3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Creality K1 SE vs ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Creality K1 SE comparisonsMore ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra comparisons
| Property | Creality K1 SECOREXY | ELEGOO Mars 5 UltraRESIN |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Creality | ELEGOO |
| Class | COREXY | RESIN |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Creality K1 SE[1] | ELEGOO Mars 5 Ultra. Elegoo's product handle is mars-5-ultra-9k-7inch-monochrome-lcd-resin-3d-printer[2][3][4] |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | 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[1] | $269.00 in Elegoo's live US product feed, in stock, checked Aug 2026. The Mars 5 Series collection page rendered $259.00 against a $338.00 compare-at price on the same day, so the two Elegoo surfaces disagree by $10[4][3] |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | 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[1] | Not a trim of the Mars 5 — a different imaging stack and a different release mechanism: 7-inch 9K LCD and 18 um pixels vs 6.6-inch 4K and 35 um, 150 vs 70 mm/h, tilt-release vs straight lift, an AI camera, and Wi-Fi added. Seven bundle SKUs pair it with Mercury Plus V2.0/V3.0 or Mercury XS at $363-$432[5][2][3][4] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 220 x 220 x 250 mm[1] | 153.36 x 77.76 x 165 mm[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 355 x 355 x 482 mm[1] | 260 x 268 x 451.5 mm[2] |
| Net weight (kg) | Not documented | Approximately 8.8 kg[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | 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[1] | Open-frame MSLA with a removable UV-blocking cover[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY (Creality's own K1-series comparison table)[1] | MSLA with tilt-release: the resin tank tilts after each layer to peel the part rather than pulling straight up. Single Z axis[2] |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max print speed (claimed, mm/s) | 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[1][6] | Not documented |
| Recommended/typical print speed | 300 mm/s typical printing speed with 12000 mm/s2 typical acceleration, stated by Creality alongside the 600 mm/s headline[1] | Not documented |
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | 20000 mm/s2 max acceleration (manufacturer claim)[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Dual-gear direct-drive extruder[1] | Not documented |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Hotend body in PA+30% glass fibre with a steel-tipped nozzle integrated with the heatbreak - not the all-metal assembly of the K1C[1] | Not documented |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 300 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1] | Not documented |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 100 C max heatbed temperature[1] | Not documented |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Epoxy flexible build plate - different from the PEI plate on the K1C[1] | Not documented |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Not documented | Automatic levelling, one click, via an intelligent mechanical sensor. One-Click Self-Check routine. Alarms for resin shortage, residue detection and levelling failure[2] |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | Dynamically balanced closed-loop part-cooling fan and dynamically balanced PWM hotend fan; no air filter[1] | Not documented |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Input voltage (110/220 V, switch or auto) | Not documented | 100-240 V, 50/60 Hz, 24 V 3 A[2] |
| Total rated power draw | 350 W rated power[1] | Not documented |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Open-source Creality OS, a Klipper derivative (CrealityOfficial/K1_Series_Klipper on GitHub, GPL-3.0)[7][8][1] | Not named by Elegoo. Supported slicer is CHITUBOX[2] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | Not documented | 4.0-inch capacitive touchscreen (control panel — not the masking LCD, see W1)[2] |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | Colour touch UI; remote monitoring and time-lapse are optional because they require the optional AI camera[1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Wi-Fi[1] | USB and Wi-Fi[2] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Not documented | AI camera fitted; Elegoo does not publish its resolution for this model[2] |
| Camera features: live monitor, timelapse, AI failure detection (spaghetti detection) — how real is it? | Not documented | AI camera detects empty build plates and print errors[2] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, TPU only[1] | 405 nm photopolymer resin. No compatibility list published on this listing[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | 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[7][8] | Not documented |
| Firmware safety limits (max temp cutoffs — exact values) | Not documented | Overheating protection activates above 80 °C[2] |
| 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] | Not documented |
| Resin & MSLA | ||
| Masking LCD | Not documented | 7-inch 9K monochrome masking LCD, 8520 x 4320 px, XY pixel pitch 18 x 18 um (manufacturer specification)[2][4] |
| Light source | Not documented | 25-LED COB light source emitting a 405 nm UV beam (manufacturer specification)[2] |
| Light uniformity & intensity | Not documented | 92% light uniformity claimed by Elegoo. No intensity figure published, and no independent measurement[2] |
| Vertical print speedmm/h | Not documented | 150 mm/h maximum, which Elegoo attributes to the tilt-release mechanism (manufacturer claim). Elegoo also offers switchable slow and fast print modes but does not state the layer height the figure assumes[2] |
| Layer exposure times | Not documented | 1.5-3 s layer cure time (manufacturer figure; layer height not stated). Sortable value is the midpoint[2] |
| LCD life & replaceability | Not documented | Masking LCD protected by a scratch-resistant tempered 9H glass cover that also guards against resin leakage. Elegoo publishes no rated screen life in hours and does not state whether the user can replace the LCD[2] |
| Resin vat & feeding | Not documented | Resin tank supplied with the machine; resin-shortage and residue-detection alarms fitted. 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
- Creality - Compare K1 Flagship Series (K1 / K1C / K1 Max / K1 SE side-by-side spec table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra product page (technical data and description) 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Mars 5 Series collection (live US prices) us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO Mars 5 Series live product feed us.elegoo.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Elegoo Mars 5 product page (technical data and description) 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Creality K1C product page (full specification table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- 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
- GitHub - CrealityOfficial organisation repositories (per-model firmware sources) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Creality US store - K1 3D Printer product page (live price, warranty and returns banner) store.creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor