Elegoo Neptune 2 3D printer review: The best printer you'll never own
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Cheap and cheerful 3D printingElegoo Neptune 2 3D printer review: The best printer you'll never ain
The Neptune 2 is an almost perfect entry-level 3D printer. If it was e'er available to buy.A few months ago, I received a package I wasn't expecting. When you review devices, that isn't likewise unusual, just I don't oftentimes receive 3D printers in the mail without someone telling me it is coming. Imagine my delight when I plant out it was a new printer from Elegoo and that it wasn't their normal resin printer, but an FDM (filament) style instead.
Whether you should choose resin or filament printing will depend entirely on your personal preference, but Elegoo makes great resin printers, so I had high hopes that the Neptune 2 could be good also. I wasn't disappointed as the Elegoo Neptune 2 is easily the all-time budget 3D printer I've always used.
Of grade, it doesn't matter how good it is because you volition likely never own one. More than on that after.
Elegoo Neptune 2
Bottom line: The Elegoo Neptune ii is a perfect entry-level printer. Information technology offers excellent print quality and some high-finish features for a depression cost. Information technology's difficult to recommend when it's never in stock, though.
The practiced
- The price is tiny
- The print quality is outstanding
- Some nice high-end features
The bad
- Information technology's just never available to purchase
- The bed isn't magnetic, or car-level
Elegoo Neptune 2: Cost and availability
When information technology comes to price, the Neptune ii is the bargain of the century. The price is around $150-$170, and even at the top end of that calibration, information technology is well worth information technology. Most people in a hobby where the best accessories for filament printing can be upwards of $fourscore or more, spending $170 for an entire machine an impulse buy.
Unfortunately, no matter how willing you are to spend the money on the Elegoo Neptune 2, it is never in stock long plenty to buy. Elegoo insists information technology is working on increasing stock globally, simply it hasn't managed it withal. There is currently stock at the time of writing this commodity, but who knows how long that will last?
Elegoo Neptune two: What yous'll like
When I commencement put together the Elegoo Neptune 2, I wasn't optimistic. Historically $170 3D printers are non the highest quality and rarely print very well. The Neptune ii, still, seems to have been manufactured extremely well. There was some assembly required when it arrived, not as much as when I reviewed the Prusa Mk3, that was down to the nuts and bolts, but it was enough to give a first-timer some cognition of the inner workings of a 3D printer.
Category | Elegoo Neptune 2 |
---|---|
Press size | 220mm x 220mm ten 250mm |
Layer thickness | 0.i-0.4mm |
Maximum nozzle temperature | 260° Celsius |
Maximum hotbed temperature | 100° Celsius |
Filament compatibility | PLA, ABS, TPU, PETG, wood, marble, etc. |
Safety features | Filament runout sensor and power loss detection |
Connectivity | microSD |
Printing speed | ≤180mm/s, normal speed at thirty-60mm/s |
The Neptune has some pretty advanced features for a budget printer also. The filament sensor will intermission the printer if you run out of textile partway through a print, and so you lot can replace information technology easily and keep press. It likewise has power loss protection which uses the last picayune chip of power in the pack to save your print location so you lot can resume when the power comes back. These features are normally saved for more expensive printers or every bit additions to purchase later. It's great to see them coming to cheaper printers as standard as they make the unabridged experiences a more pleasant one.
When you purchase a low-cost 3D printer, y'all can oft assume that the print quality may not be great out of the box or that yous volition need to spend a lot of time tweaking settings and hardware to produce a workable result. This is just not the case with the Elegoo Neptune ii. From the very start print, I was impressed; information technology came out almost perfectly. I used a lot of models from ChoasCoreTech for this review, besides as the beautiful Ahsoka Tano bust from Wekster and each ane printed beautifully. Y'all can see on the closeup of King Kong that the Neptune printed even lines, and the cooling was such that each of these models printed with no sagging, where maybe some support would accept been helpful.
