3D Printing InfoPrinter comparison
Original Prusa XL+ Dual-Head vs Rat Rig V-Core 4.1
Compare hardware, build volume, printing specifications, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
Open these two in the interactive comparisonMore Original Prusa XL+ Dual-Head comparisonsMore Rat Rig V-Core 4.1 comparisons
| Property | Original Prusa XL+ Dual-HeadTOOLCHANGER | Rat Rig V-Core 4.1COREXY |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Brand | Prusa Research | Rat Rig |
| Class | TOOLCHANGER | COREXY |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Manufacturer & exact marketed model name (verify the exact product identity first) | Original Prusa XL+, Dual-Head variant ("Prusa XL+ Dual-Head" in the e-shop variant data)[1] | Rat Rig V-Core 4.1, described by Rat Rig as a large-format open CoreXY 3D printer kit[2] |
| Release date (announcement and actual shipping) | The XL+ refresh was announced on 13 August 2026, on sale immediately in all toolhead configurations, with assembled printers shipping later in August 2026 and upgrade kits for existing XL owners from around the end of August. The original Original Prusa XL predates it[3] | Not documented |
| Street price (USD; dated snapshot per entry) | $2,768.52 on prusa3d.com, Aug 2026 (lowest listed price for the Dual-Head variant; the 2-toolhead Enclosure bundle starts at $3,128.70)[1] | Not documented |
| Variants & sibling models — and how to tell them apart (spec-contamination risk) | One of three XL+ configurations - Single-Tool $2,128.70, Dual-Head $2,768.52, Five-Head $3,610.18 (Aug 2026). The frame, bed, electronics and 360 mm cube build volume are identical across all three; only the toolhead count, the price and the achievable multi-material workflow change. Toolheads can be added later[1][4] | Three sizes, all at the same base-kit price. Acceleration is the size-dependent figure and the one most often mis-quoted: 15,000 mm/s2 at 300 mm, 12,000 at 400 mm, 8,000 at 500 mm. IDEX is a configuration option and changes the usable area per toolhead (copy mode 150x150x300 at the 300 size, mirror mode 95x95x300). Base kit excludes electronics. Rat Rig prices the base kit only in EUR (EUR 873.90 on sale from EUR 971.00, Aug 2026); no USD list price is published, so no USD street price is recorded here[2] |
| Market position: superseded? successor announced? | Not documented | Current revision, replacing the V-Core 4; Rat Rig sells a 4.1 upgrade kit for existing V-Core 4 machines[2] |
| Physical & Frame | ||
| Build volume X×Y×Z (mm) — advertised vs actually usable | 360 x 360 x 360 mm, which Prusa states as 46.7 litres[1] | 300 x 300 x 300, 400 x 400 x 400 or 500 x 500 x 500 mm. Sortable value is the 300 mm kit[2] |
| Machine footprint (mm) & clearance needed (cable/spool overhang) | About 700 x 900 x 720 mm (Prusa's own figure is approximate)[1] | 623.2 x 583 x 785 mm (300); 723.2 x 683 x 885 mm (400); 823.2 x 783 x 985 mm (500). Sortable value is the 300 mm kit[2] |
| Net weight (kg) | About 30 kg[1] | Kit weight 35 kg (300), 45 kg (400), 55 kg (500)[2] |
| Frame construction & material | Aluminium extrusions and steel sheets (Prusa's comparison table for the XL)[5] | 30-series aluminium extrusion; the 4.1 adds a steel X-axis gantry for rigidity[2] |
| Enclosure: open / enclosed; panel material; door/lid | Open frame. The Enclosure for Prusa XL+ is an optional add-on; Prusa says the printer is ready for chamber temperatures up to 60 C, that the new better-sealed enclosure reaches around 50 C on the printer's own waste heat, and that 60 C needs an upcoming chamber heater for which no shipping date has been given[1][3] | Open frame in the base kit[2] |
| Kinematics & Motion Hardware | ||
| Kinematics (bedslinger i3 / CoreXY / other) | CoreXY with 1.5 mm GT belts, Input Shaper and Phase Stepping[1] | CoreXY; Hybrid CoreXY and IDEX are configuration options[2] |
| Belts (type, width, e.g. Gates?) | 1.5 mm GT belts[1] | Not documented |
| Speed & Acceleration | ||
| Max acceleration (claimed, mm/s²) | Not documented | Size-dependent: 15,000 mm/s2 at 300 mm, 12,000 at 400 mm, 8,000 at 500 mm (manufacturer claims)[2] |
| Vibration Compensation / Input Shaping | ||
| Input shaping supported? Implementation (Klipper IS / Marlin ZV / proprietary) | Input Shaper and Phase Stepping[1] | Not documented |
| Extruder | ||
| Type (direct drive / bowden) & design name | Nextruder direct drive; each toolhead carries its own extruder, hotend, nozzle and filament[1] | Full-metal skeleton toolhead, new in the 4.1[2] |
| Hotend & Nozzle | ||
| Hotend design (proprietary/standard; quick-swap mechanism?) | Quick-swap nozzles - 0.25 mm for detail, 0.6/0.8 mm for speed, hardened steel for abrasives, high-flow CHT for throughput; toolheads ship with high-flow nozzles[1] | Not documented |
| Max nozzle temp claimed AND firmware max temp limit (both values) | 290 C claimed max nozzle temperature[1] | 350 °C maximum nozzle temperature (manufacturer claim)[2] |
| Stock nozzle size & sizes included in box | Not documented | 0.4 mm hardened steel and 0.6 mm included[2] |
| Heated Bed & Surface | ||
| Max bed temp claimed AND firmware limit | 120 C max heatbed temperature[1] | 120 °C maximum heatbed temperature (manufacturer claim). The 400 and 500 sizes get 8 mm thick beds in the 4.1[2] |
