Already well-known in hobbyist circles for its innovative 3D printers like the pioneering X1C, Bambu Lab last year introduced the impressive yet complex H2D, a dual-nozzle, large-format 3D printer. The new H2S (starts at $1,249; $2,099 as tested) simplifies that formula: a single-extruder, large-volume printer with refined automated calibration, a heated chamber, support for multi-material printing, and impressive software integration. With fewer mechanical compromises than its dual-nozzle sibling, the H2S delivers better reliablity, quieter operation, and more usable print space, making it the closest realization yet of the “supersized" X1C many users have been asking for. This Editors' Choice winner is an exceptional machine and our top recommendation for high-end filament printers.

Unboxing and Setup: A Premium Experience

When the H2S arrived at my house, I was immediately struck by the exceptional protective packaging. I’ve never seen a 3D printing company package its product this carefully and securely.

You can download a detailed assembly manual from the Bambu Lab website. The process involves a number of steps (mostly removing screws that are holding things down firmly during shipping), but I found it very simple overall. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Bambu Lab also included a wide array of filaments for testing, including ABS, PETG-CF, ABS-CF, PLA, and TPU.

The H2S unit I received for review is the top-of-the-line configuration, which includes the AMS 2 Pro, Bambu Lab’s updated multi-material system. It also includes a laser cutter module. You can purchase the H2S combo, which includes the AMS 2 Pro but not the laser cutter, for $1,499. The printer by itself is $1,249.

The AMS 2 Pro holds up to four filament spools per unit, with the option to chain multiple AMS units ($279 each) for as many as 16 spools total. The Pro adds active humidity control, stronger motors, and quieter operation compared with the AMS Lite that we tested with the Bambu Lab A1. I like how smoothly it ties into the Bambu Lab Studio slicer—you can just click the roll you want to use from the four loaded, with no fuss or extra steps. (More about the slicer software below.)

One of the few drawbacks of the AMS 2 Pro is that it can’t handle TPU filament, so you’re stuck with the side spool holder for that. It works but feels more like an afterthought—kind of like how the H2S doesn’t include any built-in way to manage the waste that comes with switching filament spools. A basic chute to collect this "poop" would be a welcome addition. For a company this innovative, the fact that it’s missing is a surprising oversight.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Humidity control is excellent, thanks to a sealed chamber, desiccant, and a circulation fan. It keeps spools dry even while printing, which matters with hygroscopic materials like PETG, PA, or PC blends. Still, I wish it went further—actually drying filament on the fly—instead of what feels like a half measure. It’s great at preserving dry filament, but if a spool is already saturated, you’ll need a separate dryer or have to stop printing and run a drying cycle in the AMS with the spools unloaded. With bench space always at a premium, I’d prefer an “all-in-one” solution.

One last frustration: The AMS doesn't work well with cardboard spools. Their softness can cause jams, and the sensors don’t read them reliably. The fixes are all workarounds—either re-spooling filament onto plastic or printing snap-on adapters that make cardboard rims AMS-friendly. To be fair, in my testing, the AMS 2 Pro never gave me a single jam or misfeed, which speaks to its reliability when used with compatible spools. But the lack of support for cardboard spools feels like an unwelcome nudge into the Bambu Lab ecosystem of RFID-tagged plastic spools.

On the other hand, Bambu Studio ships with pre-tuned profiles for nearly every filament supplier I’ve tried (Sunlu, Polymaker, and others). This is a walled garden with a huge gate that you can walk in and out of. As prices for filament continue to drop, that small convenience—plastic spool plus RFID tag with instant parameter settings—could end up tipping the scales in favor of buying Bambu Lab filament.

Software: Bambu Lab Studio, Handy, and MakerWorld Are All Aces

As a first-time Bambu Lab user, the software impresses me nearly as much as the hardware. With the Bambu Lab Handy app on my phone and Bambu Lab Studio on my PC, everything feels streamlined and intuitive in a way I’ve never experienced with another printer. Handy makes remote monitoring dead simple, while Studio feels polished and powerful without being overwhelming. The whole experience makes setup and everyday use simple and intuitive.

(Credit: Bambu Lab/Michael Lydick)

However, I don't like that every file I printed went from my computer to Bambu Lab’s servers (somewhere) and back to the printer. Having that intermediary step makes me uncomfortable—especially when it comes to IP protection and security—and I hope that it’s something Bambu Lab will address in future software updates with a potential opt-out choice for file routing. 

While the apps are handy, the real software attraction is Bambu Lab MakerWorld. By incentivizing designers to upload their files exclusively to this platform, MakerWorld has already become the best and most complete library of models I’ve ever seen—better organized, better supported, and frankly more usable than Thingiverse or Printables.

