Alfawise U30 vs. Creality3D Ender - 3: comparison of the two 3D printers under $200

Alfawise U30 vs. Creality3D Ender - 3: specs

Let's take a quick look at the mian specs of the two 3D printers side by side.

	Alfawise U30 2.8 inch Touch Screen DIY Desktop 3D Printer - BLACK EU PLUG
	$169.99

	Creality3D Ender - 3 DIY 3D Printer Kit - NIGHT EU PLUG
	$169.99	(442 reviews)

Alfawise U30 3D printer

The Alfawise U30 is a dedicated home printer. It's smaller in size than its bestselling predecessors would do great as a desk printer for those just starting out in the exciting sport of 3D printing. Despite its compact size, the printer does come with pretty much the same features and capabilities as any full sized 3D printer

Alfawise U30 3D printer: design

The Alfawise U30 comes with a very simple yet steady architecture. You get a full aluminum body and the measurements of 16.73 x 15.83 x 19.88 inches. It comes as a semi assembled DIY kit (most printers in this price range come pre-assembled) -  but there are not that many parts and clear instructions come included with the kit, so assembly should not be too complicated even for first time makers.

The printer comes with a 2.8 inch color touch screen display where you will be able to see all the details of the printing process as you get to work.

Alfawise U30 3D printer: speed, accuracy and temperature

The mini printer can work at an impressive speed of 120mm/s. The speed remains consistent throughout the printing process and there are no compromises in the quality of the final product.

The Alfawise U30 feature a relatively high printing accuracy thanks to the well sized nozzle (0.4mm): the XY axis accuracy is stated as 0.0125mm and the Z axis accuracy is 0.0025mm.

As for temperature, the Alfawise U30 comes with a 200W heat bed that is capable of achieving temperatures from 40 to 60 degrees within just five minutes. The maximum temperature for the mini printer is 100 degrees Celsius. At any time, you will be able to keep an eye on the printing temperature on the printer's built in screen.

As the Alfawise U30 is meant as an easy entry level device into 3D printing, it comes with several safety features, two of which are especially helpful: the filament run out detector and the power outage protection. Filament run out detector will automatically stop the printing process if you are running out of filament. The process restarts once you have refilled the filament. Power outage protection means that the printer will pause if it is suddenly cut from power - once again, the process will resume once the power comes back on. Together, these two protective features ensure that your printing will come to a successful completion 100% of the time.

But the Alfawise U30 is not without faults.

First, it's a mini printer for the home. And the printing area of 220 x 220 x 250mm is not exactly meant for large scale printing. Thus, if you need to work on big projects and print large models, you will probably need to look for a model with a larger printing area like the Alfawise U20 with the 300 x 300 x 400mm printing area.

Another thing that sets the printer apart is the assembly. As we've mentioned earlier, it comes with parts semi assembled instead of being pre assembled. This may make the assembly process a bit longer - but with a clear manual and plenty of video material available online, this should not be a major issue.

Creality3D Ender - 3 3D printer

The Creality3D Ender - 3 is also a compact printer. It comes with very similar features and even has the same printing area.

Creality3D Ender - 3: design

The Creality3D Ender - 3 is a Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printer with the printing area of 220 x 220 x 250mm and a 0.4mm nozzle. It measures 17.32 x 16.14 x 18.31 inches and comes as a DIY kit. Some of the most complex parts of the printer, however, are pre-assembled like the base and the hot end. With clear instructions in the box and lots of how to manuals available online, putting the mini printer together should not be complex at all.

Creality3D Ender - 3: speed, accuracy and temperature

The Creality3D Ender - 3 comes a slightly higher printing speed compared to the Alfawise U30 - the printer's maximum printing speed is 180mm/s.

The same level of accuracy is achieved thanks to the 0.4mm nozzle extruding 1.75mm of filament.

Similarly to the Alfawise U30, the Creality3D Ender - 3 can heat up to 110 degrees Celsius in just about 5 minutes.

Just like with the U30, the Ender comes with a few safety features including the resume print function, which let's the printer pause and then continue printing in case of a power outage.

Once again, there are a few weaknesses as well.

Quite a few users have reported that the base of the ender-3 3D printer is a bit wobbly making the printer difficult to level. With printer stability being one of the main ingredients when it comes to a quality printing result, this is a critical concern. However, it can be easily solved by placing a wedge under one of the corners.

Just like with the Alfawise U30, the Creality3D Ender - 3 is labeled as a pre-assembled printer. But it would be better suited to call it semi assembled as the process of putting it together would probably take a bit more time than with standard DIY kits. With that said, once everything is set up and calibrated, the printing process itself should be quite smooth.

4 exclusive advantages on Alfawise U30

There are many similarities between the two 3D printers, but under our captious comparison, we also find some exclusive welcome features on the new Alfawise U30:

● The touch screen can be installed at both sides, so users can choose to put it on the left or right according to their using habit. While on the Creality3D Ender - 3, the touch screen can only be installed on the right.

● The full color resistive touch screen is more intuitive and easier to control. While the screen on the Creality3D Ender - 3 is the blue LCD non-touch screen, so you can just control the 3D printer via the rotary button.  

● The power supply of the Alfawise U30 is set inside the base so that it can prevent users or children from electric shock.   

Alfawise U30 vs. Creality3D Ender - 3: the verdict

So what does it come to in the end? The truth is, both printers are very decent options for home printers - especially if you are just getting started in the 3D printing game. Both come with a rather small printing area, but the one that's enough for home printing projects. Both are well protected against common interruptions like power outage and are capable of speedy and accurate printing. Pricewise, the two printers cost almost the same - $169 (Flash Sale price). So that's very hard to choose.

However, as a newly coming 3D printer, the Alfawise U30 is more carefully polished in details than the classic Creality3D Ender - 3. So if you also care about the better using experience on the basis of good printing performance, the Alfawise U30 is a better choice.