Looking for an entry-level printer? Elegoo Mars Pro and Epax X1 can be your choice. They are relatively affordable than others, and could be fitting for those who are very limited in budget. The thing is, with such a low price, you can still get the LCD feature that presents in most modern printers.
Both of them are included as resin printers that are known for using liquid resins in order to build up a workpiece in thin layers. With almost similar prices, which one of them is actually better in value?
Technically, Expax X1 and Elegoo Mars Pro are comparable. With the prices that are almost similar, each of them has their own unique values. Expax X1 is presented by a known US company that mostly focuses on small-3D printers. It’s relatively cheap, but able to deliver higher quality results. On the other hand, Elegoo Mars Pro is a pleasant upgrade from the previous Elegoo Mars. It’s known for its great performance, even within such a low price.
We’ll take a closer look at these printers, explain what they can offer in features, performance, and overall value in order to create the final decision about which one of them is actually better.
Elegoo Mars Pro
Elegoo Mars Pro could be your best option for a resin 3D printer. It offers the advanced MSLA technology, filtering for toxic fumes, and outstanding build quality at a price around $300. This is the premium example of what 300 dollar printers look like, a perfect tool for creating small stuff like miniatures or small models.
| Elegoo Mars Pro | Epax X1 | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
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| Product Dimensions | 22.3 x 11.2 x 11.2 inches | 22.52 x 14.61 x 11.97 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 18.9 pounds | 22.73 pounds |
| Best offer | Check price | Check price |
Around 300 dollars you already get the great resin printing technology that only a small number could offer. Even though limited within affordable range, it still wants to stand out with its pleasantly great build volume and resolution from the other competitors. It’s also offering a faster printing process with cutting-edge 50W ultraviolet LED curing lights technology.
As you might expect from a resin printer, Elegoo Mars Pro also arrives assembled, eliminating the long and complex building process. You only need to do some steps to make it whole, like attaching the rubber valve, screwing the print bed, and of course, loading the resin materials. Levelling the bed is not fully automatic, but it’s still considered easy to level. Don’t forget that you need to adjust the Z-axis position to zero first, as instructed in the manual.
For rendering the model, users will mainly lean on Chitu Box that’s already present. Similar processes will be running, just like when you’re using FDM printers. However, removing the model needs extra care since you’re gonna be using resin materials that are more brittle than PLA.
The dimension of Elegoo Mars Pro is around 120 x 68 x 155 mm, so it’s mostly suitable for smaller models. Even though removing the print results is easy enough, the user still needs to deal with all the smell and stickiness. Be sure to remove the waste carefully since it’s also a poisonous material as well.
For the hardcore miniatures, this one is hard-to-beat. It offers an incredible performance, able to give constantly good quality results, and is crazy affordable. It’s comparable with Creality LD-002R, even better. Creating the small, detailed models with this printer would be a pretty satisfying experience.
Epax X1
If you haven’t known about it, EPAX is actually an American company based in Morssivilla, North Carolina. They presented the market with a bunch of small printers that mostly used resin as their main materials. The market they’re going into is the beginners and enthusiasts that are mostly home-based. They are also aiming for the market which demands more affordable 3D printers.
Talking about the size, Epax X1 is actually the smallest in the family. The entire printer’s size is about 56x31x31 cm, with 9.8 kg of weights. This makes it incredibly lightweight that will fit on your smaller desks.
It’s 9cm size is just enough to create detailed smaller models. It’s still considered sufficient for the most important printing process. However, even though the manual calibration of Z-axis to zero is still possible to do, they claimed that this printer is ready-to-use straight away. Just prepare the resin, and you’re basically good to go.
Epax X1 is an LCD resin 3D printer that uses the UV LCD panel rather than the cathode-ray laser. The panel has 2560 x 1440 pix. Resolution with around 5.5 inches. There’s also the 50 high-energy with 40W of power to light it up.
Most parts of the Epax X1 are made of aluminium for better adhesion. The vibrations of Z-axis is minimalized with the reinforced steel rail that is added with strong bearings, further eliminating both the vibration problem, and calibration process altogether.
In order to reduce the adhesion in the resin tank part, a permeable film that’s imported from Japan is implemented. It can work even without the FEP.
Epax X1 has another sibling, the Epax X1-DJ. The difference is that X1-DJ is more powerful than the X1, and even has some supporting elements like the Ethernet interface. It was designed to help people like dentists or jewelers in their professional works. However, X1 is more like the general-type of printer that focuses on the generic printing process.
For slicing the model, the user’s also use ChituBox, a convenient open-source software. It’s like a loyal friend for so many printers. You can easily import your available settings without any further complex configuration. This software helps a lot thanks to its simple interface that’s fairly easy to understand.
Overall, Epax X1 is certainly a unique product without any complexity. It sounds better and worse at the same time, but with its incredibly affordable price, it’s not a place to complain. Read also: Creality LD 002R vs Photon S.
Elegoo Mars Pro VS Epax X1
Conclusion
Both these printers are surely not the same products, but they’re actually very identical. In the performance up to general specifications, there’s zero difference between the two. So, any recommendations could be made with a limited extent.
Elegoo Mars Pro and Epax X1 are great machines to have, but if you prefer more simplicity, Epax X1 could be the better option since you don’t need to do anything else for setting it up.