Creality Ender 3 V3 SE 3D Printer, 250mm/s Faster Print Speed CR Touch Auto Leveling Sprite Direct Extruder Dual Z-Axis Auto Filament Loading Ender 3 Upgrade 3D Printer Print Size 8.66x8.66x9.84 inch

The K2SE is an excellent printer for users who are still interested in learning and growing within the 3D-printing ecosystem, but who no longer want to spend the majority of their time troubleshooting basic hardware issues. While it may not be a flagship, top-tier machine by today’s standards, it represents a significant step forward—especially when compared side-by-side with older platforms like the Ender 3 Pro. Out of the box, the K2SE delivers a level of refinement that once required extensive upgrades on earlier printers. Features such as automatic bed leveling, filament runout detection, a sturdier frame with vibration-dampening feet, and a properly supported raised Z-axis bed all come standard. The addition of cloud access and a fluid web interface—complete with optional root access for advanced users—bridges the gap between a consumer-friendly machine and a system that still rewards technical curiosity. My first print, a simple Kirby model, was intentionally done with minimal tuning to get a baseline feel for the machine. The results were impressive, especially coming from years of compensating for aging components on my Ender 3. With that printer long overdue for a new extruder, I had grown accustomed to managing variables that simply don’t exist on the K2SE. The consistency and reliability here are immediately noticeable. Although I didn’t have the budget to add the multi-filament CRT system at launch, the printer’s upgrade path is clearly well thought out. Planned expansions like an enclosure, camera monitoring, and multi-material support make it easy to justify future investments. I would also welcome a firmware or hardware update that introduces Bowden extruder support, as it could further improve filament switching speeds and overall print performance. As someone who has stuck with the same Ender 3 since long before touchscreens, CR-Touch, and modern quality-of-life upgrades became commonplace, it’s refreshing to see Klipper remain a core component of the K2SE. For users who are on the fence about moving away from heavy DIY builds, this printer strikes a compelling balance—offering reliability and speed without sacrificing control. Perhaps the most underrated benefit is time savings. The K2SE is noticeably faster than older models, and its intuitive touchscreen interface makes it accessible even for non-technical users in my household. After setup, my wife and children can confidently start prints on their own, which speaks volumes about the usability of the system. Print quality alone justifies the upgrade for patient users. While some may find the stock cooling fans slightly underpowered, the machine compensates with excellent compatibility for multi-tool and threaded expansion systems—an advantage over many Bowden-dependent designs that require significant modification for production or multi-material workflows. And as a final bonus, despite being scheduled for February delivery, the K2SE arrived weeks early. Getting this machine ahead of schedule was the perfect way to confirm that the upgrade was absolutely worth it for the value price point.

TL;DR: A fantastic upgrade from older bed-slinger printers. Essentially a K1C without the camera or side panels — fast, accurate, and highly recommended. I upgraded from an Ender 3 V2 that had been giving me issues, and switching to the Creality K1 SE felt like magic — I was able to print my first job with zero manual setup. Everything from homing to auto leveling, nozzle cleaning, bed meshing, and input shaping worked right out of the box. I saw some reviews complaining about how to get prints onto the printer, but I had no issues at all. Using the stock firmware with Orca Slicer and connecting via local IP using Creality Print worked perfectly. One of the main reasons I chose this printer over others is that it's basically a K1C without the added extras (like the camera and side panels), offering the same build quality and performance. It’s also open in terms of firmware — no locked-down software or mandatory cloud printing if you don’t want it. You’re free to modify and customize as needed. So far, I’ve really enjoyed using the K1 SE. It's fantastic to be able to print without a hassle. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a reliable, high-performance 3D printer at a reasonable price.

