Anycubic’s Kobra line has been a budget mainstay for years, but the Kobra S1 is the first one built around a fully enclosed CoreXY chassis instead of the old bed-slinger layout — this site has leaned on it as the speed-and-multicolor pick in head-to-head comparisons for months without ever reviewing it on its own. Here’s the dedicated look.
Anycubic Kobra S1 by the numbers
- 600mm/s max speed, 20,000mm/s² acceleration — per Anycubic’s own spec sheet, with a recommended everyday speed of 300mm/s.
- 183g of purge waste for a 10.9g model — an independent review’s measured result on a multicolor print, over 16 times the finished part’s own weight.
- 3.5 stars — Tom’s Hardware’s rating, driven down specifically by slicer software that couldn’t display or limit multicolor purge amounts at launch, despite calling the hardware itself “a great Core XY machine.”
- $401 standalone / $459 Combo — current sale pricing per Anycubic’s own store, against $631 and $861 MSRP respectively.
- 320°C max hotend temperature — enough headroom for ABS and ASA in addition to PLA and PETG, with a 120°C heated bed.
Anycubic Kobra S1 vs the enclosed budget field at a glance
| Printer | Build volume | Max speed | Multi-color | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anycubic Kobra S1 | 250×250×250mm | 600mm/s | Yes — ACE Pro (4–8 color) | $401 (Combo $459) |
| Elegoo Centauri Carbon | 256×256×256mm | 500mm/s | No (Carbon 2 adds it) | ~$299 |
| Creality K1C | 220×220×250mm | 600mm/s | No | $399 |
| Bambu Lab P1S | 256×256×256mm | 500mm/s | Optional AMS | ~$699 |
The Kobra S1 matches the K1C’s 600mm/s ceiling while adding native multicolor support the K1C doesn’t offer at any price. Against the cheaper Centauri Carbon, the Kobra S1’s roughly $100 premium buys faster rated speed and out-of-the-box color — the Centauri Carbon wins purely on price for single-color printing.
The 30-second verdict
Buy the Anycubic Kobra S1 if you want fast, hands-off printing with the option of multicolor. LeviQ 3.0 auto-leveling and strain-sensor calibration mean you’re not manually tuning the bed, and the enclosed CoreXY chassis holds PLA, PETG, ABS, and ASA at speed without drama.
Budget for purge waste if you run the Combo’s multicolor system often. The 183g-for-a-10.9g-model result isn’t a worst case — color-change purging is inherent to single-nozzle multicolor systems like ACE Pro, not a defect specific to this unit.
Choose the Elegoo Centauri Carbon instead if price is the only thing that matters. It’s roughly $100 cheaper for a similar enclosed CoreXY footprint, just without native color switching.
Anycubic Kobra S1
- 250×250×250mm build volume, 600mm/s max speed, 20,000mm/s² acceleration.
- LeviQ 3.0 auto-leveling with strain-sensor first-layer calibration — no manual bed leveling.
- ACE Pro Combo adds 4- to 8-color printing plus active filament drying in one unit.
Stocking filament and parts for a shop? A free Amazon Business account unlocks quantity discounts and tax-exempt purchasing on the abrasive-rated nozzles and color-change-heavy filament spools this printer goes through.
The multicolor waste problem, honestly
Single-nozzle multicolor systems like ACE Pro work by purging the old color out of the hotend and feed path before loading the next one — there’s no way around some waste with this architecture, unlike a true multi-nozzle machine. An independent review measured that cost directly: 183g of purged filament to finish a 10.9g multicolor model, more than 16 times the part’s own weight. Tom’s Hardware’s review landed at 3.5 stars specifically because the launch slicer gave no way to preview or cap that purge volume before committing to a print — everything else about the hardware, they said, made for “a great Core XY machine.” Anycubic has since updated its Slicer Next software to improve purge visibility, but anyone printing multicolor regularly should plan for real filament loss as a running cost, not a one-time surprise.
Real-world speed and print quality
Independent testing found the rated 600mm/s top speed is mostly a ceiling rather than an everyday setting — one reviewer’s real-world numbers ran closer to 300mm/s for HyperPLA, 200mm/s for standard PLA and ABS, and 150-180mm/s for PETG depending on filament opacity. That’s consistent with how most fast-rated CoreXY machines behave: acceleration and part cooling limit typical cruising speed well below the marketing number. LeviQ 3.0’s strain-sensor auto-leveling was specifically praised for first-layer consistency, removing the single most common failure point for printers in this price class.
Anycubic Kobra S1 vs Elegoo Centauri Carbon
Both are budget-enclosed CoreXY machines aimed at the same buyer, but they split on speed and color. The Kobra S1’s 600mm/s rating beats the Centauri Carbon’s 500mm/s, and ACE Pro gives it native 4- to 8-color printing the Centauri Carbon lacks until you step up to the separate Centauri Carbon 2. The Centauri Carbon counters with a lower standalone price — about $299 versus the Kobra S1’s $401 — for buyers who only need single-color printing and want the cheapest enclosed entry point. See our Anycubic vs Elegoo guide for the full brand-level breakdown.
Bottom line
The Anycubic Kobra S1 earns its spot as this site’s speed-and-multicolor pick in the budget-enclosed class: a $401 CoreXY printer that hits 600mm/s and adds genuine ACE Pro multicolor for not much more than single-color rivals charge. Buy it if you want fast, largely hands-off printing and color options — just treat multicolor purge waste as a real running cost, not a rare edge case. Choose the Elegoo Centauri Carbon instead if price is the only variable that matters, or the Bambu Lab P1S if a more mature slicer ecosystem is worth roughly $300 more.
Related guides
- Anycubic vs Elegoo — the Kobra S1 against the Centauri Carbon and Centauri Carbon 2 head-to-head.
- The fastest 3D printers of 2026 — how the Kobra S1’s 600mm/s rating stacks up against the Bambu X2D, Creality K1 Max, and K1C.
- Elegoo Centauri Carbon review — the Kobra S1’s closest enclosed-budget rival, reviewed on its own.