Manufacturer: Flashforge
Price: $550
Link: flashforge.com/products/flashforge-ad5x-3d-printer
“Multicolor Is Hot!” proclaimed the cover of Make: Volume 88, highlighting the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon AMS system that finally broke multi-material printing through to the masses. But with its original price of almost $1,500, a large swath of the maker audience was excluded from the multi-material mania by cost. That’s why I was excited to learn about the Flashforge AD5X at RAPID + TCT 2025 in Detroit (you can read my recap) — especially when I learned it would cost only about $500.
Without really trying, I can find the AD5X online discounted by $100, $150, or more, which makes this machine incredibly accessible and explains why, as I type this, it’s the #1 best-selling 3D printer on Amazon. So, what do you get for your money? For starters, a robust, compact, solid machine, with all four filament reels on one side. It’s not enclosed (though an enclosure kit exists, $49) and it prints PLA, TPU, and PETG out of the box, and even materials like PLA-CF thanks to a hardened steel nozzle. Like most new machines the AD5X uses CoreXY motion, for impressive print speeds of up to 600mm/s.
Setup is a breeze compared to some other multi-material devices — just mount the display, attach the spool holders, and install the Intelligent Filament System (IFS) module. Flashforge’s multi-material IFS system is mechanically simple and easy to use, with automatic filament loading, cutting, and unloading, and the ability to switch spools seamlessly as they run out, when printing in a single color. A meager allocation of filament is included with the machine in order to give a taste of four-color printing, but you’ll need to buy more almost immediately. Multi-material printing works well, though the waste outlet is located in the back of the machine, so you’ll want to download the “AD5X Poop Chute” from Flashforge’s wiki in order to route waste for easier retrieval.
Material waste is on par or better than similar filament-swapping devices (though compared to the Snapmaker U1 almost every other machine feels wasteful). The AD5X has many features we take for granted these days, such as auto bed leveling, and even some that other machines in this class might lack, like an Ethernet port and quick-change nozzle. At this price though, some of the mod cons, such as a camera and LED lighting, are optional add-ons. The resistive touchscreen feels a little outmoded after experiencing the capacitive screens found on other new machines, and the OS/GUI, while relatively simple to use, can sometimes be unintuitive.
Print quality is excellent, although the print volume feels slightly claustrophobic at 220mm×220mm×200mm. Flashforge’s slicer is based on Orca, and uses its color painting feature to easily assign filament colors to prints. The Flash Maker smartphone app is also helpful for monitoring prints (even more so if you add the optional camera!).
The Flashforge AD5X is an excellent first multi-material printer, or even a first 3D printer, period. Catch it on sale and consider adding the $40 camera and $15 LED light strip, and you’ll have a fast, capable, easy-to-use multi-material machine for not much over $400. I have really come to appreciate and enjoy this machine over the past few months of testing — it just works, and it does everything I need it to, for the price of a single-filament machine!
This review appears in Make: Vol. 96.
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