3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo vs Bambu Lab X1-Carbon

Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.

2 selected · all documented properties

Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo vs Bambu Lab X1-Carbon — documented properties and sources
PropertyAnycubic Kobra 3 ComboBEDSLINGERBambu Lab X1-CarbonCOREXY
Identity
BrandAnycubicBambu Lab
ClassBEDSLINGERCOREXY
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo - the Kobra 3 sold together with the ACE Pro filament unit[1]Bambu Lab X1-Carbon (X1C); spec PDF header "Bambu Lab X1-Carbon - Technical Specifications"[2]
Release date (announcement and actual shipping)Listed on the Anycubic store from 30 April 2024 (Shopify publish date)[3]Announced 23 May 2022; Kickstarter pre-orders opened 31 May 2022 and ran to 30 June 2022, with shipment stated to start immediately after the campaign closed in July 2022[4]
Launch MSRP (USD)Not documented$1199 MSRP for the X1-Carbon, $1449 for the X1-Carbon Combo (with AMS); Kickstarter early-bird was $849 / $999. The non-carbon X1 was $999 MSRP[4]
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)$329.00 with a US plug on store.anycubic.com, Aug 2026 ($355.00 for the EU plug variant)[3]Not documented
Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk)Two things to watch here. First, the Combo is printer plus ACE Pro; the ACE Pro alone weighs 4.6 kg and measures 366 x 283 x 235 mm, so plan bench space for both. Second, Anycubic's own specification table on this page mixes generations - the weight row reads "Kobra 3 V2 - 9.2kg" while the package row reads "Kobra 3 - 12kg", and a separate Kobra 3 V2 Combo product is listed at the same price. Treat any single figure from this page as needing confirmation against the exact SKU[1][3][5]Three related SKUs at launch: X1 (steel nozzle, no carbon rails, $999), X1-Carbon ($1199) and X1-Carbon Combo (X1C + AMS, $1449). The X1E is a separate business-focused machine, not a trim level: it adds active chamber heating to 60 C, Ethernet with 802.1X, a HEPA/carbon filter stack, a 320 C hot end and a Smooth PEI plate, and weighs 16 kg against the X1C's 14.13 kg[4][6][2]
Market position: superseded? successor announced?Not documentedDiscontinued. In Aug 2026 the X1-Carbon is absent from the Bambu Lab US store 3D-printer collection, /products/x1-carbon redirects to that collection, and the regional stores (EU, Asia, AU, CA) redirect to the same place; only X1-series spare parts remain in the store sitemap. Its market slot is now held by the X2D. No live first-party price could be recorded[7]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable250 x 250 x 260 mm; Anycubic quotes a 16.25 L maximum printing volume[1]256 x 256 x 256 mm advertised (manufacturer figure)[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)452.9 x 504.7 x 483 mm for the printer; the ACE Pro is a separate 365.94 x 282.84 x 234.5 mm box[1]389 x 389 x 457 mm[2]
Net weight (kg)Anycubic's table gives "Kobra 3 V2 - 9.2kg" for the machine weight and "Kobra 3 - 12kg" for the package weight, plus 4.6 kg for the ACE Pro - the two rows do not refer to the same thing, so treat 9.2 kg as the machine and 12 kg as shipping weight[1]14.13 kg net[2]
Frame construction & materialNot documentedWelded steel chassis with an aluminium and glass shell - Bambu's launch release contrasts the welded chassis with the bolted frames of most consumer machines[2][4]
Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lidOpen frame, no enclosure[1]Fully enclosed, aluminium and glass, with a door sensor and an activated-carbon air filter. No active chamber heating (that is the X1E's addition)[2][6]
Kinematics & Motion Hardware
Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other)Anycubic's specification table gives the construction as "Gantry System" - it is a bed-slinger, not the CoreXY layout used by the Kobra S1 series[1][8]CoreXY driven by two stepper motors with one belt each; Tom's Hardware confirms the XY gantry is fixed in Z and the platform drops during printing[9][10]
X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size)Not documentedCarbon-fibre X rail - Bambu's launch release calls it a "featherlight full-carbon X rail" and credits it for the 20000 mm/s2 acceleration figure; Tom's Hardware describes carbon-fibre rails on the X axis[4][10]
Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlashNot documentedThree leadscrews driven from a single stepper motor through a belt, moving the whole bed in Z; three manual levelling knobs under the bed, no motorised Z-tilt[9][10]
Stepper drivers (exact model e.g. TMC2209; UART/SPI; sensorless homing?)Not documentedNot published; no teardown source found that names the driver part[2]
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)600 mm/s maximum print speed (manufacturer claim), with 300 mm/s recommended[1]500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim); no independent measurement found[2]
Recommended/typical print speed300 mm/s recommended print speed (manufacturer figure)[1]Not documented
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)20000 mm/s2 maximum acceleration, 10000 mm/s2 recommended (manufacturer claims)[1]20 m/s2 = 20000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim)[2]
Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s)Not documented32 mm3/s claimed, measured by Bambu on a 150x150 mm single-wall model in Bambu ABS at 280 C[2]
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameDirect drive (Anycubic's term is "short distance extrusion")[1]Direct drive with hardened-steel extruder gears; the service part is the "Hardened Steel Extruder Unit (X1 series)"[2]
