I am brand new to printing and haven't bought my first one yet....I spend way too many hours watching review videos and no one on here agrees on anything. Everyone recommends a different printer and everyone has different opinions. It's frustrating as hell for a new person to the hobby as I have absolutely no idea what models to look at....I thought the Neptunes were great and here this video says no....sigh...

Although I have enjoyed other reviews of yours, it seems like you phoned this one in. This is a feature packed printer that is at an entry level price, but can be set up for people who want to have an excellent printer and have more experience. The fact that its a Klipper printer with built in ethernet access is a big deal since it can do input shaping and can print directly from the user interface. Your chief complaint was that you tried to do something that was too big? That's on you and shouldn't even have been mentioned. Many of us can't afford a Bambu printer and don't get stuff for free. We are trying to find the best printer on our budget. This, for me, is the most feature packed one at this price. As someone who prints both FDM and Resin, they both have a place and pros/cons.

Had the Neptune 4 as my first 3D printer for a month. It's printing like a champ now, most of the issues I had were lack of user knowledge. Incredible piece of kit, love it.

I bought a used N4 2 months ago and have had very little issues with it. The bed was super loose as well as the extruder when I received i. I am sure it was returned because the prior owner never tightened anything even though the instructions tell you to. The only other issue I had was adhesion and that was resolved by cleaning the PEI sheet as I think it had oil on it from the factory. Since then I have put over 800 hours on it and get perfect prints. I am still running an old stock firmware too. I also use an older version of Simplify3D as it seems to print much faster than Prusa or Orca with the same settings. I do agree that these were rushed to market and Elegoo is still learning Klipper. Hopefully the N5 will fix all of the issues that seems to plague others with the N4.

I have a Neptune 4 Pro and love the printer. No layer shifting or any other issue. The only problem is the loudness of fans. That's my sixth printer and by far the best one.

As a Neptune 4 Pro user myself, you do bring up a lot of valid points. However, I still thought I made a good purchase as I haven't experienced as many problems. I think part of the reason is I didn't get my printer to print helmets or cosplay. I print toys and tools and practice my design skills to make functional tools for myself. I'm a tinkerer. With printing smaller items I rarely experience layer shifts. Also, the first thing I did when I got the printer was tune it. I have almost 1000 hours on it and haven't had to do any nozzle maintenance yet. But I only print with non-abrasive PLA. The negative points of the review are well founded. If I were new to 3D printing and were looking into buying this, I probably would have cared a lot about what was said in this video. So, all-in-all, I'd say you put out a fairly informative video. Nice work. My only critique would be to do more research on the printer before posting about it. You were on the nose about the differences between the 4 and the 4 pro being minor. And You most likely knew about the other couple things that were different and didn't mention them, but I feel you'd owe it to your viewers to mention them all anyway. You did say that you're a resin kinda guy, though. I've never used a resin printer in my life. So I'm sure if I did a review on one, I'd probably miss a few things. Also, I'm not a KZfaqr, so I'm sure if I did a review of anything it would only get 2 views. And both of them would be from my mom. I hope I'm coming across as pretentious, because I suck at my people skills and can't stand the thought of thinking I did good when I did nothing but offend people. The key to happiness is low expectations. It's easier to be pleasantly surprised that way. Therefore, I hope you were offended by this comment. Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter.

Ive had a nep4 pro for 3 months now and only issues i have had was user error. And on the noise of the metal guide wheels. I have had none when the big fan is off my printer is so quiet I have to check to see if it is still printing. As long as they are not over tightened and have a little grease they should be all good. Have quite a few hours on it and havnt touched the wheels in over a month and they are still very quiet.

I bought a Neptune 4 as my first. Received it about 5 weeks ago. Ive ran into some of these issues already, and had no idea about the others. That being said I absolutely love this machine! Also... NOT putting the magnetic print plate back after finishing a print will cause this machine to BURY the nozzle into the bed... Goodtimes.

Had the Max. Sent it back. The z-axis shift ended up plugging up the hot end when it failed in the middle of a medium-sized 10 hour print. I wish you had published this before I purchased the Max! I’m like you - I just don’t care and things just need to work.

