Elegoo Mars 4 DLP Review (How Good is DLP for Miniatures?)

The Elegoo Mars 4 DLP is a cutting-edge resin 3D printer that uses DLP (Digital Light Processing, in essence, a projector) instead of relying on an LCD screen to emit light onto the liquid resin. Here are some of the pros and cons after having done this Elegoo Mars 4 DLP review:

Because of the projector, you get a few major bonuses with the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP printer:

The projector lasts much longer than an LCD screen, making it a cheaper printer in the long run

It requires no noisy fans to keep it cool when printing

You do not have to worry about breaking the screen when handling the printer

The prints will be sharper than prints from an equivalent LCD printer with the same resolution and much easier to dial in for beginners

So in the long term, the Mars 4 DLP is cheaper, produces less noise, is easier to dial in and can be a better experience for beginners.

So why not always buy a DLP printer? What is the catch?

The DLP technology is very expensive, so the size of the build plate is small (and it does not look like that will change anytime soon)

The resolution is only 2k (and not really native 2k). While DLP is more precise than LCD with the same resolution, in the same price class you can get a printer with LCD screens of 8k and above, making the detail comparison much less favorable for the Mars 4 DLP

The Mars 4 DLP is Elegoo’s first attempt at a DLP resin printer. Elegoo has produced some printers that I really, really like – mainly because their price to performance have been excellent. The Mars 4 DLP is a different beast, mainly because the features and disadvantages of the DLP printer are so different.

The Mars 4 DLP is in the same line as the other Mars printer, but is a very different printer than those (more on the stupid naming scheme later).

The most important thing about a resin printer is the screen and the light, but there is no screen here. Instead, the Mars 4 DLP uses a projector to blast light onto the resin. This printer has the same projector as the one in the Anycubic D2 DLP printer (so it is very likely those two printers will produce the same quality of prints, with only minor negligible feature differences). The resolution of this projector is 2560 x 1440 with an XY resolution of 52 microns. Elegoo does not mention it, but I am pretty sure the projector is not native at that resolution but uses a bit of upscaling.

The Mars 4 DLP is a fanless machine, which is a very welcome bonus for my ears. In these consumer-grade machines they often use very cheap small fans that produce an insanely nasty pitch, so turning the Mars 4 DLP on and using it without constant noise was a welcome blessing.

The build plate is small. As in, a small 132.8mm(L) x 74.7mm(W) x150mm(H). The height you can live with, but it was hard to fill the plate with anything more than a handful of miniature because of the width. Depending on what you print that might go from a minor inconvenience to a big deal breaker. For printing miniatures, this will quickly become an issue for some and not a big deal for others. In the same price class, you can get a better screen and a bigger build plate, but then you do not have the DLP tech.

But, if you go the route of an LCD printer you need to know that the screen is a consumable that will need replacement sooner rather than later. Most screens are rated at 2000 hours. The projector in the Mars 4 DLP is rated at 20.000 hours. In the long run, that can be a lot of replacement screens. So if you plan to print a lot of miniatures, the DLP machine is much cheaper.

Let us say you got the Mars 4 Ultra 9k instead of the Mars 4 DLP and printed for 20.000 hours. Let us say the screen roughly dies up every 3.333 hours to make it a bit more fair. So you would need to replace the screen of Mars 4 Ultra about 6 times in the same lifespan as the DLP printer. That replacement screen costs about $100, making the Mars 4 DLP about $500ish dollars cheaper in the very long term. Oh and the Mars 4 DLP also uses less power than an LCD resin printer, giving you even more savings.

And yeah, the DLP projector produces some very crisp-looking prints if you compare it with a 2k-4k printer at the same size (so about the same XY resolution). But as soon as you start going into the 8k territory, it does not compare as great.

But DLP technology makes it somewhat easier to dial in for good exposure. When you couple that with the fact that you do not have to worry about bricking your screen because of resin spills, the Mars 4 DLP can be very attractive for beginners or if you are running a print farm.