TL:DR - I like most of it. I purchased this to be my dedicated PLA printer so that my other enclosed 3D printer can be dedicated to the engineering plastics that need an enclosure like ABS and Nylon. I have had it for 5 days at the time of this review and have put 28 hours of print time on it. First Impression: The printer is "cute" compared to my two much larger Core-XY printers. It is smaller than what I am used to. Build quality is good and the design is pleasing to the eye. Fit and finish is good quality. It basically looks like a well-designed consumer appliance like a toaster oven. The frame has no flex, the belts are properly tensioned, the head movement is smooth. The accessory box is well thought out and organized. The mobile app and computer app works well enough. It is easy enough for an INTELIGENT child to use. Creality actually sends a quarter spool of filament with the machine, not a couple of feet. A freaking spool of filament! I was able to print two articulated dragons with the filament it came with. Setup: Setup was quick. Removed a few screws to that holds the bed in place during shipping, attach the spool holder, attach the touch screen. SET THE VOLTAGE TO 115v (US)<--- VERY IMPORTANT. Plug it in, Power it on. Go through the on-screen setup. Set up wifi. Install the app on my phone and my laptop. Sign up for Creality Cloud. Easy. Maybe 20 minutes for me. Prints: Print speed is fast. Head movement causes the entire machine to vibrate and I have noticed the entire machine moves a 2-3 mm from its starting position after it completes a 4-hour print. I 3D printed and glued "speed bumps" on the table so that the printer does not scoot itself off the table. Bed adhesion is good and first layer quality is great. The first layer is very smooth and even. I have had two failed prints due to poor bed adhesion, but I attribute that to bad slicing parameters, not the printer. Layer to layer quality is good. There is noticeable Ringing (AKA Ghosting) on the prints. That is disappointing because the printer went through an input shaping routine during setup. Input shaping is supposed to remove the ringing. This of course can be reduced by slowing the prints down. The Negatives: FIRST, My first attempt at sending a job from Orca Slicer to the K1 SE failed with errors. It seems that using Orca Slicer is not as easy as using the Creality Cloud app. A quick Google search is indicating that I may have to root the firmware to get seamless communication with Orca Slicer. If you are new to 3D printing and have no idea what I am talking about - this first negative can be ignored. But for me, my bigger machines talk to Orca Slicer. It would be nice to just use one slicer. SECOND, the printer is LOUD. It is mostly the print head’s fan sounding like a hair blow dryer or a small vacuum cleaner. It is possible to reduce the fan speed to lower the noise, but the design uses one fan to both cool the head and cool the part. I worry that if the fan is set too low, the print head would suffer from heat creep and clog. THIRD, the prints having ringing. The printer is sitting on a table with a 40 lbs cement base. The table is literally rock solid. With input shaping, there should be no resonance artifacts on the prints. The machine will need to be rooted to fix the firmware settings to remove the ringing. Or I can slow the prints down. FOURTH, Creality Cloud has a paid Premium. I am not sure if the artist and model designers who upload their 3d files into Creality Cloud gets a cut of that money. But something about it leaves a bad impression on me. Conclusion: Overall, the results are promising. As mentioned, this would be my dedicated PLA printer. It fits well for that purpose and this machine has a positive cost to features ratio. Hopefully, the machine has longevity. I have great plans for it.

Fast and easy to setup and use. Even the steps needed to use fluidd/mainsail are easy to execute and update. It is very much a remove from box, turn on (wait for calibration) and use. The PC and mobile software is really easy and convenient to use, while I heavily recommend getting the $20 AI camera that is available. Now, here is the super sneaky way of making it even cooler if you're up for a little bit of creative repurposing things. I had a broken dishwasher that I pulled out all the internal workings of, the top rack, and then modified the bottom rack to have an open front, cut the tines off and measured and cut a piece of plywood for a bottom. The printer sits inside the dishwasher, and using the modified bottom rack, it rolls in and out when I need to change filament. Making this enclosure, and having the AI camera on the printer, has given me an absolutely silent printer, that's easy and convenient to access. I even went as far as to equip some PC fans on the bottom and sides that can attach to an exhaust tube if I need to either cool the chassis (which I haven't yet) or vent harmful fumes. The MCU hasn't gotten any hotter, and the enclosure keeps a very stable temp. Just an idea for those that are comfortable with building their own enclosure that might look a bit unorthodox, but is incredible in practice. Mine is attached to a platform I built using a couple PA speaker cabinets, but I could have just as easily built a rolling cabinet island for the kitchen or workshop and mounted it inside that. Once quieted down and temp controlled in this enclosure, I was able to push the stock hardware to its absolute limits without any issues. Prints that would have taken 29hrs are clocking in at 6hrs, without any issues with quality (and this is with PETG, with PLA being able to push even harder) Definitely worth it, and I'm looking at getting the upgrade kit that adds multi filament abilities to it.

