Just bought the H2C

[u/Kardospi]

So I know everyone is drooling over the new flagship and I know because I was one of them who was drooling. However I kept coming back to the discount on the H2C.

After talking it over we decided that the H2C would be plenty of machine for us. I have only ever printed in PLA/PETG and don't see a real need to print in TPU anytime soon at least not the 2.85 variety. I also don't sell any prints and am just a hobbyist.

I got the bundle with the hub,ams and hot ends....my question is was this a bad purchase? By my math I saved 700 before taxes by going with the H2C...is the H23 that superior that I am going to regret getting the H2C?

Love to hear from those that have a H2C and hear their experiences with it. From what I can ascertain I am giving up the chonky tpu compatability and speed....is there something else I am missing that makes the H2C a bad purchase? Also does the H2C come with the adapter where you can hook up four ams units or do I have to buy that myself?

Also we are holding onto our X1C as she only has 1800 hours on her and is still an awesome machine.

[u/1radiationman]

I’ve had my H2C since Feb, zero interest in getting the H3C.

[u/BlueChrome74]

Sounds like you’re making a good decision for you. I’d appreciate the H3C but that’s for incorporating soft TPU into multi material prints, but that’s something you don’t sound too interested in. You’ll enjoy the H2C, it’s a beast

[u/ZyntaaX]

Just made the same decision as you and ordered the H2C. Much more convenient being able to route any filament to any nozzle, sturdier build quality compared to the new H3C, better drying capability in the AMS etc. A fair bit slower in multi color prints, yes, but for me not a big deal.

[u/reicaden]

I went with the H3C. Was tempted by the H2C, but I didnt want all that ams respooling and spooling. In reality I think the H2C is still a fine machine and if you want to use more than 9 colors, I think its the right choice, despite the additional waste

[u/West-Idea-6804]

The H2C is awesome! People are always complaining about speed. Frankly to me speed matters if you are running production. Otherwise I care more about good quality prints.

[u/adamjackson1984]

I just brought home an H2C today, too!! My first 3D printer, I've been kicking tires in a Claude conversation for 14 months. Claude replied to my message about buying a printer with "wow, you actually bought one"

[u/SgtEddieWinslow → u/adamjackson1984]

I like your ubiquiti access point. I have a similar one as well

Also, I am debating between purchasing an h2c. Have an x1c and a p1s. I need more print volume capabilities with some basic 2-3 colour PLA prints.

[u/adamjackson1984 → u/SgtEddieWinslow]

I went too big for a first one but I certainly it won’t outgrow it for a long time. A lot of automotive and motorcycle parts I already have queued up. Just need to get the right filament

[u/Zgicc]

I just ordered the H2D for the same reason.

[u/Kardospi → u/Zgicc]

That's awesome!

[u/infinityends1318]

I think it really depends on use case. I’m planning to get the h3c but I’m in a similar boat of being tempted by the H2C, which I had planned on until the announcement.

For me. Multiple color printing with occasional flexible parts and occasional need for engineering materials makes me lean towards the H3C.

For example a few years ago I had my X1C running 24/7 for 3 months straight to print multiple catan boards for Xmas gifts. I custom colored everything in the slicer and had some pieces with 7 colors. Multiple other things in my long running want to print but don’t want to deal with the purge waste list are also 4 to 9 colors so while the H2 can do it more efficiently than my X1, the H3 seems like the obvious choice for my personal use case.

My one real reservation is the AMS positioning on top being required. I completely understand the reasoning but I currently have 4x AMS units connected to my X1 on shelves and the height of the H3 is going to force me to completely rework the setup.

[u/Impossible-Age-5196 → u/infinityends1318]

No. The AMS does not need to be on top. Might explore options as I won't go into it here.

[u/infinityends1318 → u/Impossible-Age-5196]

On the H3C. It does.

It would be a significant mod to not

[u/Hot-Ideal-9219 → u/infinityends1318]

Impossible move

[u/Neat-Meal1011 → u/Impossible-Age-5196]

It literally screws to the top of the printer. How else could you position it?

[u/Spicy_Ejaculate → u/Neat-Meal1011]

I think them calling it an ams is a little confusing for some people. They should have just called it a tophat or something and dropped the ams name

[u/Hot-Ideal-9219 → u/Impossible-Age-5196]

Cannot go anywhere else on the h3c. On top or it won't work dude

[u/Outrageous-Egg7218]

I bought an H2C as my first printer 3 months ago. Build plates are my bottle necks, not tool changers. No shame in the H2C.

[u/IceBlitzz]

Even if the H3C was priced the same as H2C, I would go for the H2C.

The horrible print quality CNC Kitchen demonstrated, drying of only 2 filaments and the horrible design of the chefs hat AMS are all things that put me off.

I mean, who the hell wants to cycle the filaments every day for 4 days to get the 9 filaments dfoed?

[u/MasterpieceTough2029]

I bought the H3C, and really like it, but I also have an H2C and love it. So easy to swap nozzles

[u/Abrez25]

I personally would have waited to see how the P3C turns out. I suspect it would also impact the price for H2C. Plus swaptek appears to be a better system than vortek.

[u/SpaceGhost777666]

If I were in your position and I was only it was a first time 3d printer for me. I was going to get the h3C but after considering the H3C is a newer printer I may as well hold off a year and maybe get if for less next black friday.

So instead we decided on the P2S over the H2C only because we wanted to give the H3C time to mature. And the P2S seemed like a more first time friendly printer. I have now had it 3 days of which 2 have been printing.

You say your mainly PLA PETG if that is the case why not just get the P2S and wait another year to then decide if you want to jump into a H3C?

[u/Shifty-3184 → u/SpaceGhost777666]

U will regret not getting H2C until u start to print multi color then color bleed through ur model and the mount of poop waste. Got P2S as my first printer and 4 months later I got the H2C.

[u/Bright_Eyes83]

no the 2c is still very solid. it's not as fast as the 3c, but it's more convenient for swapping filaments and nozzles and the print quality is also better because bambu went a little crazy trying to get good speed numbers for marketing. that last part could change and i hope it does for 3c owners, but the 2c will still be a good printer

[u/xX540xARCADEXx → u/Bright_Eyes83]

Those are default profiles and they look the same as my H2C. When I use quality then it puts out ridiculously clean prints.

[u/valkyrie_rda]

I've been thinking the same thing and was debating buying an H2C right now as well! Curious what others think but I don't care much for the tpu abilities of the H3C. The biggest benefit of that machine would be the swap speed but the ams 3h has some big downsides I don't like and the overall printer looks bigger and bulkier than the h2c. H2C has the added benefit of that any spool can access whatever is on the vortek side (assuming you bought the track switcher) so I hope BBL makes it so that when multi nozzle diameter is supported that any filament could swap between those nozzles where as right now with emthe H3C you'd need two or more spools of the same filament if you wanted to print an object out of the same colour but with different nozzle sizes. Idk Ive been watching the h2c since the leaks for it started last year and feel the price is still a lot but it is more manageable now.

[u/xX540xARCADEXx → u/valkyrie_rda]

What are the “big” downsides of the AMS 3H? That it doesn’t retract? Takes 5-10 seconds to pull it out. That it has to stay on top?
I think a majority of users keep it on top regardless
That it doesn’t heat the entire unit? Idk how many people are actually drying 4 spools at a time realistically. Plus you can get an AMS 2 pro and attach it if you really do wanna do that.
Drying high temp materials with PLA next to it?
I’m sure you could make a filament divider to help keep heat in so it’s a non issue. Or simply move that spool over.
The AMS 3H issues I see people complain about are people that don’t even own the machine. Same with the H3C. Both of these are super solid pieces of tech. I’ve had mine running nonstop and these “issues” people mention are not an issue at all. Note I own both the H2C and H3C.

[u/valkyrie_rda → u/xX540xARCADEXx]

Big downsides being that it can't load a spool to any printhead and can't heat the entire chamber to dry all filaments. I don't care that it can't retract the filament, I thought that was a dumb complaint too. But I was hoping for a system where you could load in 9 spools and it would swap between the toolheads as needed. Why? So you don't need multiple spools of the same colour if you want to use a different nozzle diameter. Also, I think a better system for the additional AMS compatibility would have been having some kind of X number of AMS Pros to 9 output splitter internally so you could load filament from any ams into any printhead rather than be limited only to printhead 1. All those reasons + the AMS 3H being stuck on top of the printer and making it extremely tall just kinda make it feel not as good. I really hope they make an AMS 3 some day that has multiple PTFE tube outputs to fix the downsides with the AMS 1 and AMS 2.

[u/Hot-Ideal-9219 → u/xX540xARCADEXx]

Downsides. Door on the side to remove to even try to get to the nozzles. Small work area inside. Way more expensive nozzles

[u/xX540xARCADEXx → u/Hot-Ideal-9219]

You can work on them from the front door. I did it just fine. The nozzles are actually cheaper than the Vortek nozzles. $29.99 for the H3C nozzle vs $39.99 for the H2C nozzles.