| Bed surface (material, texture, coating), single/double-sided | Segmented heatbed of 16 individually controlled tiles across the 360 x 360 mm surface, so only the tiles under the part are powered; removable double-sided satin print sheet supplied[1] | Not documented |
| Leveling & Z-Offset | ||
| Auto bed leveling: probe technology (inductive / strain gauge / load cell / touch probe) | Load-cell sensor - the nozzle is the probe, which Prusa says automatically accounts for nozzle changes, surface textures and thermal expansion and removes manual Z-offsets. Toolhead-to-toolhead alignment on the XL+ uses a separate permanently mounted eddy-current Tool Offset Sensor, replacing the removable mechanical pin used on the original XL[1][3] | Not documented |
| Filament Handling & Detection | ||
| Filament runout sensor (type, location) | Filament sensors fitted; Prusa's comparison table lists two filament sensors for the XL[5] | Not documented |
| Multi-material/multi-color capability or official upgrade path | Two independent toolheads with automatic tool changing - two materials or two nozzle sizes in one job, with no purge tower waste between materials because each head keeps its own nozzle[1] | Not documented |
| Cooling & Air Handling | ||
| Part-cooling fan(s): count, size, ducting design | 360-degree part cooling on each toolhead, new on the XL+ and matching the MK4S and CORE One arrangement; Prusa states it delivers more airflow and distributes it more evenly around the nozzle. Additional fans and heatsinks cool the electronics. Fan sizes are not published[1][3] | Improved part cooling, listed by Rat Rig as one of the 4.1 changes[2] |
| Electronics & Power | ||
| Mainboard model & MCU (exact chip markings if teardowns exist) | Custom 32-bit xBuddy electronics with STM32 (Prusa's comparison table for the XL)[5] | Not documented |
| Firmware & Openness | ||
| Firmware base & current version (Klipper fork / Marlin fork / proprietary) | Open-source firmware - Prusa states "Firmware: Open-source; ships with the full current Prusa feature set", and the XL is covered by the prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy source tree[1][6] | RatOS 2.1 (Rat Rig's Klipper distribution)[2] |
| Connectivity, UI & Camera | ||
| Display: size, type, touch? | 3.5-inch 65k-colour screen with touch control (Prusa's comparison table for the XL)[5] | Not documented |
| On-device UI capabilities (model preview, per-object controls, etc.) | On-device touch UI; Prusa Connect and the Prusa mobile app are optional - Prusa states the machine is fully offline capable[5][1] | Not documented |
| WiFi (band/standard), Ethernet, USB ports, SD/flash-drive | Ethernet, optional Wi-Fi; USB drive for print files. Prusa Connect optional and fully offline operation supported[1][5] | Not documented |
| Calibration Routines & QoL | ||
| Assembly level & time from unbox to first print | Not documented | Self-assembly kit; the 4.1 ships pre-made cables that need no crimping, with rewritten step-by-step build documentation[2] |
| Materials Support | ||
| Officially supported filament list | PLA, PETG, ASA, ABS, PC, PA (nylon), TPU, PVA, HIPS, PP, CPE, PVB and carbon-fibre composites. Prusa states an open material policy - any brand of 1.75 mm filament, no chips and no subscriptions[1] | PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, TPU, PET, PA, PC, PVA, PLA-CF, PETG-CF, ABS-GF, ASA-CF, PA6-CF, PA6-GF, PAHT-CF, PPA-CF, PET-CF[2] |
| Safety | ||
| Thermal runaway protection (verify in firmware source if at all possible) | Open-source firmware on the xBuddy platform, which carries hardware overcurrent protection cutting heater and heatbed power above 15 A[7][6] | Not documented |
| Reliability, Support & Ecosystem | ||
| Warranty length & support reputation (evidence, not vibes) | 2-year warranty for consumers in the EU, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland; 1 year for EU enterprises and 1 year for the rest of the world, which includes the United States. A printer bought from a reseller or privately carries 1 year from the original delivery date and is handled by the reseller. Prusa advertises 24/7 chat and e-mail support in seven languages[8][5] | 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
- Original Prusa XL+ product page (spec block and variant price data) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Rat Rig V-Core 4.1 product page ratrig.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusa blog - Better Prints, Easier Use: Prusa XL+, CORE One L+ and CORE One+ (Gen 2), Our Big Product Update (published 13 August 2026) blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa 3D printers category listing with live e-shop prices, Aug 2026 prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- Original Prusa MK4S 3D Printer product page (Technical Parameters + CORE One+/MK4S/XL comparison table) prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- GitHub - prusa3d/Prusa-Firmware-Buddy (firmware for MINI, MK4, XL and CORE One) github.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa blog - Original Prusa MK4 is here (published 29 March 2023), including the MK4 specification table and launch prices blog.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusa Knowledge Base - Warranty help.prusa3d.com · 2026-08 · doc