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)300 C quick-release hotend; 0.4 mm standard nozzle, expandable to 0.6 and 0.8 mm[1]All-metal all-in-one hotend - nozzle integrated into the heatblock, joined to the heatsink by a thin metal tube, replaced as a unit. Hardened-steel nozzle as standard, 0.4 mm included, 0.2/0.6/0.8 mm optional[2][9]
Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values)300 C maximum nozzle temperature (manufacturer figure)[1]300 C claimed max hot-end temperature[2]
Heater cartridge power (W)Not documentedNot published. Bambu's own X1-series troubleshooting page states the ceramic heater measures about 12 ohm at room temperature, which at the 24 V rail works out to roughly 48 W - a derived figure, not a manufacturer rating[11]
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit110 C maximum hotbed temperature on a PEI spring steel build plate[1]110 C at 220 V, 120 C at 110 V max build-plate temperature (Bambu's spec sheet gives both; the wiki text quotes 110 C)[2][9]
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedNot documentedFlexible steel plate; Cool Plate and Engineering Plate included, High Temperature Plate optional[2]
Leveling & Z-Offset
Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe)LeviQ 3.0 auto-levelling with Z-offset, plus area levelling[1]Nozzle-touch probing on three ceramic force (piezo) sensors under the heatbed, plus a separate toolhead micro-lidar (advertised 7 um resolution) used for first-layer inspection and flow calibration rather than for bed mesh[12][10][2]
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament detection with auto resume, filament entanglement detection, nozzle clog detection and power-loss resume[1]Yes - filament run-out sensor and door sensor; filament odometry only with an AMS fitted[2]
Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path4-colour printing with one ACE Pro, or up to 8 colours with two units[1]Not documented
Cooling & Air Handling
Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting designNot documentedPart-cooling fan, hot-end fan, control-board fan, chamber temperature regulator fan and auxiliary part-cooling fan, all closed-loop controlled[2]
Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA)Not documentedChamber temperature regulator fan plus an activated-carbon filter[2]
Electronics & Power
Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist)Not documentedMotion controller dual-core Cortex-M4; application processor quad ARM A7 at 1.2 GHz with a 2 TOPS NPU; 4 GB eMMC. Board model and chip markings not published[2]
Total rated power drawNot documented100-240 VAC 50-60 Hz; 1000 W at 220 V, 350 W at 110 V[2]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)Kobra OS. Anycubic's slicer, Anycubic Slicer Next, is stated to be built on the open-source Orca slicer[1]Closed-source proprietary firmware - not a Klipper or Marlin derivative, and no printer-firmware source is published. The bambulab GitHub organisation carries 11 repositories (Bambu Studio, wxWidgets/boost/ffmpeg forks, the wiki); none is printer firmware. Updates are delivered over the air via Bambu Studio / Bambu Handy[13]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 30-60 degree adjustable tilt[1]5-inch 1280x720 touchscreen[2]
On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.)Touchscreen plus Anycubic Slicer Next, the Anycubic app and USB (print only); AI spaghetti detection and object skip are supported[1]Touchscreen plus Bambu Handy app and Bambu Studio; on-device job control and monitoring[2]
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drivePrinter UI, slicing software, Anycubic app and USB drive (print only)[1]Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz (802.11 b/g/n) and Bambu-Bus; 4 GB eMMC plus a microSD card reader. No Ethernet - that is the X1E's addition[2][6]
Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps)Camera is optional on the Kobra 3 - a 720p HD unit, not fitted as standard, unlike the Kobra S1, Kobra 4 and Kobra X[1][8][14]Built-in 1920x1080 chamber monitoring camera[2]
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listPLA, PETG and TPU, and Anycubic notes TPU is not compatible with the ACE Pro multi-material unit[1]PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, PET supported; PA and PC listed Ideal; carbon/glass-fibre reinforced polymers listed Ideal (the machine ships with a hardened-steel nozzle)[2]
Safety
Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible)Not documentedA firmware over-temperature protection exists and is documented by Bambu: HMS_0300-0200-0001-0003 is raised when the heater runs at full power but fails to bring the nozzle to target within time, which Bambu describes as "a safety mechanism designed to prevent potential damage to the device or other risks in case of a temperature control failure". Firmware is closed-source, so the exact thresholds cannot be verified[11][13]
Reliability, Support & Ecosystem
Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes)One year on the complete machine (excluding gifted and second-hand machines), with component warranty periods that vary by part; the period starts on the delivery date and is suspended while a replacement is in transit. Anycubic states it will follow longer local statutory periods where they apply[15]2-year limited warranty for consumers in the US, Canada, the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland; 1 year in the rest of the world. Bambu Lab's own policy records the US/Canada term as a 2026 extension from one year to two[16]
Independently Measured Performance
Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date)Not documentedTom's Hardware: Editor's Choice, rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data (12 February 2024)[10]

