Elegoo Centauri Carbon - The next 3D printer you’ll probably end up getting.
The new Elegoo Centauri Carbon looks to be the new champion of budget 3D Printers. A fully enclosed, 256x256x256mm Core XY direct drive 3D Printer for next to nothing.
The Elegoo Centauri Carbon on paper smashes the Bambu Lab P1S with almost identical specs and features, while improving on things like extruder temperature to 320℃ instead of the P1S 300℃ and a super nice 4.3” touch screen interface.
All at half the price, where there’s a non-enclosed version at only $299! So how do they do it?
Elegoo Innovation or rather evolution?
On paper it appears the Elegoo Centauri Carbon is a carbon copy (get it?) of the P1S. However, they have to do something to cut the price, and it appears there is an overall lack of innovation (Bambu Lab already did this) and just more simplifying of components and how they’re made.
You can see it on the extruder and nozzle design. They are not over-engineered in the slightest, which sounds like a good thing. But swapping the nozzle gives more of a “hands-on” experience that looks and feels cheap. If it prints the same, why does it matter? Well it matters for overall feel and how confident newcomers are.
I like to say that less user-friendly machines encourages less confidence. Something that gets ignored when the price is low.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware - https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/elegoo-centauri-carbon-review)
What are the upsides?
The upsides is that other reviewers already find it to 3D Print really good! I’m not hearing anyone really say it’s AS good as the P1S, but from what I can see, it’s not far off, specially on more complex materials that the A1-series can’t handle.
We can only expect this to be improved with more profiles being refined with the help of the community. But already those generic profiles in Elegoo slicer seems to work.
Image credit: Hackster.io - https://www.hackster.io/news/elegoo-centauri-carbon-3d-printer-review-c57caab085e1
3D Printing Quality (To be continued)
I’m waiting to get my own Centauri, so I don’t want to say too much about printing quality without trying it out. But it has all the bells and whistles to perform, and seeing what others print, it sure does deliver. Not 10/10, but 7-9 depending on what material you use.
So if you print PLA, PETG and TPU for example. No problem, it looks great! But more complex materials don’t have the same database of feedback from the community as BL does. So things get slightly more up to you, or to buy materials from Elegoo that might have profiles fine-tuned.
Beginners - Be aware!
While the Elegoo Centauri has the budget of a beginner who want something to grow into, it really isn’t on par with what you get with a Bambu Lab A1 in terms of ease-of-use and user experience.
Sure, the touch screen is super nice and gives you good information. But it’s the “hands-off” approach that a streamlined ecosystem of apps, cloud services and makerworld integration that enables new users to really succeed with the Bambu Lab 3d Printers.
The Centauri is no “prusa-build-it-yourself” experience either, it’s just a great beginners machine for anyone who has some interest in tech. If I were to score it, it would be a 7/10 for beginners, while A1 is 10/10 and P1S is 8/10.
You also have to expect some earlier bugs and odd behaviour. Things like a 10-15 minute bed levelling and un-optimized firmware are a few. These things can be fixed in updates, and some things already have been.
But non-user friendly ways of loading filament and a single LED to try and light up the inside are just cheap design, and is how you get the price.
Multi color on the way!
While you shouldn’t really buy promises, Elegoo does say multi-color printing (like the AMS) is coming in Q3 2025 and works with the Centauri and Centauri Carbon.
They appear to want to perfect it before launching, which sounds like a great thing. But for now we’re not sure it’s going to be anything as seamless as options from Creality, Anycubic or of course Bambu Lab.
The guts of Elegoo Centauri 3D Printer - Image Credit “Flying-T” on Reddit r/3Dprinting.
Not really open source - but not fully locked down?
Elegoo Centauri Carbon runs something called ELEGOO OS, which they claim is not based on Klipper in hackster’s article. So it’s currently (not sure how this will age) supporting open-source klipper commands or plugins.
It appears an open firmware version is in the works however. It seems Elegoo’s earlier experience has been that open firmwares leads to too much more support and complexity in what they are actually responsible for.
For those who value open-source this is still potentially an interesting machine as Elegoo have made their machines open-source before. But it won’t be something from the start.
Who are the customers?
