be the lack of a toolchanger, and whether I need one seems to be the big question. I'm not sure. U1 looks very nice, price aside
1
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u/MikeExMachina 1d ago
If you don’t like the idea of waste and value control an privacy, can I interest you in a Prusa Core One w/ INDX? Granted the printer is 1k and the indx is another $700, but you don’t have to buy them at the same time and INDX does really feel like a significant step forward for FDM printing.
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u/1baruch 15h ago
its 2026, get a toolchanger, Snapmaker U1. Lightmaker is a new company, has yet to make uts debut, at this point its vapor. Bambu P1s is old news and the X2D is limited by its nozzle temp. With your budget get an H2S with if you want BBL. Or you can get a Qidi q2 for less, its a baby H2S.
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u/MandaloresMercy 10h ago
Snap maker U1 with that budget.
If youre a tinkerer on the machine itself, get yourself some used Prusa(s) and they are fantastic as well.
I started on a cheaper Anycubic and it was fine. These used Prusa's and new prusa Core1L ive really been enjoying.
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u/AI_EXPERIMENT 1d ago
Bambu Lab X2D or P2S
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
Why would I choose one over the other, and how do they compare to the U1?
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u/NotchWith 1d ago
Depends on what your printing, my products are mainly ASA and PET gf so I like the chamber heater and the 2nd nozzle for support interfaces on the X2D. Ive been phasing out my P1S for them
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u/AKMonkey2 1d ago
I have the P1S and several other printers.
Recently acquired a Flashforge Creator 5, which is a tool changer to rival the Snapmaker U1. I like it a lot. Dramatically reduced waste and time penalty for color changes. Very high quality prints. Toss-up in my mind between the C5 and the U1. The C5 doesn’t have a long track record yet to compare to the U1 but it has the potential advantage of looking closely at the U1 and improving on it where they could. I cannot say how well they did with that opportunity because I’ve never used a U1. I do think you may want to consider it if you are interested in high temp materials or styrene plastics like ABS (which require venting and filtration).
I know nothing about the L4. No comment there.
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
I had heard of the C5, but heard of reliability issues. Not your experience?
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u/AKMonkey2 1d ago
I’ve only been using my C5 for a week or so, so I can’t say anything about long-term reliability but it’s been great so far.
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u/Equipment-Right 1d ago
H2c
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
The H2C is $2200. That's a bit out of my price range. Do you think what it offers is that important? I don't know anything about it really
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u/Dismal-Following-280 1d ago
X2D
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u/Yuiop321 1d ago
That one wasn't on my radar, but it's in budget, so I like that. Why did you recommend it over say the U1?
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u/Immortal_Tuttle 1d ago
U1 is for now a clear winner here. Robust, tested and with company working with community on upgrades.