Bambu Lab H2C Combo Review – Perhaps the Most Complete 3D Printer Available

It was a Wednesday morning, and as I was enjoying my first coffee of the day, I received an email from Bambu Lab asking me to test and write about a new printer that had not even been officially announced yet. This printer was the Bambu Lab H2C, and it would be released in three weeks. I was super excited and replied right away, telling them that, of course, I wanted to try it out.

So, a few days later, and almost two weeks before the official announcement of Bambu Lab H2C, I received a large box with the Bambu Lab logo on it. I quickly opened it, set up the printer on the studio desk, and… What have you done again, Bambu Lab? You are going to drive us crazy. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like this before, and I’ve had plenty of printers in my hands in the past.

Unboxing the Bambu Lab H2C

Firstly, I should mention that Bambu Lab H2C belongs to the company’s family of H2 printers. Therefore, there are many similarities in packaging and design with the H2D that we have had in our studio for the past few months. Of course, we will not omit anything in this review, even if some elements are reminiscent of another model.

As always, the Bambu Lab H2C printer comes very well packaged and protected. My courier, for some reason I will never understand, left it upside down outside my door and with several dents in the box, but the printer didn’t have a scratch on it. Bambu Lab has seen how courier companies treat boxes and is one step away from making their packaging bulletproof.

The Bambu Lab H2C is a fairly heavy printer, and you may need help from a second person to get it out of the box. Of course, if you follow the step-by-step instructions, you can do it yourself, as I did.

What’s in the Box?

• The Bambu Lab H2C
• One AMS 2 Pro (along with two PTFE tubes, several desiccant bags, and the power cord)
• And finally, a fairly large box of accessories containing:
  • A smaller toolbox
    • A scraper (blade)
    • A lubricating grease
    • A lubricating oil
    • Small accessories, such as camera covers, for personal privacy
    • An extra 0.4 full hotend for the extruder
    • Two Allen keys. One 1.5 and one 2.0.
    • A metal needle for unclogging the hotend.
  • Yes, you guessed right. Another small box labeled Hotend, containing 5 hotends for the Vortek system.
    • One 0.2mm
    • Three 0.4mm
    • And one 0.6mm
  • A mount for the filament roll in case we want an external filament on top of the AMS
  • A few more PTFE tubes in various lengths
  • And finally, the user manual, which explains everything from start to finish.

Before You Start Printing

Now that the Bambu Lab H2C is out of the box, we need to set it up before using it for the first time. All Bambu Lab printers come assembled and ready to use out of the box. All we have to do is literally unscrew a few screws, and we’re ready to go. The reason these screws are there is to protect the printer’s moving parts during transport.

Once we’re done with that, we need to configure the initial settings on the printer screen, and we’re ready to go. But let’s see below what exactly I mean.

Setting Up the 3D Printer

Everything is actually pretty simple. All we have to do is remove the AMS 2 Pro from inside the printer and release the printer’s moving parts. As I mentioned above, this is done by removing a few screws. Bambu Lab has taken care to mark all the screws that need to be removed with red circles.

Don’t forget to cut the blue ties and remove the protective cardboard and styrofoam.

I’ll share some photos below so you can see how clear it is.

Let’s install AMS 2 Pro and move on to the settings. If you only have one AMS, simply connect it to the upper port for the right hotend. However, if you have two AMS 2 Pro devices like me, do not connect one to the top and one to the bottom.

Instead, connect both to the right hotend. Strange, isn’t it? I’ll explain why you do this below. For now, just take the adapter that you’ll find inside the package, which allows you to convert one PTFE tube into four, and you’re ready to connect up to four AMS to the right hotend.

Basic Settings of the Bambu Lab H2C

Now it’s time for the even easier part: the settings. When you open the printer, the settings menu appears. There, you can select your preferred language, the continent you are on, and the WiFi you want to connect to. The last step is to add the printer to your account so that you can print via Bambu Lab Studio or the Bambu Lab Handy app.

The printer’s calibration is something that must always be done when starting it for the first time. So, with the Bambu Lab H2C, we will start the calibration. The process will take about 25 minutes and will calibrate the sound of the motors, the vibrations, the levelling of the print bed, and the offset of the nozzles.

If it were any other printer, we would be done by now and ready to print, but with the Bambu Lab H2C, things are a little bit different.

