Prusa XL in 2026: Is It Still Worth Buying or a Costly Mistake?
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Buying a Prusa XL in 2026 feels like a strange move to some people.
It is a printer that still gets talked about with a lot of respect, but also a lot of frustration. It is expensive, it has been around long enough that expectations are high, and with newer machines grabbing more attention, it is fair to wonder whether the Prusa XL is still worth buying in 2026.
I bought a second-hand Prusa XL 5-toolhead to find out for myself.
At first, I thought I had made a mistake. It spent the first week annoying me, throwing up issues, and turning what should have been exciting into a job. But after fixing the problems and properly tuning it, my opinion changed quite a lot.
So, is the Prusa XL still worth it in 2026? And should you buy one now?
Why I Bought a Prusa XL in 2026
On paper, the Prusa XL still sounds brilliant.
It has five toolheads, genuine multi-tool printing, proper multi-material potential, and a large build volume. It is also a Prusa, which still means something in 3D printing. This was my first ever Prusa printer, and I wanted to see whether the reputation still held up.
I did not buy it new. I bought it second-hand from Facebook Marketplace for £2,550, delivered, with some filament, nozzles, and spare parts included.
That price made a lot more sense to me than buying one brand new. At full retail pricing, I would have struggled to justify it. At used pricing, especially for the 5-toolhead Prusa XL, it became a lot more interesting.
My First Week With the Prusa XL Was Rough
I went straight into a print, assuming I would at least get a decent starting point.
Instead, I got blobs on the nozzles, messy tool changes, poor wiping, print defects, and constant interruptions. What should have been a fairly hands-off large print turned into something I had to keep checking every couple of hours.
That was the first big disappointment.
For a premium printer, especially one built around multiple toolheads, I did not expect it to feel this needy. I do not mind tinkering. I started with Ender printers. I am not scared of getting involved and sorting problems out. But on a machine that cost this much, I did not want to be babysitting prints every few hours just to stop them from failing.
The first major print dragged on for days and still came out looking rough. There was banding, blobs, stringing, poor wipe behaviour, and a purge tower that became unstable enough to nearly ruin the job entirely.
Technically, it finished.
Realistically, it was a mess.
The Biggest Early Problem: Prusa XL Wipers
One of the first things I noticed was how weak the wipe setup felt.
Yes, the printer does have its own system, but there is a reason so many people are printing Prusa XL wiper mods. The stock setup simply does not do enough, especially when you are doing lots of tool changes and dealing with filament ooze.
That feels like a massive oversight on a machine like this.
I first printed some wipers that turned out to be terrible. They crumbled quickly and clearly were not the answer. After that, I switched to a design that uses Bambu Lab A1 Mini wipers, and that instantly felt like a better solution.
That alone says a lot. I should not be relying on printed mods and borrowed parts from another brand to solve such a basic issue on a printer at this level.
What I Did to Fix the Prusa XL
Once that first bad print was done, I stopped guessing and went through the machine properly.
The main things I did were:
- updated the firmware
- checked and adjusted belt tension
- replaced the wipers
- ran the printer’s calibration steps
- cleaned up the nozzles
- replaced a missing silicone sock
- tuned the filament settings properly
The firmware update was an obvious first step. The printer was not on the latest version, so it made no sense to judge it before bringing it up to date.
After that, I used the Prusa belt tuner app to check the belts. That worked, but the process did feel a bit dated. It reminded me more of older 3D printing workflows than what I would expect from a premium machine in 2026.
Then I found one of the biggest causes of the mess.
One of the nozzles did not even have a silicone sock fitted.
That explained a lot.
I had already noticed that particular nozzle was behaving worse than the others, and once I spotted the missing sock, it all made sense. After replacing it and cleaning everything up properly, the blobbing improved massively.
Fixing the Blobbing Revealed Another Problem
Once I got the blobs under control, the next issue became obvious: stringing.
And not just a little bit.
I know the Prusa XL can be stringy, especially compared to some other printers, but this was clearly worse than it should have been. So I started testing that next.
I tried a fan shroud mod first, thinking airflow might be part of the issue. It made things worse.
Then I went back and did what I should have done sooner. I tuned the filament settings properly.
