tl;dr Don’t hate on people who got tricked into buying a Bambu printer. Direct your hatred to Bambu itself.
We all know about the anti-consumer Bambu Printer changes by now. But I think it’s important to remember not to make fun of people who already bought one. In fact, most agree with you that these changes are unacceptable. So those people already got kicked in the gut.
As someone who bought from Prusa instead of Bambu, I completely understand the feeling of “Ha, I told you so!” But spreading that on every post is actually counter-productive. Remember that most people who bought a Bambu printer did so because it topped every “best 3D printers” list, had tons of sponsored content, and were affordable easy-to-use printers. Not everybody heard about the potential for such anti-consumer changes to be made. And many who did know were often misled into thinking it wouldn’t happen.
Instead of being critical of individuals, be critical of Bambu themselves. Bambu are the ones who screwed over tons of people who love this hobby. If we want to see 3D printing be an open-source style hobby, then we need to help people see the value in that. So if anything, this is the chance for you to make more people aware of good, open systems. If you make fun of people and point fingers at them, you are just making them defensive. Don’t make them direct any hatred at you that could be directed at the company itself.
Hope this isn’t too preachy. I just wanted to get this out there.
Well I almost bought one. I had to buy a cheaper one bacause of, you know, no money, but I was really sad that I wasn’t able to get the best one. Now I’m a bit happy that I didn’t
Most of the people posting angry rants about this news are not Bambu owners. On the other hand, most Bambu owners have no idea anything has changed, because we didn’t buy these printers to mod or install custom firmware on or use whatever slicer tickles our fancy this week, we bought them because they Just Work™, work great, and are very reliable. I owned a hobbyist machine before and I just don’t have the time anymore. I knew exactly what tradeoff I was making when I purchased from them, so condescending assholes can keep their patronizing I Told You So to themselves: this is not for you, you have other options and that’s OK.
Side note: I also run Windows and Linux on my PC. You can diss Windows all you want but it has its uses and you’re not winning any friends outside the Linux circle jerk community by being a raging asshole about it. The Bambu hate feels exactly the same.
The people that own them will definitely notice if they start making features require a subscription or deciding that you can’t print certain objects.
We can certainly display plenty of outrage when/if that happens. Most of their engineers are ex DJI-drones guys… do DJI drones have a subscription model to fly their drones?
The engineers aren’t the ones who generally get to make those decisions.
I agree with you though, no point jumping the gun and getting angry about something that might happen
slippery slope
Alternative thought - don’t worry about hating anybody or anything, just print shit and have fun. I don’t regret my A1 for one second.
I’m unconcerned. I knew what I was getting into with a walled garden ecosystem, and though I didn’t expect them to dive straight into the enshittification deep end, I figures they would eventually do something fairly shady. The real question is how long it will take to release the first X1C-Klipper refit.
As it turns out, there’s already a project… https://github.com/ChazLayyd/Bambu-Lab-Klipper-Conversion/blob/main/README.md
Same here which is why I jumped on the X1C now. Companies like this always release the good shit first and each future model always lose features and usability bit by bit.
This change is annoying but not the end of the world. I don’t regret my purchase one hit because the machine is top notch compared to what I had previously.
Kinda hard not to when every 3d printer hobbyist I know of warned people about this. But you right.
I f-in knew it from the start. I kept telling everyone. But it’s hard to listen when every youtuber and their mom switched to bambu. I don’t like Prusa all that much either, but they are A LOT better than bambu. So I blame Bambu, but also YouTubers and influencers who started peddling them from the start. I’ll stock up on E3d v6 hotends and generic extruders while they are still available.
I don’t like Prusa all that much either, but they are A LOT better than bambu.
In what aspect? Because it’s not reliability. Or speed. Or ease of repair. Or features. Or price.
Jo’s been throwing shit at the wall as fast as he can to catch up to Bambu; and that’s good for all of us - certainly. But this isn’t a Bambu vs Prusa thing here. Prusa added the dogbone that voids your warranty if you want to flash a new bootloader to the buddyboard – did you have a problem with that? Did you cry ‘slippery slope’ back then?
What about all the other great machines out there that are quickly catching up to Bambu’s feature set? The K2 seems to be quite interesting. There’s room for everyone here.
In terms of being open source and maintaining that model. Also having some of the parts actually be 3d printed. Other than that, I don’t know, Ive never owned one, never used one. It is too expensive for me for the features it has. Also xl seems to be a unique thing. Too expensive, though.