The Vortek’s automatic adjustment kicks in, and I just sit there watching it with my mouth wide open. Insanely impressive.

Design and Features of the Bambu Lab H2C

As I mentioned earlier, and as its name suggests, the H2C belongs to Bambu Lab’s family of H2 printers. So, if you put the H2C next to the H2D, the first thing you notice is that they share the same frame.

Both printers are made of aluminum alloy and steel and have the same plexiglass and glass panels on the sides. They even have the same external dimensions: 492 x 514 x 626 mm, thus retaining the same basic body in both models.

The main difference in the exterior of the Bambu Lab H2C is its colour. Its metal parts are black, unlike the silver/gray colour of the H2D.

The Touch Screen

The Bambu Lab H2C’s touchscreen is high quality and responsive, offering a pleasant user experience. It is a 5-inch screen with a resolution of 1280×720. Its UI allows you to control almost everything from there. Everything related to printing, printer settings, and AMS can be done via the touchscreen.

It is definitely of much higher quality and smoother compared to older or lower-tier models. It is not very large in relation to the large size of the printer, but it is quite distinct, and after using it, I must admit that a larger size wouldn’t be so useful.

The screen is located at the top left of the Bambu Lab H2C’s front panel and allows you to adjust its angle from vertical to almost horizontal. Its design fits perfectly with the aesthetics of the Bambu Lab H2C. The only thing that bothered me a little was that it doesn’t have an SD card slot on the side to record video while printing, as the X1C did, for example.

The only way to do this now is with a USB stick. But why, Bambu Lab, did you put the USB port on the top, front-left corner? Wouldn’t it have been better to put it on the back, so the stick isn’t visible?

The Interior Design of the Bambu Lab H2C

When you open the door of the Bambu Lab H2C, you are greeted by a breath of fresh air in terms of aesthetics and mechanics, with the aroma of the H series. Everything is positioned exactly where it should be, so that it is perfectly organized and impresses with its performance rather than fanfare.

The belts move so quietly that you want to watch the head moving around, while the movement has that tight, controlled feel that prepares you for high speeds without extreme shaking. It gives you the feeling that it is gliding on the axle.

The fans manage the cooling of the chamber very well. They are relatively quiet in normal operation and are positioned in such a way to “push” the fumes towards the filtration system. During my tests, the filtration is better compared to other models. Only ABS leaves an odour in the room, and because I use my printers in my home studio (with a toddler running around), I did not do enough testing with ABS.

The Print Bed of the Bambu Lab H2C

The print bed is one of the elements that shows that the interior has undergone a facelift. Its dimensions are slightly smaller on the X-axis compared to its siblings, which is due to the integration of the Vortek system. The smaller dimension is not noticeable in everyday use, but it is worth noting, especially for those used to the large prints of the H2D.

The surface remains the same magnetic flexible plate that Bambu Lab has been using for the past years. More specifically, it comes with the Textured PEI version pre-installed. Personally, it’s my favourite because I’ve never had to use glue and I like the pattern it leaves on the first layer.

In short, the Bambu Lab H2C print bed remains as reliable as previous models, with the support of the Vortek system. This means that you can now change hotends without having to level them each time.

Custom Dual Extruder

The Bambu Lab H2C uses an extruder with a dual nozzle system. The design of the custom dual extruder is a true example of great engineering. The left hotend is a fixed, quick-release nozzle, while the second is connected to the innovative Vortek hotend change system. Each hotend is “stored” in a vertical rack and connected magnetically, without cables.

The extruder design is similar to the H2D with a different housing, but this is not the case. On the outside, the housing is more compact with fewer exposed points and no see-through details.

There are also some changes on the inside. Of course, the design of the nozzle that works with the Vortek had to be changed, and I will explain in a moment how exactly it works. Beyond that, the gear layout is more aligned for a more stable feed of the filament into the extruder.

This does not mean that the Bambu Lab H2D extruder is bad. On the contrary! It’s just that the PMSM servo extruder, as it is called, is capable of developing an extrusion force of up to ten kilograms, which provides a much more reliable material flow, reduces the chances of clogs, and keeps the pressure stable when printing quickly or with more difficult materials.

I should mention that the maximum temperature of the nozzle now reaches 350 degrees Celsius, which helps with the most demanding materials without any problems.

