Resolution is one of the key aspects of any 3D printer, particularly resin 3D printers. In a resin 3D printer, LCD screens are the components that give you your print resolution, acting as permeable masks for the light source beneath them.

Two of the printers we have here – the Anycubic Photon Mono and Mono SE – feature a 2K LCD screen at 2560 x 1620 pixels. Working with their identical print areas (the Photon Mono offers 5 mm more on the Z-axis, but that is irrelevant to the resolution), the XY-resolution comes out as 51 microns (0.051 mm).

With the Anycubic Photon Mono X, you have a higher 4K resolution LCD at 3840 x 2400 pixels in size. This though is effectively cancelled out by its much larger print area of 192 x 120 mm though, with the XY-resolution coming out at 51 microns (0.051 mm) – identical to its smaller siblings.

All three machines should achieve a minimum layer height of 10 microns, guaranteeing very detailed prints across the board.

With the exception of the print volume, this is probably the most notable difference between the three printers. At least, that’s the case in regards to the Photon Mono SE, with which Anycubic stuck to its original design of the Photon series featuring the compact cover design and the upward-opening door. For the Photon Mono and Mono X, Anycubic decided to go with what has really become the most prolific design choice for budget resin printers – a removable acrylic top cover.

One other difference we encountered was to be found on the print plate of the Photon SE, which offers a single screw for levelling the plate instead of the four found on the Mono and Mono X. It’s a small thing that makes life a tiny bit easier, but if leveling annoys you at all it’s going to be a big plus point in the SE’s favor.

As always from an appearance perspective, it comes down to personal taste whether you prefer one design over another. From a usability perspective though, having a completely accessible area makes the removal and preparation of prints just a tad easier. Using resin printers can be a messy experience, so yeah, the Mono and Mono X might have a bit more of a budget vibe, but from our experience with machines from both spectrums, we find it to be more convenient.

Every printer in the Photon Mono range here features a USB connection – it would be weird if they didn’t – but the Mono SE and the Mono X also each come equipped with a Wi-Fi connectivity module. Unfortunately, it isn’t just a simple case of just connecting to the printer. To do that you need to use Anycubic’s companion app, which comes as an .apk file preloaded on the USB stick that you’ll find in the box with the printer. It’s not a particularly helpful way to share an app intended for smartphone use, especially as there’s no phone on earth with a USB Type A slot. After being confused for a few minutes, a quick Google of ‘Anycubic app’ took us to a page where you can download the app from Anycubic’s website, before we then sidestepped out security settings to install it. What a hassle.

Oh, and the app is only available for Android devices too, so if you’re using an iPhone it’s tough luck.

You don’t have to be a genius to realise the Photon Mono X has the biggest build volume here. Before we get to that though, let’s put numbers to the smaller scale printers here. The Photon Mono offers ~1.72 liters of print volume, slightly outperforming the Photon Mono SE with its ~1.66-liter capacity. Both printers provide identical X and Y-axis dimensions (they use the same print bed), but the Mono offers half a centimeter more on the Z-axis.

On the other hand, the Mono X provides a beefy ~5.65-liter volume, practically tripling the volume of the Mono and Mono SE. In other words, it should have more than enough space for your printing ideas.

One perk the Mono SE has going for itself is the inbuild activated carbon filters. Coming from no-filter on the original Photon to two on the Photon S, Anycubic retained the dual setup on the Photon Mono SE – located at the rear of the printer. What’s new here are the mounted fans on top of the activated carbon filters, which promise active filtration and could have an actual effect on the strong odor, an undesirable side-effect of resin printing. By placing the filters outside of the enclosed bottom frame, Anycubic has positioned them so that replacing them is possible (these components will eventually wear out over time), though we can’t say how easy that will be. The Mono and Mono X, however, have to make do without the perks of the filter system.

All three contestants here feature a monochrome screen – hence the ‘Mono’ name. These screens drastically cut down curing times of ~8 seconds on non-mono screens to 1-2 seconds. However, even the best mono screen is only as powerful as its light source is underneath it, which is directly reflected in printing speed (mm/h). The Photon Mono SE has a more powerful light source than the Mono, which explains the difference in print speed, from just 50 mm/h on the Mono to 80mm/h on the Mono SE.

The Mono X, although having probably the most powerful light source of the three, is listed at 60mm/h due to a larger print area. Still, pretty fast for its size.

And perhaps the essential difference between these budget big-hitters is the price. With $270, the Photon Mono is the most affordable of the pack and viable contestant to other budget resin printers such as the Mars 2 Pro or Creality’s LD-002H. The Anycubic Photon Mono SE, with its usability-improving features and faster printing time, homes in around $350. It’s pretty nice to have the extra features of the SE – and don’t forget the filtration system – for not a great deal more. Meanwhile, the largest of the three, the Mono X, retails around $630 so it’s far harder to fairly judge it on price against its siblings.

Weighing these three machines off against each other wouldn’t be a fair fight as the Mono X plays in a different weight class. With its large build volume and 4K resolution, it is definitely a viable entry into the mid-sized resin printers section and could fill the demand created by the Elegoo Saturn, but it’s very unlikely we will see this anytime prior to 2021.

The differences between the Mono and Mono SE lie mostly in the appearance of the printers and their usability. Sporting the same area and XY-resolution, the Mono SE’s carbon filtration, metal resin vat, larger Z-axis height, and more powerful light source are viable upgrades improving the handling and justifying the jump in price.

Seasoned resin-heads will have as much fun as complete newcomers with these machines. The whole product range promises high-quality prints with little effort. It’s up to you to decide which size these prints should have.