I just wanna thank you for being, seemingly the only person on the Internet that I've seen, to spell "warily" correctly and not be watching "wearily", although this nonsense makes us all a bit of both. 😂

Anyway, Lemmy award for you that others might learn from your excellence. 🏆

(I'm being sincere lol)

Bambu heavily invested in "reviews" with asshole Youtubers.

Similar. Not my first machine but I wanted a low hassle “just print” device. I’m not spending my time tuning the printer, I want to print… This evening I’ve downgraded the firmware to 01.07 which is apparently the last “good” one before lockouts started kicking in. LAN only now and using OrcaSlicer. In terms of printing it’s a great machine, but I won’t buy from them again that’s for sure. Only plus was the BambuHandy app made the firmware downgrade a breeze. I was concerned that route would be blocked from 01.10 that I was on.

Their printers just work.

Until they don't. I use OrcaSlicer, a perfectly good slicer for many 3D printers, including for my Bambu A1. However, I have it set to LAN-only mode and locked at v4.0.0.0, since the latest firmware blocks the use of third-party software (and hardware, if you bought one of those Panda Touch displays, those no longer work because Bambu said more e-waste!)

Although I have an A1 (and it prints quite well, but nothing special. It, like any other 3D printer, struggles with complex prints and has adhesion issues with taller ones), I no longer recommend Bambu printers because they as a company are no longer trustworthy. They have already blocked non-Bambu software and hardware, what's stopping them from becoming the HP of 3D printers and restrict what kind of filament you can use? They have the RFID tags already, so it's just a software patch that needs to be sent out.

Other companies have printers that work just as well while not locking down on a tight ecosystem. Prusa is the obvious alternative, but you also have Qidi, Sovol, Elegoo's Centauri Carbon, etc. who are more price-competitive with Bambu, especially on the value end of the market

Their printers just work.

So do machines like Snapmaker (U1) and especially Prusa, but without the amount of involuntary butt stuff.

And it's not even true, the amount of issues with Bambu are piling up. A1 even manage to melt themselves recently, print failures with the print head becoming a plastic blob, the whole shebang. It's the same with Apple indeed, as in people being ignorant in regards to all their issues because of the whole lifestyle feeling the marketing team managed to create.

My prusa just works. Haven’t done anything to it in years other than change the nozzle. Zero failed prints.

I have an H2C and it is my first, and likely last, Bambu printer.

I was ok with the idea of a “just works” printer, but coming from building Vorons.. Bambu has issues that I cannot fix and Bambu does not care or is just super slow to address. First layer is bad for ABS/ASA and every sliced file needs a z-offset to work. Bambu Slicer is not great. My filaments are constantly getting deleted or won’t sync. The list of open GitHub issues is massive.

This nonsense now with a Cease & Desist does not sit well with me. I regret my purchase.

This is why courts and laws are the way to rein in companies like this. Because boycotts just...don't...work. There will always be someone who will buy the product despite the issues with the company.

So does my prusa.

Yeah I run Orca for my A1 because Bambu Studio is awful about connecting to it in LAN mode. Orca can connect and my home-assistant can connect but they can't figure out how to get their own damn software to. Most likely to force you to use cloud.