First available for pre-order on June 6, 2020, it’s been just over a year since the Saturn swept in and stole both our, and the printer-purchasing publics’ hearts, before ghosting us and only occasionally showing its face again via the obscurity of highly limited supply and erratic restocking.
Those first few units retailed for the low, low price of $400, marking it out as a tantalizing turning point in modern budget resin 3D printing. It was a larger than average resin 3D printer with a budget price tag – something we’re now spoiled for choice with.
Since the first wave of printers was shipped out, the expected availability of the printer subsequently turned into no more than a trickle at best. Occasional drops of limited batches on Amazon were the norm for most of the previous year, meaning that for many, getting an Elegoo Saturn was about as difficult as visiting the planet Saturn.
So, after one year (intermittently) on the market, we’re whipping out our clipboard and pencil, peering over our spectacles, and filling out a report card for this most truant of printers. One year on, how has the Elegoo Saturn aged? And, if you want one, but have had trouble nailing one down, is it even worth it anymore?
What Is It?
If you’re unfamiliar with the Saturn, or have been waiting on one so long that you’ve forgotten what it even is, here’s a quick refresher.
The Elegoo Saturn is a resin 3D printer with a 4K resolution monochrome screen and a 192 x 120 x 200 mm print volume.
It could be best thought of as a larger version of the company’s popular Mars 3D printer. To accommodate the increase in size, the monochrome LCD inside increases in resolution over the Mars, squeezing more pixels into the printable area (3840 x 2400 to be precise) to give an XY-axis printing resolution of 50 microns.
The tech that the Elegoo Saturn uses to cure liquid resin into solid objects requires an LCD acting as a light mask for each layer of curing. The specific type of LCD the Saturn uses, a monochrome LCD, allows a greater intensity of light to pass through. This means the lights-on time for each layer can be as little as 1-2 seconds, making the Saturn some 60% faster than similar, non-mono (RGB-LCD-toting) printers.
It’s pretty easy to see why the Elegoo Saturn was so desirable – it combined a large print volume, fast printing speed, and great detail.
Tech Specs
Here are the Elegoo Saturn’s vitals.
General Specifications
- Technology: MSLA
- Build volume: 192 x 120 x 200 mm
- Layer height: 10 microns
- Resolution: 3840 x 2400 pixels
- XY-axis resolution: 0.05 mm (50 microns)
- Z-axis positioning accuracy: 0.00125 mm
- Printing speed: 30 mm/h
- Bed leveling: Semi-automatic
- Display: 3.5-inch touchscreen
- Third-party materials: Yes
- Materials: 405 nm UV resin
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS:
- Recommended slicer: ChiTuBox
- Connectivity: USB, Ethernet
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT:
- Frame dimensions: 280 x 240 x 446 mm
- Weight: 12.5 kg
Launch
Elegoo officially launched the Saturn on June 6, 2020, with a limited pre-sale batch of 1,000 units. All were snapped up in less than 3 minutes, according to Elegoo.
Elegoo followed shortly after with a second round, a few days later. This time giving tips and tricks to the prospective customer beforehand, such as having Paypal billing info already set up to save up on some vital seconds. Again, it was sold out in mere minutes.
It’s not totally unusual to see pre-sale batches of printers sell out quickly. But even a year on, the Saturn sticks out in the mind as a particularly high-profile, high-demand launch.
After the first two batches evaporated, a stock drought followed. But, the fertile grounds of the internet gave life to something in its place… memes. Memes about not being able to get an Elegoo Saturn sprouted up across social media. It’s not unusual even today to see the occasional cracker in response to Elegoo’s social media postings.
Originally scheduled to ship in mid-August, general availability was postponed to November. The reason given was the need for sufficient time on quality control, itself necessary after Elegoo made late hardware changes in response to feedback during the printer’s beta trial.