This video is exactly why I love your stuff. Watching you disassemble so much just to change the nozzle has completely turned me off this printer, which is probably why none of their sponsored videos mention it. Back to looking at Anycubic, I guess, since Bambu is out of my price range. Keep up the honest work!

I have one which works fine for me but I tinkered with it ant fixed most of the issues it had I realise not everyone has the same time and knowledge base to do the same things I did so I complelty agree with this title....

CHECK YOUR SCREWS on the Z Gantry lead screws. They are always loose. Get a flex 5.5mm nut driver. See Video right side 10:24. Notice the lock nut is almost off. The screw is loose also I bet. The lock nut is impossible to get to so the flex driver gets it done. The bed rails are also dirty most likely and taking the bed off, cleaning the bed rail car, and adjusting the tension on the car against the rails did it job for me. Quiet and prints rock solid.

thanks for the honest review! personally i bought the neptune 4 printer on 7/8/2024, out of the box following the instructions the set up was pretty easy for me. this was my first printer and i was hoping for a good intrudction printer (the bugs are worked out and its smooth sailing out side of learing maintenice) it printed ok but the second print started messing up. i assumed it was me so i started my learning proscess. 28 days later i learned of its huge flaw. i tried to update softwhere/firmwhere but i was now spening days with out running and my print list was getting even bigger. i went to amazon and requested a refund, this is not a beginer printer. lots of bugs and kinks i had no idea what i was walking into... even thou i have experience with SSH 'ng in , loads of Tech experience both digital and real world. i wish i would have found this honest review before i bought it. i should have went bamboo

I did a short video about speed and I've learned its not really all its cracked up to be if quality is your end goal.

For network connectivity, I installed an Intel AX212 pci-e wifi 6 card and use my physical ethernet port to connect directly to the printer. Its cuts out the headache of swapping usb drives all the time especially since moonraker can be used to send a g-code file straight from the slicer to the printer itself and automatic print starting. No mucking about with moving files all over the place.

It probably was rushed BUT it's been nearly 4 months and I know they have had firmware updates. I would like to know if some of the issues have been addressed?

As an experienced 3D printer user who has just bought (and loving) a Neptune 4 Max, I absolutely agree these printers are not beginner friendly. I cut my teeth on a Tevo Tornado (and made all the usual upgrades etc). For beginners, I love the Flashforge Adventurer series - we have a few an uni and they just work.

Just received mine. maqde 3 prints. total at 10hours. so far no issue about what you mentionned. (I got the 4 Plus btw). Did the update all went smooth. No bed issue no print issue. Only thing to do was to tighen the excentric wheel on the bed

I bought a Mars 3 Pro to print bases for my sculptures. It may be slower, but for someone who knows next to nothing about FDM printing, it just works for me. Think I’ll just stick with that for a while.

I watch a lot of reviews and you really knock it out of the park on your FDM reviews. I don't do resin yet. Not sure I am ready to volunteer for the carcinogens

I bought my 4 Pro oct 17th of this year, it had been working perfectly just using the thumb drive. no connection to the internet, i turned it on christmas night to use it and got an error message to update the firmware. been trying to update the firmware for 2 days now nothing happens, so i just emailed the company to see if they can help me.

I have a Bambu labs p1s with arms and a Neptune 4 Max and the latter has equal quality prints, just as fast, twice the build volume and cost half as much. Best value printers out there.

Your honesty on your review and clear explanation without making me yawn makes me like you plenty. I needed this video. Subscribed thank you

+1 biggest point that was not mentioned - you can't buy gears for Neptune 4, which means if you will decide to print with glass fiber abs, you will have a disposable printer because you will not be able to change them

Would the neptune 3 pro be better?

they clearly have a comparison table on their website. there are 2 main difference between the 4 and the 4 Pro: 1. the rails and 2. the pro has a two-zone heating bed

I am happy with mine and been printing since 2016. I enjoy watching your videos as they are well produced.

I subscribed because this is the only channel of all the 3d printing yt channels that openly criticizes "out-of-box" experiences for 3d printers. This channel literally wants 3d printers to progress as an actual consumer product rather than just being a specialized hobby.