Manufacturer claims, independent measurements, packages and test conditions retain their source wording. FDM linear speed and resin vertical speed use different units and are not directly comparable. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.

Sources for this comparison

  1. Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  2. Bambu Lab X1-Carbon - Technical Specifications (PDF) public-cdn.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
  3. Anycubic Kobra 3 Combo Shopify product JSON (variant prices and store publish date) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  4. PRNewswire - Bambu Lab Launches X1 Series, 23 May 2022 (Kickstarter dates and MSRP table) prnewswire.com · 2026-08 · doc
  5. Anycubic store 3D printers collection (current line-up and headline prices, Aug 2026) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  6. Bambu Lab X1E Technical Specification (PDF) cdn1.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
  7. Bambu Lab US Store - 3D Printers collection listing (base prices, Aug 2026) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  8. Anycubic Kobra S1 product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  9. Bambu Lab Wiki - X1 introduction wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
  10. Tom's Hardware - Bambu Lab X1-Carbon 3D Printer review, Andrew Sink, 12 February 2024 tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  11. Bambu Lab Wiki - HMS_0300-0200-0001-0003: nozzle heater over-temperature (X1 series) wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
  12. Bambu Lab Wiki - Replace the Heatbed Sensor Unit / Heatbed Piezo Interface Board wiki.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · doc
  13. GitHub - bambulab organisation repository list (11 repos, checked Aug 2026) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  14. Anycubic Kobra 4 product page (Specifications table) store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  15. Anycubic refund and warranty policy store.anycubic.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  16. Bambu Lab Warranty Policy bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor