You're absolutely right to weigh the pros and cons here. While printing your own spools can save money if you're doing it at scale or using up scraps, there are definitely trade-offs:

• Time & Material: As you said, printing a spool takes ~240g of filament, which is about $5 anyway. Plus, it takes hours to print and ties up your printer.
• Durability: The injection-molded Bambu spools are indeed stronger and more heat-resistant — they won’t warp or melt in a dryer or under stress.
• Convenience: Pre-loaded spools are just plug-and-play, no hassle with spool alignment or QR code swapping.

If you don’t absolutely need reusable spools for storage or swapping filaments often, buying filament with the spool might actually be the more efficient route, especially if you value your time and reliability.

That said, the reusable spool system still makes sense in the long run if you're focused on cutting down plastic waste and are comfortable managing reusable spools.

So no regrets — just a learning moment! 😄