Great printer, disappointing experience around it
I really like my Bambu Lab printer. The print quality, speed and overall user experience are excellent, which makes the rest of my experience with Bambu Lab even more frustrating. Availability of certain filament colours has been very poor. Some colours can be unavailable for weeks, and information about expected restocking is either unclear or unreliable. I contacted support specifically about availability, but unfortunately the information I received turned out not to be useful or accurate. When you build an ecosystem around proprietary filament features and encourage customers to use your own materials, reliable availability should be part of that experience. My experience with technical support has also been disappointing. I had an incident where the printer scraped the build plate and damaged it. I provided the information I had available and contacted support, expecting them to seriously investigate what had happened. Instead, I found the response unhelpful and the process frustrating. For a relatively expensive piece of equipment, I expect much better support when something goes wrong that can potentially damage the printer or build plate. That is ultimately why I can only give two stars. The printer itself deserves considerably more, but owning a product is more than just the hardware. Availability, communication and after-sales support are part of the product experience as well. Bambu Lab makes very impressive printers. Unfortunately, my experience with the company behind the printer has been considerably less impressive.