Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra review: A resin printer that isn't as scary to use as I thought

I've been 3D printing for almost 2 years now, and up until a month ago, I was exclusively using FDM printers as opposed to resin ones. I had always been put off from diving into resin printing, mainly due to the mess involved, the extra steps needed to wash and cure prints, the hazards of handling toxic materials, and having a suitable space to set it all up in.

However, it's undeniable that resin printers produce out-of-this-world print quality in comparison to some of the best FDM 3D printers on the market, and if you're looking to print exceptional and highly detailed miniature models, then resin printing is a no-brainer. Intrigued but a little overwhelmed by the thought of resin printing, Elegoo offered to provide me with its most beginner-friendly printer, the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra, and I'm so glad that I took the plunge and decided to give it a chance.

In this review, I'm going to be focussing on how this printer performed when operated by someone with absolutely zero prior experience in resin printing (it is marketed to beginners after all), but in short: my experience with this printer has been challenging at best, but extremely rewarding, and I'd certainly recommend it for anyone on the fence about learning to print with resin.

Elegoo also sent me a Mercury XS Bundle for washing and curing my prints, as well as a Mars Mate Air Purifier for managing the fumes produced during the printing process, and these machines helped me a ton with understanding and simplifying the basics.

If you're looking for an equally impressive beginner-friendly resin printer from Elegoo at a lower cost (but with a smaller build plate), then check out our review of the Elegoo Mars 5 Ultra, as well as our experience with the Elegoo Mercury Plus V3 wash & cure machine. Note: Elegoo has recently launched an updated version of this printer with the release of the Saturn 4 Ultra 16K ($499), which offers slightly higher resolution for enhanced print quality, plus has a heated resin vat (which is awesome).

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra: Price

You're probably wondering how much a machine this premium-looking costs, and it's actually not as much as you might think. The Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra has a retail price of $399 / £499.99, although we do occasionally see this printer drop to around £350 during promotional sales periods. At the time of writing, the Saturn 4 Ultra is currently only £354.99 right now on Elegoo's website.

I think this printer offers exceptional value for money at this price point, with a 12K resolution screen, and smart auto-levelling features which takes the pain out of 3D printing with resin. The new tilting screen and tank quick-release system is another innovative feature that offers much better print quality and speeds up the release of the model after each exposure by peeling it off rather than pulling it.

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra: Unboxing and setup

One of the things I loved the most about the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra was that the setup process was super quick and easy. The printer itself was already mostly assembled, I just needed to mount the build plate (this took about 4 seconds), replace the bolts holding the FEP plate in place, and attach the Wi-Fi antenna. Once you turn the printer on and plug in the included USB drive, you're pretty much ready to go.

The design of the Saturn 4 Ultra is sleek and modern, and has clearly been very well thought out. The hinged UV hood swings upwards, which is more convenient than a lid that completely lifts off, although I did wonder why there was no handle on the lid to make it easier to open.

Included with the Saturn 4 Ultra, you get a toolkit which contians plastic gloves, a metal scraper, a plastic scraper, a card with a product code for Chitubox (a slicing software for processing print files), some paper funnels, a USB drive already loaded with test files, some safety masks, a plastic drip tray, and the Wi-Fi antenna.

While it's great that Elegoo provides some tools and materials to get you started, the paper funnels and soft masks are pretty much useless, and I quickly upgraded these tools to a respirator mask, black nitrile gloves, and some sturdy plastic filters to help move resin between the bottles and your FEP plate.

I set the Saturn 4 Ultra up on my workbench in my garage, as I didn't like the idea of using this printer in my house or home office, given that it can get super messy and generate harmful volatile organic compounds (VOC) fumes that I don't want anywhere near my living space or my dog. Overall, the setup process for the Saturn 4 Ultra took no longer than 15 minutes, with no fuss, and no need to level the build plate first as the machine takes care of all of the levelling for you (very handy for beginners).

