Comparing Alternatives to Bambu PETG-HF

Originally posted August 2025

When I first got into 3D printing, I didn’t use much PETG. That changed in March 2025 when I began producing my Working Equitation Garrocha Rings and Mounts. From January through early March, I used just 10 spools of Bambu PETG-HF. But between March and May, demand ramped up—and I went through over 110 spools.

Bambu PETG-HF quickly became my go-to filament. It printed cleanly and consistently on Bambu printers with minimal fuss or tuning. But by April, it was becoming harder to find, and by July, I was out. With Bambu estimating restock availability in mid to late August, I needed an alternative.

While I had briefly tested a few other PETG brands in the past, I hadn’t invested the time to properly evaluate them. This situation presented a good opportunity—not just for a temporary replacement, but to explore other high-quality options and diversify my supply chain.

PETG has been a practical choice for this product line for several reasons. Compared to PLA, it offers much better heat and UV resistance—important for gear used outdoors in sun-exposed equestrian arenas. It’s also durable enough to handle repeated impacts from the Garrocha pole. On the flip side, higher-end engineering-grade filaments like ASA or PC weren’t necessary; they offer qualities that are overkill for this particular application and would only drive up cost. Color availability was another factor: PETG comes in a much wider range of bright, visible colors than most advanced filaments. Since I print to order and let customers choose their preferred color, having that variety is a major plus.

To keep the comparison meaningful, I chose to test everything against one of my most popular and structurally demanding prints: the Universal Clamp Mount. This model includes angled prints, unsupported overhangs, fine text and logo engravings, threaded parts, and precision-fit components—ideal for revealing strengths and weaknesses in any filament.

For structural and cosmetic reasons, some parts are printed at a 45° angle. This improves overall strength by shifting layer lines and also reduces the need for supports. It does result in some minor stringing on the undersides—typical even in ideal conditions—but those areas are hidden during use and don’t impact functionality or presentation.

The filaments selected for testing were all easily sourced from Amazon, and some came recommended by fellow makers in various 3D printing groups:

• Elegoo Rapid PETG – $17.99
• Kingroon High Speed PETG – $17.99
• Creality Hyper PETG – $21.99
• Sunlu High Speed PETG – $18.99
• Polymaker PETG – $22.99
• Overture PETG – $17.99

Not all of these are technically “high-flow” filaments—some are marketed as high-speed, which usually means they’re designed for faster printing without necessarily increasing volumetric flow rate. While the distinction matters for high-performance tuning, in real-world use the terms are often used interchangeably by manufacturers. For consistency in this writeup, I’ll refer to them all as high-speed PETG.

Testing Methodology

To keep the test realistic, I intentionally skipped tuning to evaluate each filament’s out-of-the-box performance. All prints were run using the Bambu PETG-HF profile in Bambu Studio (except for Polymaker, which has a dedicated profile available). My goal was to see how each filament behaved under the same conditions with no special adjustments—just drop in and print.

As mentioned previously, I used one of my Universal Clamp mount for testing. All were printed from the same plate with the same settings (except for Polymaker as noted), you can see in the picture how the plate is laid out. Some objects at an angle, the screw has a small overhang where it is notched, no supports were used. I also printed a reference model using Bambu PETG-HF (the gray color one in the picture at the top of the page). I have three X1C printers, all have been cleaned and lubed recently. Not every print came from the same printer.

My overall impression is that most all of them printed fairly well just using the standard Bambu profile for PETG or PETG-HF (depending on which filament type you're using). It is at least a great starting point for some fine tuning and it worked well for this comparison I believe. Below you will find some individual pictures of each of the printed models and some specific comments about each brand followed by how I made my final decision on which to use.

Note about Cardboard Spools

I use the AMS for my X1C printer which operates more efficiently with plastic spools. This is something I wanted to consider in my evaluation of these filaments. My thinking was that if I ended up selecting a filament that used a cardboard spool I would likely print rings to attach to them. This keeps cardboard debris from cluttering up the AMS due to the wear from the rollers and helps for a smoother deployment of the filament.

Four of the filaments I tested came with cardboard spools and it is worth noting that all of them are easily disassembled which allows for a simple transfer to a different spool if you're careful. I have a good supply of Bambu spools, so this is a really good option for me.

It is noteworthy though that the Creality cardboard spools are a different size, so after removing the end pieces, the filament won't slip cleanly onto the Bambu reusable spools. I was able to move the filament over, but it is an extremely loose fit and I'm certain there will be print issues as I get further down into the spool.

The others all fit almost perfectly onto the Bambu spools. Some even have notches to index with the Bambu spool's locator tabs. The notch on the Elegoo was too small however and would need to be "adjusted" to work. This may have been a one-off issue, I'd need to see more to be sure.

Drying PETG

One important note on drying: With Bambu PETG-HF, I almost never pre-dried spools and still got excellent results. That may have been due to freshness, lower local humidity, or just plain luck—but it worked. However, two of the new filaments performed poorly when printed straight from the spool. Sunlu in particular showed a dramatic difference (pictured not dried and dried). Maybe they're trying to sell more dryers

To ensure a fair comparison, I dried all filaments for at least six hours at 65°C in my Sunlu filament dryers before testing. While Bambu recommends drying PETG as well, it simply wasn’t something I found necessary in my earlier workflow.

I used external dryers for this test because the AMS itself isn’t actively heated—it’s more of a passive moisture control system. For consistent results, pre-drying in a dedicated dryer made more sense.

My Selection

Most all of them performed very well using the default Bambu print profiles which I was happy to see as it does give many options for folks.

I eliminated the non-high-speed Overture and Polymaker filaments as I did not want to increase my print times - time is money.

I also eliminated Sunlu due to the printing issues I saw with it, wasn't a good first impression.

Creality printed nicely, but it priced itself out of the competition. I don't know if Bambu will have different pricing on their PETG-HF when they finally do start selling it again, but previously the highest price I paid for it was $17.99 for a refill spool and had paid as low as $14.99, so it just doesn't make sense to pay more.

This left me with Kingroon and Elegoo. Color selections seemed similar but Kingroon is currently out of stock of some colors. The real clincher was price. While both of these on Amazon sell for $17.99 USD, Elegoo currently offers single color 10-packs for $105 - bringin the cost down to under $11 a spool. As a result, I've purchased 90 rolls from them and will begin using this filament. I may do some additional tuning but will see as I start using it more frequently.