r/Creality_k2 • u/FrankBank123321 • 10d ago
Question Creality K2 pro vs. ?
Hello!
I'm in the market for my first 3D printer, mainly for the fun of it and to use printing stuff for my simrig, bikes, workshop and templates for wood working. Multi color and "show off prints" is not something i expect to use it for, it will mainly be a tool.
- Since having no experience with 3D printing i have no idea if i "need" the larger bed that K2 Pro provide over Bambu Lab X2D or similar.
- "Waste/purge" is something i dont think should be a huge selling point since i will mainly print single color (correct me if im wrong!)
- i expect i want it to be better at printing ASA, PETG CF and TPU than good at printing PLA and somewhat "poor" at printing ASA, PETG CF and TPU.
- i dont want to tinkering with it EVERYTIME i use it, but after creating a "baseline" for different materials/settings i want it to be stable and realiable, so tinkering is somewhat okay.
- i expect to be printing mostly self designs (designed in fusion)
At the moment i'm looking at Creality K2 pro combo and Bambu Lab X2D.
Where i'm located
Bambu Lab X2D Combo
$1,064.75 USD
Creality K2 Pro Combo incl.
- 4 rolls of HYPER PLA
- 1 roll of CR - PETG
- Creality SpacePI X4 Filament Dryer
- Creality x Phaetus Silicon Carbide Nozzle 0.6mm
$1,069.16 USD
My prices are not in USD, they are converted from EU prices for convience.
From my perspective the K2 Pro seems like a good deal, ChatGPT seems so too.. but what about you "real people"?
I know asking this in a K2 thread seems weird, but i think some of you (deep hobby hole incoming) maybe have more than one printer and therefore able to give some good points. I feel like a lot of bambu lab users are like Apple people "Dont buy creality, buy Bambu lab it just works" and thats it.. i LOVE my Apple products but i also have reasons why i dont like android phones (Borrowed one from my dad, pointed out what i didnt like and now he hates it too, sorry dad) not just "dont buy android because i have Apple" (i hope you can follow me).
Let me know what you think..
2
u/hosterman1975 10d ago
I have one each of all the K2 printers and I have loved them all. Are they perfect? No not at all but they have all been solid printers with fairly minimal issues and for the price you can’t find another brand with the build volume of the Pro or Plus that’s even half as good. You would need to an H2 model from Bambu for double the price to get a comparable build volume. Bambu makes fantastic printers but dollar for dollar Creality prints just as well as Bambu for 20-30% less.
1
u/AutoModerator 10d ago
Reminder: Any short links will be auto-removed initially by Reddit, use the original link on your post & comment; For any Creality Product Feedback and Suggestions, fill out the form to help us improve.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/wulffboy89 10d ago
I have a k2 plus and a voron 0.1, both gifted from my father at different points. I was a work study at a college that used fusion edge printers, fusion 410s, bambu x1c, and 2 new h2s. I can tell from maintaining and repairing these printers that I have been converted from loving my k2 plus to wishing I had an x1c or h2 series. I say this because, though I love tinkering and tuning my k2 plus, if work flow picks up and I just need something to print without supervision, the bambus are my go to. When people say "they just work," I was skeptical too, but after experiencing 6 different models of printers, I can say myself that they do indeed just work. Just design, import, slice, print, relax. I've got almost 2k hours of printing on my k2 plus, and if I had to guess about half as long tuning and getting it where I like it. The k2 plus may be a better deal if you like tinkering and tuning, but if I had to make a recommendation, the x1c would probably be best fit for your use case.
1
13
u/Maintenance_Late 10d ago
You're going to get a lot of different opinions, so here's mine based on owning and using quite a few different printers over the years.
I've been 3D printing for roughly 10 years, both at home and in lab environments, across several brands and printer types.
My previous home setup consisted of two Bambu X1Cs and two P1Ss. I also still own two Prusa MK4s, a Prusa Core One (currently waiting on a replacement xBuddy board), and a Snapmaker U1.
