I’m (mostly) happy with my Prusa XL - This is what it took

I couldn't imagine spending 5000+ USD on a half finished project. I think you handled this as well as you could. Thanks for the info.

I like the subtle humor, printing the Finding Nemo fish and orange sushi.

They announced the switched to 0.4mm nozzles 6 days after I got my XL. Even with the 30% discount, having to buy them is not a way to keep good will with customers.

Your patience is biased by your YouTube presence. Your initial experience with the printer was frustrating. Despite investing a significant amount of money, the printer struggled with basic tasks, leaving you quite disappointed. Over time, the results improved, although they still fall short of what you should expect. Nevertheless, you find solace in the fact that you are at least getting something out of it. However, I believe Prusa should be held more accountable for these issues. As a prominent player in the 3D printing industry, they can’t rely on their past reputation as a small, scrappy company. If this were a CNC milling machine, you would have returned it without hesitation.

When they revealed the XL I was very tempted, but given Prusa's track record I thought I'd probably wait for the inevitable XL Mk3S+ in a couple of years. Thanks to all the early adopters that will hopefully iron out all these issues in the meantime.

even them calling it "fully assembled" instead "mostly assembled" doesn't sit well with me. I've seen people who do 3D printing YT videos for a living say it took more than 3 hours to finish assembling the "fully assembled" printer. If it was less than 20 minutes to get it running, I can see calling it "fully assembled", but not multiple hours. I think the main reason people have said they bought prusa printers in the past it was because of "just working", and it being a trust worthy company. It doesn't seem like the XL offers either of those things. I am so glad I went with a Bambu. Maybe in a few years, they will make an XL without all the problems, that comes actually assembled, has a proper enclosure, and a camera in it like almost every modern descent printer not made by them. Reputations take a long time to build, but sometimes just a moment to fall apart. Before Bambu Labs, they could have gotten away with this, but not anymore. Now they are focusing a lot on schools and commercial clients. Makerbot did the same thing, and they are now pretty irrelevant in the consumer space. I wonder if prusa is going to follow suit.

I am halfway through this video and it is very clear that this printer's value is nowhere near the 5k price tag. I admire his patience. This clunker would have been a return to sender the first week for me.

As a Prusa owner, I'm very disappointed in the release of the XL and how they've handled all the issues that have come up. We all should expect better, especially for a printer at that price, that isn't even enclosed. I hope Bambu does a large size, with multi-nozzle printing, so we can see what the competitors can do.

As a Prusa XL owner, I think this was a very fair review. I still have some stringing/blobbing esp with PETG, but am hoping the new firmware and filament settings will get us squared away. I used to count on my mk3 to print reliably and I need that confidence back.

I had stringing issues on my MK4 and I changed the Z hop to ramping. Travel Lift: Lift height .2, max lift 1.5, ramp slope 1. This got rid of all my stringing issues.

I have had problems with my 5 head XL, but am fortunate that I did not need prints right away. Got to spend the time and had help from Chris Riley to get most of the issues resolved. The software updates have been very helpful and I think we will see more soon

Brilliant! I’m glad to see it working well.

Thanks for reviewing this one mate. Looks like I'll be waiting for Bambu's XL printer.

hard but fair, I do value your opinion, keep the good work

You nailed it with the AAA video game analogy. This is simply too expensive and bug ridden for a product that's supposed to carry the prusa name. The amount of tinkering and trouble shooting you had to do would make even creality printers cringe. Bambu Lab really shook up the 3d printing landscape. All these other printer manufacturers really need to take note and try to be more competitive. I've been 3d printing for about 5 years now, and never has my experience gone as smoothly as it has with my A1 mini. Being "closed" isn't the boogeyman that a lot of 3d printing early adopters think it is, and being "open" doesn't always mean accessible to all.

As for loading very flexible filament, a technique I used to get past the side filament sensor is to push through a bit of PLA filament first to get the ball out of the way, then push in the flexible filament behind it.

I share your wish for multi-nozzle size support. I'm hopeful to see this in an upcoming firmware and slicer update, but not holding my breath. And I totally agree with your discouragement of preordering another Prusa. The pre-order still took two years, and didn't prove to be a bargain in any way. This was my first Prusa order, and despite the anxiety of the wait and frustration of critical further development after delivery, Prusa still ranks highest in my book (so far). I do recommend that Prusa continue to develop the XL into perfection, while QUIETLY developing their next mind blowing release and to not open up to preorders until it's actually in production. Next wish (largely self serving, I'll admit), is that they expanded a manufacturing facility somewhere within the Americas in order to satisfy demand and lower shipping costs. Thanks, Michael, for another great video!

My first printer was a PRUSA MK3+. I ran it for 3 years and then sold it and bought a Bam Bu Lab X1. I am still a 3D rookie but I can say that X1 worked from day 1 and after 5 months I am still vey happy with it. I was on the waiting list for the PRUSA XL but when I saw all the troubles I cancelled the order. I am glad I did. Yes it uses lots more filament, but for us rookie printers life is very happy..

Too be honest, I have my XL for a month now, I cannot complain at all ... No stringing, no blobs, nothing... Except for one model everything I printed had combinations of multiple materials ... PLA+PETG (supports, or vice versa) mainly but also PLA+TPU ...

Excellent video and review. Very informative