Test Prints: Exceptional Quality

Once I had the printer and the AMS set up, I set to work printing our test models, starting with the 3D Benchy, a boat. I printed it with Bambu Lab orange PLA, and it took a little over 15 minutes. The overall quality of this print was fantastic, with nearly no vertical fine artifacts (VFAs) on the side walls and no problems with the overhangs on the front hull or the bridging for the roof or doorway.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

I measured the overall width of the Benchy as 59.96mm, with 60mm being ideal. The print measured 22.94mm across the roof, with 23mm being ideal. Overall horizontal width was 30.96mm, with 31mm being ideal. This puts the average deviation at approximately 0.15%—well within acceptable tolerances in a near-perfect class of accuracy.

Next, I printed a hexagonal cube organizer to observe bridging and retraction. Normally, if the retraction or cooling isn’t working properly, we’ll see any amount of stringing or warping along the bridges between the hexagonal patterns. In this instance, the cube was perfect. I printed this at the 0.1mm layer height with the pre-tuned Bambu Lab PLA settings, and could not see the layer lines.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

I watched the printer actually bridge the top slot, and was amazed when it crossed nearly a full inch in thin air without any sagging. This print quality appears injection molded, and is superior to the Prusa Core One test print of the same file, in that I could easily see the Prusa layer lines with some minor stringing in the hexagonal boxes.

I noticed while printing the hex cube how quiet the machine was during the actual printing process. I had to walk into the room to see if it was still printing, in fact—a first for me. It never exceeded 50 decibels. However, the pre-print process is quite loud. While going through its startup, the filament cutting sounds like knocking the handle of a butter knife on a table top. I grew accustomed to it, but I questioned the need for it when everything else about the H2S is so well thought out.

Next, the tolerance ring test, which has a rounded print-in-place fit for 0.35mm, 0.3mm, 0.25mm, 0.2mm, 0.15mm, and 0.1mm. All six required no effort to deflect and spin around in their respective orbits. I didn’t have to break any of the balls free; they were loose straight out of the printer. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

This was also printed at the 0.1mm layer height with the pre-tuned Bambu Lab PLA material settings as read from the RFID chip in the spool.

Next up was the Autodesk/Kickstarter test, a benchmark print with a scoring rubric in which a perfect score is 30 points. We award or subtract points based on the accuracy of each part of the print, which includes spires, a stacked circle tower, and pins that are intended to fall out of their respective holes. We also award or subtract points based on quality metrics, such as VFAs and bridging of each level. The H2S achieved a total of 27.5 points, which is exceptional.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Our screw thread test was also a success, with gentle to moderate finger pressure required to screw the metric stainless steel screws in from 8mm to 3mm without any issues or noticeable interferences. Full threading was achieved with no noticeable variation in threading pressure from the 8mm to the 3mm screw holes. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Finally, I printed our geometry detail test, which is designed to get a feel for how certain types of geometry features might print at certain sizes. Printing with Bambu Lab PLA at a 0.1mm layer height, the thinnest wall thicknesses were visible across the boxes and cylinders. However, I saw noticeable degradation in the last “Test” font on the top, with some of the letters not printing legibly.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Printing Big: No Quality Degradation

Most of our standard test prints are small, so I wanted to stretch out and build something larger in the H2S. I loaded more PLA and printed one of the beautiful vases I found on MakerWorld to see how the H2S could handle a larger print and what the quality would look like, given the H2S's linear rail extruder drive and servo motor filament control. I’d had difficulties with VFAs on the Prusa Core One, and wondered if that was going to reappear here. To my amazement, the quality of the vase was flawless. Being able to print larger prints – think full-size cosplay helmets and parts—is what sets the H2S up as Bambu’s new flagship printer, taking the place of the X1C.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Next up was a dip into the multicolor pool, taking advantage of the AMS 2 Pro. I used one of the sample files from the included parts in the printer's onboard memory and made a two-color spinning top. The supports easily broke away, leaving a perfect blue and orange toy I’d play with several times while writing this review.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

I wanted to push the build plate boundaries further, so I loaded a free, multi-colored print from Galactic Armory on MakerWorld. It is a Star Wars X-Wing fighter whose parts are designed to easily snap together upon completion of the print. I went out and purchased three rolls of Sunlu filament for the hull (off-white), engine (black), and logo (red).

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

The first layers of this print—as well as every other print I made in the 100 or so hours I had on the machine by this point in testing it—were flawless. While the first layer is going down, the H2S is monitoring the filament coming out of the extruder and automatically adjusting things like pressure advance to get an ideal adhesion. The X-Wing layers reflected this when they first came out.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Bambu Lab states that the servo motor in the H2S extruder delivers up to 22 pounds of force with an impressive 20KHz positioning accuracy. The result is that the filament coming out of the nozzle is the best yet from a Bambu Lab printer, and it showed in every print I tested.