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra: Performance

I won't lie, the beginning stages of getting to grips with not only this printer but the entire process of resin printing in general left me exhausted. I wrote all about my first impressions and experience with the Saturn 4 Ultra in this article - I've been learning to print with resin for 1 week and I'm tired - but I'd like to point out that the issues I had were no fault of the Saturn, and mostly down to my own inexperience as a newbie to working with resin.

During my time testing the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra, it was a pretty mixed bag of failed vs successful prints. With my usual FDM printers, I understand how important it is to keep an eye on the very first layer of printing to check that it has adhered properly to the build plate, but with resin, it's very difficult to do this until the build plate is raised high enough out of the resin vat for you to see if there's anything on it. The AI camera unfortunately doesn't help with this either, which means you can be as far as an hour into a print before being able to tell if it has failed.

There were several times that I would leave my printer for an hour or two, and return to see that there was nothing on the plate (the most painful time this happened was after I left the printer overnight for an 8-hour print to find nothing). I learned that the failed prints in this instance could have been due to colder temperatures, too low of an exposure time, not having shaken the resin bottle enough before pouring it into the vat, or a loose FEP sheet after replacing it.

To solve these issues, Elegoo kindly sent me a Mini heater (worth £45) to use with the Saturn 4 Ultra, and I did see a significant improvement after using this. Keep in mind that you're meant to install this heater at the back of the machine, but if you already have some kind of air purifier attached, then it's not possible to also install a heater. I got around this by resting the mini heater inside the printer, leaning on the lid half closed, and it seemed to work okay.

I quickly learned that I needed to do a VAT clean (this can be initiated using the printer's touch screen) after almost every print to ensure that the tank was clean and fresh before starting a new print. I've also had to change the FEP sheet twice since owning the Saturn 4 Ultra, due to it developing holes and tears from using a scraper to try and lift up the resin sheet (be very very careful when doing this!).

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The Saturn has two printing modes: a high-speed mode for quick prints and a low-speed mode for detailed, high-quality prints, although after having used both of these modes I didn't notice any difference in print quality between the fast and slow modes. I like that when you first press print, the Saturn will run through an automatic checklist which you can see on the touchscreen to ensure that all of the components are working, and sensors can detect if you have too much or too little resin in the tank to complete your print.

I used Elegoo's new SateLite slicer software to prepare my models for printing, and I found it incredibly easy to use and not that different from other slicing software I'm used to like Anycubic Next or Prusa slicer. It can auto-generate supports for you, hollow out your models in just a few seconds (don't forget to add holes) and is a pretty painless process.

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra: Sample Prints

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As you can see from the images above, the Elegoo Saturn 4 produced prints with a remarkable level of detail, although I still need to improve my support removal, sanding and cleaning process.

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra: Who is it for?

There's an awful lot to like about the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra. It's solidly built, easy to work with and produces excellent quality results. After the initial learning curve as a newcomer to resin printing, I can't fault this machine for its ease of use, smart automatic features, and plug-in-and-go setup process. I like that all it takes is a USB to print, or you can send files to print over Wi-Fi if you prefer (mine doesn't extend to my garage very well), offering plenty of options.

For professionals, there are probably some more advanced resin printers on the market to suit higher standards, although these will undoubtedly come at a much greater price, take the Anycubic Photon Mono M7 Max, which offers impressive build volume for larger products but is near double the price of the Saturn 4 Ultra at £849.

I think the Saturn 4 Ultra brings professional-grade features to a more consumer-friendly market, and the quality is so remarkable that it's a great option for both beginners to resin printing and experienced users will love it too.

Buy it if

• You want a beginner-friendly 3D printer
• Your budget is in the lower midrange
• You plan to print miniature detailed models

Don't buy it if

• You don't have a suitable pet-free or child-free space
• You don't have the patience to clean and cure prints
• You live in an extremely cold area with no way of heating the printer