Bambu Lab P1S Combo Review: A Year and a Half of 3D Printing

The Bambu Lab P1S Combo on my workbench has been printing for a year and a half. It has produced hundreds of objects: fidget toys, kid toys, figurines for me and other people. It still works. The software works. The hardware, mostly, works. The AMS unit on top is the part that has fallen behind. I still use the printer every week or two, but I have not been won over by the company.

Grade: B—good with caveats. Good hardware for the price, but the maintenance burden and the company’s posture toward its users stop me from giving it an A.

Which Bambu Lab this review covers

I bought the Bambu Lab P1S 3D printer with the AMS unit on top, about a year and a half ago. The Amazon Special Link in this review points to the current Bambu Lab P1S Combo, ASIN B0CHDS1DMC, which bundles the P1S printer with the AMS. That is the configuration I am reviewing.

I am not reviewing the P1P, the X1 Carbon, the A1, the A1 Mini, or any other Bambu Lab printer. If you are shopping, look at the listing you are buying from and confirm it matches my description. The P1S Combo is the enclosure-style CoreXY printer with the four-slot AMS material feeder mounted on top.

Everything I say is about my own unit. I have not tested the current retail P1S Combo. If you buy one, evaluate it on its own listing.

Living with it

The P1S Combo was genuinely plug-and-play in a way I did not expect from a 3D printer. Out of the box, the software installed cleanly, the AMS sat on top of the printer, and I had a first print within an hour or two. The Bambu Lab pitch of “this just works” delivered for the first month.

After the first month, the printer started to feel like any other piece of hobby hardware. It works. It needs maintenance. It has consumables. Bambu Lab calls a lot of things consumables, including the AMS tubes, which I had not thought of as wear parts until filament got stuck inside one and tore it.

For the first six months, I bought Bambu Lab filament in different colors because the printer was working and the convenience of OEM filament was worth it. The AMS handles the four-slot filament switching, so I could load up several colors and print multicolor objects without manual swaps.

After about six months, hardware realities set in. The textured PEI build plate that ships with the printer is sticky, but finicky. It needs to be washed — with soap and water — after nearly every print. If I skip the wash, the next print will not stick and lifts off the bed. That is more maintenance than I expected.

I bought a different build plate — I think it is a “Cool Tech” plate — and it just works better. Less stickiness drama, fewer lifted prints. The catch is that the Cool Tech plate only works with PETG and PLA, and I have to swap back to the textured plate for ABS and other materials.

I also swapped the stock nozzle for a hardened steel one. Part of the reason was that I print glow-in-the-dark filament, which is abrasive on the standard nozzle. The hardened steel version lasts longer against that kind of filament. Bambu Lab sells hardened nozzles as a consumable replacement, and the swap was straightforward.

I added LED lights inside the printer. The interior lighting is dim and the built-in camera is mediocre — the camera refresh is slow, and the lighting is poor for checking the first layers of a print. Aftermarket LED strip lights addressed this cheaply.

What works and what annoys me about the AMS

The AMS is the part that lets the printer switch between four filament colors automatically. It also has the most moving parts of anything in this kit.

Right now, only two of my four AMS slots work consistently after motor failures. I have replaced the tubes when filament has gotten stuck and torn them, but not the motors. So I have effectively lost half of my AMS in a year and a half, and I cannot print four-color objects anymore without manual swaps.

That is the part of this printer that does not feel ready for prime time. Having motor failures leave only two of my four slots consistently working after about a year and a half is not what I expected.

What I like

• Plug-and-play for the first few months. Out of the box, this is the easiest-to-start 3D printer I have owned.
• Hundreds of prints. Fidget toys, kid toys, figurines, gifts for other people. The thing works.
• AMS four-color printing is a real feature when all four slots are working. Multicolor prints without manual swaps are a meaningful step up.
• Hardened steel nozzle is a real upgrade if you print abrasive filament like glow-in-the-dark.
• Cool Tech build plate is a meaningful improvement over the stock textured PEI for everyday PETG/PLA prints.
• The Bambu Lab filament ecosystem works with the printer, and the company sells compatible filament directly.
• Enclosed chamber makes higher-temperature printing less of a hassle than an open-frame printer.

What annoys me

• Monthly, six-month, and yearly maintenance. Bambu Lab publishes a maintenance schedule. There is more to keep up with than I expected.
• The consumables list is longer than I expected. Tubes, nozzles, build plates, and other parts I did not think of as wear items. Some of them have failed.
• AMS motors failed in a year and a half. Only two of my four slots work consistently after motor failures. That is the single biggest reliability issue.
• Stock textured PEI plate requires washing after nearly every print. If I forget, the next print lifts off the bed.
• Cool Tech plate only works with PETG and PLA. So I own two build plates and swap them based on material.
• Interior lighting and built-in camera are mediocre. The camera refresh is slow. I added LED strip lights to see what I was doing.
• I probably will not buy another Bambu Lab printer. Not because the hardware is bad, but because the company has made decisions I disagree with about how it treats its builder community. Prusa is more expensive and less innovative, but I like the company better.

Who it is for, and who should skip it

If you want a fast, capable, enclosed 3D printer at a reasonable price and you are willing to do the maintenance, the Bambu Lab P1S Combo is a strong pick. The AMS is a real feature when it works, and the printer itself is fast and reliable.

Skip it if you want a printer you can leave alone for months at a time. The consumables list is long and my AMS has had motor failures that left only two of four slots working after about a year and a half. If you only print one or two materials, a printer without an AMS is simpler.

If you care about open firmware, open-source slicers, and a company that does not lock down its ecosystem, look at Prusa or other vendors. Bambu Lab makes good hardware, but the company posture toward its builder community is part of the buying decision now.

Verdict

A year and a half, hundreds of prints, two AMS slots working. The Bambu Lab P1S Combo is a fast, capable, well-priced 3D printer with a maintenance schedule longer than I expected. It still earns a B because the core printer works, but I would not buy another Bambu Lab product.

Grade: B—good with caveats.

For the nerds

Detail	My Bambu Lab P1S Combo	Linked Bambu Lab P1S Combo
Brand	Bambu Lab	Bambu Lab
Form factor	Enclosed CoreXY 3D printer with top-mounted AMS	Enclosed CoreXY 3D printer with top-mounted AMS
AMS slots	4 (only 2 working consistently)	4
Build plate	Textured PEI (stock) and a Cool Tech plate	Per current listing
Hot end nozzle	Hardened steel (replaced; glow-in-the-dark abrasive)	Per current listing
My filament use	Bambu Lab filament, multiple colors, including glow-in-the-dark	—
My usage cadence	Weekly to every two weeks	—
My print volume	Hundreds of objects (fidget toys, kid toys, figurines)	—
My maintenance	Replaced nozzle; replaced AMS tubes; built-in lighting added	—
My ownership	~1.5 years	—
Camera / lighting	Built-in camera slow; added aftermarket LED strip lights	Per current listing

I have not measured the print speed, build volume, hot-end temperature, supported materials list, AMS motor specs, or any other quantitative number against the linked listing. I am not going to attach a number to the AMS motor failure beyond “two of four slots consistently working, at least one motor has failed.”

Bambu Lab publishes a maintenance schedule with monthly, six-month, and yearly checkpoints. The consumable list includes nozzles, build plates, AMS tubes, and other parts Bambu Lab sells as replacements.

This is not a review of any other Bambu Lab printer (P1P, X1 Carbon, A1, A1 Mini). I have not used any of them.

Check the current Bambu Lab P1S Combo price and availability on Amazon.

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