Printer comparison
Bambu Lab A2L vs QIDI Plus5
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Bambu Lab A2L comparisonsMore QIDI Plus5 comparisons
| Property | Bambu Lab A2LBEDSLINGER | QIDI Plus5COREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Bambu Lab | QIDI |
| Class | BEDSLINGER | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Bambu Lab A2L[1] | QIDI Plus5, sold as "QIDI Plus5 3D Printer"[2][3] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | Pre-orders opened 1 June 2026 (Tom's Hardware spec box); Tom's Hardware review published 27 June 2026[4] | Launched 5 August 2026, 09:00 EDT / 15:00 CEST[5] |
| Launch MSRP (USD) | $469 standalone, $569 Combo at launch[4] | $749 regular launch price; a launch-window member discount put it under $700[5] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | From $469.00 on the Bambu Lab US store, Aug 2026[6] | $749.00 for the standard model on us.qidi3d.com, checked Aug 2026. Other variants: Polar Cooler bundle $899.00, Plus5 Combo $899.00, Combo + Polar Cooler $1,049.00. No compare-at price listed[2] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | Standalone and Combo (with AMS lite) SKUs, and an optional cutting/drawing module (blade cutter and pen plotter, 300x300 mm cutting area) that is a separate attachment, not a printer variant. Do not carry A1 or A1 mini figures across: the A2L is a different, much larger machine at 12.8 kg[1][4] | Four purchase variants at the US store: Standard, Polar Cooler bundle, Combo (adds QIDI Box), and Combo + Polar Cooler. The Polar Cooler is a pre-sale add-on shipping separately, so its specs are not Plus5 specs. Replaces the Plus4 (305x305x280, 450 W + 400 W chamber)[2][5] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Current flagship of QIDI's large-format line as of Aug 2026; sits below the Max4 (390x390x340)[2][7] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 330 x 320 x 325 mm (manufacturer figure)[1] | 320 x 320 x 300 mm advertised — QIDI states this is about 18% more volume than the Plus4[2][3][5] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 544 x 529 x 505 mm[1] | 500 x 488 x 558 mm[3] |
| Net weight (kg) | 12.8 kg net[1] | 29.0 kg net[3] |
| Frame construction & material | Aluminium and steel chassis with a plastic outer frame; Tom's Hardware describes a triangular gantry frame the base drops into[1] | Enclosed CoreXY chassis; QIDI does not publish a frame-material breakdown[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame, no enclosure[1] | Fully enclosed, with a 3-stage air filter (G3 pre-filter + H12 HEPA + coconut-shell activated carbon)[2][3] |
| Passive chamber temperature reached (if enclosed; measured values preferred) | Not documented | 65 °C, actively heated, 550 W chamber heater — reported as a 37.5% increase in heater power over the Plus4 (manufacturer claim)[3][5] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | Cartesian bed-slinger - Tom's Hardware's assembly description has the heatbed bolting to a Y-carriage inside the gantry frame[4] | CoreXY[3] |
| X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size) | Not documented | High-precision linear rails on X[2][5] |
| Z-axis: leadscrew count & type, sync mechanism, anti-backlash | Not published in the spec sheet; no teardown source found that documents the Z drive[1] | Not documented |
| Belts (type, width, e.g. Gates?) | Not documented | 1.5GT belts, 9 mm wide — wider than the 2GT 6 mm belts common in this class[2][5] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 500 mm/s max toolhead speed (manufacturer claim)[1] | 600 mm/s (manufacturer claim)[3] |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 10 m/s2 = 10000 mm/s2 max toolhead acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | <=20,000 mm/s2 (manufacturer claim)[3] |
| Max volumetric flow claimed (mm³/s) | 28 mm3/s claimed, measured by Bambu on a 150 mm round single-wall model in Bambu PLA Basic at 220 C - note this test uses PLA, unlike the ABS-based figures Bambu quotes for its enclosed machines, so it is not directly comparable[1] | Not documented |
| Vibration Compensation / Input Shaping | ||
