3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Creality K1 SE vs ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16K
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 Saturn 4 Ultra 16K comparisons
| Property | Creality K1 SECOREXY | ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra 16KRESIN |
|---|---|---|
| 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 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) | 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] | $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) | 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] | 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 usable | 220 x 220 x 250 mm[1] | 211.68 x 118.37 x 220 mm[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | 355 x 355 x 482 mm[1] | 327.4 x 329.2 x 548 mm[2] |
| Frame construction & material | Not documented | Metal housing with a flip-up cover and a drip guard[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] | Flip-up lid (Elegoo's own naming) over an open frame; 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 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] |
| 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][4] | 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, plus intelligent mechanical sensor alarms[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 6 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)[5][6][1] | Elegoo EL3D-4.0 system. Slicer is CHITUBOX[2] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | Not documented | 4-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, with WLAN file transfer[2] |
| Camera: built-in / optional? Resolution & framerate (verify — marketing often omits real fps) | Not documented | AI camera, 1920 x 1080[2] |
| Camera features: live monitor, timelapse, AI failure detection (spaghetti detection) — how real is it? | Not documented | AI camera with print-failure detection[2] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | Hyper PLA, PLA, PETG, TPU only[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'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[5][6] | 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[7] | Not documented |
| Resin & MSLA | ||
| Masking LCD | Not documented | 10-inch 16K monochrome masking LCD, 15120 x 6230 px, XY pixel pitch 14 x 19 um (manufacturer specification)[2][3] |
| Light source | Not documented | COB light source with a Fresnel collimating lens[2] |
| Light uniformity & intensity | Not documented | Light 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/h | Not documented | Up to 150 mm/h (manufacturer claim). Elegoo does not state the layer height or resin type the figure assumes[2] |
| Release film | Not documented | PFA release film. No rated life published[2] |
| LCD life & replaceability | Not documented | Masking LCD shielded by tempered 9H protective glass. Elegoo publishes no rated screen life in hours and does not state user replaceability[2] |
| Resin vat & feeding | Not documented | Replaceable 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
- Creality - Compare K1 Flagship Series (K1 / K1C / K1 Max / K1 SE side-by-side spec table) creality.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K product page (technical data and description) 3djake.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K live Shopify product JSON us.elegoo.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