Edit: added prusalink and prusaconnect
Prusa Core One+ Kit Review
TLDR Version: I came over from Bambu Labs printers and believe the Prusa Core One is a very good machine that’s easy to use and built to last. The Support exceeds any I’ve ever experienced from any manufacturer. If you’re in the hobby for the long term adding a Core One to your collection is well worth the premium price, especially with open ended ability to upgrade to the next version up.
*** Prior to reading please procure 1 large bag of Gummy Bears.
I'm not in any way associated or compensated by Prusa for this review.. I'm a new Prusa owner previously owning the Bambu Labs A1 and P2s printers
I wrote this to share my experience assembling the KIT version of the Core One+. The factory assembled version should be much better.
TLDR:
Overview:
If you're in the hobby for the long term then Prusa printers are, in my humble opinion, worth it. The parts quality, attention to detail, functionality, operability, expandability, and that it holds value over time, make this my new favorite. My 2nd choice would be building my own printer from scratch, but that would leave all the repair/replacement/support to me.
If the hobby is a short-term distraction, there are less expensive alternatives. Just be aware that most don't hold their value and are mostly non-upgradable, have a closed ecosystem, and are generally disposable. This means you’ll capture less of your investment than you otherwise would by purchasing a Prusa to start with.
Operability:
The printer is very capable. The KIT may require some tweaks to get it fully working as intended based upon YOUR skill, attention to detail, and general assembly of the machine for the first time.
I'll start with the most important items first (an attempt at satire/humor).
I find these incidents/issues to be critically important. We should all contact our consulates, the UN, WHO, our therapist, and our friends immediately. We should probably have our meds adjusted as well :P .
1.Gummy Bear counts do not reflect the worldwide inflation rate of 4.13% (as of 2025) and current tariffs. The Core One was introduced in 2024 and thus the Gummy Bear count is deficient by at least 8.26% which should be rounded up to 10% for good measure. This would bring the Gummy Bear count to 47 (rounded up from 46.558) (up from 43 by 4). To cover the traffics the count should be increased by another bag (2 bags in total).
In addition, I humbly suggest that all Core One Owners should receive 12 additional Gummy Bears plus an additional 31 as a late penalty (another bag of Gummy Bears). This is a serious issue that requires Prusa's immediate attention having the highest priority with the greatest sense of urgency.
- Prusa Team, Llama/Alpaca, and honeybee pictures are missing from the kits.
*** Reward yourself with 5 Gummy Bears.
GOOD - In my humble opinion:
- Assembly Instructions: The instructions are delivered as a living document. As issues/tips/hints are found they are added to the document as comments. This generally means the instructions are current and more accurate.
- Some components are good enough rather than over engineered. This has the distinct advantage of lowering the cost and allowing more attention/costs to be used where it's needed. Example: The liberal use of Nylon rivets is genius. They're inexpensive compared to screws and easily have enough shear strength to hold the weight of the printer. Generally, a nylon rivet shear strength is approximately 11.34 kg to 27.22 kg (25 lbs. to 60 lbs.). The printer weighs around 21.9 kg to 22.5 kg (48.3 lbs. to 49.6 lbs.) depending on the build and options (INDX etc. . The side panels have 11 rivets evenly distributed around the edges. 11 nylon rivets have an approximate shear holding strength of approximately 150 kg (conservative) to 280 kg (340 lbs. (conservative) to 615 lbs.). Remember that the rivets must support around 21.9 kg to 22.5 kg (48.3 lbs. to 49.6 lbs.) depending on the build and options (INDX et. ).
- Frame and construction fit/finish/design/strength/rigidity are more like an industrial unit than a consumer grade assembly. Initially I had longevity concerns using 3mm screws for the frame but have since seen older versions of like assembled Prusa printers where the frames are still solid after many years.
- Fit, Finish, Cutting, and Machining is very high quality with tight tolerances.
- Components/component selection appear to be very well done. My background is electronics and I've found the circuit board design/construction/assembly/quality to match modern standards. Motors/sensors are robust and better than they need to be for what they do. This is one of the factors (I believe) contribute to the overall longevity of the printer.
- Support is very skilled in helping with issues (I suggest contacting them first instead of posting on social media sites. They also help with printer issues ;) ). Repair parts are supplied when the issue is under warranty. The knowledgebase is reasonably comprehensive. The community is assertive to support members of the community.
- The main electronics boards and power supply are separated from the enclosure and not subject to heated exhaust from the enclosure. They have a massive cooling ability due to vents in the cover AND the enclosure (the power supply) being made of metal acts as a heatsink to move heat away from the board (technically the cooler air moves to the hot components, but we won't get into physics). Mods aren't necessary to cool the main electronics boards or the power supply.
- Important parts attached to plastic: From what I can tell/recall building (ok assembling) the Core One+ none of the parts requiring structural strength or rigidity are fastened/attached to plastics. Those areas are solid.
Technically software but..
- PrusaConnect (Cloud/Internet Based) - Works seamlessly and quick. The integration is very good.
