u/Low_Tune_2364

Year 2 engineering student in Romania. Currently running an Ender 2 Pro and I'm done with it. To get acceptable prints I'm stuck at 35-40 mm/s on good days. On bad days it just refuses to cooperate regardless of what I try. I've reached the point where the money I'd sink into upgrades to make it decent would be better spent on a new printer entirely.

I bought the Ender back in 2022 as a beginner because I wasn't sure I'd actually use it and I'm not someone who splurges without reason. Three years later — yeah, I use it, and I need something that works as a tool, not a project in itself. I don't want to spend 50 hours calibrating for a 2-hour print.

My use case:

- Functional parts, not figurines or minis

- Right now I have projects that need PETG, maybe ABS down the line

- I don't see myself going into really exotic stuff like PPS-CF

- Single filament mostly, max 2 at a time (thinking PLA + PETG for body and supports)

- I move between home and university dorm, so portability/robustness matters

What I'm considering:

- Bambu A1 — €259: Solid price, but open frame. Worried about moving it around and no enclosure for ABS later

- Bambu P1S — €389: Enclosed, CoreXY, AI failure detection, handles ABS. More robust for transport. I can stretch to this but it's not nothing

- P2S — €519: Out of budget unfortunately

- Open to other suggestions in this range

Questions:

1. Is the P1S worth the €130 premium over the A1 for my use case? The enclosure + AI detection + CoreXY rigidity for transport seem to justify it but I'd like to hear from people who've owned both
2. Is automatic flow rate calibration a big deal in practice or more of a nice-to-have?
3. Anyone else come from an Ender 2 Pro to either of these? How big was the jump?
4. Any non-Bambu enclosed printers in the €300-400 range I should be looking at? (Centauri Carbon, K1C, etc.)

I gravitated toward Bambu because I want a printer that just works. I've had my fill of tinkering. Convince me I'm wrong (or right).

Thanks in advance.