The Elegoo Neptune 4 and Neptune 4 Pro were released just over a year ago and, though relatively popular, haven’t appeared in any of All3DP’s recommendations. The reason is mundane: our feelings on it are just lukewarm overall.
That doesn’t mean it’s a bad printer; it simply never managed to sway us. The machines would make fine stand-ins for our under $200 and $300 picks, respectively – particularly if you’re keen on Klipper – but never quite beat out the competition.
The Neptune 4 is a Cartesian XZ-head 3D printer running Klipper as stock with an auxiliary fan bolted on to try to speed things up to a claimed 500 mm/s. It’s typical of last year’s speed-enthused bedslingers from manufacturers jumping on the appeal of the firmware’s resonance compensation (also known as input shaping).
Both the Neptune 4 and Neptune 4 Pro use custom V-slot rails for the Z-axis, but the Pro version upgrades V-slots on the Y and Z axes to linear rods. It also adds an “intelligent segmented heat bed” to the build plate, which Elegoo says is used by “the slicing software” (presumably Elegoo Cura, which comes on the 3D printer’s included flash drive) to determine how much of the build plate to heat automatically.
The system has been sitting on our bench for the better part of this year while we go back and forth on its merits as a budget bedslinger and re-contend with the mild shortcomings undercutting its features.
For one, we found the lack of Wi-Fi on a stock Klipper, network-enabled printer odd: ethernet is mandatory here if you want to take advantage of Klipper’s network features. Some folks might actually prefer this, as we often hear security-minded users asking for ethernet connections in printers. But, we’d prefer a Wi-Fi option were included, as it is with the Neptune 4 Plus and Max.
The segmented heatbed, too, falls short, being limited to its Elegoo Cura software that is poorly maintained compared to popular third-party software. In fact, in the included Elegoo Cura mac version of the software, the feature just didn’t work for us.
It’s not unusable, though. Being a Klipper system, it seems users can enable the segmented heatbed with a simple command. Some enterprising Orca Slicer users (the software Elegoo now directs Mac users too on its slicer download page) have even worked on a solution, but it is frustrating when key features don’t work out of the box.
With minor issues undercutting its features aside, the Neptune 4 printers are just fine; the print quality is excellent and its fairly speedy. Its shortcomings are far from damning, and it makes a perfectly well-contending budget 3D printer – especially at the current price of ~$200 for the standard Neptune 4.
Basically, it’s a decent stand-in for our budget picks, and is attractive if you’re keen on Klipper and or an ethernet connection. But, the other options just keep ahead of what it has to offer based on hardware, feature implementation, and software maintenance. We’re feeling spoiled in the market right now.
Update – July 17, 2024: Specified that the Neptune 4 Plus and Max do include Wi-Fi.
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