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Features you get with DLP VS non-DLP printers: longevity and surprising benefits of DLP

So we touched on this briefly, but while there are some drawbacks of DLP it also has some things going for it. Instead of the LCD screen just below the vat, you instead have tempered glass. And further down you have the projector (and a mirror and stuff).

The projector is very expensive, so in a consumer DLP printer 2k is the best resolution we have and it is a very small build volume. Running a 2k projector at a larger size would seriously hamper the detail and quality and getting one with better resolution has (so far) been too expensive to make. So those are the drawbacks.

If you can live with those drawbacks, you can get a surprising amount of lovely things. And I do hope that DLP printers continue to evolve because they solve a lot of the pain points I have with resin printers:

1. In the long run, a DLP printer like the Mars 4 DLP is much cheaper than a standard LCD printer. The projector in the Mars 4 DLP is rated for 20.000 hours of on-time. The big giant I printed had about 2.300 layers at 2.4 seconds of exposure. So printing that giant cost me about 1.5 hours where the projector was on. So, in theory, I could print well above 13.000 (!) giants before the projector would break down.
   
   Let us compare that to an LCD screen that is rated for 2.000 hours. I could print about 1.3000 giants before that screen would likely fail on me. If it was a small printer, the new screen would cost around $50-100, but with a bigger printer like the Saturn 3 would cost more like $150 for a new screen.
   
   So if you are going to run your printer non-stop forever, DLP is looking very cheap in the long term. But ask yourself how realistic it is that you will print more than 3.000 plus prints? If you are running a print farm, printing a ton for friends, then sure. Just printing for yourself? Less likely that you will see the end of the LCD screen in a printer.
2. The light of a DLP printer is insanely uniform when compared to LCD screens. This means that your prints will more consistently be as they should be, no matter where they are on the build plate. In theory, it gives an edge in detail.
3. DLP printers have significantly less light bleed. When you run an LCD screen it is key to dial in the exposure time so it is perfect. If you do not do that, the layers will either get too thin or too thick as the light from the screens “bleeds” through the layer it is producing out onto resin it should not cure. With DLP, this is much less of an issue because light bleed is less of a thing. So not only is it more precise, it is also less forgiving in terms of having the perfect settings. If you run an LCD screen at 2.0 exposure time vs 2.5 seconds, there will be a massive difference in print. The difference with the same settings on a DLP printer is very minor.
4. Cheap resin is often not very viscous, so there is much more light bleed. This makes it hard to get perfect and crisp results on an LCD screen. But with DLP you can use cheap resin and get very good results. So we are back at the bang for the buck argument in favor of the DLP printer as you can use very cheap resin and still get good results.
5. If you spill resin on an LCD screen, it is very likely that the screen is dead and you have to replace it. If you spill resin on the tempered glass of a DLP printer, you can just gently scrape it off and there should be no damage to your printer.
   
   This is a lifesaver for beginners, where printing can be a very anxious process where you are afraid of breaking something. If you puncture your FEP without noticing, there is a high chance you are going to kill your screen. With a DLP printer that anxiety is gone
6. A DLP printer consumes less power than an LCD screen.
7. A DLP printer does not produce the same heat as an LCD printer does. So the DLP printer can be more silent because of the fans (and if the printer had a very silent motor, it can be near silent). While having the printer produce less noise is certainly something I love, it can cause some other problems. When I print on my DLP printer the resin is close to the same temperature all the way through the print. That is fine for me, as I do not actually want it to change temps midway through the print, and the ambient temp where I print is fine. But some people use the heat generated from LCD screens to reach the temps they want to print at. That is more of a thing if you print in a room with low temps.
8. Some say that DLP printers should be faster. When printing at 0.5mm layer height on the Mars 4 DLP printer and on other printers, it was very much the same rough speed. They might have a slight theoretical advantage, but it does not look like that translates to any real gain in practical terms. You might be able to cut the exposure time lower and make the motor go a bit faster than an LCD printer without any loss in quality, but speed is not my jam so not something I have tested. So same speed for my testing.

