I have been using a variety of filaments over my years of 3D printing. I didn’t really have any brand loyalty, but was more after the color that I wanted. That changed when I get my Bambu A1 printers. Using Bambu filament was just easy. Put on the roll and go thanks to the RFID. While that works and prints are generally of good quality, there were some issues that required me to fine tune some settings. After a while, it just came to me that if I am going to need to tune some filament settings, what’s it matter if it’s Bambu or another brand.
Enter Polymaker. I’ve been using them for some great color options like their Starlight series. They have print profiles baked into Bambu Studio, but also have updated profiles on their website. I love the print quality that I get from them. I love their color options. They also just released a new refill roll, so you don’t need to buy the cardboard spools and save a few bucks. There are a few colors that Bambu has that Polymaker doesn’t quite have the right match, but there are plenty of colors that are close enough.
Ignoring the sales going on right now, a spool of Panchroma PLA is $19.99 while the refill spool is $17.99. The Panchroma Matte PLA is $20.99 while the refill roll is also $17.99. Bambu is $22.99 for the spool and $19.99 for the refill roll. Polymaker is the better deal if you just need one spool. Where Bambu has them right now is the bulk discount. If you buy 4 refills, it drops the price down to $14.99 per roll. At 6 rolls, it’s $13.99. 8 rolls, it’s $12.99. Finally, 14 rolls drops down to $11.99 per roll.
Polymaker does have 20% off on the refill rolls with no minimum requirement, which drops them down to $15.30 per roll. While that’s good for one roll, it loses out to Bambu right now. However, they are offering some other freebies right now, at $25, $50 and a surprise, free roll at $150 spent per order. On top of that, you can earn PolyCoins which can be redeemed for money off future purchases.
Right now, this 10 roll order is going to get me a free $34.99 roll and 764 PolyCoins, or about $7 off a future purchase.
Bambu’s shipping has been hit or miss. I really dislike getting a notification that my order has shipped when all they have done is created the label. Their times to fulfill the order have varied widely, even during non-peak sales times. The advantage with Polymaker is that you could purchase from Amazon for roughly similar prices, if you needed it fast. Polymaker also seems to use Amazon to fulfill some orders from their own store, so you get pretty fast shipments from them as well.
Check out some of the options they have. These are affiliate links, so I do get a little if you make a purchase from them.
