The Ender 3 S1 Pro was a meaningful upgrade when it launched in 2022: all-metal hotend, direct drive, PEI bed, and CR Touch leveling on the Ender 3 platform. In 2025, those features are standard on $200 machines, and the 150mm/s speed cap is a real liability against the Ender 3 V3 at $199. The S1 Pro’s case today is the all-metal hotend enabling 300°C materials on a familiar Ender 3 frame, at a price that’s often discounted below $300.
What It Does Well
The all-metal Sprite extruder reaches 300°C reliably — adequate for nylon, PA, and some high-temp materials that PTFE-lined hotends can’t handle cleanly. This is genuinely useful and was the main S1 Pro upgrade over the base S1.
Direct drive improves TPU and flex filament printing significantly over Bowden setups. Retraction is shorter, feed is more direct, and buckling issues that plague long Bowden tubes with soft filament are eliminated.
110°C bed temperature supports ABS first layer adhesion. Combined with the 300°C nozzle, the S1 Pro has the hardware for ABS/ASA with a DIY enclosure — an add-on that older Ender 3 models needed both an extruder upgrade AND a hotend upgrade to achieve.
Where It Falls Short
150mm/s max speed hasn’t aged well. The Ender 3 V3 ($199) runs at 600mm/s on CoreXZ with Klipper. A print that takes 8 hours on the S1 Pro takes 2–3 hours on the V3. The speed gap at half the price makes the S1 Pro difficult to recommend unless it’s heavily discounted.
Marlin firmware without input shaping means ringing artifacts appear above 100mm/s. The effective quality printing range is 60–100mm/s for outer perimeters — slow by modern standards.
220×220mm build area is standard but the 270mm Z is a minor advantage. The extra 20mm over the standard 250mm occasionally useful for taller prints, but not a differentiating factor.
No enclosure limits ABS and ASA to smaller parts. Even with the 300°C hotend and 110°C bed, ABS warping on the open frame is likely on parts wider than 100mm.
Materials
PLA and PLA+: 215–220°C, 60°C bed. Reliable at 60–100mm/s. Use the Creality default profiles for the S1 Pro — they’re appropriately conservative for the speed range.
PETG: 240–245°C, 70–80°C bed. Fan 30–40%. The S1 Pro’s speed range (60–100mm/s) is well-suited for PETG quality — the slow speed is a feature here rather than a limitation.
TPU (95A): 220°C, 20–25mm/s. Retraction 0.5mm. Direct drive makes this reliable. Disable retraction entirely if you see inconsistent flow.
ABS and ASA: 240–250°C, 100–110°C bed, zero fan. The hardware supports it — but results depend heavily on whether you’ve added an enclosure. Without one, parts over 80mm in the XY plane will show warping.
Nylon: 250–270°C, 80–90°C bed. Dry thoroughly. The all-metal hotend is necessary. Bed adhesion on PEI is poor for nylon — try Garolite or PVA glue stick.
vs. the Competition
Creality Ender 3 V3 ($199): CoreXZ, 600mm/s, direct drive, Klipper, smaller build area (220×250mm), half the price. For most use cases, the V3 is better and significantly cheaper.
Creality Ender 3 V3 Plus ($289): 300×330mm, 600mm/s, Klipper. Larger AND faster AND cheaper than the S1 Pro. The only case for the S1 Pro now is the 300°C nozzle if the V3 Plus (which also reaches 300°C) is not available at the same discounted price.