The Elegoo Neptune 2 is easily the best budget 3D printer I've e'er used
The cobra from Loubie3D did accept a piffling fissure in information technology well-nigh the head, only that was because of a frigid dark in the workshop rather than the printer itself. A piddling more heat, and it would accept printed fine. In that location were a few pocket-sized errors on some of the models besides, but for a printer that had received no tuneups and was running everything equally stock, it was brilliant. Since the initial apply, I have tweaked the Cura slicer Elegoo uses to produce even better results, and the Neptune 2 is now used as much as my Prusa and has get an integral part of my workflow.
I'd also like to make a special mention of the LCD on the Elegoo. It is straightforward to navigate, dissimilar many FDM printers, and although the software is currently shut source, it does permit you see an image of the model you want to print. This makes selecting the correct model so much easier than just seeing their file name scrolling across the screen. It also makes bed leveling a lilliputian easier with its large brandish.
Elegoo Neptune 2: What needs work
While the filament runout sensor and power loss detection are bright, I would trade them both for a cocky-adjusting bed level system. The Neptune 2 relies on four big wheels on the bottom of your printer to adapt the corners of the bed. This is a tried and tested method on cheap machines simply is often subjective and inaccurate. The start layer is always the well-nigh of import in 3D printing, and then having a proper electronic system of leveling is ever preferred.
The other issue with the bed is the clips that hold it in identify. Elegoo supplied a flexible build plate with the Elegoo Neptune 2 but decided against making information technology magnetic. To me, this is only a little sloppy and not somewhere I would have skimped. But charge me $fifteen extra and give me a proper buildplate. Thankfully upgrades to this are piece of cake to notice and are a relatively cheap addition to your 3D printer.
Unfortunately, no affair how willing you are to spend the money on the Elegoo Neptune 2, it is never in stock long enough to buy.
At present comes the biggest problem with the Elegoo Neptune 2: the availability. Like the planet this printer is named afterward, the Neptune 2 is incredibly hard to see with the naked middle. I had to hold back on writing the review until more than stock has go available — after all, why recommend something you can't buy? — but even now, it fluctuates like crazy. I don't know why the stock is ever and so depression, but Elegoo has been having like problems with the Elegoo Saturn. I think the company underestimates how expert a product they brand, so they never make enough in the initial run.
Thankfully, this effect is starting to ease off, but you need to be aware that you may have to wait a while to buy this printer. If you lot are in drastic need of one, some alternatives are readily available.
Elegoo Neptune two: Competition
At that place are now many 3D printers to choose from regardless of your budget, but non a lot that is consistently good at the lowest end. While we have some great choices in our all-time 3D printers article, the only printer that is close to the budget Neptune two is the Creality Ender 3 pro.
The Neptune 2 has a lot in common with the Ender 3 every bit they are based on the same open-source concept. I detect the Ender 3 a little harder to tune, but many people have had huge success with it. Because information technology is so well known, in that location are a lot of modifications and upgrades that you can make to the Ender 3 pro, but they can too work for the Neptune 2. The Ender 3 pro is just $236 and has a big advantage over the Neptune two; information technology is always in stock and ever available.
Elegoo Neptune 2: Should y'all buy information technology?
Yous should buy this if ...
- You are just starting in 3D printing
- You desire to add to your collection
- Yous want a print subcontract
You shouldn't purchase this if ...
- You want the easiest printer possible
- You don't want to add upgrades
It keeps coming dorsum to this notion: The Neptune is a better printer than it has a right to be at the price it costs. I'yard not convinced Elegoo is making a lot of turn a profit, if any, from these machines, only as long as they are happy to sell them, I am happy to buy them, and I'm happy to recommend them to y'all the reader.
With the avant-garde feature ready, easy setup, and frankly gorgeous prints right out of the box, the Elegoo Neptune has been one of my favorite printers of 2022. At merely $170, it'south nearly an impulse buy, and if you are thinking of getting a 3D printer for the first time or merely looking to aggrandize your collection, this is a fantastic pick for anybody. If you tin can detect it in stock, so grab one as soon as you lot can.
Elegoo Neptune two
Lesser line: I've been delighted with the Elegoo Neptune two. It prints actually well and has a lot of room for upgrades. If you can discover one in stock, then you should pick i up. Its usefulness far outweighs the cost.
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