The Elegoo Neptune 2S: A Budget-Friendly 3D Printer That Delivers

The Elegoo Neptune 2S has been the "starter printer" recommendation in maker circles for a while now, and with good reason. It does one thing exceptionally well: it prints solid parts at a price point that makes getting into 3D printing a no-brainer. But the market has evolved. Is the Neptune 2S still worth buying in 2026?

Short answer: yes, with caveats. Let me explain.

What You Get for Under $200

The Neptune 2S ships with a 220 x 220 x 250 mm build volume, a direct drive extruder (not Bowden — this matters), a silent TMC2208 motherboard, and a textured PEI magnetic build plate. Assembly takes about 30-45 minutes with the included tools.

Out of the box, print quality is genuinely impressive for the price. My first benchy at default Cura settings — 0.2 mm layer height, 50 mm/s, 200°C nozzle, 60°C bed — came out clean. No stringing worth mentioning, decent bridging, good dimensional accuracy (within 0.15 mm on a 20 mm calibration cube).

The direct drive extruder is the Neptune 2S's secret weapon at this price point. Most sub-$200 printers in previous generations used Bowden setups, which struggle with flexible filaments like TPU. The direct drive means you can print TPU at 20-30 mm/s with no modifications. That alone opens up a world of phone cases, gaskets, vibration dampeners, and flexible hinges that Bowden printers can't touch reliably.

Real-World Performance

I ran the Neptune 2S as my secondary printer for three months. Here are the actual numbers:

• PLA at 50 mm/s: Excellent quality, consistent layers, no issues. This is the Neptune's comfort zone.
• PLA at 80 mm/s: Still good. Minor ringing on sharp corners, but acceptable for functional parts.
• PLA at 100+ mm/s: Quality degrades noticeably. The bed-slinger design (Y-axis moves the heavy bed) introduces ghosting at higher speeds. If you want speed printing, this isn't your machine.
• PETG at 45 mm/s: Works well. Bed at 80°C, nozzle at 235°C, minimal stringing with 6 mm retraction at 40 mm/s.
• TPU at 25 mm/s: Surprisingly smooth. The direct drive handles shore 95A TPU without jams. Slower than PLA, but reliable.

What's Missing

At this price, you're making tradeoffs. Here's what the Neptune 2S doesn't have:

• No auto bed leveling: You're manually leveling with the paper method. It works, but it's tedious and you'll need to redo it every 10-15 prints or after any bed removal. A BLTouch/CRTouch upgrade costs about $40 and is the first mod I'd recommend.
• No enclosure: ABS and ASA are technically possible but warping will be a constant battle without an enclosure. Stick to PLA, PETG, and TPU.
• No WiFi or network connectivity: USB and microSD only. You're physically walking files to the printer or running OctoPrint on a Raspberry Pi.
• No input shaper: Speed is mechanically limited. This is a 50-80 mm/s machine, not a 200+ mm/s race car.

Neptune 2S vs. the 2026 Competition

The landscape has changed. The Bambu Lab A1 Mini ($199), Creality Ender-3 V3 SE ($179), and Anycubic Kobra 3 ($189) all compete directly. Each has auto bed leveling out of the box. The A1 Mini adds wireless connectivity and a camera. The Ender-3 V3 SE has linear rods and decent speed.

So why still consider the Neptune 2S? Two reasons. First, the direct drive at this price is still uncommon — the Ender-3 V3 SE uses Bowden. Second, the Neptune 2S has a massive community with years of troubleshooting guides, Cura profiles, and upgrade paths documented.

Who Should Buy This Printer

The Elegoo Neptune 2S is ideal if you want a reliable, well-documented starter printer that handles PLA, PETG, and TPU without fuss. It's not the newest or fastest, but it's proven. Thousands of makers have learned on this machine, and the support community is enormous.

If speed and wireless features matter to you, look at the Bambu Lab A1 Mini. If budget is absolute priority, the Ender-3 V3 SE edges it out on price. But if you want a solid direct-drive printer with a huge upgrade ecosystem, the Neptune 2S still earns its recommendation.