After 40,000 whistles, the Bambu Lab P2S is my pick

The P2S Combo is on sale for $649 through December 1, compared with its usual $749 price. Hollister says he printed 40,000 whistles for ICE whistleblowers during his testing. The printer can be started remotely through Bambu’s app, and its automated material system keeps filament in a protected enclosure between jobs, loads it when needed and winds it back afterward.

Hollister argues that the sealed storage matters more than multicolor printing alone. Filament left exposed to air can absorb moisture, become brittle and jam the printer. The $369 Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 Combo also feeds four colors automatically and produced prints he found comparable to the P2S, but its external filament storage does not offer the same protection. He also encountered breakdowns that were harder to diagnose, including an extruder feeding problem and a bed that stopped auto-leveling.

His Bambu P2S logged 1,692 printing hours. During that time, Hollister replaced its nozzle twice, cleaned and lubricated its rods and screws, washed the build surface and cleared several jams in the automated filament system. He says replacing the P2S hotend takes less than a minute, while clearing jams on the Elegoo can require removing a hot nozzle or taking out the entire hotend. The P2S also has a touchscreen, improved ventilation and a better-lit camera, among other refinements over the P1S.

The P1S Combo, on sale for $509, remains a close competitor, and Hollister says his upgraded P1P has been reliable through nearly 3,000 hours of printing. He cautions that the P2S still needs maintenance and that its AMS 2 system has sometimes struggled to rewind certain filament rolls after 1,600 hours. Bambu announced free replacement of some AMS gears made between May and July 2026, though owners must install them themselves. For first-time buyers, Hollister favors the P2S but says waiting a few years is also a reasonable choice.