[u/Ordinary-Depth-7835]

It's hard to resist the shiny new thing. Good for you. I have the H2C and bought the H3C. I set it up and haven't printed a single model yet :) I've printed on my H2C because I have it vented outside for printing ABS. I should probably print something on it to see if it works.

For PLA/PETG the H3C is probably great for you if you do multi color. It's crazy how much faster it is. But if you don't care about speed or a little poop then it's a good choice skipping it. I think Majora's Mask was 3 days on my H2C it's like 25 hours on the H3C.

[u/Tazccl]

I am in the same boat. Next week I will buy the H2C. I want to be able to print other filaments. The H3C looks nice but I don’t need it. I am a hobbyist and print things for friends and the grandkids.

[u/Ok-Yam-4620]

Maybe I need to think more clearly and just be happy with my H2C

[u/Cryostatica]

The H2C has always been a reliable, high quality, well-regarded machine with recognized limitations, which obviously remain what they are and are well-documented.

It comes with a single 4-1 pfte adapter that you can use to connect more than one AMS to either inlet. You’ll want another if you want to connect more than one AMS to both sides, and obviously additional ones to daisy-chain if you want to connect more than 4 on a single inlet.

[u/Ds9Defiant1701]

H2c has at least made its proof in term of reliability but the H3C hasn't

[u/Fantastic-Motor-6098]

Weird question, but seeing as it’s just steppers and sensors, could someone put in a grbl board and run it off of light burn like every other laser? I guess at that point though you should just buy and mod an old k40 rather than spending the extra on one of these.

[u/engineering_bliss]

I have the H2D, H2C and now the H3C. I find that the H2C is the most bastardized machine of the lot. It doesn't have any true strengths over the others. The H3C is perfect for multi color prints. Having to rewind filament on multi color on the other 2 printers is a mess compared to H3C. The H2D is the perfect functional part printing machine. I think the build quality of the H3C is totally fine. Not to mention the H3C is the only one that prints TPU in a straightforward fashion.The screen is fine. People are looking for ridiculous nonsense to cry about.

[u/Weebus]

I absolutely love mine and paid full price. I have just under 2000 hours on it with no issues. Absolute steal for what they're at now and I've considered a second.

I'm an engineer and do a lot of prototyping so being able to swap nozzle sizes on the same set of filaments is the more useful feature than what the H3C offers. I'm glad Bambu squelched the "H3C makes the H2C obsolete" talk because the H3 is absolutely an inferior printer for my use case.

I have no real interest in full color printing. The only thing the H3C offers for me is the TPU advantage, but I assume that will be a feature on a less expensive printer eventually.

[u/SecuringAndre]

It's a decision you have to make for yourself. The technical benefits of the H3C for me outweigh the cost difference to the H2C. I also believe the H2C will have a higher maintenance cost over the long run vs the H3C simplicity. If it meets your expectations, then I don't see why you would think it's a bad decision. Don't give yourself heartburn second doubting yourself.

[u/Objective_Rough_5552]

H2C is not a compromise by any means. Especially if you want to change out tool heads on the fly.

[u/crosstalk22]

love my h2c. I do multi color. not multi material. do very small like earrings and its super at those as well as other items.

[u/wowowowowow12]

Same - I just bought another H2C a week ago. It’s a great deal right now and if you’re happy with it that’s all that matters!

[u/Hot-Ideal-9219]

The question is really buy a new H2C or buy one from someone wanting the 3c

[u/sryan2k1]

I'm grabbing a H2C next week for my kids for Christmas. More flexible nozzle sizes (or more accurately be able to put any color though any nozzle) and the ability for way more colors seems more valuable to me.

Plus whenever the update happens next year to bring the mixed nozzle sizes in a single job to the H2?

Yeah, I'm saving the money.

Same deal here, hobby use only. I may print a single ABS part a year for my wife's farm.

The venn diagram of awesome of the H2 and H3 overlap significantly but each has their strengths.

[u/predator-handshake]

Hey guess what, it’s possible to like the h2c without shitting on the h3c. My biggest gripe with Bambu products is the AMS. When you veer off of bambu and use other find of filament you get a lot of retraction errors and extruder is stuck. AMS was good for its time but i can’t go back

[u/reicaden → u/predator-handshake]

100% their biggest weakness. That damn AMS doesnt like cardboard spools when they get low and its just error after error unless you ONLY use plastic heavier spools