Top pick
This 3D printer makes great prints with no manual calibration, and in our tests it took only a short time to set up.
The Bambu Lab A1 Mini was the easiest 3D printer to set up and use in our testing, and it’s largely why we think Bambu Lab printers are especially great for people who are just starting with 3D printing.
We found tasks such as sending prints and changing filament to be painless, and we saw consistently high-quality prints from this machine.
It’s small enough to fit on most desks without looming over everything else, as its larger siblings, the Bambu Lab P2S and X2D, tend to do, but it prints nearly as quickly as those bulkier, more expensive models.
Setting it up and getting started is easy. The A1 Mini requires little assembly and has a guided setup process facilitated by a smartphone or tablet that can read a QR code.
After you make a Bambu Lab account and scan a code displayed on the A1 Mini’s screen, the printer appears in your account and becomes accessible through the Bambu Handy app (Android, iOS) or the Bambu Studio slicer software.
The printer also does a full self-calibration, requiring no input or tinkering on your part.
It prints quickly, and with precision. We printed with the A1 Mini for weeks, making functional parts, miniature models, and other popular designs found on 3D-printing sites like Printables. The A1 Mini printed models with precision and high resolution, turning out high-quality results regardless of the model’s size or layer height.
This printer’s constant calibration also helped prints stick to the bed well; adhesion was an issue only with very small parts. With this machine, we never needed to use glue sticks, blue tape, hair spray, or any of the other bed-adhesion tricks we’ve relied on in the past with other printers, and instead we could tune settings to get the prints we wanted.
An optional upgrade makes multicolor printing simple. Bambu Lab introduced the A1 Mini alongside an automatic material-switching machine called the AMS Lite, which works only with the Bambu Lab A1 series of printers. Multicolor (or multimaterial) printing is usually an add-on feature exclusive to higher-end machines that cost hundreds more than the A1 Mini, such as our upgrade pick, the Snapmaker U1.
You can load up to four different filaments onto the AMS Lite, and if they’re Bambu Lab filaments, the printer will automatically scan RFID tags inside and recognize the material. The Bambu Studio software also recognizes the material and lists it as an option for multicolor printing.
When using third-party filament, you can manually set the filament type and color on the printer. We found, however, that while Bambu Lab filament spools fit well on the AMS Lite’s spool holder, spools from other companies were a crapshoot. Some, such as cardboard spools from Creality and Overture, fit okay. Others, like the plastic spools for NinjaFlex TPU or Prusament PLA, were a tight squeeze and wouldn’t fit on the holder.
Be aware that multicolor printing with the AMS Lite uses a lot of filament, since it purges a good deal of plastic to ensure that the colors don’t mix in the nozzle. In one test print, we ended up with nearly twice as much waste as printed plastic. Plan the colors on your prints carefully, or consider our upgrade pick, which produces much less waste when multicolor printing.
Its smaller print bed allows it to fit on a desk. The A1 Mini’s print bed measures 180 by 180 by 180 mm, about the same as a 7-inch cube. That isn’t the best size for making large props, but you can fit a surprising amount into the space, and the size of the bed didn’t seem overly limiting during our testing.
It’s best for simple materials such as PLA and PETG. Most hobbyists don’t need plastics with superior tensile strength or increased chemical resistance, so even though this printer is best for the basics like PLA and PETG, we think that’s reasonable.
Tasks such as switching filament are easy to do and well explained. The A1 Mini’s small touchscreen is the primary way you interact with the printer. Using it, you can load models from an SD card, move the printhead around, swap filaments, and have the printer perform self-checks.
All of these menu options are intuitively arranged, and the printer clearly tells you the steps it’s performing during any task. For instance, when you’re switching to new filament, the printer runs through a checklist of tasks on the screen and prompts you to confirm that the old filament has been completely purged from the nozzle. If it hasn’t been, the screen gives you the option to push a bit more new filament out, which you can repeat until all the old filament is gone.
Bambu Lab does a good job of guiding nontechnical people through these somewhat involved procedures for maintaining a machine.
It reminds you when maintenance is due. Unlike many other 3D printers, the A1 Mini runs diagnostics often and delivers pop-up messages when, say, a belt needs tightening or a part requires lubrication. Accompanying these messages are QR codes that you can scan for documentation on how to perform the maintenance.
The previous standard of home 3D printer maintenance was hoping that someone on YouTube had made a video about the problem you’re having, so these built-in reminders are a real improvement.
It’s repairable — as long as Bambu Lab continues to sell the parts. Though you can’t print your own parts, as you can with a Prusa machine, Bambu Lab does clear a high bar when it comes to repairability. In addition to upgrades, the company sells replacement parts on its website, and it offers guides with pictures and videos for the installation of new parts, as well as periodic maintenance.
Bambu Lab says the A1 Mini will receive more updates. The company states that it will release bug fixes and feature updates for the A1 Mini until September 2028 and security updates until September 2030. But CEO Ye Tao told us that he expects to support printers beyond the dates listed online, which the company puts on the website for regulatory compliance.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
Its filament-spool holder hangs on the back, which can lead to jams. We found that when filament was pulled from the extruder, sometimes the spool would twist diagonally, jamming in place and causing print failures. This happened far less when we used Bambu Lab’s own filament spools, but you can quickly solve this problem by printing a better spool holder.
The AMS Lite’s spool holder doesn’t accept every spool of filament. It can hold a decent variety, but finding a brand of filament that you like and that fits on the AMS Lite may take some experimentation.
You’re limited to using Bambu’s software for the best experience. In 2025, Bambu Lab rolled out a firmware update for the A1 and the A1 Mini that blocks third-party slicers from working directly with the printers. You’ll need to use Bambu Studio, the company’s own slicer software, or otherwise upload pre-sliced designs to its new printer-management app, Bambu Connect.
After backlash, Bambu Lab added a Developer Mode, which allows local control of the printer when it’s connected only to your local wireless network and not the internet.