Thanks for covering the fine points that few others do, Ross...incredibly insightful, useful, and much appreciated!

I got a 4max a few days ago, so far I’m really happy with it . Compared to my ender 5+ printers it’s about 2x as fast has less stringing , better build plate adhesion and about $100 cheaper . The sound is about equal since I had to upgrade the hotend fans in the 5+ printers with 16,000rpm rc fans to prevent heat creep (stock fans are 4064rpm a really general breeze) .

I am new to 3d printing and I just bought a neptune 4 pro that comes in in a couple days and I am trying to learn about it and what to expect and I found this super helpful. I guess with how my brain likes to work I should have gone with a ender 3 but hay I open to the challenge

How about the 4 Plus? I've heard the max can be a pain in the ass but I've heard from some that the Plus is sort of a goldilocks atm.

This would have been a good chance to make a recommendation here that has the features you were referring to. At THIS price point . Not the $1000-1500 models you rave about.

I've had a pain trying to use my Ender 3 Max Neo. After getting my P1S , I've only tried the ender once and it was slow and didn't print that well. I'm in the same boat you are as I don't have time to "Tinker" with printers to get them to work. Now having used a Core X Y printer I'm not a fan of Bed Slingers. Now I know I can go into the Ender and change things and make it faster and print better, but id rather spend my free time making things and learning slicers more to improve quality. I've since put the Ender back in its box , and while doing that found the hot end had been loose. Apparently from the start. Well for now I'm just using the P1S and would love to try other brands , even bed slingers, but I'm really down to user experience . For a new person coming into the field, you don't know what you don't know. Call me lazy, but I want it to just work out of the box. I think the leg work should be done by the company making the product, not the end user. Its great to have the option to change things, but only if you want to instead of have too. Hats off to all the peeps that can rebuild and reprogram these machines and I'm impressed with their skill and knowledge , but its not my bag. Working a full time crappy job, family and children and growing a baby KZfaq channel, when I do have free time, I just want stuff to work. I have no experience with Elegoo or any other brand outside Creality and Bambu, and I know I have way way way more to learn. Great Video as always sir/Solute !

Man, having to take the whole deal off the carriage to unclog or swap a nozzle is just daft - thanks for bringing that up!

Thank you so much for this video. I research everything to ad nauseam and stumbled across many posts on FB with people having issues with the 4 series. Yet 99% of youtubers claim its great. This review made me rule it out since this will be my first 3d printer I didnt want to try and have to troubleshoot what was going wrong without a clue of what is right. I wanted the A1 but its bed is just a little to small and since its just a hobby speed is not the most critical thing for me. I went with the Elegoo 3 pro and out of the box for a total 3d noob this thing has been awesome. Thanks for your honesty, seems pretty rare in the world of have a free 3d printer in exchange for "honest review" Gained a sub, thanks again

I don't care how bulletproof something is, if the repair/maintenance is hard to acess, that's a no for me....

I didn't get how I prevent layer shifting if I would buy one of them, do I only use Orca Slicer and the problem is gone?

The bad accessibility to the print head is definitely a bummer. Maybe the aux fan unit could be mounted with magnets instead of screws to make the process a bit easier?

I picked up a Neptune 4 Max a month or so ago. I haven't had any nozzle issues, but the main problem is that the extra speed is useless because the bed whips around so fast that it shakes the fuck out of whatever I set it on to the point where it causes layer shifts. I was concerned it was going to rip the legs off my desk. I tried setting it on the floor, and I could feel my whole house moving beneath my feet. So unless you're mounting this printer to a steel-reinforced bunker, I don't see how you're going to keep it stable enough at full speed to work properly. Also, any thin supports the Cura software likes to create are useless because support wobbles back and forth like crazy while printing. So I set it on the slowest, "silent" level (which is anything but silent), and I just wait longer. Which is fine. Print quality is much better than I expected. And the build volume is respectable, though still a bit small on the 4 Max, and I have to break half the things I want to print into multiple pieces and then glue them together.

Wanted to weigh in and thank you for the honest review. I actually was looking at either the Pro or Max as a first printer, and was impressed by the feature set at such a low price point. I had no idea they used proprietary nozzles and that the bed leveling was semi-automatic though. I’ll have to consider it more carefully. Thanks again!

