CONCLUSION

   The X-Plus 3 by Qidi is a very fast 3D printer and so I didn’t expect to get anything faster right afterwards and well, the K1 Max by Creality is just that, faster. Yes, 7 hours and 51 minutes versus 9 hours and 10 minutes might not be a game changer for some people (for professionals however I do expect that it will play a role in their decision) but it’s quite impressive for two models that have the same printing speed. Power consumption at times does surpass that of the X-Plus 3 by Qidi both in min and max but average was actually smaller in the end and well, that’s also a good result for the K1 Max. Noise levels on the other hand are nearly identical to that of the X-Plus 3 and well, I didn’t expect that (more robust enclosure and Creality does claim noise and vibrations are optimized in the K1 Max). That being said noise levels is probably the last thing most people will care about when choosing a high-speed 3D printer. Once again what really stands out with the K1 Max are its AI features like the camera and the LiDAR sensor which not only help with bed leveling and can even detect abnormalities during printing (as long as you do enable that feature) but watching your model get printed in time-lapse is nice (video on both TikTok and YouTube).

   The K1 Max is among the top-end models Creality currently has in their product lines and so it’s retail price which is set at USD938.34 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 1040.98Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) is well justified. Yes, it might be slightly over some similar models like the Qidi X-Plus 3 for example but you’re getting extra features (AI/Aluminum Enclosure/Tempered Glass Panels) which more than make up for that. At the end of the day the K1 Max High Speed 3D Printer by Creality may not be the best model money can buy today but it’s probably the best at up to and around USD1000/1000Euros and for that it certainly deserves the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Very Good Build Quality (Die Cast Aluminum Enclosure / Tempered Glass Panels)
- Very Fast (600m/s)
- Print Quality
- Heated & Flexible Bed
- Dual Direct Drive Extruder
- AI LiDAR Sensor (Bed Leveling / Detects Printing Abnormalities)
- Manual & AI Automatic Leveling
- Hardened Steel Nozzle
- 4.3 Inch Color Touch Screen Display
- AI Camera (Time-Lapse / Real Time Monitoring / Detects Printing Abnormalities)
- Ethernet, WiFi & USB 2.0 Port
- Air Filter (Filters Printing Particles)

CONS

- Noise Levels
- Power Consumption