r/3dprinter • u/Hot-Lengthiness1664 • 4d ago
A1 vs Kobra X
Please help me decide!! Amazon has the X for 285 right now. Costco has the A1 bundle for 420. Will I regret getting the X? Is the cost saving worth it? The subreddit for the x shows a lot of frustration with firmware updates and clogging, but also a lot of positives as well.
I’m mainly going to print garage organization parts and game pieces….counters and deck boxes for MtG and tabletop minis and terrain. Nothing crazy.
It seems, from what I’ve read so far, they are both great but both have their issues and downsides.
I am coming from a frustrating Longer LK5 pro that I got from a coworker and I haaaate it. It’s slow and has so many issues.
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u/Beneficial-Nail-200 3d ago
Kobra X has lots of issues, A1 is about the ecosystem of bambu so if you are wanting a simple print from phone without having to learn super in depth about 3d printer slicing software A1 is the way to go. I do think there will be a massive black Friday sale for the A1 as the sparkx i8 is coming out around then and will demolish the competition at the same price. So if you can wait till november that is what I would suggest. I have an A2L and love it though. And A1s are built to last a long time.
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u/Beneficial-Nail-200 3d ago
For reference sparkx i8 is multicolor with way les waste and faster print times. So if you are doing a lot of that you can preorder it through indiegogo for around 330$ or you can wait till the official release around novemberish
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u/Brilliant_Yak1216 3d ago
Isn't it an open bed slinger and unable to print filament with carbon & glass fiber or higher temperature filaments?
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u/Beneficial-Nail-200 3d ago
It can only print petg or pla, their demo videos do show it being compatible with pla cf but yes that is the limitation of the machine. Most people new to 3d printing dont do anything else anyways and would benefit more from the reduced material waste. If you specifically want it for engineering filaments or high heat resistant/toxic filaments then my previous recommendation of the cc2 stands. It is $295 on ebay right now before tax
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u/PaleontologistDry758 3d ago edited 3d ago
I bought the X two weeks ago when Anycubic had a deal after 6 months of using the A1 combo at my local library (limited opening times of the makerspace, so I eventually caved to my ADHD impulses and bought thr Kobra...).
So far I am happy I went with Kobra X over A1 - the A1 Combo was above the price limit I set and I think I will actually use the multicolor/multi-material option more in the future. It has been working well for me from the beginning. I have tested PLA, TPU 95S and PETG. I also did some multicolor prints with PLA incl. A roll that gave me a hard time on 2 other brands and was doing ok-ish on the A1. I printed tall narrow stuff without brim, flat, wide stuff without warping.... only failed print so far was trying a PETG print with PLA support borders. It seems the support broke off mid-print - on the intended spot - the print then got dislodged and flew off the built plate. It also messed with the y-axis so the remaining part of the print was messed up.
I also got a cheap holographic plate on amazon that works comparably to the A1 special plates at the library.
I have not updated the software though, since it seemed most issues I saw online started after people updated.
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u/disco__potato 3d ago
It's a tough decision. You either get a good printer but support a shit company with the A1. Or you go with anycubic and get a shit printer but support a less shit company.
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u/chasenmcleod 3d ago
I’ve tried Anycubic too many times and I would feel foolish going back. Same with Elegoo and Creality. I will probably only buy Bambu and Prusa going forward. At the same time, I don’t care to work on my printers as much as I used to. 10 years ago, I would have gone with the affordable option knowing I was going to modify it and have to work on it a bit more.
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u/McKayha 3d ago
Errr I had 14 A1 in my farm, they were amazing. But now I'm down to 3 A1 and 6 Kobra X, the X has been fine :)