Other Notable Features of the Bambu Lab H2C

The chamber cabin is made of UL94 V-0 fire-resistant materials, which provide extra safety in case something goes wrong. Better safe than sorry! In addition, the interior walls are also heated so that the chamber can reach a maximum temperature of 65 °C, which greatly helps with the stability and print quality of materials such as ABS and PA.

As for the air filter, the Bambu Lab H2C has a three-stage filtration system. First, a G3 pre-filter, then HEPA H12, and finally activated carbon from granulated coconut shells. This allows it to filter both solid particles and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), making it safer to use when printing materials such as ABS, PA, or other “difficult” materials.

Finally, regarding the camera. The Bambu Lab H2C has multiple built-in cameras. It comes standard with a live view camera with 1080p resolution and a nozzle camera also with 1080p resolution. Depending on the version you purchase, such as the laser version, for example, it may also have a high-resolution “birds-eye” camera, as well as one on the toolhead.

This gives you excellent control and monitoring during printing and the ability to detect problems in real time. Also, in combination with the 59-sensor system and AI diagnostics, the cameras greatly assist in reliability and error reporting.

What Exactly is the Vortek Hotend Change System?

Vortek is one of those things that you see and say, “OK, this is something that really needed a lot of study, and the result is unique.” For three years now, Bambu Lab has been trying to develop colour printing to make it more efficient and “clean”. Since the days of Bambu Lab X1, which essentially brought colour printing to the world without the need to be an expert in 3D printing, we have all been thinking the same thing deep down. “Why do I have to spend 1 kg of PLA for printing and an extra kg for purging?”

Purge creates these small, colourful “poops”, as we call them. The more colour changes your model has, the more “poop” your printer will produce, and the more material you will waste. You waste time, and you waste material. Bambu Lab explained it very well in the teaser video they made for Vortek.

As they say, imagine you are painting a picture, and every time you want to change colours, you have to rinse your brush. Now imagine doing the same thing for every line you paint with your brush.

The idea behind Vortek may sound simple and perfectly logical, but no one had done it this way until now. Since the hotend gets dirty on the inside, why not replace the entire hotend instead of just the nozzle or the entire toolhead? So, they set aside the classic idea of cables and pins and created a completely intact system based on magnets.

The reason they did this was primarily for speed and because, with so many thousands of color changes, the only certainty is that at some point, the parts will wear out during the change. The hotend has its own chip, which communicates wirelessly with the Bambu Lab H2C, sending temperatures, materials, everything, without touching a single metal pin. This alone is one of those details that doesn’t seem so impressive when you read about it, but in practice offers an incredible experience.

But the most impressive feature is the inductive heating. Immediately after changing, the hotend goes from cold to operating temperature in about 8 seconds. It sounds extreme, but I saw it with my own eyes. This means that instead of waiting for the same hotend to empty, load another filament, clean the residue, clean the nozzle, and do a little purge of the new filament, you can simply leave it in place and take another one.

It’s like having many paintbrushes, each one ready with the colours you need, and you just switch them without wasting time. Finally, someone thought it through properly. Each different colour or material is assigned to a different hotend, and when another colour is needed, you simply select the right hotend and snap it on.

It is effortless to change the nozzles that sit on the Vortek. In the settings, you can choose whether you want to raise the rack with odd numbers or even numbers. Then replace any nozzles you want. Bambu Lab H2C will recheck the nozzles and automatically update their settings.

And that’s how you understand why Bambu calls it “the epilogue to the imperfections of the X1.” Not because the X1 was bad. Far from it! But because purge was always the invisible burden that weighed down the entire series.

With Vortek, not only is the waste reduced to almost zero, but it also paves the way for printing with many different materials without needing a master’s degree in quantum physics. What excites me even more is the idea of where this technology can go and how much better it can make our printing experience. Since this is the beginning of Bambu Lab and the Vortek system.

Minor Concerns Regarding the Vortek System

Because everything in life must be balanced, so too with the Vortek system, not everything is sunshine and rainbows.

Personally, I have two concerns. Currently, you cannot mix nozzles of different sizes. For example, when you select the nozzle before printing, you can only choose one size. For example, 0.4 mm. And all nozzles involved in that particular print must be 0.4 mm. Logically, this can be corrected in future firmware upgrades because I believe it is software-related and not a hardware issue.

And the second and most important concern is: what do you do in case of a clog in one of the Vortek nozzles? Until now, we could push the clogged filament (after first heating the nozzle to a higher temperature) by pressing the metal needle into the nozzle hole, and it would slowly come out.

