3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16K

Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.

Creality Ender-3 V3 KE guideELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16K guide

2 selected · all documented properties

Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Creality Ender-3 V3 KE comparisonsMore ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16K comparisons
Creality Ender-3 V3 KE vs ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16K — documented properties and sources
PropertyCreality Ender-3 V3 KEBEDSLINGERELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16KRESIN
Identity
BrandCrealityELEGOO
ClassBEDSLINGERRESIN
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Creality Ender-3 V3 KE[1]Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K. Elegoo's product handle is saturn-4-ultra-16k-10inch-monochrome-lcd-resin-3d-printer. 3DJake item number ELG-50.101.038300[2][3]
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)$259.00 on store.creality.com, Aug 2026; Creality's own product page shows $279.00 on the same day[4][1]$649.99 in us.elegoo.com's live Shopify product JSON, in stock, with compare_at_price also $649.99 — no discount active at the time of checking (Aug 2026)[3]
Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk)Sits between the SE and the V3 in the Ender-3 V3 family. Against the SE: linear rail on X instead of wheels, 500 mm/s instead of 250, 300 C ceramic hotend instead of 260 C, 4.3-inch touchscreen instead of a 3.2-inch knob screen, Wi-Fi instead of SD-card only. Against the V3: the KE keeps the conventional bed-slinger layout while the V3 is CoreXZ and reaches 600 mm/s. Build volume also differs subtly - 220 x 220 x 240 mm on the KE against 220 x 220 x 250 mm on the SE and V3[1][5][6][7]Distinct from the earlier Saturn 4 Ultra (12K); the 16K carries a 15120 x 6230 masking LCD with 14 x 19 um pixels. Elegoo also sells it bundled with a Mercury Plus V2.0 wash/cure station and as a pre-owned SKU, neither of which is the printer-only price[2][3]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable220 x 220 x 240 mm - 10 mm shorter than the SE and V3, a difference that is easy to miss[5]211.68 x 118.37 x 220 mm[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)433 x 366 x 490 mm (Tom's Hardware)[5]327.4 x 329.2 x 548 mm[2]
Net weight (kg)7.8 kg[5]Not documented
Frame construction & materialNot documentedMetal housing with a flip-up cover and a drip guard[2]
Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lidOpen frame, no enclosure[1]Flip-up lid (Elegoo's own naming) over an open frame; UV-blocking cover[2]
Kinematics & Motion Hardware
Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other)Cartesian bed-slinger with a linear rail on X[1]MSLA with tilt-release: the vat tilts to peel each layer rather than pulling straight up. Elegoo claims the mechanism cuts curing time by 25%. Single Z axis, Z precision 0.02 mm[2]
X-axis guide type (rods / linear rails / V-wheels; size)Steel linear rail on the X axis with a ball-bearing carriage; Creality Lab quotes a 0.04 friction coefficient[1]Not documented
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim, Creality Lab)[1]Not documented
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameDirect-drive extruder paired with the ceramic-heated high-flow hotend[1]Not documented
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)Hotend with a 60 W ceramic heater, a bi-metal copper/titanium-alloy heatbreak to resist thermal creep, and a copper nozzle[1]Not documented
Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values)300 C claimed max nozzle temperature (Creality Lab test at 25 C room temperature)[1]Not documented
Heater cartridge power (W)60 W ceramic heater cartridge (manufacturer figure)[1]Not documented
Heated Bed & Surface
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedPEI-coated spring steel sheet, heated, removable[5]Not documented
Leveling & Z-Offset
Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe)One-tap self-test covering Z offset and auto levelling; Tom's Hardware records automatic levelling with automatic Z as well[1]Automatic levelling, plus intelligent mechanical sensor alarms[2]
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament run-out sensor fitted[5]Not documented
Cooling & Air Handling
Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting designTwo part-cooling fans, one on each side of the printhead, cooling the freshly printed section from both sides[1]Not documented
Electronics & Power
Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto)Not documented100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 24 V 6 A[2]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)Creality OS, which Creality states is "Based on the popular Klipper firmware", with open-source files published; the source is on GitHub as CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper, described as a clone of upstream Klipper, GPL-3.0. Input shaping and motion advance (pressure advance) are exposed as features[1][8][9]Elegoo EL3D-4.0 system. Slicer is CHITUBOX[2]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?4.3-inch touchscreen[5]4-inch capacitive touchscreen (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[2]
On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.)Touch UI with a tab bar, real-time model preview, motion graphics for print parameters and a one-tap self-test[1]Not documented
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-driveWi-Fi and USB; LAN printing and cloud printing through Creality Print on PC or the Creality Cloud app, with multi-printer print-farm management[5][1]USB and Wi-Fi, with WLAN file transfer[2]
Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps)Not documentedAI camera, 1920 x 1080[2]
Camera features: live monitor, timelapse, AI failure detection (spaghetti detection) — how real is it?Not documentedAI camera with print-failure detection[2]
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listHyper PLA, PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU (95A) and ASA[1]405 nm photopolymer resin; the heated tank is aimed at high-viscosity and high-speed resins. No closed compatibility list published[2]
Safety
Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible)Not verified directly. Creality states the Ender-3 V3 KE runs a Klipper-based Creality OS and publishes CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper (GPL-3.0) as a clone of upstream Klipper, which ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check; the stock configuration was not checked here[8][9][1]Not documented
Reliability, Support & Ecosystem
Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes)Creality's US store states "Up to 12-Month Warranty", a 14-day return and refund window and "Lifetime Customer Support" on its printer product pages. The "up to" wording means the term is not uniform across parts[10]Not documented
Independently Measured Performance
Benchmark print times (source + settings)Benchy in 19 minutes 48 seconds under Speed Boat Rules in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware[5]Not documented
Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date)Tom's Hardware rating 4.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data[5]Not documented
Resin & MSLA
Masking LCDNot documented10-inch 16K monochrome masking LCD, 15120 x 6230 px, XY pixel pitch 14 x 19 um (manufacturer specification)[2][3]
Light sourceNot documentedCOB light source with a Fresnel collimating lens[2]
Light uniformity & intensityNot documentedLight energy at the plate quoted as 5 mW/cm2, i.e. 5000 uW/cm2 (manufacturer claim, attributed to the tilt-release and Fresnel optics). No uniformity percentage published and no independent measurement[2]
Vertical print speedmm/hNot documentedUp to 150 mm/h (manufacturer claim). Elegoo does not state the layer height or resin type the figure assumes[2]
Release filmNot documentedPFA release film. No rated life published[2]
LCD life & replaceabilityNot documentedMasking LCD shielded by tempered 9H protective glass. Elegoo publishes no rated screen life in hours and does not state user replaceability[2]
Resin vat & feedingNot documentedReplaceable resin vat with a dual pour spout and a drip guard. Heated tank with automatic temperature measurement: Elegoo states resin reaches 25 C in 26 minutes from a 5 C ambient at 50% humidity (manufacturer figure). Capacity not published; no auto-refill[2]

Manufacturer claims, independent measurements, packages and test conditions retain their source wording. FDM linear speed and resin vertical speed use different units and are not directly comparable. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.

Sources for this comparison

  1. Creality Ender-3 V3 KE product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  2. Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K product page (technical data and description) 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  3. Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K live Shopify product JSON us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  4. Creality US store - Ender-3 V3 KE 3D Printer product page (live price) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  5. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 KE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  6. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 SE Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  7. Tom's Hardware - Creality Ender 3 V3 Review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  8. GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/Ender-3_V3_KE_Klipper repository metadata ("clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  9. GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  10. Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor