# Bambu Lab P1S Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-p1s/ 18 people recommended Bambu Lab P1S in Hacker News comments, 7 had mixed feelings and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 12 months, in 11 threads. 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. Summary written by Claude from 44 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 41 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Easy setup and everyday use (6 comments in the sample): "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)) - Prints well out of the box (5 comments in the sample): "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)) - Reliable with little maintenance (3 comments in the sample): "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 in the sample): "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 in the sample): "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 (4 comments in the sample): "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)) "They're great at making 3D printers, terrible at cloud infra." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48117157)) - Weak bundled software and firmware (3 comments in the sample): "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)) ## Other 3D printers people recommend - [Bambu Lab 3D printer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-3d-printers/): 73 recommend, 39 mixed, 139 criticize - [Prusa 3D printer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prusa-3d-printer/): 57 recommend, 11 mixed, 21 criticize - [Bambu Lab A1 Mini](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-a1-mini/): 22 recommend, 5 mixed, 3 criticize - [Voron 2.4 3D printer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/voron-3d-printer/): 19 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize ## Where to get it - [Official site](https://bambulab.com/en-us) - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Bambu+Lab+P1S+3D+printer) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Bambu Lab P1S", https://hackerapproved.com/p/bambu-lab-p1s/ (18 recommend, 7 mixed, 8 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.