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Hey there, fellow makers! If you’ve been scrolling through 3D printing forums or drooling over high-speed Benchy timelapses on YouTube, you’ve probably heard the buzz around the Anycubic Kobra S1. Released in early 2025, this enclosed CoreXY printer promises blistering speeds, multicolor magic with its optional ACE Pro unit, and a price tag that won’t break the bank (around $400 for the base model and $600 for the Combo kit with ACE, plus some starter filament, which is a sweet deal) and still provide quality prints. I unboxed my very own Anycubic Kobra S1 with the ACE unit about 3 months back and it has been running almost non-stop. I tend to hold off on writing reviews until I have thoroughly smoke tested products, this allows me to better understand the good, bad, and any ugly ghosts in the machine. The good news, this is a pretty sweet printer for the price. Let’s dive in!

First Impressions

As we all know, there is nothing like unboxing a new toy. Pulling the Kobra S1 out of its box is about as satisfying as it gets. Assembly? A breezy 15 minutes (sorta tool-free setup). The build volume clocks in at a respectable 250x250x250mm, perfect for prototypes, gadgets, or that custom phone stand you’ve been procrastinating on. Fire it up, and the 4.3-inch touchscreen (tiltable for your viewing pleasure) greets you with a snappy, lag-free interface. Oh, and there’s a built-in HD camera for remote monitoring via the Anycubic App—because who doesn’t love spying on their prints from the couch?

This thing is fast: up to 600mm/s max print speed (though 300mm/s is the sweet spot for reliability), with acceleration hitting 20,000mm/s². I do have to note that if you are printing at these speeds expect some…not so great prints. It handles everything from PLA to beefy high-temp stuff like PC and carbon fiber (upgraded hotend required), all in a fully enclosed chamber to keep those ABS warps at bay. Noise? Whisper-quiet at under 46dB in standard mode. On paper, it’s gunning for the Bambu Lab P1S crown. But does it deliver? Let’s slice into the pros.

The Pros

This printer shines when it’s humming along solo. Here’s what had me grinning ear-to-ear:

• Blazing Speed Without the Drama: Crank it to 300mm/s, and you’ll spit out a Benchy boat in under 15 minutes. Resonance compensation and dynamic flow adjustments mean minimal tuning—it’s plug-and-play fast printing that rivals pricier rigs. One reviewer clocked exceptional quality even at top speeds, calling it a “no-fuss CoreXY for speed and reliability.”
• User-Friendly Vibes All Around: From the intuitive UI to auto-leveling that just works, it’s beginner-proof yet powerful enough for pros. The Anycubic App lets you monitor, pause, or tweak remotely, and power-loss recovery keeps your marathon prints safe from outages. Assembly is idiot-proof, and the quick-release hotend (with a 320°C max) swaps nozzles in seconds—no more burned fingers.
• Versatile Material Munching: PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, and even exotic fibers? Check. The enclosed design tames temperature swings, and quiet mode drops to 44dB—ideal for late-night sessions without waking the household. This has a caveat. You need to upgrade the hotend in order to print these exotics.
• Bang for Your Buck: At this price, you’re getting multicolor potential (more on that later) and features like AI spaghetti detection and filament runout sensors. Community raves call it the best in its class for the money, outpacing even Creality’s K1 in print quality. If you’re dipping into high-speed printing without dropping $800+, this is your gateway drug.

In short, for single-color speed runs, the Kobra S1 feels like a workhorse that punches way above its weight. It’s the printer that makes you want to print more.

The Cons

But here’s the rub: no printer’s perfect, and the Kobra S1 has some gremlins that can turn excitement into frustration. It’s not a total lemon, but these issues crop up enough to warrant a reality check.