The nozzle temperature was too high, so I brought it down. I adjusted retraction as well and ran more tests. That immediately improved things. After that, the remaining stringing became much more limited and mostly affected certain colours, which told me some of the problem was simply wet filament rather than the printer itself.
That was a turning point.
Once Tuned Properly, the Prusa XL Printed Brilliantly
After all of that, the printer started behaving like a Prusa XL should.
The difference between the first prints and the later ones was huge. Surfaces were cleaner, tool changes were more reliable, stringing was massively reduced, and the overall print quality was excellent.
That changed my opinion of the printer completely.
At first, I thought I had bought an overpriced headache. Once it was sorted, I started to see the machine I had actually paid for.
That does not excuse the rough start, but it does matter. A printer that is frustrating at first but excellent once sorted is a very different story from one that is simply bad.
What I Still Do Not Like About the Prusa XL
Even though I am now happy with it, there are still some clear downsides.
The wipe system still feels unfinished
I still think the stock wipe setup is one of the weakest parts of the printer. For a multi-toolhead machine, it should be better than this.
The official enclosure is far too expensive
The Prusa XL enclosure is priced in a way that is very hard to justify. For that kind of money, I expect something that feels essential and well thought out. Instead, it feels more like an expensive afterthought.
It feels like the XL no longer gets enough attention
This is more of a long-term concern. The XL does not feel like the main focus anymore, and if you are spending this much on a machine, you want to feel confident about continued support, upgrades, and direction.
Loading filament is tedious
Feeding filament through those long PTFE paths gets annoying fast. It works, but it feels much more manual and fiddly than it should on a premium printer.
It is still expensive overall
Even used, it is not a casual purchase. New, it is a serious amount of money. And judging by second-hand prices, these machines are not holding value especially well either.
What I Do Like About the Prusa XL
There is a lot I genuinely like now that I have got past the painful start.
The print quality is excellent
When the machine is properly dialled in, it produces beautiful prints. That is the biggest reason my opinion shifted.
It is quiet for such a large printer
Mine sits in the living room, and for a printer of this size, it is impressively quiet. That makes a real difference.
It actually looks like a serious machine
The Prusa XL has presence. People notice it straight away. It looks complex, capable, and expensive in a way that most printers do not.
It opens up more advanced materials and workflows
This is where it really becomes interesting. I did not buy it just for standard PLA prints. I bought it because I want proper multi-material options, TPU handling, soluble supports, and more advanced functional printing that my other machines are less suited to.
That is where the XL starts to justify itself.
Is the Prusa XL Worth Buying in 2026?
I think the honest answer is: yes, but with caveats.
If you want a printer that is easy to recommend to anyone, no. This is not that. It is expensive, it still has some strange weaknesses, and the first experience can be rough, especially if you buy used and inherit other people’s mistakes.
But if you specifically want a Prusa XL, understand what it is for, and are willing to put some time into setting it up properly, then yes, I do think it can still be worth buying in 2026.
Especially second-hand.
At used pricing, the value proposition becomes much easier to swallow. You are still getting a unique machine with genuine multi-toolhead capability and serious material flexibility, but without taking the full hit of the new price.
Would I Buy the Prusa XL Again?
Now that I have it printing properly, yes.
That probably says everything.
The first week was frustrating enough that I genuinely questioned whether I had made a mistake. But after fixing the problems, learning the printer, and seeing what it can actually do, I am glad I bought it.
It still needs improvement. I still think Prusa could do more for it. I still think certain parts of the experience are not good enough for the price.
But I also think that once it is working as it should, the Prusa XL is still a very impressive printer in 2026.
Not perfect. Not cheap. Not for everyone.
But definitely not a mistake.
Final Thoughts on the Prusa XL in 2026
If you are considering buying a Prusa XL in 2026, my advice would be simple:
Buy one because you specifically want what the XL offers, not because you expect the easiest premium printer experience on the market.
That is the difference.
If your goal is straightforward, low-fuss printing, there are easier options. If your goal is a large-format, multi-toolhead machine with real material flexibility and room to grow into more advanced projects, the XL still has a place.
For me, now that it is sorted, it absolutely has a place in my setup.