3D Printing Info

Printer comparison

Creality Hi vs Creality K1 SE

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

2 selected · all documented properties

Creality Hi vs Creality K1 SE — documented properties and sources
PropertyCreality HiBEDSLINGERCreality K1 SECOREXY
Identity
BrandCrealityCreality
ClassBEDSLINGERCOREXY
Identity & Market
Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first)Creality Hi, sold as the "Creality Hi Combo" with one CFS unit[1]Creality K1 SE[2]
Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry)The Creality US store Hi Combo page lists three variant prices - $299.00, $399.00 and $539.00 - on the same page, Aug 2026; the lowest is recorded here and the combo includes one CFS unit[3]Creality's K1-series comparison page lists $359 for the K1 SE (Aug 2026); it does not appear as its own product on the Creality US store printer sitemap, so no separate live store price could be recorded[2]
Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk)Sold as a combo bundled with one CFS multi-material unit; up to four CFS units can be stacked for 16 colours, and the extra three are bought separately. Three price variants exist on the store page, so a single "Creality Hi" price is ambiguous[1]The cheapest K1. It keeps the 220 mm cube volume, CoreXY frame and 600 mm/s claim but drops a lot: hotend body is PA+30%GF rather than all-metal, the build plate is epoxy rather than PEI, there is no air filter, no chamber heating entry at all in Creality's table, no foreign-object or failure detection, and the AI camera, remote monitoring and time-lapse are optional. Its filament list stops at Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG and TPU. It does get the steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak and dynamically balanced fans, which the base K1 does not[2]
Physical & Frame
Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable260 x 260 x 300 mm[1]220 x 220 x 250 mm[2]
Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang)409 x 392 x 477 mm (Tom's Hardware measurement of the printer's footprint)[4]355 x 355 x 482 mm[2]
Net weight (kg)11.58 kg (Tom's Hardware measurement)[4]Not documented
Frame construction & materialFull metal body with frame parts die-cast from aluminium alloy[1]Not documented
Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lidOpen frame, no enclosure[1]Enclosed body, but Creality's comparison table leaves chamber heating blank for the K1 SE where the K1, K1C and K1 Max are listed as passive heating[2]
Kinematics & Motion Hardware
Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other)Not documentedCoreXY (Creality's own K1-series comparison table)[2]
Speed & Acceleration
Max print speed (claimed, mm/s)500 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim)[1]600 mm/s max printing speed (manufacturer claim). Creality's own footnote says the 600 mm/s figure was achieved in Creality Lab and that the typical speed is 300 mm/s[2][5]
Recommended/typical print speedNot documented300 mm/s typical printing speed with 12000 mm/s2 typical acceleration, stated by Creality alongside the 600 mm/s headline[2]
Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²)12000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1]20000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[2]
Extruder
Type (direct drive / bowden) & design nameModular direct-drive extruder, which Creality markets as clog-free and designed for repairability[1]Dual-gear direct-drive extruder[2]
Hotend & Nozzle
Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?)0.4 mm high-flow hardened steel "unicorn" quick-swap nozzle[4]Hotend body in PA+30% glass fibre with a steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak - not the all-metal assembly of the K1C[2]
Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values)300 C maximum nozzle temperature (Tom's Hardware)[4]300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[2]
Heated Bed & Surface
Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limitNot documented100 C max heatbed temperature[2]
Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sidedTwo-sided epoxy-resin flexible build plate, heated[4]Epoxy flexible build plate - different from the PEI plate on the K1C[2]
Leveling & Z-Offset
Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe)Auto levelling, plus automatic filament load and unload[1]Not documented
Filament Handling & Detection
Filament runout sensor (type, location)Filament run-out sensor fitted[4]Not documented
Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade pathPairs with up to four CFS units for up to 16 colours; the combo ships with one CFS. Multi-material also enables snap-away support material[1]Not documented
Cooling & Air Handling
Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting designNot documentedDynamically balanced closed-loop part-cooling fan and dynamically balanced PWM hotend fan; no air filter[2]
Electronics & Power
Total rated power drawNot documented350 W rated power[2]
Firmware & Openness
Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary)Klipper-derived firmware - Creality publishes the source as CrealityOfficial/Hi_Klipper on GitHub, GPL-3.0, last pushed March 2026[6][7]Open-source Creality OS, a Klipper derivative (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper on GitHub, GPL-3.0)[8][7][2]
Connectivity, UI & Camera
Display: size, type, touch?3.2-inch touchscreen, pre-assembled and foldable to shrink the footprint[1]Not documented
On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.)Touch UI with input shaping, alarm sounds and auto filament identification via the built-in RFID reader (needs Creality RFID filament)[1]Colour touch UI; remote monitoring and time-lapse are optional because they require the optional AI camera[2]
WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-driveUSB, LAN, cloud and app[4]Wi-Fi[2]
Calibration Routines & QoL
Assembly level & time from unbox to first print95% pre-assembled[1]Not documented
Materials Support
Officially supported filament listPLA and PETG (Tom's Hardware's materials line for the Hi Combo)[4]Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, TPU only[2]
Safety
Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible)Not verified directly. Creality publishes CrealityOfficial/Hi_Klipper (GPL-3.0) for this model; upstream Klipper ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check, but the stock configuration was not checked here[6][7]Not verified directly. Creality's published firmware for the K1 series (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper, GPL-3.0) is described by Creality itself as a clone of upstream Klipper, and upstream Klipper ships the verify_heater thermal-runaway check; whether Creality's stock printer.cfg enables it, and with what thresholds, was not checked here[8][7]
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[9]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[9]
Independently Measured Performance
Benchmark print times (source + settings)Benchy in 32 minutes 33 seconds under Speed Boat Rules in ordinary grey PLA - independently measured by Tom's Hardware[4]Not documented
Review scores from major outlets (list outlet + score + date)Tom's Hardware rating 3.5 out of 5 in the page's structured data - the lowest score of any Creality machine recorded here[4]Not documented

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 Hi Combo product page creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  2. Creality - Compare K1 Flagship Series (K1 / K1C / K1 Max / K1 SE side-by-side spec table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  3. Creality US store - Creality Hi Combo 3D Printer product page (live prices for the variants) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  4. Tom's Hardware - Creality Hi Combo review (spec box and Speed Boat Rules Benchy time) tomshardware.com · 2026-08 · review
  5. Creality K1C product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
  6. GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/Hi_Klipper repository metadata (GPL-3.0, last push Mar 2026) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  7. GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  8. GitHub API - CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper repository metadata ("clone from https://github.com/Klipper3d/klipper/", GPL-3.0, last push Dec 2025) api.github.com · 2026-08 · doc
  9. Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor