Formlabs Form 3+ vs. Phrozen Sonic Mini and Mighty Series

Phrozen's Sonic Mini and Mighty Series offer a low-cost entry into the world of resin 3D printing. They're ideal for hobbyists, students, and anyone getting started with resin 3D printing, but they do require a great deal of tinkering and time invested to achieve successful prints. Material selection is limited, which curbs the range of potential applications. 

Phrozen's Sonic Mini printers start at $349 while the Sonic Mighty Series start at $649. This doesn't include software, but Phrozen's Premium Slicer is available for $299. Manual washing and curing kit is also available for an additional $199. No option for professional service.

*Low-cost resin printing comes with hidden costs, mainly much higher labor costs due to the lower reliability and complex workflow. If you're planning to use 3D printing for your business, the Form 3+ will become more cost-effective than a low-cost resin printer in a few months of operation while delivering better part performance and fewer headaches.

mSLA uses an LED array as the light source and an LCD photomask to shape the layer image onto the bottom of the tank. The LCD screen in Phrozen Sonic Mini and Mighty Series printers is rated at 2,000 hours, which means that it requires frequent replacements.

Phrozen offers a more limited selection of materials, especially for professional applications. Functional resins have inferior mechanical, thermal, and creep performance, building parts that are often brittle, dimensionally inaccurate, not functional, or not fitting together. 

Materials are not validated on the printer, which results in more failed prints and overall lower quality. The part may fail during use or simply not meet the specifications and needs to be reprinted or even outsourced. 

Low-cost resins also have strong odors requiring ventilation and may contain more hazardous chemicals.

Phrozen's Premium Slicer doesn't come included with the printer purchase, but costs an additional $299. It offers a more limited set of features and is only available for Windows.

There’s no logging system on the printers, no remote print monitoring, and no online dashboard to manage printers, print jobs, or materials.

Phrozen hardware comes with 3-12 months of limited warranty and there is little or no support provided for customers other than self-service online. Knowledge base is limited and customers often need to rely on community forums to debug their printers. 

Low-cost resin printers typically have a 60-70% print success rate out of the box. This causes project delays from unexpected failure, resin waste from failed prints, extra labor costs from reprints, and worry from not knowing what will happen after pressing “print”. Tuning the printer can increase the print success rate but that requires time and experimentation.

There are no sensors to detect and prevent common failure modes. In case of failures, resin can cover and damage critical optical surfaces of the printer, and the printer requires a lenghty clean-up.

Phrozen is an emerging company founded by 3D printing enthusiasts that develops resin 3D printers predominantly for hobbyist and personal use.