As for flashing the Prusa, I don’t follow Prusa, so I didn’t know about that one, but voiding a warranty vs locking you out isn’t the same thing really. Though I wouldn’t consider it a good move, I understand it somewhat.
If I was buying a new printer, which I won’t, I’d go for a Sovol SV08, which is somewhat of a Voron clone.
Yes.
You shit on the individual asshole executives. Not the people who got screwed. Not the company, which has no agency and can do nothing. The individual executives, including the board of directors.
Luigi has taught us well.
Direct the “I told you so”'s at media. That favorite YouTuber? It’s their fault. Just watched a couple of them complain as if they weren’t the problem in the first place.
It was their job to make sure everyone knew the risks. They are advocates, and highly knowledgeable, and ignored those risks when making recommendations. Or at best, downplayed them. Sad, really.
I would be highly suspcious of anything running proprietary software and connected to the open internet, especially now that you’ve got ignorant states like NJ and NY looking to prosecute people who might be making anything that vaguely resembles a gun part.
Same goes for slicers. Some of those don’t respect privacy either.
I was looking at getting the A1 with the multi material thing because it was fairly cheap and I wanted a printer that got good quality without me having to constantly tweak it like my Ender 3. Is there something else that offers similar at that price range? I just want to print good in multiple materials out of the box.
Prusa has a good 3d printer with it their version of the mmu but it’s more expensive. Kinda what you get when your company pays everybody fair wages.
There really isn’t. That’s why Bambu has such a strong stranglehold on the market. The price/feature set balance is just sooooooo tilted in their favor right now that it’s hard to legitimately pick something else unless you are a stone wall when it comes to compromise in open source philosophy. If the open source philosophy and dogma aren’t really part of who you are, there’s no reason this change will affect you in the first place.
I was afraid of that :(
I bought one recently enough I don’t even have it yet. Hope it’s on old firmware when it arrives 🤞
Since your printer will be drawn from “old stock” on the shelf, it’s more than likely it will have the old firmware included. Now, the new slicer versions may not function with it anymore-- and that may include Orca. But that remains to be seen.
looks like the firmware is only X series for now anyway, and i’ve purchased a P series
Bambu has stated the same is coming for us with P and A series machines also as they roll out the new protocols.
it’s true, but it means my printer definitely 100% won’t ship with this new firmware
At some point as the old stock inventory is sold out, the new inventory WILL ship with the new firmware. I’m willing to bet, new machines are being built with the new firmware as we speak. I have no idea how soon those hit the pipeline. Might be a few weeks, might take a couple months, might be today.
Printer arrived and isn’t on the latest firmware. I’ll update it to whatever the current version is, it doesn’t have the bad update on my model yet ofc. Prints really nicely though 🤠
got an email last night that they’ll be shipping mine 22nd so i think i’m ok. especially if the new P firmware isn’t out yet. i’ll update you here once i get it though 😅
edit: yoooo got my shipping info
Good luck. Hope you return it if not, and tell them why.
I’m more likely to just use it offline only via SD card. It’s my first printer and I don’t think I have it in me to tinker with them like I’ve seen is often required on some others
I would return a product in any case if I found out it’s a bait and switch scheme.
Doing some research comparing prusa’s github and bambu’s I realized the firmware was closed sourced and that completely disqualified it from consideration. Also, not being to update without connecting to their servers is a no no. I believe everybody should closely research what they’re getting next time they make a purchase. Sorry for all of those who bought Bambus.
I got gifted one, so I didn’t choose it. It’s a great printer, but it sucks that Bambu Lab is pulling that shit.
it topped every “best 3D printers” list, had tons of sponsored content, and were affordable easy-to-use printers. Not everybody heard about the potential for such anti-consumer changes to be made.
There are a few lessons here folks… We all have to get better at consuming that’s something that we can actually control at least with respect to discretionary markets.
Deny these parasites the profit and engagement as much as possible.
Bambu made 3d printing an appliance. Before Bambu there is no way my ~65 year old mother would be able to own and be self reliantly productive with a 3d printer.
Prusa was close, but comparatively much more expensive.
I don’t and won’t own a Bambu, but if nothing else they opened the world’s eyes to what is possible, now hopefully more friendly companies like prusa will learn from it.
Stallman Was Right material
Shame bambu enshittified. I was looking at bambu next as I just want a 3d printer that doesnt start putting out pure trash 2 years into its ownership for no reason.