So before getting a printer like the Mars 4 DLP you very much have to ask yourself: does all of those pros outweigh the drawbacks of the lower resolution and build space?

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Testing and dialing for the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP Review

This is the most important element of the printer and what you are likely here to see: some prints from the printer. I am going to go step by step with my experience using the machine from start to finish.

Setting up the machine and getting it level was easy and should not be a big deal with some help from a video or another resource.

The included USB stick is essentially e-waste, so get another one. I would say the same thing about the included slicer Voxeldance (but it is a bit better than the Chitubox slicer), and just get Lychee instead. And why in the world is Elegoo still including a test model of the rock that is essentially just a test of bed adhesion that wastes a ton of resin? Just delete it, please. Please, put on some good files to print in the future Elegoo.

With all of that out of the way, this is how I tested and dialed in the Mars 4 DLP.

I decided to use the cheap basic resin from Sunlu. This is the resin I use a ton for just printing random minis. It is cheap and just as good as any other brittle basic grey resin (I often mix it with another resin to make it less brittle, but you can read more about that in my article about the best resin for miniatures).

For dialing in the exposure time I used a combination of the Boxes of Calibration and the Cones of Calibration.

My reaction when starting the printer for the first time was quite funny. I was worried something was wrong because the fans did not start their nasty pitch the second the printer was on. But then I realized this is a fanless printer, what a nice surprise! Once it was printing, there was this weird constant nice, likely from the projector. But it was very silent.

I printed at 50 microns layer height, 2.5 exposure time and stock settings for the rest. The ambient temp where I print is about a constant 22 degrees. I also quickly turned off the amazingly annoying beeps the printer constantly spits out when using it (when starting, when homing, when done, and so on).

At 2.5 exposure time, the Boxes of Calibration came out a little too small, the same at 2.6 but at 2.7 it had gotten to a point where it was close to printing dimensionally accurate.

When turning to the Cones of Calibration to figure out if I could print the smallest supports needed, 2.7 turned out to be over-exposing for the supports I needed. So I ended up printing at 2.4 seconds of expore for my miniatures, as that produced the best details possible.

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Assembly, setup, and manual for the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP

As with almost all modern resin printers, assembly is almost a non-issue. The printer is assembled on arrival, so the only thing you need to worry about are the pieces that you need to take on and off when using the printer. That is the vat, the build plate, and the UV cover.

Other than putting those pieces on and doing a very standard leveling of the build plate, you have to put in the carbon filter, get some 3D printing files onto the usb, pour resin in the vat, and go.

One nice thing there is to say about the small build plate: because it is so small, it is very easy to level without any issues. Also, because there is no screen you need to be less worried about spilling resin onto the printer (but you should still be careful).

The manual, like all Elegoo manuals, is sub-par. It has gotten better since I bought my original Mars 1, so the manual is not downright wrong. But there are some issues where things have clearly been lost in translation. Also, there are places where the text says something like “click Move Z axis to zero”, but the button on the screen is a big home icon (you should not use the home icon for that anyway Elegoo).

Oh, and the info on the small leveling card is wrong, as they forgot to add the “click and set the new location for the z-axis 0”. So do not follow the info on that card but the info in the manual. It is these kinds of things that should absolutely not happen and I could see a beginner being really frustrated by following official guidance that is wrong.

But I think we have gotten to a place where a beginner could read the manual and use the printer successfully afterwards, which is a step in the right direction. They have also started to include more infor about the slicer and slicer settings, which is welcome for beginners.

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Crappy UI and e-waste included

While I still really like the care Elegoo takes when sending a package, there is still a lot of stuff to throw away once the machine is out of the box. And this is not only the leftover from the packing.

While the USB stick might be usable for some prints, it will brick at some point. Let us just hope it does not brick while printing because that can lead to some pretty insane fails. Better just buy a better one.

