3D printers from $300 to $800 compared

What the extra money buys in a filament printer

Under $300 the question was whether a printer works on its first evening. Over it, it is what the printer can make. The Neptune 4 Max buys size: 420 × 420 × 480 mm on an open frame, which TechRadar found took two people to assemble and a Z-offset set by hand before prints ¹. The K1 Max buys an enclosure around a 300 mm cube, a 300°C hotend and the engineering plastics — ABS, ASA, nylon, polycarbonate — on its list ². The K2 Pro adds a chamber it heats itself, which All3DP ran at 60°C for ASA, and in the Combo a four-slot colour unit ³. The base K2 is smaller, 260 mm a side, with no heated chamber ⁴.

Colour costs material. All3DP found the K2 Pro Combo’s purge between filaments wasteful ³ — every colour change pushes plastic through the nozzle and into the bin. Buy the colour unit for prints that need it, not because it is there.

1. Elegoo Neptune 4 Max review TechRadar — 420 x 420 x 480 mm; open bed-slinger; up to 500 mm/s with Klipper; dual-gear direct extruder; two people to assemble; a Z-offset to set by hand; fewer materials than an enclosed printer
2. Creality K1 Max review TechRadar — 300 x 300 x 300 mm; enclosed; up to 600 mm/s; LiDAR and AI monitoring; 300 C hotend; ABS, ASA, PA, PC and carbon-fibre filaments; filament loading fiddly; single filament; X and Y error averaging 0.16 mm in their test
3. Creality K2 Pro Combo Review All3DP — 300 x 300 x 300 mm; enclosed CoreXY with an actively heated chamber (35 C for PLA, 60 C for ASA in the test); up to 600 mm/s; CFS with four filament slots; a wasteful purge on colour changes
4. Creality K2 3DJake — 260 x 260 x 260 mm; up to 600 mm/s; 40 mm3/s quick-swap hotend; 300 C hardened steel nozzle; heated chamber: no

12K or 16K: a resolution you will not see

ELEGOO sells the Saturn 4 Ultra with a 12K screen and a 16K one, both 10 inches. The 16K’s pixels are 14 × 19 µm against 19 × 24 µm, and its plate is about 7% smaller. Printer Hub’s comparison is blunt: you will not see the difference on a finished print, and with anti-aliasing the 12K can print smoother, because the 16K panel has 8 grey levels to the 12K’s 256. What the 16K does add is a heated vat and a lit camera ¹.

The Mars 5 Ultra, the current model of the smaller line, has a 7-inch 9K panel with 18 µm pixels over a 153 × 78 mm plate, 165 mm tall ². That is miniatures-and-jewellery size; terrain, helmets and anything long want a Saturn.

1. Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra vs Saturn 4 Ultra 16K: Can You Actually See the Difference? Printer Hub — 12K: 10 in, 11520 x 5120, 19 x 24 um, plate 218.88 x 122.88 mm; 16K: 10 in, 15120 x 6230, 14 x 19 um, plate 211.68 x 118.37 mm, about 7% smaller; 'You will not see the 12K-vs-16K difference on a finished print'; a 12K with anti-aliasing can print smoother (8 grey levels on the 16K panel against 256); the 16K's real gains are the heated vat and camera lighting
2. Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra Review 3DPrinting.com — 7-inch 9K mono LCD; 18 x 18 um; build volume 153.36 x 77.76 x 165 mm; up to 150 mm/h; a 720p camera without its own light

What a bundle adds

Most of the ELEGOO printers here come as bundles. “With Mercury XS” adds ELEGOO’s washing and curing machine ¹ — the step every resin print needs — and a “Complete” or “Starter” bundle adds resin too. If you already own a wash-and-cure station, or mean to buy a different one, the plain bundle is the one to compare; our guide to 3D printing gear has the alternatives and the rules for the rinse.

1. Saturn 4 Ultra 16K with Mercury XS Bundle ELEGOO — the maker's page: Mercury XS is a 'washing and curing machine' sold as a bundle option

What these prices mean

Each price here is the one we last checked on that product’s own page, and each page says the date. All sixteen are the makers’ own prices, read every day from the product feeds Creality and ELEGOO give their affiliates, and none of them has moved since we started reading those feeds — Creality’s on September 23, ELEGOO’s on September 28, 2026. We have not seen any of them charged at its list price.