# Bambu Lab P1S

29 Hacker News commenters recommended Bambu Lab P1S and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1.5 years (10 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for reliable, easy printing that works out of the box and needs little maintenance. Critics object to the closed ecosystem, cloud and account concerns, and the company's direction.

## Why people recommend it

- Prints well out of the box (5 comments): "will have an infinitely better experience getting a Bambu that is ready to crank out amazing prints right out of the box." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770840)) "It printed better out of the gate with 0 tinkering than the Prusa did after I had spent hours calibrating" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49459815)) "I personally saw all my print failures on the Prusa pretty much go away overnight with Bambu." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49458858))
- Easy setup and everyday use (6 comments): "Putting it together and running it were about IKEA level of difficulty. Very easy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48109889)) "I managed to do all of that with hardly any trouble at all." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48110704)) "using it has been some kind of normie-friendly experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48822596))
- Reliable with little maintenance (4 comments): "the ease of use of the machine has led to much more things being made as I can trust it to work accurately and reliably" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46825405)) "I've had my P1S for 3 or more years and I've never had a single issue with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48090416)) "I’m north of a thousand hours on my P1S and it’s still going strong." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46691592))
- Handles PLA and ASA well (2 comments): "my impression was that the p1s has a good track record with ASA" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48118980)) "It's been flawless with PLA." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722996))

## What people warn about

- Closed ecosystem and lock-in (4 comments): "With nothing much in the way of encrypting your designs and protecting your data, it feels like this was done on purpose." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48110877)) "I'd prefer to have an offline 3d printer but it seems I've made a mistake with my Bambu P1S." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48693776)) "you pay for that emotional labor with lock-in and eventually being rug-pulled" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48120307))
- Distrust of the company (5 comments): "I have a P1S myself, and I find Bambu to be a strange company." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48120680)) "Why do you have to do that on a product you own that is running in your home?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48110988)) "a company that is turning out to be objectively more and more evil" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48112913))
- Weak bundled software and firmware (3 comments): "For the A1 and P1S you're better off backporting the profile to PrusaSlicer or Orca." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819855)) "it is not nearly as well engineered as the A1s, and the firmware absolutely sucks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47781721)) "the software and user interface are absolutely terrible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46499378))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Bambu Lab 3D printer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-3d-printers.md): 124 recommend
- [Prusa 3D printer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prusa-3d-printer.md): 68 recommend
- [Prusa MK3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prusa-mk3-3d-printer.md): 28 recommend
- [Bambu Lab A1 Mini](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-a1-mini.md): 27 recommend
- [Bambu Lab A1](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-a1-3d-printer.md): 24 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Bambu+Lab+P1S+3D+printer&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://bambulab.com/en-us)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Bambu Lab P1S", https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-p1s/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).