Bambu started their Black Friday sale and are saying that this is the best time to buy. I think they’re right.
I bought my Bambu 3D printer at the tail end of an earlier Black Friday sale, and have been keeping an eye on their prices since then. This really does look to be the best time of the year to buy a 3D printer or stock up on filament and accessories.
I own a Bambu X1C 3D printer with AMS, and purchased the newer AMS 2 Pro a few months ago. I have been considering the H2D for ToolGuyd purposes, as it offers a larger build capacity and dual nozzle printing. I might wait until next year.
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I have also been considering a P1S for a contributor to test out – yes, even though the P2S is on the way. The P1S seems to have a great reputation – it’s not much different from my X1C – and is at a fantastic price right now.
The Bambu X1C is my third 3D printer, behind a model I bought and returned a long time ago as I couldn’t get it to work, and my Prusa i3 mk3S. I love that I can use it without having to waste an abundance of time. It just works.
Here are the discounted prices along with Bambu’s summarizing descriptions:
- P1S AMS 2 Pro Combo (with Hub) (All-Rounder): $619
- P1S 3D Printer (All-Rounder): $399
- A1 Combo (Open-Air Gateway Printer): $379
- A1 (Open-Air Gateway Printer): $279
- A1 Mini (Open-Air, Most Affordable): $199
- A1 Mini Combo (Open-Air, Most Affordable): $329
- H2D AMS Combo (Flagship Dual-Nozzle 3D Printer): $1,999
- H2D (Flagship Dual-Nozzle 3D Printer): $1,749
I’m also seeing a bulk sale on 3D filament – PLA, PETG, and others, with discounts on refills and spooled filaments. You can use other brands’ filaments as well – there’s plenty of info and conversations about this online regarding AMS compatibility.
Accessories and system components, such as the AMS 2 Pro and AMS, are also discounted.
There’s no need to rush, the sale ends 12/5/25 at 1:59am ET. Supplies could be limited though, as we’ve already seen the X1C was on sale, but it looks like they sold through all of the in the past 2 days. Some of Bambu’s 3D printers are already on backorder.
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Evadman
The P2S’s announced specs are essentially the same as the X1C now; there really isn’t much of a differentiator any more. I have the P1S & X1C currently, used to have a flashforge, two ender 3’s, and some others that I gave away after upgrading. I haven’t had the ability to try a Prusa recently sadly. I also haven’t had a chance to get one of Bambu’s new AMS V2 systems (automatic material systems) but that’s on the list for this season. The price difference between V1 and V2 AMS makes getting the V1 almost pointless.
If you enjoy messing around with mechanical things, tinkering to get things just right, or the 3d printing itself is the fun part, then one of the creality (such as a K1), flashforge, anycubic or similar 3d printers would probably be great for you. Ender 3’s can be had on sale for $100 decently often.
If you look at a 3d printer as a tool that you use, and it needs to “just work” then Bambu is a great option for that. I have had essentially zero issues after putting perhaps 200 spools though my P1S and X1X since I got them. setup is a breeze, the software is easy, and almost any brand of filament works (you may need to print a adapter for some brands of spools). I have no problem printing ABS on either of them in stock configuration, but it takes more setup time then other filaments.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the firmware and software is pretty locked down for bambu now. Very easy to use, but its difficult to do things outside the bambu ecosysem. If that matters to you, do some research on software before buying a printer. The bambu slicer software and app work great for me, but I would not consider myself a power user.
If you are looking at getting any 3d printer, remember to budget for a filament dryer if the printer doesn’t have one built in. ($30-100 based on features for a dryer). sometimes, you can get away without one, especially if you use a whole spool immediately after opening or if you live in a very dry location with very low humidity. However, the vast majority of issues that I have helped friends with all come down to 2 issues: Keeping the printer clean, including washing the build plate (or replacing it when needed) or filament not being dry before printing.
If you plan on printing PLA and PETG, which is probably the huge majority of what everyone prints in for a while, then almost any dryer will be fine; they will usually all hit the 50c/120F temp needed. If you plan on printing parts for your car using higher durability filaments like ABS, then you will need a dryer that hits 80-85c, which is on the pricer side.
Stuart
I have a Sunlu heater (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XMT9SVX/?tag=toolguyd-20 ) – it’s fairly inexpensive at under $50 (I spent more 2 years ago).
Nick
Having had a couple of Ender 3s the fact that my P1S just works was a game changer. I just picked up 3 AMS 2 units on the current sale to go with my existing P1S with the original AMS.
I’ve got a P1S with the AMS 2 at work and the biggest difference between them for my purposes is that the AMS 2 is sealed which will help keep moisture out. I don’t care about the drying function because Bambu won’t let you dry and print at the same time so I didn’t buy the power supply to enable that feature. I’ve got a separate dryer for that.
I mostly went with the AMS 2 for future proofing in case Bambu suddenly decides the original AMS won’t be compatible with the H2C when it finally launches.
Doresoom
I currently run an Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo. It’s the first printer I’ve had that just works. As long as it’s powered on, I can just hit print from my laptop and don’t even bother watching the first layer go down. I just rolled over 1000 operating hours with it.
Up until that point, my Ender 3V2, Kobra Max, Kobra 1, and Kobra 2 all needed tinkering with print profiles and lots of setup time pre-heating and loading filament before each print.
Also a Cryogrip cool plate made a huge difference for eliminating failures due to bed adhesion.
Nathan
What is ams? The 400 dollar p1s is intriguing
Stuart
“Automatic Material System.” You load up to 4 filaments, and the printer can auto-change between them.
Dave
Unless you really value multi-color prints, I don’t see the value in AMS. Increases print times 2-4x and wastes a lot of filament purging.
Doresoom
I rarely use my color changer for multi-color prints. Where it really shines is switching colors once or twice a print for highlighting top layer text in a different color, or loading a different filament color or material before each print automatically without having to wait for the printer to heat up.
I wasn’t sure how much I would use it, but it’s definitely been a game changer.
JohnBCS
It’s a great sale. I added an AMS lite to one of my A1s. I used gift cards from makerworld points to get it with zero out of pocket cost.
A lot fo things are priced so the more you buy, the more you save. An amazing sale all around.
Frank D
Very early X1C owner here. I am very intrigued by their upcoming model that will have 7 nozzles and a no purge waste … even though it will likely be cost prohibitive for my use level to upgrade. But I’d love no purge and at the same time being able to have different size nozzles, and no more fiddling with small screws and tiny wires.
Stuart
The Bambu H2C will be announced sometime soonish, but will take a while to launch. Other brands have similar plans for multi-color 3D printers – https://toolguyd.com/snapmaker-u1-multi-color-3d-printer-launch/ . I’m curious; it’ll be an interesting couple of months as the industry likely pivots a little.
Rob H
I have zero regrets on my P1S purchase. It’s really nice that the limiting factor on my ability to create things I need around the house comes down to my ability to model it in the software. There was nothing more disappointing than working on something for a couple of hours and then trying to print it on my old Ender 3 and having to spend another couple hours working on the machine to get it set up “just right” again.
The other day I needed sliders for some 1/4” plexiglass. One short metric conversion and 5 minutes modeling later and the parts were printing out on the P1S.