Elegoo Mars 1 Pro review

Why I would not recommend the Mars 1 Pro

The Mars 1 Pro sits in my cupboard as one of the printers that taught me the basics of resin printing. It taught me how long a non-mono screen takes to expose a layer in a cold room. It taught me how often a non-mono screen needs replacing. It taught me that a sealed-in carbon filter you cannot service is a marketing feature, not a safety feature. None of those lessons are reasons to recommend it now.

If you are reading this because someone is offering you a Mars 1 Pro at a garage sale price, the honest answer is that the price has to be very low indeed before the maths works against just buying a current Mars 4 and skipping the obsolete generation entirely.

What it is and what it is not

The Mars 1 Pro is a Gen 1 consumer resin printer released in 2019, sitting one rung above the original Mars. The Pro upgrade meant a few things at the time: a slightly larger build plate (129 x 80 x 160 mm against the original Mars 120 x 68 x 160), a brighter UV light source for shorter exposures, USB on the front rather than awkwardly round the back, a build plate surface that gripped slightly better, and the built-in carbon filter that became a category-standard later.

What it is not is a mono-LCD machine. That single fact is the whole story. The screen on this printer is the same generation of non-mono panel that was the bottleneck on the original Mars, and the upgrades the Pro brought did not include the screen that mattered.

What it gets right

The Pro genuinely improved on the Mars 1. The brighter UV reduced exposure times slightly. The bigger plate made better use of available print real estate. Front-facing USB is a small ergonomic win that anyone who has reached round the back of a printer will appreciate. The carbon filter, even sealed, was a step in the direction of safer indoor resin printing at a price point that had ignored the question entirely.

The pixel size of 47 microns was a respectable spec in 2019, and the prints that came off this machine were genuinely usable for tabletop work at the time. I have miniatures painted years ago that started life on this printer, and they look fine on a table.

What it does not get right

The non-mono screen is the failure that defines this generation. Every layer cures slowly because the LCD is not optimised for UV transmission, and the LCD itself burns out on a 200 hour schedule. A printer that needs a new screen every six months of regular use has a running cost that nobody factored in when they bought it.

The carbon filter is the second disappointment. A sealed unit you cannot service is not a filter, it is a sealed compartment with charcoal in it. Once it stops absorbing it stops doing anything, and there is no way to know when that has happened.

The build volume, while a step up from the original Mars, is still smaller than every current entry-level machine. There are no current printers in the recommendation list that have a smaller plate.

Honest verdict

The Mars 1 Pro belongs alongside the original Mars on the shelf where the museum pieces sit. It was a real machine that produced real miniatures at a real price, and the Pro upgrades made it materially better than the printer it replaced. Both of those facts matter historically. Neither of them matters practically in 2026.

If you find one cheap, the temptation is to think the price makes it worth picking up. The temptation is wrong. A Mars 4 at $149 produces meaningfully better prints, runs an order of magnitude longer between screen replacements, and removes the slow-exposure frustration that defined this generation. Spend the same money there.

For the current view of which resin printer is worth buying in 2026, the resin printer buying guide has the full comparison table.

Pros

• Historically a step up from the original Mars: brighter UV light, slightly larger build plate, USB on the front instead of round the back.
• Built-in carbon filter, even if it was sealed inside the body and could not actually be replaced.
• Compact footprint that fits on a normal desk, which mattered when most people thought resin printers needed a dedicated workshop.
• Cheap second hand if you find one, although the cheapness is the only argument left.

Cons

• Non-mono LCD screen, which is the whole story. Layer exposure times in cold rooms ran close to 10 seconds against the 2 to 3 seconds you get on any modern machine.
• Screen lifetime around 200 hours against 2,000 hours on every mono screen made in the last four years, so the economics of ownership were genuinely unpleasant once you started printing regularly.
• Build volume of 129 x 80 x 160 mm is smaller than the entry-level current machines, even the budget ones.
• The carbon filter housing was sealed and the filter material itself could not be replaced without disassembling the printer, which made it more of a marketing feature than a maintenance item.
• 47 micron pixels were respectable in 2019. They are not now. The Mars 4 at the same money has 18 micron pixels and a mono screen.

Who it is for

Almost no one. The Mars 1 Pro is interesting as a reference point for understanding how far the technology has moved in seven years, not as a printer to actually buy and use.

Who it is not for

Anyone wanting to print miniatures in 2026. Even at giveaway prices, the slow non-mono screen and short LCD lifetime make day-to-day printing more frustrating than it should be.

What I would buy instead

The Elegoo Mars 4 at $149. Mono LCD, 18 micron pixels, larger build volume, nFEP film, and a screen that will last 2,000 hours. There is no comparison left to make.

Last reviewed 1 May 2026.