A legitimate reason it may have been, but still nevertheless an incredibly long time to wait for one of the hottest printers of the moment, and it even took a turn for the worse as roll-out was subsequently delayed even further. Some slack has to be cut, though, as naturally, Elegoo’s plans for a timely release were further thwarted by the biggest of C’s: Coronavirus.
Then again, Elegoo isn’t the only 3D manufacturer operating out of Shenzhen, China, and other printers made the scene in the meantime without any significant delays or shortages.
Reception
We here at All3DP were amongst those lucky enough to receive a Saturn 3D printer shortly after its release last year, and we certainly felt it was an excellent printer when we went hands-on with it. It’s worth remembering that the Saturn broke new grounds of a sort, with a large print volume, fast print speed, decent detail, and a $500 price tag. Other large resin printers had come before. But none had managed to target tighter budgets without compromising somewhere on ability or quality.
But don’t just take our word for it: Go to YouTube, type in Elegoo Saturn, and you will find plenty of reviews ranging from the beta unit (without the mono screen) last year to more recently uploaded analyses. Safe to say, they pretty much all conclude that the Saturn is a great printer, destined not to disappoint.
It’s not just its raw capabilities but also its ease of use that made it such a darling of the printing public. Soft factors such as the convenient resin vat fixture, four protruding bumps on the corners beneath the vat, a pouring aid, and its ChiTu firmware are just some beneficial improvements we liked very much when testing it and have become somewhat of a minimum requirement (at least in our eyes) for a well-rounded resin 3D printer to this day.
Post Launch Support
Monochrome screens have an approximate lifetime of 2,000 hours of operation before the exposure to UV light deteriorates the pixels. They won’t stop working after this time, but your prints will get messier and less accurate. As such, you’ll need to replace the LCD. For this, and other wear and tear parts such as the FEP foil, Elegoo provides both detailed written instructions and a video guide on how to exchange these crucial parts of the printer. Choose the guidance which suits you best.
Replacement screens can be purchased via Elegoo’s homepage (the same principle applies to its online shop, more on it below in the Where To Get It section), via different resellers, or, as the printer is running on ChiTu firmware and hardware, ChiTu Systems directly.
Please note that there are different screen versions compatible with the Elegoo Saturn, and you might need to flush the printer’s firmware depending on which screen version you choose. You can download different firmware here. If you are unsure which firmware to use, feel free to connect with Elegoo Support, as they should pinpoint you in the right direction.
Elegoo Support is generally very responsive (keep in mind the time difference to China), but you can also turn towards the very active Saturn Facebook Group or Saturn Subreddit to link up with other users, troubleshoot, or exchange thoughts and experiences with the Saturn.
Where To Get It
POV: It’s June 2021, one year after its initial release, and if you are still hoping to snag a Saturn someday, is now the time?
Elegoo’s homepage still lists the Saturn as sold out (did it ever not?!). But, over the year, we’ve kept our ears and eyes open in many different Saturn groups and Elegoo’s Twitter feed and have found that the once occasional drops of Saturn batches (on reseller sites, primarily Amazon) are now seemingly turning into a steady drizzle.
One could even hope that Elegoo’s latest announcement of its Mercury X, a large washing and curing, post-processing machine, will mean more Saturn’s show up. After all, what would be the point of releasing an accessory if the printer it should go with is still unobtainable for many?
Even though Elegoo’s online shop never lists the Saturn as obtainable, it can be used as a guidepost. Handily, Elegoo provides an Amazon list, and you can choose your preferred Amazon domain then try and get one (primarily US, Canada, Europe, and Australia).
We have it first-hand from Elegoo that mid-June new batches (around 600 machines) should find their way to the Amazon US warehouse, while more (around 500) will find their way to the EU warehouse. Fingers crossed.
Especially if you live in Europe, checking out one of the neighboring country stores might be worth your while.
Mind you, these are sold via Elegoo directly for ~$500, but you can also find third-party resellers on Amazon, eBay, or different sites that sell the Saturn, most of the time, for considerably more. We wouldn’t recommend that.