| Input shaping supported? Implementation (Klipper IS / Marlin ZV / proprietary) | Not documented | Resonance compensation listed as a feature; implementation not named on the product page[3] |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Direct drive with a servo extruder motor and hardened-steel extruder gears; built-in filament cutter[1] | Direct drive with hardened dual gears[3] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Stainless-steel nozzle; 0.2/0.4/0.6/0.8 mm supported. Bambu's A2L sheet does not state whether the hotend is all-metal[1] | Ceramic heating-plate hotend with a bimetal nozzle; 0.4 mm standard, 0.2/0.6/0.8 mm optional[3] |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1] | <=370 °C claimed[2][3] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 80 C max heatbed temperature[1] | <=120 °C claimed, described by QIDI as an even-heating bed[2][3] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Textured PEI plate included; Engineering Plate and Cool Plate SuperTack also supported[1] | Aluminium silicone heated bed with a dual-sided textured PEI plate[3] |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Automatic bed levelling with automatic Z: Tom's Hardware confirms the nozzle is used as the probe and the machine can re-check level before each print[4] | Automatic levelling using an integrated load cell; QIDI describes it as direct nozzle-contact detection[3][5] |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Yes - run-out sensor, filament odometry, tangle sensor and clumping detection[1] | Filament run-out sensor, plus a filament cutter[3] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Part-cooling fan and hotend cooling fan, both closed-loop controlled. No auxiliary part-cooling fan and no chamber fan[1] | Not documented |
| Chamber/exhaust fan & filtration (activated carbon / HEPA) | Not documented | 3-in-1 filtration: G3 pre-filter, H12 HEPA, coconut-shell activated carbon; QIDI claims 99.5% capture of airborne particles and dust[2][3][5] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 100/240 VAC, 50/60 Hz[3] |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | 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[8] | Not stated on the product page. QIDI's slicer ecosystem is QIDI Studio, and Orca/PrusaSlicer are listed as supported[3] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 3.5-inch 240x320 touchscreen[1] | 4-inch touchscreen, 480 x 320[3] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Touchscreen plus mobile app and PC app[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only (802.11 b/g/n), Bambu-Bus, microSD card. Ethernet not available[1] | Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz, Ethernet, USB; 32 GB eMMC storage plus USB 2.0 flash drive[3] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Built-in low-frame-rate camera, up to 1080p, timelapse supported[1] | AI camera with failure detection, up to 1080p, timelapse supported (low frame rate)[2][3][5] |
| LED chamber/toolhead lighting | Not documented | RGB status light[2] |
| Power-Loss & Interruption Recovery | ||
| Power-loss recovery: mechanism (how is state saved? capacitor / eeprom / file on shutdown?) | Not documented | Power-loss recovery listed; mechanism not published[3] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Suitable: PLA, PETG, TPU, PVA. PLA-CF and PETG-CF suitable only after fitting a hardened-steel nozzle. ABS, ASA, PA, PC and PET are listed as not recommended on the compare page[1][9] | PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, TPU, PA, PC, carbon- and glass-fibre-reinforced polymers[3] |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | 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[10] | QIDI store terms: 1-year coverage, lifetime tech guidance, 14-day no-reason return[7] |
| Independently Measured Performance | ||
| Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date) | Tom's Hardware: Editor's Choice, rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data (27 June 2026)[4] | Not documented |
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
- Bambu Lab A2L Spec Sheet (PDF) store.bblcdn.com · 2026-08 · doc
- QIDI Plus5 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Tech Plus5 technical data table 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Tom's Hardware - Bambu Lab A2L 3D printer review, 27 June 2026 tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
- QIDI Plus5 launch write-up 3dprintbeginner.com · 2026-08 · review
- Bambu Lab US Store - 3D Printers collection listing (base prices, Aug 2026) us.store.bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- QIDI Max4 product page (US store) us.qidi3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub - bambulab organisation repository list (11 repos, checked Aug 2026) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Lab - Compare all 3D printers (A2L / X2D / H2C columns) bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Bambu Lab Warranty Policy bambulab.com · 2026-08 · vendor