One of our favorite Amazon purchases. No issues with operating it, other than something due to human error. Ran a bad filament so have had to replace the hot end, which was a $30 fix. Overall great first printer and super easy to navigate.

Never had 3d printer before. So for the cost this printer worked right away. Printed the demo piece and wow! Super awesome. Find correct assembly video it was easy to get it to work.

The Creality K1, K1C, and this K1 SE are essentially the same printer with some minor differences. This is by far the best 3D printer I've ever owned and has been a breeze to print with. I can get it connected wirelessly and manage all my prints from my devices. I opted to also purchase the add-on camera which I will install later. Prints are fast, the adhesion has been great, and The quality of the printed objects has been phenomenal, the supports have also been really easy to remove. My only complaint is the noise. The printer is silent when you turn it on, but after it finishes a print, there is a fan inside the machine that never shuts off and can get a little irritating. Also, since coming from an Elegoo printer, I miss the direct extrusion and the creality machine is a pain to load and unload. It wastes far too much filament getting it out of the tubing. All in all, this barebones system saves me $200 on what is essentially is the same printer as the K1C. I won't be able to print carbon fiber, but that's a non-issue for me personally. This thing really was plug and play right out of the box.

Major Update: 1 star to 4 stars. Though I found the tech support from the main Creality website very unresponsive and confusing, the Creality support via Amazon portal was very helpful and on top of things. The agent described two main board revisions currently in circulation. Which is why some Sonic Pad combos work great and others are a nightmare. I already had a replacement printer and sonic pad sent out via Amazon. The agent apologized for the inconvenience and offered to send a new board if my replacement printer had the same problems. So for those pulling out your hair, there is a reasonable fix. There is a C13 and C14 board out there. The C13 works fine and as advertised. I learned a lot in the process. Though intensely frustrating, in the end Creality stepped up with a great remedy to my woes. It’s just a matter of asking the right questions in the right place. I’ll update the review again after I get the new printer. ======= Original review: So far 1 star. I’ve only had it for 1 week. I bought during Black Friday promo. I might revise to 2 stars mainly because Creality support let me file for a warranty replacement. I think. Have not received it yet. Is not plug and play even though everything is Creality. Support number is an international call. When you download firmware files, instructions are in Chinese. I used AI to translate. I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to prove it was defective out of the box. Tech support is an AI agent. After that you get placed in queue for another chat agent who just gives links to support articles. Warranty AI agent asked for a video of my troubleshooting. I replied that would take days. I did provide pictures of all the error codes I had. As an engineer, I also created a log of everything I had tried to get it working short of opening the case and resoldering the circuit board myself. SD card had file errors requiring a format. SD card reader is dead. Bootloader is dead. LCD screen shows main plate is not level. Will not acknowledge any firmware files. MCU faulty. Sonic Pad cannot connect. Does not come with a legit USB C cable. It’s micro usb with a cheap adapter. Amazon is sending a replacement Sonic Pad. Very frustrating for my 1st 3D printer. I’ll revise if I ever get a replacement. Agent said a ticket had been created and another agent would email me for next steps. So far no email. I’m thinking they might send me a replacement motherboard I have to install myself instead of a whole new printer. We will see. update: Contacted Creality support to followup on warranty replacement ticket #. Agent did not have access to that ticket #. Created another ticket with Amazon order #, order date and reasons for warranty replacement. Agent said an email with further instructions would be sent. So far no email instructions have been received for either tickets. I'm pretty sure tech support agent is completely AI, based on responses exactly the same as previous chat. Ordered replacement from Amazon because it would be much faster than waiting on Creality. Update: I bought the Sonic Pad and printer as a Creality bundle. I received an email from Creality that these two items are incompatible and would not work. I replied, so you were selling a bundle that would not work? Makes no sense.