Another solution is what we call a cold pull. You let the filament heat up, mix with the clogged filament, let it get cold, and pull it out along with the stuck filament. But what do you do now with the new nozzles, since they are all installed on the rack and they remain cold there?

All About Printing with the Bambu Lab H2C

Right now, my setup, as shown in the photo below (before and after), consists of the Bambu Lab H2C, two AMS 2 Pros, and one AMS HT. The two AMS 2 Pros are connected to the right nozzle and the HT to the left nozzle.

This is because this is the only way to take advantage of the Vortek system. It only works with the right alternating nozzle. Also, currently, all my nozzles in the Vortek system are 0.4mm because I am interested in printing different colours without changing the nozzle diameter.

So, in AMS I always have the various colours and different materials I need, and in HT I (almost) always have a roll of PLA support, which, for me, is truly the best idea to date. All my prints come out smooth, and I don’t have to make any effort to remove the supports.

My Prints with Bambu Lab H2C

Unfortunately, I was unable to print enough models because the time I had to test the Bambu Lab H2C was limited. However, I managed to print two, each of which would test the printer in different areas.

The first model was a life-size bust of Trunks from Dragon Ball Z. For the entire print, I only used the left nozzle because I wanted to see the print quality of the Bambu Lab H2C. Some pieces have different colours, not because they are multicoloured prints, but because I used the filaments I had left over.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves about the print quality. Also, I now almost always use “Support for PLA”. It has saved me many times. In the photos, you can see the thin white layer between the support and the model.

The second model I printed was the Majora’s Mask. A multicoloured print that is very demanding, with almost 3000 colour changes. For this print, I used both AMS 2 Pro printers, as it required 8 colours. The entire model was printed using the right nozzle, which went crazy until the print was completed, which took a total of almost 3 days.

I would like to pause here and mention that Bambu Lab H2C significantly reduces purge, but that does not mean it is zero. For more than seven colours, it makes sense that the nozzles need to be cleaned because the Vortek only has six nozzles.

Therefore, to use eight colours, two of them need to be cleaned. In the photos below, you can see how much waste I had from this particular model, which had about 3,000 colour changes, as I mentioned. More specifically, the purge tower is 159 grams, and all the poop in total is close to 90 grams.

Even this amount of purge is sufficient for Bambu Lab H2C, but it was done deliberately because I wanted to test it for the review. I could have had much less purge with two simple steps. Since black is the dominant colour in this model, I could have put it in the left nozzle connected to the AMS HT and had all the other colours come through the Vortek. This would also have saved me about a day in printing time. However, as I mentioned earlier, everything was done for the review.

The second step for less purge is hidden in the settings. There, you can choose between Standard and Purge saving. Each option does what it says, with the only difference being that with Purge saving, the print quality drops and will not be as smooth as the model that comes out of the Standard option.

Bambu Lab H2C – The Verdict

The Bambu Lab H2C is honestly a beast of a machine and easily one of the best and most innovative printers on the market right now. Is it for everyone? No. But does it deter new users and people who are just beginning to discover the world of 3D printing? Definitely not. If you’re not so good at painting and multicoloured printing is your salvation, then the H2C is definitely for you.

The Vortek system prints in multiple colours and multimaterials with almost no purge. The hotend changes are quick, reliable, and hassle-free. Inductive heating raises the nozzle temperature in eight seconds, and the entire system operates without cables or wear and tear.

The closed, heated chamber, high operating temperatures, intelligent extrusion control, and sensors that protect you from failed prints make the whole experience unique and enjoyable. You have nothing to fear, even when printing with the most demanding materials.

Bambu Lab H2C is one of those printers that gives you the feeling that you can rely on it, whether you’re printing colourful models as a hobby or have a farm with 3D printers. So don’t even think twice. Try it, and you’ll see that what was once complex has now become simple. And anyone can print clear, colourful models at the touch of a button on their cell phone.

The Bambu Lab H2C is available in 6 versions: basic or equipped with a laser (two options) or equipped with an additional accessory set (Ultimate Set). You can purchase it from the official Bambu Lab online store at the following prices:

And don’t forget that once again, Bambu Lab owners look at the competition like this.

I would like to thank Bambu Lab for trusting us with a preview unit weeks before its release. Off to the next one!