• The Slicer Situation: Anycubic’s own slicer (built on Orca Slicer) is… let’s say, “optimistic.” It chokes on complex multicolor jobs, leading to failed prints and endless tweaking. Tom’s Hardware nailed it: this is a printer you want to love, but the software brings tears during four-color runs. Pro tip: Ditch it for PrusaSlicer or Bambu Studio ASAP.
• Build Quality Quirks: The plastic door and lid scream “budget,” feeling a tad flimsy compared to metal-framed competitors. It works, but vibrations at max speeds can make the enclosure rattle like a maraca. And while it’s quiet, that enclosure traps heat unevenly for some materials, leading to occasional warps.
• It poops…A LOT! Now when you are dealing with multi-filament printers, they are naturally going to “poop” when you have a color change. The reason I bring this up is that the Anycubic Kobra S1 excretes a ton of material when changing colors. I am talking IBS levels. This becomes very apparent when you are printing a complex multi-color model. I have tried to limit my use of the multi-color function or when I do, I am very strategic during the setup to limit the amount of waste.

Now, the elephant in the room—or should I say, the filament-tangling octopus: the ACE Pro unit. This add-on (included in the Combo kit) promises up to 8-color printing by stacking two units, with auto filament switching and tangle detection. Sounds revolutionary, right? In theory, yes. In practice? It’s a hot mess that’s plagued users since launch.

The ACE Unit’s Achilles’ Heel: A Deep Dive into the Drama

The ACE Pro on paper is just an awesome thing, It was literally one of the largest deciding factors for my purchase. In reality it falls very short of the mark.

• Filament Loading Nightmares: This a wide spread complaint from owners and I still wrestle with this issue. For me it is slot 3 and 4 that give me the most headaches. It’s so hit or miss when loading materials, If I have a roll in slot 3 and try to add a roll to slot 4 it won’t grab the filament, and vice versa. But let’s not forget slot 2, the other day the ACE unit literally fed the filament through its own plastic shell and back into the spool chamber! It didn’t even throw a warning, I was shocked.
• Unreliable Filament Backup Switching: We had planned on using this as a workhorse for our smaller print productions. On day one we put it to the test. We took one of our larger multi-piece models and tossed it in the slicer. Got everything arranged and mashed the send to printer button. We watched it startup and do its calibration dance then headed home for the night. When we got back into the shop the next morning I heard a printer running but no print head moving sounds. I asked one of the guys “hey, is the Kobra still running??” he say “yep, frozen bro” I was less than happy. The ACE unit never engaged the next reel of identical Anycubic filament in slot 2, 3, or 4.
• Buggy Spool RFID Reader: One would think that if you bought the filament from the manufacturer that made the printer it would be a seamless thing (like Bambu Labs), that is not the case with the Anycubic ACE. It is a crap shoot when it comes to recognizing the material.
• AI Kinda Works: A cool feature but is another item that needs a hotfix.

If multicolor is your jam, the ACE feels like beta software shipped to production. It’s innovative, but buggy enough to sour the whole experience.

Who Should Buy the Kobra S1? (And Who Should Run)

This printer’s a gem for speed-focused hobbyists or small shops churning single-color prototypes. If you’re upgrading from a basic Ender 3 and crave that CoreXY zip without breaking the bank, snag the base model and skip the Combo until ACE gets its act together. Budget pros dipping into enclosures? Yes, please. Steer clear if: You’re all about seamless multicolor (hello, Bambu), hate tinkering with slicers, or need industrial-grade build quality. For those, look at the Prusa MK4 or Qidi X-Max 3.

Final Verdict

After great debate, we gave the Anycubic Kobra S1 3 out of 5 flames. The deductions mainly come from the ACE unit and just how fundamentally broken it is from a mechanical standpoint. But if you’re new to 3D printing, or a hobbyist looking to get the biggest bang for your buck, The Anycubic Kobra S1 is strong contender. If you are a print farm like us, go with a better candidate like Bambu, Form Labs, MarkForged, or Mosiac. Let us know what you think.

Disclosure: This review draws from hands-on community tests and official specs as of October 2025. Prices and availability may vary.