Bambu Lab P1S
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 18 3D printers by recommenders
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.
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.
38 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 29
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 76%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1.5 years
Median of the 10 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 29 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Prints well out of the box
“will have an infinitely better experience getting a Bambu that is ready to crank out amazing prints right out of the box.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “Modifying FileZilla to Workaround Bambu 3D Printer's FTP Issue” “It printed better out of the gate with 0 tinkering than the Prusa did after I had spent hours calibrating”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “An ongoing 3D-printer AGPL violation” “I personally saw all my print failures on the Prusa pretty much go away overnight with Bambu.”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “An ongoing 3D-printer AGPL violation” - Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Louis Rossmann tells 3D printer maker Bambu Lab to 'Go (Bleep) yourself'”
- Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “A Year of 3D Printing”
Easy setup and everyday use
“Putting it together and running it were about IKEA level of difficulty. Very easy.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract” “I managed to do all of that with hardly any trouble at all.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract” “using it has been some kind of normie-friendly experience”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Amazon Without the Knockoffs” - Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract”
- Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “California's New Bill Requires DOJ-Approved 3D Printers That Report Themselves”
- Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “3D printing my laptop ergonomic setup”
Reliable with little maintenance
“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”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Grid: Forever free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer” “I've had my P1S for 3 or more years and I've never had a single issue with it”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Louis Rossmann tells 3D printer maker Bambu Lab to 'Go (Bleep) yourself'” “I’m north of a thousand hours on my P1S and it’s still going strong.”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “3D printing my laptop ergonomic setup” - Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “3D printing my laptop ergonomic setup”
Handles PLA and ASA well
“my impression was that the p1s has a good track record with ASA”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract” “It's been flawless with PLA.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “A Year of 3D Printing”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Closed ecosystem and lock-in
“With nothing much in the way of encrypting your designs and protecting your data, it feels like this was done on purpose.”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract” “I'd prefer to have an offline 3d printer but it seems I've made a mistake with my Bambu P1S.”
Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “We Can Still Stop California's 3D Printer Surveillance Scheme” “you pay for that emotional labor with lock-in and eventually being rug-pulled”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers” - Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Health risks of 3D printing – often overlooked”
Distrust of the company
“I have a P1S myself, and I find Bambu to be a strange company.”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract” “Why do you have to do that on a product you own that is running in your home?”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract” “a company that is turning out to be objectively more and more evil”
Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract” - Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers”
- Comment from 12 May 2026 in “Bambu Lab is abusing the open source social contract”
Weak bundled software and firmware
“For the A1 and P1S you're better off backporting the profile to PrusaSlicer or Orca.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Grid: Forever free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer” “it is not nearly as well engineered as the A1s, and the firmware absolutely sucks”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Modifying FileZilla to Workaround Bambu 3D Printer's FTP Issue” “the software and user interface are absolutely terrible”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “The Year of the 3D Printed Miniature (and Other Lies We Tell Ourselves)”
Other 3D printers people recommend
The four most recommended other 3D printers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab 3D printer | 124 | 150 | 45% | 12 | — | — |
| Prusa 3D printer | 68 | 25 | 73% | 9 | 5 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Bambu Lab P1SThis page | 29 | 9 | 76% | 6 | 1.5 yrs10 owners | Approved |
| Prusa MK3 | 28 | 9 | 76% | 7 | 6 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Bambu Lab A1 Mini | 27 | 3 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
40 of the 47 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It printed better out of the gate with 0 tinkering than the Prusa did after I had spent hours calibrating”
“I personally saw all my print failures on the Prusa pretty much go away overnight with Bambu.”
“I did get a particularly good deal on the P1S combo apparently”
“using it has been some kind of normie-friendly experience”
“I'd prefer to have an offline 3d printer but it seems I've made a mistake with my Bambu P1S.”
“I have a P1S myself, and I find Bambu to be a strange company.”
“P1S came out as the best (barely) adequate printer for what I thought I would need”
“you pay for that emotional labor with lock-in and eventually being rug-pulled”
“my impression was that the p1s has a good track record with ASA”
“They're great at making 3D printers, terrible at cloud infra.”
“We also have a couple of P1Ss that are very solid”
“a company that is turning out to be objectively more and more evil”
“Printing from the SD card worked first try, zero issues.”
“Why do you have to do that on a product you own that is running in your home?”
“With nothing much in the way of encrypting your designs and protecting your data, it feels like this was done on purpose.”
“I'd never recommend Bambu to anyone else because of this.”
“I managed to do all of that with hardly any trouble at all.”
“If the print begins to fail, I can stop the printer and turn off the heat immediately”
“Putting it together and running it were about IKEA level of difficulty. Very easy.”
“Wayyyy more than my p1s and ams combo”
“comparable to a Voron but cheaper and you don't have to assemble it”
“I've had my P1S for 3 or more years and I've never had a single issue with it”
“the Bambu got it done while the Prusa failed prints and made them dork around with things”
“it cost more used than a new Bambu Lab P1S”
“The price is comparable to the bambu p1s, while the specs are closer to the x1c.”
“it is not nearly as well engineered as the A1s, and the firmware absolutely sucks”
“will have an infinitely better experience getting a Bambu that is ready to crank out amazing prints right out of the box.”
“it's a good consumer-grade easy-to-use 3d printer”
“Anyway, turns out that at least on A1 and P1S, there's enough functionality available through traditional means to skip the apps entirely.”
“bought just days before they did their nasty closed ecosystem nonsense”
“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”
“For the A1 and P1S you're better off backporting the profile to PrusaSlicer or Orca.”
“It's been flawless with PLA.”
“that thing is just a (nearly) fire and forget machine”
“The Bambu worked flawlessly out of the box.”
“I haven't had any maintenance or fix to do on my P1S in 2 years”
“modern printers are simply click and forget”
“I’m north of a thousand hours on my P1S and it’s still going strong.”
“the software and user interface are absolutely terrible”
“I love my Bambu P1S for the flexibility it gives us in our house.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.