Holiday Guide: 3D Printing and Scanning

We've assembled printers the staff 0r I have laid hands on this year. There are a handful of printers in here we'd recommend, even a few that are years old but are our continued recommendation due to reliability and quality. Amazingly enough, there are still printers coming, even in the last month of this year! Stay tuned – 2026 has some upcoming surprises, but we're excited to share our Best 3D Printers for 2025.

Elegoo Neptune 4 - $159

If you're just getting into 3D printing, or aren't sure if it's for you, the $159 price on the Elegoo Neptune 4 is unbeatable. It has a reasonable build volume of 225 × 225 × 265 mm build volume, which should be good for a lot of fun things or functional goodies. Yes, there is some assembly and manual calibration required, but you will learn a lot about 3D printing, and you'll figure out quickly if 3D printing is for you or not, and without a huge investment.

Buy an Elegoo Neptune 4 now!

Elegoo Neptune 4 Plus - $319

Figured out that you like 3D printing but want a bit more build volume? Want a bed slinger that'll calibrate itself? Then the Neptune 4 Plus is precisely what you're looking for. With a direct drive extruder and a massive build plate of 320x320x385mm, this will get you making huge cosplay pieces. It's not the fastest printer in town, and without an enclosure, you'll be semi-limited on materials, but for PLA it's a great value at a solid price.

Buy an Elegoo Neptune 4 Plus now!

Elegoo Carbon - $379 ($303 for Cyber Monday)

This is the lowest price, self-leveling, enclosed, heated 3D printer on the market. It's also damned good. In his review, Mike Case said, "The Centauri Carbon is a CoreXY performance bargain for most users. It delivers build volume, speed and reliability rivaling printers at twice the price if you print PLA and PETG. ASA/PC users might want to consider something else if you don't want to deal with the extra steps required by not having a heated chamber. For budget beginners chasing premium specs, it's unbeatable. For hobbyists prioritizing large aesthetic prints (like my 22" Cthulhu), it's a solid workhorse."

Buy an Elegoo Carbon now!

Elegoo Neptune 4 Max - $446

One of the biggest bed slingers on the market. After a few firmware updates, this printer has been an absolute rock star. It's not the fastest, it's not the quietest, and it needs a bit of manual adjustments, but once it's dialed in you'll pull off some huge prints. The Neptune 4 Plus gives a little bit smaller of a footprint, but you can still get some helmets off this slinger easily enough. In our review, Mark Julian said, "The Elegoo Neptune 4 Max is a steal at $470. The massive build volume and Klipper enabled print speeds will allow you to crank out terrain and models for your D&D games or organizers and upgrades for your board games. The few drawbacks that exist are easy to overcome for those willing to learn and invest time into the 3D printing hobby."

Buy an Elegoo Neptune 4 Max now!

Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K - $464

This is still the very best pickup-and-go printer on the market. I literally unboxed it, put resin it, gave it a file, and hit print. If there's an easier to use resin device on the market, I've not seen it. In his review, Ron Burke said, "While the Saturn 4 Ultra 16k might look like a minor upgrade, the improvements are significant. The 16k resolution bump is hard to see, but the heated vat, new camera light, and other minor adjustments are far easier to find. This is, by a large margin, the best consumer 3D printer on the market – period."

Buy an Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K now!

QIDI Q2 - $499

If you don't want to jump up to the Max or don't have the space for a QIDI 4 Max, the Q2 is an absolute rock star. It has turned out single color prints like an absolute champion, just like its larger brother. I did run into some calibration issues with the QIDI Box, but that's an optional add-on. The Q2 itself on the other hand hasn't required any maintenance or adjustments. Just like the QIDI 4 Max, this is one you can pull out of the box and start printing immediately, and for as long as you want. Reliable hardly covers even describes it.

Buy a Qidi Tech Q2 printer now!

FLSUN T1 Max - $599

Delta printers and their round build plates are a bit of a departure, but the build volume is fantastic. It also delivers unrivaled speed. If speed is a factor, there is almost nothing else that'll touch this bad boy. While we didn't put together a review for it, here's a bit about the specs on this device:

Buy an FLSUN T1 Max now!

QIDI Plus 4 - $699

Still running. Over 1000 hours of non-stop printing without a single failure whatsoever. It's impossible to overstate how impressive this printer really is. I have printed a full size Space Marine Ultramarine armor set, bolter, helmet, and chainsword without a single issue. You can max out the build plate, set it, and forget it. Better still, the quality is absolutely magnificent. In our review, Ron Burke said, "With an incredible build volume, and a number of upgrades over its predecessors as well as the earlier version, the QIDI Plus4 is the best balance of large-format FDM with the highest ease-of-use we’ve seen. The proof is in the product, and one look at the armor I’ve printed tells me this is going to be a great printer."

Buy a Qidi Plus 4 Now!

Creality Ender 5 Max - $749 ($711 for Cyber Monday)

If you're looking for a platform you can grow, this open air core x/y printer is an absolute monster. With it you can build armor without cutting it into pieces with its massive 400x400x400 build volume. If you want to upgrade to a heated chamber, an optional side kit lets you upgrade this printer even further. Stable, reliable, and ready to bring your cosplay dreams to come to life, the Ender 5 Max is a real workhorse. Here's the official site for more info:

Buy an Ender 5 Max now!

Creality K2 Pro w/ CFS - $999

About as reliable as you can get, thanks to a year's worth of testing and refinement. There are a lot of new printers coming with multi-color options, but this one is well built, large, and at this point, very well refined. If consistent 4-color printing is your goal, this is your choice. It's also huge at 300x300x300, giving you a great deal of flexibility without having to cut up larger pieces.

Buy a Creality K2 Pro w/ AMS now!

Sovol SV08 Max - $1259 ($1049 on CMonday)

The price at just under a grand doesn't have an enclosure (that's an additional $250), but it does have a 500x500x500 build volume. It's absolutely insane just how big this printer is. It's been insanely reliably thus far, but I've only put under 200 hours into it. That said, those 200 hours have been error free once I had it dialed in. It's not multi-color, it's not the fastest, but it deliver high quality and very, very big things. If you want chest armor that doesn't have to be four pieces to glue together later, this is amazing. Some assembly is required (how would you ship it otherwise?!) but this is still a remarkably easy device to put together. Let's call this one a tentative nod, but leaning towards an emphatic one.

Buy a Sovol SV08 Max now!

Revoprint MIRACO Plus - $1799 ($1499 for CMonday)

There's another side to 3D printing – 3D scanning. Revoprint has a fantastic easy-to-learn scanner that can give a layman like me the chance to scan any number of things to then turn them into 3D objects. This completely handheld scanner could allow you to duplicate a discontinued item, a fragile gear, or any number of scenarios that could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in repairs. We're just starting our scanning learning process (with three parts of that ongoing journey posted) but I'm so impressed with this unit that I felt that I had to include it here. With the ability to scan things down to the micron or all the way up to a full size helicopter, but the simplicity of a touch interface that doesn't even require a computer, there's a lot to like about the MIRACO Plus.

Buy a Revoprint MIRACO Plus now!

Thanks for checking out all our recommendations for your holiday shopping! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!

Affiliate Links