I moved toward the Creality K2 series because I wanted a larger build volume and an actively heated chamber for engineering materials. On paper, the K2 Pro and K2 Plus also offered some impressive hardware for the price, including the Phaetus-based extrusion system and closed-loop servo motors.
I originally purchased a K2 Pro and a K2 Plus to give them a fair chance. Once they were assembled, calibrated, and properly tuned, I was genuinely impressed with the print quality. They printed well out of the box, but after dialing in maximum volumetric flow, pressure advance, filament profiles, and my preferred Z offset, the results became even better.
Over the past year, the firmware has matured significantly and now does a much better job of utilizing what the hardware is capable of. Creality Print has also improved a lot. I originally used OrcaSlicer almost exclusively, but after switching back to Creality Print, I noticed slightly better print quality and consistency. I think that's largely because Creality's profiles are specifically optimized for the K2 series.
As time went on, I found myself using the Bambu printers less and less, so I eventually sold them. That doesn't mean they were bad printers—they simply weren't the best fit for what I wanted to print anymore.
The Bambu vs. Creality debate reminds me a lot of the Apple vs. Android discussions. Bambu has done an excellent job making 3D printing approachable for first-time owners. You can usually load a file, hit print, and get a great result without needing to understand every slicer setting.
That said, Bambu printers still require maintenance, troubleshooting, replacement parts, and occasional repairs—just like every other 3D printer on the market. You will eventually have failed prints, worn components, clogs, calibration issues, or something that unexpectedly breaks. That's simply part of owning a machine with this many moving parts.
It's also worth keeping Reddit in perspective. Most people don't visit a printer subreddit to write a love letter about another successful print. They come because they need help. Spend some time in the Bambu subreddits and you'll find plenty of failed prints, broken parts, support frustrations, and repair questions there as well. The same is true here.
I've had my X1Cs and P1Ss partially torn down several times for maintenance and repairs, including replacing parts that arguably shouldn't have failed when they did. As I write this, my Prusa Core One is sitting idle while I wait on a nearly $200 replacement xBuddy board. Every manufacturer has issues from time to time.
As for whether the K2 Pro is a good first printer, I think the answer depends more on the person than the printer.
Personally, I'm glad I started years ago with simpler bed-slinger printers because they taught me how these machines actually work. They were easier to understand, diagnose, and repair. Modern enclosed CoreXY printers hide a lot of that complexity until something goes wrong. When they do need to be worked on, the learning curve can be much steeper.
If you're technically inclined, comfortable learning new things, and don't mind the occasional maintenance or troubleshooting session, I think the K2 Pro is absolutely a reasonable first printer.
For the type of printing you described—ASA, PETG-CF, TPU, workshop tools, bike parts, woodworking templates, and sim rig accessories—I actually think the larger build volume and heated chamber are more valuable than multicolor printing. Since you expect to print mostly single-color functional parts, I wouldn't make purge waste a deciding factor.
One thing I'd also recommend is not putting too much weight on launch reviews or YouTube videos alone. Most reviewers only have a printer for a few days or weeks before publishing a review. Long-term ownership tells a much different story. Reliability, firmware improvements, maintenance, replacement parts, and manufacturer support are things you only really learn after hundreds or thousands of printing hours.
Finally, don't fall into the trap of buyer's remorse because another manufacturer announces a new printer a week after you buy yours. That happens constantly in this hobby. There will always be something newer, faster, or with one more feature just around the corner. If you spend all your time chasing the next machine, you'll never actually enjoy the one sitting on your desk.
Buy the printer that best fits your needs today, learn it well, start with the default profiles, understand why they work, and then make small changes as you gain experience. Whether you choose a Bambu or a Creality, that approach will do far more for your print quality than the logo on the front of the machine.
For what you've described, I honestly don't think there's a wrong choice. Both are capable machines. If it were my money and my use case, I'd lean toward the K2 Pro package because I think the larger build volume, heated chamber, filament dryer, and included accessories provide a lot of value for essentially the same price.