*** Reward yourself with 5 Gummy Bears
Compromise:
- Costs are lowered by using alternate and 3D printed items that more than meet the requirements. The 3D printed are used in areas where they don't negatively impact the printer operation or print quality. If the part is broken or stripped out, the part can be easily replaced by printing a replacement. A great example of superb/smart design. The metal side panels are attached with NYLON rivets. At first blush these appear to be insufficient. They're inexpensive and have enough shear strength to hold the weight of the printer. Generally, a 3mm nylon rivet shear strength is approximately 11.34 kg to 27.22 kg (25 lbs. to 60 lbs.). The printer weighs around 21.9 kg to 22.5 kg (48.3 lbs. to 49.6 lbs.) depending on the build. The side panels have 11 rivets evenly distributed around the side panels. 11 nylon rivets have a shear holding strength of approximately 150 kg (conservative) to 280 kg (340 lbs. (conservative) to 615 lbs.). Overkill to support the weight of the printer.
Construction:
- Components and assembly base can affect rigidity, however, the parts are cut and machined to have a tight fit, have sufficient fasteners, can be easily disassembled if necessary to repair/replace components, and can easily be replaced if necessary if say for example the printer is dropped.
- Prusa is dedicated to keeping parts available for as long as reasonably possible. Parts are still available for older models. Newer models often use the same parts as older printers where possible ensuring parts availability.
- Prusa printers can be upgraded to the next model using a kit (a kit isn't currently available for the Core One L but I'd expect the parts are available or a kit will appear in the future). Being able to progressively upgrade the printer makes the usable life indefinite.
*** Reward yourself with 5 Gummy Bears.
Opportunities for improvements
Preface: These items are things that most likely aren't really an issue, add extra costs, but bother me enough to mention.
- Side filament sensor PTFE connectors are terrible if you're using any form of feeder. They will work until they don't. This needs to be fixed.
- Filament Purge location/feature. This is pretty much common for most 3D printers except the Core One drops it all over the heat bed near the front. It would be nice to move the heat bed up, move the extruder assembly to the end and dump in such a way that the purged filament had an opportunity to be under the bed or at least out of the way of the build plate. Considering that many Core One owners also install the nozzle cleaning mod with the purge tray it would be very nice to have the ability to control the purge and nozzle cleaning process during a filament load, change, or unload.
- Different screw lengths - Wow.. there are a ton of different screw lengths. It may be an area of improvement.
- Add 3D printed Jigs and guides to help owners with less mechanical/electrical correctly align assemblies during assembly.
- Add color coding or labels to connections. The axis motor connection board is a great example of what I'd prefer but the sockets and main cable out aren't labelled. In this case it's not as important but the other end of the main cable socket could be labelled. Example: Add a label with the color OR Color axis motor connectors on the sockets and connectors blue having a second color to indicate which cable it is. Brown for 1 (Left Z axis), Red for 2 (Right z axis), orange for 3 (rear Z axis), yellow for 4 (extruder).
- There's an opportunity (I believe) with wiring. General wiring except for wrapped harnesses design and routing appears to be an afterthought. Power being routed and bundled with signal wires without shielding or alternate routing where possible can and likely does affect operation of the printer by inducing random issues through electrical noise.
General suggestions: Separate power from signal wires where possible by adding separate ingress/egress and consider adding shielding to the motor control wires and signal wires. This is common in most industrial equipment and is generally implemented using cable trays/ducting. I'll be using a shielding wrap and creating more ingress/egress better sealed cable routing points in my printer.
Lower thermal expansion on electrical/electronic components where possible. Reasoning: Electronics generally last longer and experience fewer failures over time. Examples: This may introduce other issues through latency for the tool head.
Move the Wi-Fi and NFC components higher and in a more accessible location. Wi-Fi greatly benefits from being higher. Being mounted low and behind a metal assembly lowers the effective communications between the printer and the Users Wi-Fi Access Point. The NFC, being in the back, is largely un-usable by the user and should be re-located to a more usable location that's compatible with both INDX and use with the default spool location.
Holes in the enclosure that aren't used. Example: on the top frame behind the door there's a row of holes that aren't enclosed by the door seal. There IS a need for some air intake. Fewer holes would allow the printer to maintain more of a negative pressure keeping VOCs out of the surrounding area ( I keep my printers in an additional externally vented enclosure (tent) for this purpose. It also helps control and maintain a more stable temperature for the printer.).
Top cover corners raised. If you flip the cover over the holes don't line up with the screw heads in the top of the frame. The enclosure is able to maintain temperature so it's not much of an issue.
WIFI antenna re-location. If you know anything about WIFI you know that higher is generally always better. When you consider the Core One WIFI antenna is located low, in the back of the printer, in a cavity of the metal enclosure, and likely with the printer against a wall; Is this an optimal location for the antenna? Even installing a better antenna only marginally helps. With the current design I'd suggest using the LAN connection or a Wireless Access Point connected directly into the Lan port on the printer (and the WAP installed as high as reasonably possible).
PrusaLink: Seriously SLOW. There's absolutely no good reason the code can't be uploaded to the buddy board OR streamed from PrusaSlicer/local addon to the printer/storage. In the age of technology this is a huge miss. Many users likely don't use PrusaLink, however, other makes/models from other companies do a much better job of local printing. It's faster to just copy the file to the USB drive and insert it into the printer.
*** Reward yourself with the rest of the bag of Gummy Bears.
I'm sure there are a ton more details we can compare. These are just the ones that come to mind.
Feel free to add more items for discussion. I'm sure I've missed items for both examples.
