What distinguishes the Creality Ender-3 S1 Plus ($369) from the other budget open-frame 3D printers in the company's Ender-3 line—including the Ender-3 V2 and Ender-3 S1 Pro—is that it has the largest build area of the bunch. Like the S1 Pro, most of the S1 Plus is pre-assembled, so putting it together is straightforward, and shouldn't take much more than an hour, if that. It produced mostly good-quality prints, a few of them spectacular. However, the S1 Plus also produced a few clunkers and misprints, and print-bed leveling issues cropped up despite a new, allegedly hassle-free automatic bed-leveling system.Design: Open Frame, Large Build Area The Ender-3 S1 Plus resembles any number of open-frame 3D printers, including close to a dozen in Creality's Ender-3 stable alone. When assembled, it measures 20.8 by 21 by 29 inches (HWD), and it has a build area of 11.8 by 11.8 by 11.8 inches, which is generous for a 3D printer at this price. It comes partially assembled, with mostly just...

Creality's budget-priced Ender-3 S1 is easy to assemble and can produce jumbo objects, but uneven print quality and cumbersome leveling temper our enthusiasm for this open-frame 3D printer.