Anycubic Kobra X: Multi-Colour 3D Printing for £279 — Is This the Budget Bambu Killer?

Multi-colour 3D printing used to mean spending serious money. The Bambu Lab A1 Combo with its AMS Lite sits comfortably above £400. The Creality Ender 3 V3 Plus with any multi-colour system pushes even higher. So when Anycubic announced the Kobra X at an early bird price of $279 (roughly £225) with integrated multi-colour built in, the community took notice — and rightly so. ## What Makes the Kobra X Different The headline is the **ACE GEN2 system**. Unlike competitors that bolt an external AMS or filament hub onto an existing printer, Anycubic has integrated the multi-colour switching mechanism directly into the printer body. The result is a cleaner footprint, reduced complexity, and — crucially — faster colour changes than traditional external systems. The ACE GEN2 combines filament feeding and multi-colour switching in a single integrated mechanism. Anycubic claims this reduces material change time, minimises purge waste, and delivers more stable multi-colour performance compared to external systems bolted onto a standard single-colour printer. ## Key Specifications - **Print volume:** 220 × 220 × 250mm - **Multi-colour:** ACE GEN2 integrated system (up to 4 colours) - **Max print speed:** 500mm/s - **Nozzle:** 0.4mm hardened steel (pre-installed); optional 0.25mm brass, 0.6mm and 0.8mm hardened steel - **Heated bed:** Yes - **Auto levelling:** Yes - **Price:** $279 early bird / £225 approx (standard price $299 after March 2026) The hardened steel nozzle is a meaningful inclusion at this price point. Most budget printers ship with brass, which works fine for PLA and PETG but gets chewed up quickly by abrasive filaments like carbon fibre or glow-in-the-dark. Having hardened steel from the factory means you can experiment with more exotic materials without immediately needing to replace the nozzle. ## Multi-Colour Without the Bulk This is the key pitch. The Bambu Lab A1 with AMS Lite is an excellent machine, but the AMS Lite sits prominently to the side and adds significant desk footprint. The Creality system adds even more. Anycubic has taken a different approach with the Kobra X — the ACE GEN2 is built into the printer itself, keeping the overall form factor compact. For desk-based makers with limited space, this is genuinely attractive. ## What It Cannot Do Fair warning: the Kobra X is an open-frame design. This means **traditional polycarbonate is off the table** — PC really benefits from an enclosed heated chamber to prevent warping and layer delamination, which the Kobra X cannot provide. If high-temperature engineering materials are your goal, look at enclosed machines instead. Also worth noting: the Kobra X does **not support the ACE Pro** (Anycubic's higher-end multi-colour expansion system). You're locked to the integrated ACE GEN2, which supports up to 4 filaments. For most multi-colour work — coloured logos, multi-material functional prints, decorative objects — 4 colours is plenty. If you're chasing 8 or 16 colour gradients, you'll need to look elsewhere. ## How It Compares **vs Bambu Lab A1 Combo (with AMS Lite):** The Bambu is widely regarded as the multi-colour benchmark at this level. The A1 Combo costs roughly double the Kobra X early bird price. Bambu's software ecosystem (Bambu Studio, MakerWorld) is more mature, and the print quality ceiling is higher. But for a first multi-colour printer on a tight budget, the Kobra X is the more accessible entry point. **vs Creality Ender 3 V3 Plus with CFS:** The Creality multi-colour setup is add-on based and often fiddlier to get right. The integrated ACE GEN2 on the Kobra X should deliver a more seamless experience out of the box. ## Who Should Buy This - Makers who want to try multi-colour printing without committing to a premium price - Beginners attracted by the integrated system and simplified setup - Anyone with limited desk space who cannot accommodate a large external AMS - Budget-conscious creators printing primarily in PLA, PETG, and TPU ## Who Should Pass - Anyone regularly printing in high-temperature engineering materials (PC, nylon, high-temp PETG) - Makers who already have a capable single-colour printer and are looking at upgrading to a proper flagship multi-colour setup — the Bambu A1 Combo remains the better long-term investment ## The Verdict At $279 (early bird, valid through March 2026), the Anycubic Kobra X punches well above its weight class. The integrated ACE GEN2 multi-colour system is the genuine differentiator — this is not a standard printer with an AMS strapped on, it's been designed from the ground up with multi-colour as a core feature. Will it dethrone Bambu Lab? No. But for the budget-to-mid-range maker who wants to step into multi-colour without the outlay, this is the most compelling option on the market right now. **Early bird price ends March 31, 2026.** --- *Buy the Anycubic Kobra X:* [Anycubic Official Store](/go/amazon?asin=B0DTQFQHVX)