Is It Still Relevant
We wondered when we first reviewed the Saturn a year ago whether it would still be relevant come November (remember, this was the – already once postponed – planned release). Well, November came, then the new year, and so forth. In the meantime, countless new and similar machines have been announced and released.
But even to this day, the immense popularity of the Elegoo Saturn persists to an almost irrational degree. Naturally, we crunch a lot of numbers on Google search volume and whatnot here at All3DP, and the Saturn continues to be one of the most searched 3D printers in its category.
For most of the last year, competitive manufacturers have been playing catch-up with the Elegoo Saturn in terms of large build volume, 4K resolution, and lighting fast curing times. Notable similar machines released in the meantime are Anycubic’s Photon Mono X, Phrozen’s Mighty 4K, or Creality’s LD-006.
While each manufacturer has a different approach on the so-called “soft factors” and usability perks such as Z-axis height, the vat fixture, User Interface, or slicer comparability, the general technical capabilities (screen size, resolution, and speed) have been very much the same across the palette of large budget resin printers. If we had composed this article about a month ago, we would have concluded the Saturn to be still relevant.
And in a way, it still is. But, the wake of the last weeks has seen some upcoming printers on the horizon that promise to bring even more K and larger build volumes, such as Phrozen’s Mega 8K or the Epax E10’s 5K upgrade. And even the latest Elegoo Mars 3 will feature a 4K screen that allows it to print, although not as big, at an accuracy of 35 microns.
For now, the Saturn can still hold its own on the competitive market, but aside from larger build volumes and higher resolution (not everybody might be in need of that), the market also sees more and more printers, such as Creality’s upcoming Halot Sky, featuring Wi-FI connectivity and similar convenience features that previously were reserved for higher-priced machines but have somewhat trickled down to the budget sector over the last year.
Especially when comparing equal-K-machines, these soft factors can be the indicator to a purchase decision. All in all, though, the Saturn has aged rather well, to a point where even Elegoo might be surprised at how much demand its printer still generates (insert your favorite Elegoo meme here).
Similar Machines
Throughout this article, we have already mentioned a fair few competitive machines that give the Elegoo Saturn more than a run for its money. In the following, we shine a closer light on some of the most comparable machines, their benefits, and differences to the Saturn.
Anycubic Photon Mono X
Anycubic’s Photon Mono X can boast of a strong build height advantage over the Elegoo Saturn. With 192 x 120 x 245 mm, the additional height is going to be particularly eye-catching for anyone simply seeking taller build potential for a resin 3D printer in this category. To boot, the printer features a (rudimentary) remote control via app and a Lychee slicer profile (which allows us to look over the fact the proprietary Anycubic slicer is in need of some ramping up). It costs about $100 more, though.
Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K
The Sonic Mighty 4K is Phrozen’s version of a large resin 3D printer. It offers a larger build volume of 200 x 125 x 220 mm but falls off in terms of the vat fixture or FEP film protection via protruding bumps. On paper, the Mighty 4K is said to print at Speedy-Gonzales-like 80 mm/h (compared to the Saturn’s 30 mm/h), which can be attested to its strong light source, but also has a lot to do with slicer settings of which you can finetune the Saturn as well. Both use ChiTu firmware but can be operated with Lychee slicer as well. Currently, the Mighty 4K is priced at around $600.
Creality Halot Sky
Unlike the above-mentioned, Creality’s newest addition to its resin 3D printing roaster, the Halot Sky, does not feature a larger print volume than the Saturn. At a 192 x 120 x 200 mm and equal resolution, the Halot Sky trumps in convenience features. It comes with an extra-large touchscreen, a hinged acrylic hood – that allows you to create just a little less mess, Wi-Fi connectivity, and remote control. With a $990 price tag, the Halot Sky asks for a helluva lot of cash for those usability perks, though.
What do you make of the Elegoo Saturn today? Would you still buy one? Are you, after all, waiting for one?
Let us know in the comments below.
License: The text of "Elegoo Saturn: Finally Available, But Is It Still Relevant?" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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