I always appreciate and honest, fair review. Thanks!

We can always count on you to keep it real.

I like your work a lot - but this time what I saw rushed was your review. Sure: if you want want an out of the box, hit print and WOW FDM printer, there is a price for that: Bambu. But ANY other FDM printer requires good adjustments. PID tuning, Linear Advance, belt tension, eccentric nuts, input shaping - if you didn’t do any of that, you don’t have a calibrated FDM printer. If you are not interested in these aspects, then FDM is not for you. Because even a Bambu printer will require maintenance - it is a matter of time before it gives rubbish prints without proper mechanical adjustments. Other than that, I love you ❤️😘💕

Ive got a Neptune 4 and have so far printed 2 spools of PLA through it and I had a couple issues of the bed not adhering but I just started to use a glue stick and it fixed the issue. Other then that I have had good results with it right out of the box. Ive done a couple levelings with it but I didnt have to adjust anything as far as bed wobble or anything else...It worked fine

So 4 months passed since this review and there are plenty of long nozzles (brass/steel/copper) in different sizes. And frankly speaking I did not understand the problem with hard to disassemble hotend at all. Why disassemble it regularly? I did not disassemble it at all on my previous printer which i used for 4 years. Broken filament part? Just heat hotend up and press broken filament part into it with some metal rod.

When you use the compare feature on the website, it makes it very clear the difference between the 4 and 4 Pro. Other the rail material, the Pro version has two heating elements on the bed compared to the one heating unit of the 4.

I have a neptune 4 pro it will not level. I can do the auxiliary level for hours and not get to go to each corner without having to make an adjustment. I can go around once get everything where it should be< I'll go back to 1 and it'll be so tight it almost tears the paper. Next I'll go to 2 It'll be so loose I fix, 3 will be the same 4 is slightly off back to 1 it'll be loose 2 will be tight same with 3. You get the picture, It will go on and on like this. I know adjusting a corner will have a slight effect on the others but it some point I should be able to go around to all 4 corners and I shouldn't have to make an adjustment. I'll do the leveling over and over eventually I get a good print. I'll go to print the same thing again and I'll get stringing or some areas will be fine and others I'll get stringing or the filament doesn't adhere to the bed and get drug around by the nozzle or wraps around it. This is my first 3D printer I watched all the reviews they talked about how great it was and at a good price so I pre ordered it. I have gone through 4 spools of filament with only a hand full of usable prints. I think the issue for me is the z axis doesn't seem to go down to the same spot every time. This would account for the auxiliary leveling never working. Even when I auto level I can make no adjustments to the z offset or the knobs and the values will change every time.

I have a Neptune 4 Max and is pretty darn good.

So this is my first printer. By default. My kid wanted one, so that means I learn how to use it and then teach him. It's been a learning experience all along. Assembly was easy. I work on cars and motorcycles and am a little mechanically inclined. I however am not a computer guy. I've gotten better. I've learned how to download and do upgrades to firm ware lol thanks elegoo. But I'm actually swapping this and 99 bucks to upgrade to the Neptune 3 max the huge one. But no klipper because elegoo hasn't gotten all the bugs worked out. This thing was released WAY to soon I figured that out when I was taking my controller alert to upgrade it lol NOT the one for first time 3d printing. Glad to find your review. Also for the helmets drop your flow to 80% I was shredding masks about 1/2 or 3/4 through it was layers were too thick and the print head was where it supposed to be.

I haven't been able to print anything but 75x75mm first layer squares for almost a week on my N4P. My patience has dried up. On a happier note my first resin printer is doing very well the M5s and with your videos have ordered a M5 vat for the better resolution. TY bye the way for the idea 💡

when it works, its pretty awesome but its not the most reliable machine. need to be prepared to make adjustments and deal with issues.... mine has an annoying issue with nozzle dragging over the printed area sometimes randomly and part warping has popped up recently

Great video, i wish I would have seen it like 2 weeks ago. I have the Neptune 4 and I can't get any big prints to work. The slice software is Orca slice. Wish me luck. I will learn this

in the video you say that the maintenance of the print head needs to be done quite often. For what? How often do you service your head? 1-2 times a month? More often? WHAT ARE YOU TYPING WITH?! What do you serve?

