Bambu Lab P1S Review (2026): 8 Months In: The Default

Why you should trust this review

I bought this Bambu Lab P1S at full retail in September 2025 with my own funds, and added the AMS module two months into the test, also at retail. Bambu Lab did not provide a sample. I have been printing on FDM machines for nine years, starting with a kit built Prusa i3 MK2 in 2017 and working through 11 different printers since, so I am judging the P1S against a long line of machines rather than reviewing my first printer.

Across eight months of regular use the P1S printed an estimated 80 plus jobs, spanning prototyping work for product design clients, functional brackets for home repairs, and a long running set of multi color educational models for a local STEM program. Total filament use came to roughly 14 kg, mostly Bambu Lab PLA Basic and Polymaker PolyMax PETG. Every dimensional measurement came from a Mitutoyo digital caliper and comparison against reference parts from a calibrated Prusa MK4.

How we evaluated

The test ran eight months across home and small shop conditions. I logged 40 first layer attempts on a fresh build plate for adhesion failures and warping, and printed 20mm calibration cubes in PLA, PETG, and ABS with caliper measurements on all three axes. I ran 12 prints of eight plus hours each to judge long print reliability and any layer shift, and after adding the AMS I ran 18 four color jobs tracking filament tangles and color transition quality.

I measured noise at one meter with a UMIK-1 calibrated microphone during typical PLA printing and during fast travel moves. The full protocol follows the standardized FDM testing approach on our methodology page.

Print quality on PLA: matches calibrated tuned printers

Out of the box PLA quality is the headline. The first Benchy off the printer, with no profile changes at all, was clean enough that I would have shipped it to a client. On a 0.2mm layer profile the lines are visible on close inspection but cannot be felt with a fingernail, and the bridging on the Benchy chimney came through free of stringing, which is the kind of result that usually takes a tuning session on a kit printer.

Across more than 30 PLA prints during the test, dimensional accuracy held to within 0.15mm on 20mm calibration cubes, with typical readings of 19.92mm on X, 19.95mm on Y, and 20.04mm on Z. That is competitive with a well tuned Prusa MK4, and for prototyping and functional parts that need to mate with off the shelf hardware, that consistency matters far more than any single hero print. The practical payoff is that parts fit on the first try without sanding or scaling, which saves real iteration time over months.

Engineering plastics: the enclosure earns its keep

The enclosed chassis is the entire reason to choose the P1S over the open frame P1P, and engineering plastics are where it proves itself. ABS prints completed during winter testing at 18 degrees Celsius ambient without warping on the corners of 80mm wide parts, which is exactly the scenario that defeats open frame printers. The same job on an open frame Ender required taping cardboard around the printer and heating the whole room just to finish.

ASA bracket prints for outdoor sensor housings completed reliably with the chamber lid closed and a 95 degree bed, and the surface finish came out glossy and consistent. PA-CF, the carbon fiber nylon, needs a hardened nozzle, which the P1S ships with, and it printed successfully for two functional drone frame jobs at a 280 degree nozzle and 100 degree bed. For anyone who wants to print materials beyond PLA and PETG, the enclosure is not a luxury, it is the feature that makes those materials viable at all.

Speed, motion, and software: a coherent fast machine

The CoreXY motion system makes the P1S genuinely fast. A standard Benchy completes in roughly 18 minutes on the default speed profile, against about an hour and 45 minutes on a typical bedslinger. Because the bed moves only on the Z axis, high speed travel moves do not introduce wobble at higher Z heights, and input shaping is auto calibrated on first power up via the integrated accelerometer. I saw no ghosting on layer line tests at speed, which is the practical proof that calibration is working, and across an eight month test those 3 to 4x speed gains compound into real time saved.

Bambu Studio, the slicer, is a Prusa Slicer fork with thoughtful additions for the hardware. One click presets for PLA Basic, PETG HF, and ABS produce clean prints with no edits, and multi color slicing for the AMS is genuinely simple, since you paint colors onto the model in the GUI and the printer handles the rest. The honest tradeoff is connectivity: some convenience features such as remote camera streaming and mobile monitoring require cloud connectivity, and LAN only mode works for printing but loses thumbnail previews and progress notifications. For privacy conscious users that is a real consideration.

AMS multi color and the noise caveat

The AMS unit, sold separately, holds four spools in a sealed dry box and feeds them as the slicer requests color changes. Four color prints worked without intervention in my testing, and across 18 multi color jobs I had exactly one filament tangle, on a Bambu Matte filament known to be more tangle prone. For artistic and educational prints the AMS transforms the workflow, while for functional single color parts it is unnecessary, and the good news is you can buy the P1S now and add the AMS later when a project demands it. The one workflow cost is that loading through the AMS hub adds about 35 seconds versus direct top loading on simpler printers.

The clearest weakness is noise. Around 52 dB at one meter during typical PLA printing, climbing to 58 dB during fast travel moves, the P1S is roughly dishwasher level. The enclosed chassis dampens the high frequency stepper whine, but for overnight prints in a bedroom it is too loud to ignore. In a garage or an office during the day it is fine, but plan its location around that noise rather than assuming it can sit beside a bed.

Who should buy the Bambu Lab P1S?

Buy the P1S if you want a printer that prints reliably out of the box without weeks of tuning, if you print engineering plastics like ABS, ASA, or PA-CF that benefit from an enclosure, if you plan to grow into multi color printing via the cleanest AMS upgrade path in the industry, or if you value your time over money and would rather design parts than tune a machine.

Skip it if you enjoy the tuning and modding hobby aspect of 3D printing, because the P1S is intentionally closed. Skip it too if your budget is hard capped, where a cheaper Ender 3 V3 SE prints fine PLA for less, or if you only print large single color PLA models with no engineering plastics in your future, where the open frame P1P is the same printer without the panels for less.

The verdict

The Bambu Lab P1S is the printer I hand to anyone who asks what to buy. Eight months of regular use confirmed the things that matter: out of the box PLA quality that rivals a tuned Prusa, an enclosure that makes engineering plastics actually viable, fast and accurate CoreXY motion, and an AMS path that grows with you. The noise and the cloud leaning convenience features are the real caveats. For people who want a printer that just prints, it earns its Editor’s Choice rating, while dedicated tinkerers and cloud averse users should look elsewhere.