And while the metal scrapper might be useful, I would rather you dial in your printer so that the prints pop off when using a plastic scrapper (to not damage the plate too much). Even when I use a metal scrapper for some nasty parts, the one included here is not as thin or sharp enough to be really useful.

The plastic scraper included is not great. And while those masks might protect you from some viruses, it will not protect you from the fumes of the resin. But it seems Elegoo has warehouses upon warehouses with this stuff, as they are shipped with all of their printers. I just hope they will stop buying new crap and stop sending them to consumers at some point.

Speaking of things Elegoo should stop: shipping their machines with the ancient UI. The touchscreen is what it is (pretty basic), but there is no reason the experience should be this bad. The UI is basically the same thing as what shipped with my Mars 1 four years ago. It works, but it could look more clean, be more user friendly and have better and more information.

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Build volume, resin vat and the build plate of the Mars 4 DLP

We have talked about the quality of prints and we have talked about the major benefits of the DLP technology. But we need to cover the build plate, the vat, and the overall build volume.

The build plate is very standard for Elegoo machines. You level it by loosening the two screws and homing the printer. Afterwards, the build plate is fixed in place by tightening the two screws. On smaller printers like this, this method is fine (but it can cause some leveling problems on bigger build plates). You have a knob so you can get the build plate in and out. I did not experience the thing where the build plate misaligned when taking prints of it, so overall the design is okay (but the design on comparable Anycubc printers is better).

You have the max line indicator on the vat and it is removed by screwing out a bolt on each side. This is a good addition, as some earlier versions of Mars printers had a design where you had to slide out the vat, which was not ideal.

Now for the bad part: the build volume. 132.8mm(L) x 74.7mm(W) x150mm(H) is small. But how small is it really?

For comparison, the standard Mars 3 has 143 x 89.6 x 175 mm and the Saturn 3 has 218.88mm(L)122.88mm(W)250mm(H). Let us look at these examples of filling up a build plate with miniatures on each printer, so you can see what that means in practical terms:

I could fit the small version of the giant on the DLP build plate, but not the big version with the club.

So you have to ask yourself, is the build plate big enough for what you need to print? And remember, while it is cool to print 40 miniatures in one go, the cleanup process takes a massive amount of time. Cleaning 16 miniatures feels a lot more like something I want to do on a regular basis.

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Design of the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP

The Mars 4 DLP very much has the same standard design as the Elegoo Mars series. You have the red UV protector on the outside, this time with some flashy white pattern on it. The bottom has a bit of texture on it. Pretty good looking really.

You have a bog standard one rail setup with a fine motor and for a small printer like this, it is perfectly acceptable.

A nice thing about Mars 4 DLP is that you have the power button on the right side and beside it you have the USB port.

The power brick is a very small one, since the printer requires a lot less power than regular resin printers.

You are getting the, now standard, carbon filter that can help take care of some smell of the resin.

There are no fans in the machine, which an extremely welcome feature. The motor will still make some noise, so the printer is not silent when printing.

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Support of Elegoo

This is not specific to this printer, but just a general note on the support of Elegoo. I have been in contact with the support from Elegoo quite a lot of times now, with real problems and “fake problems” to test them out. In none of the cases, they knew I was doing a review.

Overall the response time is fair, about 2-3 days. In all of the cases, they have been able to solve my problems.

The issues I have had are the general documentation, both with the printers and on the website. As an example, googling “Elegoo Mars 4 DLP Firmware”, it was hard to find the page with the actual firmware, and the documentation for changing the firmware is either lacking completely or confusing/not correct.

When in contact with Elegoo support, it seems like there is a lot of machine translation going on (from English and to another language and likely back again). So there has been a bit of back and forth trying to understand each other.

I have always felt the support staff did everything they could to help, but the tools they have are sometimes not the best.