Interesting to hear the 4 normal is better in terms of noise

That was a really good no B.S. review. I really like your candor and willingness to point out the bad as well as the good. Thanks!

I got a neptune 4 and other than occasional weird first layer issues , I had zero problems.

Thanks for the video. I’m still pretty sold on the 4 plus . Can you please share what kind of workspace is required for these? I’m worried that I won’t have anywhere to put it but in a garage that isn’t climate controlled.

With the plethora of 3D printers out there what company/model (yes it's probably a very diff question0 would you suggest/recommend one looks into for printing of structural stuff like gears, camera accessories etc where the resolution needs to good and not having to process stuff later. Plus do you have any experience with printers which are good for Delrin and or polycarbonate printing. Hope you can help/suggest. Don't worry i won't hold you to any thing LOL.

Elegoo cura making issues is a consistent problem. I got the Neptune 4 max and the first print I sliced using elegoo cura stopped at the ten minute mark and refused to print it, so I downloaded orca, sliced the same file and what do you know it prints beautiful. Unfortunately the software is just garbage

Glad I watched this was going to buy one but I don't like messing around

100% Agree with you. It's a GOOD printer but it is flawed. I have the 4 and the 4 Plus. Putting them through their paces. It reminds me of the early days of the V2 Ender 3 "MOD IT and it will be great". BUT your right this is marketed to the beginner crowd as competitive with Bambu. It's no Bambu Lab. It's a ENDER 3 S1 PRO on Steroids. You get alot of what people want m now in a new printer but still has the feeling of being forced to "HAVE TO MOD THIS" rather than just getting an out of the box, setup, run a bed mesh to level and your printing type printer. Love the honest review.

I've had firmware issues and have installed what they sent. My printer took the update the first time then started saying that the firmware wasn't on the "root menu" when it sent an error again. I've had to update the screen as well since that's a separate system somehow. Last night, the leveling knobs fell off and the print ruined. I have yet to get something off of it that was correct. It couldn't print PETG despite following all the correct steps and being advertised as doing so. I've already messed up one print head assembly and replaced it. Elegoo support hasn't been that helpful really considering I get more information on troubleshooting from youtube.

Spot on ... I have the 4 Max and have no idea how it got out the door when it keeps forgetting the Z offset on power down ... how does a QA team miss that?

yeah, i think i;ll still pick a resin printer over fdm, for now, just seems like it would be a better fit

Excellent review. I was just about to purchase one of these printers. I will keep looking. I do have an Elegoo resin printer.

Thank you for the viddie. Struggling to find a entry level/beginner 3d printer because every video I see it a warning not to buy whichever printer I am looking at. It is so frustrating that the only printers folks seem to agree are worth it are $700+.

I am pretty sure you could have just as easily removed the nozzle from below without taking the whole thing apart. At lease on the N3P you can

my 4 pro kicks ass and has been cranking out killer prints for months

Great video. I was thinking of getting the reduced price Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro. Would you know if the 3 Pro has basic m8 nozzles that are straight forward to change or is it a case of struggling with disassembly even for a nozzle change? Thanks in advance.

What's your opinion about the quality and other aspects of the Neptune 3 series in comparison? Were you happier with them?

Hi Mate Thank you for your honest review was thinking of buying but now leaning towards the sovol 7 plus seems to have good reviews, it will be my first 3d printer Cheers Mark

My 4 max was a shit show them elegoo sent me a new one and working like a champ ever since

Interesting to see this perspective, when almost universally every other 3d print channel raves over this machine. Appreciated.

Thanks for your review! So, how would you compare this with the neptune 3 pro, which you reviewed quite positively I remember?

Thank you for this take. I was skeptical about this printer. I am curious what is your recommended low budget Fast 3D printer?

I have one there are no issues.

I have a Neptune 2 and still rarely use it because I don’t want to spend the time learning everything that is necessary for it to run smooth. So I usually keep to my resin printing rather the tinkering with mines.

Do you believe that Neptune 3 Pro is easier to maintain than Neptune 4?

