One of the biggest pain points in 3D printing is the lack of multicolor options. Unlike a color laser or inkjet printer, which can mix inks to make an infinite range of shades, even the best 3D printers are limited by the color of the spool of filament (or vat of resin) they use.
In recent years, a handful of filament-based 3D printers have had optional material switchers that allow them to switch among four, five or even sixteen rolls of filament during a single print. Now Creality, one of the most popular 3D printer companies, has a new and compelling option in the Hi Combo, a bedslinger-style 3D printer + material switcher which will go for just $469.
We got a chance to see the Creality Hi Combo on display at the company's CES 2025 booth and we're impressed with its build quality. The printer itself is a bedslinger style with an all-metal chassis that comes 95 percent pre-assembled.
It has a direct-drive extruder with metal gears, a 3.2-inch touch screen and Wi-Fi connectivity for wireless printing. There's even a bult-in camera with a privacy shutter. The build volume is a generous 260 x 260 x 300mm and the printer can operate at up to 500 mm/s speed. It has full auto-leveling and input shaping.
If you want, you can buy the Creality Hi by itself (without the material switcher) for $299. But who would do that when you can get multicolor for just $170 more?
The real star of the show here is the CFS (Creality Filament System) material switcher. This CFS has been available for a few months as an add-on for the pricey K2 Plus printer and now it's part of this Hi Combo, which is very affordable. The CFS holds four spools in a very compact case and loads / unloads them from the extruder for you.
If four filaments are not enough, you can buy additional CFS units for $299 each (you're saving $120 on it with the combo) and daisy chain up to four of them together for a total of 16 rolls.
At $469, the Creality Hi Combo's main competitor is Bambu Lab's A1, which also costs less than $500. However, the A1 has a more primitive -- read not enclosed -- material switcher, which is limited to just four rolls in total. However, we like the A1 a lot so we'll have to see how the Hi Combo compares when we get one in for review. By coming in at this very competitive price point, Creality is doing its part to bring multi-color 3D printing to the masses.
