It is January 26, 2026. I have been using the Snapmaker U1 for over one month, this printer gives me great experiences, a deep impression, and high expectation. Since I bought the printer myself, the following things I’m going to share with you are all subjective.
Quality Issue
I must say that the Snapmaker U1 does have some quality issues that may or may not matters. The company seems to spend every penny on what really counts. Most time, those quality issues don’t affect the use at all.
First, many people got the plastic shells off when tearing off the tapes, then it starts to have the clicking sound. They must push the shell back. I already knew that, so I tear off every tape carefully and slowly, and the printer remains perfect.
Second, some people found dust on the Aux fan, they felt quite annoying about it, although I think it doesn’t matter.
After that, some people burn the chips inside the tool head, some people fail to connect to the WIFI, some people are failed on the initial setup. But I’m quite lucky, my printer is perfect.
Problems
So far, I have used the Snapmaker U1 for over a month, and there have been some issues that happened to the printer.
The first one is the Pogopin contact anomaly, it gives the error code: 0002-0523-0001-0045. But I don’t find any match on Snapmaker WIKI either anything on the Pogopin. The printer gives an error when switching toolhead. So, I use the cloth to clean that area a few times, the printer is fixed. I guess some stringing may get onto the Pogopin and cause the problem.
After that, the Snapmaker Orca keeps crashing when opening some Bambu Studio 3mf files. It does work most time, but you need to adjust some settings manually. For example, the support settings.
(Snapmaker Orca Crashes every time after I click on the button)
Finally, I found a way to fix the crashing issue. I open another 3mf file in the Snapmaker Orca, then add colors that will be used in the second project, and then I import the file I want with the second option. All the paintings will be remained.
The third issue shows up after the first firmware update and becomes very annoying. Every time I send a new task to the printer, the software says that the printer is offline. I have to reboot the printer a few times till it is connected. It happens for quite a while, since the Snapmaker released the 1.0.0 firmware.
Software
Still, the Snapmaker U1 users are waiting for the new features of the printer, mostly on software. The Snapmaker Orca is quite a few versions older than the Orca Slicer. It is only enough for use, but those features that we are familiar with have not been added yet. The following features are still lacking, by the time I white this article:
1 Print History
2 Set Third-Party Filament Preset Like AMS
3 Cloud Slicing
4 Smooth Time Lapse Mode
5 Auto Refill for Third-Party Filament
6 In-APP Ticket System
7 Online Model
8 More Control to the Printer
Anyway, there is no clue of Snapmaker Cloud.
Slicing
The Snapmaker Orca has the following issues:
1 Based old version and lacking features.
2 Sometimes crashes repeatedly on some Bambu Lab files.
3 Some settings in the Bambu 3mf like support, will not be imported.
4 You cannot switch the time-lapse mode to smooth.
5 The painting tool is not very easy to use.
6 Cannot Set the filament as third party filaments in the “Device” page
7 Cannot Sync Filaments Automatically
Content
The Snapmaker U1 can print so fast that it reduces the print time badly, but it also reveals a situation, which is that all-in-one multi-color prints are still not enough. The contents are not ready. When you go visit the Makerworld, you will find that the “NO AMS” tag is still very popular. And the Bambu Lab doesn’t adjust the site for multicolor printing, either, visitors cannot find all-in-one multicolor prints by the current filters.
For example, I have four PLA on my Snapmaker U1, gray, white, black and blue. I want to find the 3D model that uses all these colors and is all-in-one. But there are no sites can help me find that, not even with AI.
So, the Snapmaker U1 prints faster than we could find a qualified print.
My advice to Bambu Lab is that they should optimize the Makerworld for easier searching on shoe printing, multicolor printing, and multi-material printing. Sometimes the visitors might want to search random staffs by colors, by nozzles, by models, by materials, by usages, by plate numbers, by hardware requirements, and more.
As for the community, providing more 3D models based on the latest technologies is very important. The Snapmaker U1, the Bambu Lab H2C, and the Kobra X make all-in-one multicolor 3D printing become popular.
Performance
The Snapmaker U1 prints with high quality stably, despite some issues, the printer almost no fails. It becomes the second reliable 3D printer that I can trust with large 3D projects.
The recent large projects are the Spiderman Helmet and the Ripper Mask, the print results are amazing. It prints super-fast and takes use of every bit of the filament. An impressive thing happened on both prints, one of the four filaments was almost exhausted, but there is almost no poops in the poop chute. The Spiderman Helmet finish the red PLA and the Ripper Mask used all the black.
Pros and Cons
Finally, pros and cons. It is quite clear on this machine.
Pros:
Cost-effective, the most affordable tool changer 3D printer
Fast and high-quality on multicolor and multi-material printing
Save filaments
Multicolor printing on TPU
High Performance and stable
Cons:
Open Structure: filaments and prints will become damp.
Unable to print Advanced materials
No Cutter: More colors may not be supported in the future
Lacking Ecosystem: Online model, cloud slicing, in-app ticket system, more updated Slicer
Technical Support (Understandable): Long waiting time
Lacking third-party filament support: cannot choose custom presets from the list, cannot auto-refill
A little bit hard for beginners to start: Requires a series of setup processes after unboxing
Conclusion
The Snapmaker U1 is a great 3D printer, it works perfectly already, become the cheapest tool changer 3D printer and maker multicolor printing become affordable. But the Snapmaker company still has a lot of things to do. I think I’m willing to wait for more updates and new features.
I joined a group that bought U1 at the first time right after the order. The group members are now started to print TPU shoes after a few popular prints. Snapmaker U1 owners are taking new challenging and making progress along with the printer.