Artillery was my first love in 3D printing. In 2023, with flashy new printers launching every month, is the Sidewinder X2 still worth buying? This isn't a full review, it's my honest answer: a big yes.
A studio full of printers (and boxes)
It had been a while since my last video in July 2023. My studio looked like a bomb had gone off. I was waiting for furniture that, as everything in the south of Italy, was taking forever, and I had 14 3D printers with no idea where to put them. My wife was close to kicking me out. Many of you can probably relate.
Old technology that works
Artillery has stuck with the same two- or three-year-old technology for a long time, while new printers keep coming out. But on value for money, I don't think anything else on the market strikes the same balance. At the time, the Sidewinder X2 sold for about 250 euros on AliExpress. When I bought my Artillery Genius, back around 2018–2019, I paid roughly 450. For 250 euros you get a large printer that handles pretty much everything except ABS, with automatic bed levelling and an improved frame compared with its sister, the X1. Six people out for dinner here can spend that in one night.
It's not perfect. The uneven bed temperature was never really fixed, but it's easy to work around: on my X1 I added a magnetic, textured PEI plate and it works perfectly. I'll probably get one for the X2 too.
Why I'd still recommend it
Artillery played a fundamental role in my learning curve. The Genius was the first printer I took apart, got my hands dirty on the hotend and put back together, and there are tons of tutorials online. In the last couple of years, all the prints I've made for customers came out of Artillery printers. I have a drawer full of Artillery spares and I know exactly where to look when something goes wrong. If I set up a print farm, I'd go for Sidewinder X1s or X2s and Genius Pros.
People often ask me whether to start with something like a Bambu Lab P1P or X1 Carbon. Those are expensive machines that you buy after you've had ten printers. Your first printer should be one you can open, fix with a two-euro part and understand, including things like Z wobble.
Quick print tests
Even at 0.2 mm, prints were impressive. A print-in-place articulated rhino dragon from Dancing Toys, who kindly sent me the files, came out beautifully in 3DJake dual-colour filament, with every joint working and the legs holding it up. A pixelated Benchy, sliced at 0.2 mm and 70 mm/s, took less than an hour. And with my kids' birthday coming up, I was printing Stumble Guys figures from Printables.