Filament Showdown
I printed out four benchys all in PLA filament…well…PLA+ for one, to see what brand would come out on top. When I started out 3D printing years ago, I didn’t really pay attention to brands. I shopped by cool colors and price. I found myself buying more Elegoo then. They had a wide range of colors and really affordable pricing.
Flash forward to this last year when I picked up my Bambu A1s. I had a how range of brands. Overture, Sunlu, Elegoo, Polymaker, Creallity, and I obviously, Bambu. I slowly started to phase out all of the other brands with exception of Bambu because for starters, it just worked. The RFID chip makes it super easy. There are no settings to really tune as it prints great. The downside is the price. Unless you buy on sale or in bulk (6 rolls or more) when you can get rolls as cheap as $13.99 for a PLA refill, you are paying $19.99. Compare that to these other brands:
Deeplee normally $10.99. I got it for $9.89.
Sunlu normally $13.99. I got it for $13.29.
Elegoo was just $13.99
Those prices were for black. When you look at other basic colors, like green for example, Deeplee was omitted sale at $14.99 down from $17.99. Elegoo was $16.99 and Sunlu was $19.99. Again, with buying in bulk or a sale, Bambu refills can be had for $13.99. That makes them the winner in price in my mind. What needs to be said though is shipping speed. Bambu has gotten here in as little as three days before. Some brands on Amazon can be here overnight. I even was able to get a roll same day.
Price isn’t everything though. We need to talk about quality. It was very difficult to notice a substantial difference between the four. Without knowing which was which, the Bambu was chosen first by me, my wife, and my step-daughter. From there, Elegoo and Deeplee were either second or third, with all of us picking Sunlu last. That’s not to say it was bad. We all felt it was very close.
One thing to note is that Deeplee is actually a sub-brand of Elegoo. I wasn’t surprised that they were very close in print quality. Oh…and the Deeplee was PLA+. I forgot to mention that earlier.
Take a look at the photos and decide for yourself. Drop a comment with who you think really came out on top along with your goto brand. Scroll down some to see what number each brand was.
Spoilers ahead…
One was Elegoo
Two was Deeplee.
Three was Bambu.
Four was Sunlu.