I would rate the support I have gotten as okay to good. The contact I have had with similar 3D printing companies has most often been worse than what Elegoo has provided. Your mileage may vary.

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Is the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP the right printer for you

Overall you have to decide if the quality of the prints is good enough for you and if the size of the build plate suits your needs. If you can check both of these off, I think the DLP technology is a big boon, especially for beginners into resin 3D printing.

The peace of mind of knowing that you are not going to brick a $100 dollar screen because of a puncture in the FEP or a mistake when handling the vat is a pretty big pro for beginners into 3D printing. If you hate noise, the no-fans solution is also something I really like. On top of that, you get endless hours of 3D printing, without having to add expenses of replacement screens.

Besides the somewhat lackluster quality and build splace, I really like the Mars 4 DLP as a beginner printer. I hope that the DLP technology evolves in the future, as it really is the best technolog

For about $300 (if you buy the Mars 4 DLP directly from Elegoo), this is a sweet printer. But it is also a bit different, so you need to figure out your use case before you go out and get it.

Before you buy: always remember to buy on sale directly from Elegoo, as it is much cheaper. If you are daring, you can also get a “used” printer directly from Elegoo, which is insanely cheap (right now I see a Mars 4 DLP for $100).

Pros of the Mars 4 DLP:

The projector lasts much longer than an LCD screen, making it a cheaper printer in the long run

It requires no noisy fans to keep it cool when printing

You do not have to worry about breaking the screen when handling the printer

The prints will be sharper than prints from an equivalent LCD printer and much easier to dial in for beginners

Cons of the Mars 4 DLP:

The DLP technology is very expensive, so the size of the build plate is small (and it does not look like that will change anytime soon)

The resolution is only 2k (and not really native 2k). While DLP is more precise than LCD, in the same price class you can get a printer with LCD screens of 8k and above, making the detail comparison much less favorable for the Mars 4 DLP

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Elegoo Mars 4 DLP VS Anycubic Photon D2

A natural alternative to the Mars 4 DLP is the Photon D2 from Anycubic. But it is a bit of a boring alternative, as the two printers are almost identical.

The most important part, the projector, is the same on both units. That means the two printers will be almost identical in terms of print quality.

The D2 is a bit taller than than the Mars 4 DLP, but the Mars has an ever so slightly bigger build plate.

And the rest is in the Mars 4 DLP’s favor: the resin vat is much better quality and the vat on the Anycubic is the version where you have to slide it in. The rail on the Mars is more sturdy, it comes with a carbon filter and it has the possibility of opening the back for venting.

I would only get the D2 if it was quite a lot cheaper than the Mars 4 DLP.

Other Alternatives to the Elegoo Mars 4 DLP

So what else can you get in this price class or a bit above? I have seen the Mars 4 DLP for as low as $300 if you buy it directly from Elegoo. For the same price or lower, you can get the other Mars 4’s, the older Saturn 2, and equivalent printers from Anycubic and Phrozen. So there is a lot of competition in this price range.

Mars 4 or Anycubic Photon

Instead of getting the DLP version, you could just opt for one of the other Mars 4’s. You would get a slightly bigger build plate and better quality of prints, but lose the DLP features. There are clear benefits and drawbacks here. The exact same thing can be said for the Anycubic Photon line, which is very similar to what Elegoo makes at this size of printer.

Elegoo Mars 3 and Mars 3 Pro

Jumping down in price you can get a very cheap printer from the previous Mars 3 line. The print quality will be slightly better than the Mars 4 DLP and the build plate is somewhat bigger. But it is much cheaper, as the MSRP of the last-generation printers drops a ton.

Saturn Line or the M5’s

If big build plate is your thing, you should jump up a level in build volume to either the Saturn line or the M5’s. Most of them are great printers, but they will be more cumbersome to use than the Mars 4 DLP. Not only is a bigger machine harder to handle, but you also get a quite expensive screen you need to make sure you do not break.

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Other stuff you (might) need if you buy a 3D printer

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