If you want to change the nozzle, doing so requires no tools. You can easily drop down to a 0.2mm size or go up to a 0.6mm nozzle. In fact, once the H2S was fully assembled, I didn’t need to use a single tool to make any adjustments.

Touch Screen: An Intuitive Interface

The H2S (and other H-series printers, like the H2C) come with a massive and snappy touch screen that feels like a small Apple iPad. The display communicated everything I wanted to see intuitively and clearly, with rich colors. I didn’t have to wonder what the temperatures were, or how long the print would take, or if I had the colors set correctly. It was all there on the screen. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

As for the finished X-Wing, the pieces snapped together like a model I had purchased at a hobby store.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Active Cooling and Heating: Prints ABS With Ease

The H2S features active chamber air management—similar to the Qidi Plus 4, our previous top pick in this category—which means it's equipped with a blower system that can deploy when needed to pull fresh, cooler air into and out of the chamber. A large intake fin on top will open alongside eight fins at the back that raise to help with cooling filaments like PLA and PETG. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

But some filaments, like ABS, must be heated, not cooled. This makes them difficult to use in printers that lack temperature management. To test how the H2S would handle ABS, I set up my own torture test with two prints that would help me load silica desiccant into the AMS 2 Pro. 

While printing this test, I was delighted to see cooling fins lock down as the interior temperature rose to 140 degrees F (60 degrees C).

One file was a cylinder designed to fit into the centers of Bambu Lab filament rolls, while the other was intended to fit in the back area behind the rolls to hold even more desiccant. If something was going to warp or extrude wrong, this would be the time I’d see it.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Ultimately, I saw nothing but beautiful, high-quality prints from the 0.4mm nozzle, with the lids easily and effortlessly screwing on and snapping into place. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

The Laser Cutter: You Might Need More Than 10 Watts

I’ll be honest: At first, I didn’t understand the point of the H2S's interchangeable laser cutter module. I couldn’t get my head around why this laser module was even a thing for someone looking for a 3D printer. But after testing it, my tune completely changed, and I now understand.

I followed the instructions provided with the H2S to attach the 10-watt laser module. I plugged in the included black hose for the air assist, which originates from the onboard air compressor. A latch attached the laser to the extruder head, allowing me to easily clamp the two units together. I then attached a vent hose to the back of the unit (included) and ran it through the window in my testing room. The software guided me through the entire process, leading me step by step with easy-to-understand graphics that clearly indicated what to do.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

MakerWorld is absolutely flush with projects that leverage the laser and 3D printing abilities. To demonstrate this effectively, I chose a project file set from the community that, when completed, would transform my boring Google Home speakers into a more elegant, furniture-like appearance. 

First, I printed out a smooth-surfaced holder for the speaker with ABS-GF. This print took about 3 hours and had the appearance of something store-bought when I easily picked it up off the build plate. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

The speaker easily fit inside, snug against the walls with ample room for the cord to plug in at the bottom of the part.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

Next, I loaded the 3.5mm birch panel into the laser cutter. The software easily recognized what the material was via a QR code sticker in the corner and adjusted all of the settings (burn speed, and so on) automatically. The laser calibrates itself before printing, burning a dozen or so small lines into the board, and using the camera to figure out the ideal focal point based on the crispness of the lines.

I sent the cover file to the H2S, and watched how it quickly cut out the chevrons and final perimeter behind the safety of the green glass, which prevents harmful rays from straying into your eyes.

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

I popped everything together and had a dual-medium product—no burnt edges or sanding required. I put the cover on top, and it was done. 

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

For my final test of the laser cutter, I wanted to see if I could work intuitively with the Bambu Suite laser cutting software to import an image. Could I find an image, import it, engrave it into the same wood, and then cut out the perimeter?

The answer is yes, but here's the one place I have a gripe with Bambu Lab's software. Compared with Bambu Studio and the mobile app, Bambu Suite feels like an unfinished product. I had to watch two or three YouTube videos of people sharing what they had learned through trial and error to reach the point where I could send the engraving and cut-out operations to the laser. The workflow in Suite could use some, well, work, and I hope there will be updates in the future, as I’m sure I’m not the only user wishing the UI were clearer.

Anyway, once I figured out how to do it, I loaded the graphic into Suite and told the program I wanted to engrave it and cut it out around the border with a set offset. This was all Suite needed to automatically do everything. And here's the finished result, 30 minutes later:

(Credit: Michael Lydick)

One other small gripe about the laser cutting capabilities of the H2S: the 10-watt cutter might not be powerful enough for many cuts. I had one spot on this part that I had to go back and trim by hand with a blade. The H2D, with its larger power supply, has a 40-watt laser. As of this writing, the H2S has no upgrade path to a 20-watt or 40-watt option, due to the smaller internal power supply.