Thank you for the video, I want to immerse myself in this world and these videos are helping me a lot, thanks to that I already have resin selected, but I don't know which fdm, I change every 2 days, but I have about a week left, so we'll see how many more videos I can see :D

Well its less that 300 dollars while others give similar quality for well over 1000 dollars

great review, appreciate the honesty. Other youtubers I respect gave it very positive reviews, but I don't think they gave the issues enough consideration.

Huh. Thats odd. My neptune 4 is awesome. Ive only had a huge blob of death because of gecode error. My print quality is fine too! I wonder if mine is good because of the new firmware.

Do you have to go through this setup every day, or is that just the first time set up?

what printer do you recommend for a first timer?

So if I was to buy my first novice printer with easy software that works out of the box what would you recommend , iv heard the original prusa are supposed to be good ?

Hi, I have a problem my flash drive. The one that can with my Neptune 4pro works on the machine but not on my laptop. I bought two flash drives One 2.0 and 3.0 they work on the laptop, but not on my machine. What am. I doing wrong? Please help me out with this problem. Thank you. Walter😢😢

I found your layer shift issue to be of interest. I have the N4 Pro and was printing an egg dispenser, which has some tall pieces for the ramps that get glued to the main body. Both ramps failed at the same height, with an error. I am curious if this is related to your layer shifting at a specific height. I will be trying these again with Orca, which I am learning anyway. For the most part, I've had few issues, but I came from an Ender 3 V2, so it's a matter of perspective.

So what the alternative bcuz K1 is way expensive. Ender 3 V3 SE isnt fast enough 250mm/s, so what you guys recomend?

You saved my money, just now wanted to order 3 pro or 4. Will go with bambu lab a1 mini, thank you! like and subscription.

7:20 that's not layer shift because the whole layer is fine, that's not enough cooling

Hello, I am dealing with jewelry business. Is there a printer you would recommend?Thanks for your help

Thanks for the refreshingly honest review!😊

I have one of these, and the firmware does have issues, as long as I level the bed (manual and auto) and check my Z height every print then it works well. If I don't it loses level by a bit each time. Annoying, but haven't sent it back.

Unfortunately you didn't catch this printers main flaw and that is bad firmware. The stock firmware doesn't take into account the mesh leveling and causes z crashes into the print. I had one for a few weeks and returned it as I did not want to wait for months for promised firmware upgrades.

Wish we'd seen this video a few months ago before we bought (and returned) a Neptune 4 Pro

What would be a good alternative to the Neptune 4 Max then? I was close to buying this one, but the problems you mention would be too annoying for me I think. So, anything out there that also has a reasonably big (30+cm) build area, same-ish price?

Wait... So despite there being effectively two standards for nozzles (RepRap, aka V6, and Volcano (I refuse to consider Creality's proprietary MK8 a "standard" since it's mainly just them that uses it)) they've gone and done their own thing, and then paired it in with making the most commonly worked on tool a royal pain to actually work on. Voron changed the design of their mounts for the Clockwork/Stealthburner combination in order to make it even easier to do maintenance - four screws to remove the part cooling, and another 4-6 if you need to fully disassemble things to get to the hotend (two holding the two parts of the hotend mount, and then 2-4 to remove the hotend (it depends on what hotend you're using)). I still don't understand why so many of these printer brands are targeting beginners or entry-level pricing, and slapping on a bunch of things that are generally unimportant. The average person starting out is going to think speed is neat, but would rather just have something that WORKS. Yes I'm aware there's two core parts of the hobby, those who want to tinker with everything, and those who want tools... I fall into the latter myself. I'm the person running a mostly stock Voron Trident at speeds I'm happy enough with, and it does exactly what I've asked it to, and it keeps going. But the biggest thing of it all, is while the auxiliary fans are nice, four 5015 fans running at max are going to absolutely scream, and that's going to drive most people bonkers... Also, it's 2023, why are so many companies still doing the four screws thing!!!!

100% dropped behind the curve, just look at the A1 mini and how easy Bambu Lab are making it for first time 3D printers

I think a lot of companies are just “throwing spaghetti against the wall” to see what sticks…so many new models that seem to be just tacking letters and numbers on the end to stand out