Many “Prusa-fans” (in the BL vs Prusa debate) have shown disinterest in the Bambu Lab 3D Printers due to the lack of open source software. They are not the only ones, and many have felt they are just contributing into a new Stratasys patent-hogging actor in the market by supporting Bambu Lab.
The new Prusa Core ONE was intended to be the contender to Bambu Lab Printers for those who want good open source options. And it does offer great features for those customers, but at a much more premium price. Most users want simplicity, and a tool that works. Not a project, which prusa still looks like, even if you buy it pre-built.
I think the Centauri Carbon caters better to those who have tried 3D Printing before, but want to jump onboard the new, faster generation of 3D Printers. Specially now with a (potential) open source, cheap alternative.
I mean the $199 non-enclosed Centauri is so cheap you might accidently just buy one for fun…
Elegoo Centauri - Non Carbon, without the panels.
“Whops - I bought it again”
And this is just what the Creality Ender 3’s were before. “Another printer” you just bought because it was cheap compared to the rest.
Then bambu Lab came along and brought a whole new generation of speed, features and “it-just-works”.
I think the Centauri can be the next “whops I just bought another 3D Printer” thing simply because of the features at this price level.
The truth is that there are already alternatives to Bambu Lab P1S and A1 series that have most of the features the Centauri have… Just look at the Flashforge 5M and 5M Pro 3D Printers. They are cloud connected and perfect for farms as well, but flashforge have not been able to push the price as much as Elegoo.
So if you’re one of those awesome business persons who sell 3D printed stuff using you own 3D printed farm. When you’re expanding, this might be a good option for you!
Not perfect - but good for beginners.
So just to iterate, I don’t think this is the perfect 3D printer for the generic first-3D-printer beginner user, but it’s not a bad option either, but there’s a slight uphill in things like how to operate the (or just A) slicer. Elegoo Slicer is basically Orca / Bambu Lab interface, but it looks a bit scary compared to the Bambu Lab phone app.
You will most likely have a super time using the Centauri, and you know you only spend a few hundred bucks, and not really invested a lot to try something out.
When will you get one?
The current expected date of delivery starts in June 2025 for the US market, while in EU/Asia it may start in end of April/May.
Below you’ll se a spec comparison of the Centauri and Centauri Carbon, but the Centauri costs $199 and you can get the Centauri Carbon for $299.
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And for me, this is such anther “Whops I bought another 3D printer” thing. It’s going to be awesome to have in the shop. As tech enthusiast, it would be an awesome first 3D printer, although the main hype might be elsewhere.
Elegoo Centauri Carbon 3D Printer parts - Image Credit “Flying-T” on Reddit r/3Dprinting.
Elegoo Centauri and Centauri Carbon specifications compared
The main difference is that the cheaper Centauri does not have enclosed plastic/Glass panels. This mainly affects recommended materials and how it handles printing in colder environments. The regular Centauri also heats it’s bed to 100°C instead of the 110°C on the Carbon.
The Centauri Carbon also includes an auxiliary Part cooling fan, to help cool PLA for example when printing enclosed.
It also has air filtering through an active carbon filter in the back. This in combination with a sensor for the chamber allows you to regulate the temperature of the chamber. It’s not a heated chamber, but it can extract heat if it gets too hot, or leave heat inside (from nozzle and bed) to enhance complex material printing.
The Centauri Carbon also has a camera to monitor printing.
The rest of the specs that are identical:
3D Printer Build Volume: 256x256x256mm
Chassi: Die-Cast Aluminium
Max Printing Speed: 500 mm/s
Max Acceleration: 20,000 mm/s²
Max hotend Flow: 32 mm³/s
Extrusion: Hardened Steel Dual-Gear Direct Extruder
Hot End: All-metal 0.4mm nozzle reaching up to 320°C
Build Plate: Removable PEI Dual-Sided Plate
Sensors: Filament Runout, Automatic vibration compensation, Pressure advance, Power Loss Recovery
Connectivity: USB and Wifi (no-cloud required)
Interface: 4.3” color touch screen
Slicer(s): ELEGOO Slicer. Orca and Cura are supported, but not through Wifi it seems.
Other: Auto-levelling, Multi-color support (coming Q3 2025)
