Anycubic Stealth Releases the Photon Mono X2

Last Updated on September 30, 2022 by FauxHammer

Table of Contents show

Blink and you’ll miss it or what?! I genuinely don’t understand Anycubic’s marketing team – it’s probably an Eastern thing to do it in such a way, but once again they come along with a product refresh and hardly anyone knows about it. I didn’t get an email and I subscribe to their mailing lists. I reached out to my Anycubic contact today just to check in and they said “oh, we have the Mono X 2 coming” “When’s that coming” I ask. “mid to end of October they say”. So I do some googling and, well. it’s available to buy now for immediate shipping.

Please Note: This site uses affiliate links. Our Affiliate Partners are shown below
(Affiliate links will result in compensation to the site on qualifying purchases)

Click this link & buy your hobby stuff from Element Games for the UK & Europe to support FauxHammer.com – Use Code “FAUX2768” at the checkout for double reward points.

Artus-Opus-FauxHammer-Starter-Set-Banner-3

Our Affiliates / Hobby Stores

UK: Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games, Mighty Lancer, Goblin Gaming, Forbidden Planet, Model Scenery Supplies, eBay, Amazon
US/Canada: MTechCave, GameKastle, eBay (US), eBay (CA), Amazon

Germany: Taschengelddieb
Europe: eBay (DE), eBay (FR), eBay (ES), eBay (IT), Amazon
Australia: eBay, Amazon

Global: RedGrass Games, Warcolours

3D Printers: Phrozen 3D, Elegoo, Anycubic

FauxHammer – Latest Video on YouTube

Anycubic Photon Mono X2 – Introducton

The mono X is an odd beast in Anycubi’s lineup. Their highest resolution LCD printer at the moment is the Mono 4k with it’s 35μm XY pixel size. Though arguably the Mono X 6K 34 μm, like a micron is going to matter between LCD screens.

The X series are Anycubic’s Mid-Size printers. With Screen Sizes between 8″ & 10″

So what has changed with the Mono X2 when compared to the Mono X?

Anycubic Photon Mono X2 – Vs Mono X

First, there is a noticeable change in form factor, The Mono X2 boasts more futuristic lines in its chassis, I can’t imagine any function purpose with this change. aesthetically we are looking at the difference between an Alienware laptop and a Dell. Kind of, Almost, maybe.

Inside though, there have been a few small changes

	Mono X	Mono X 2
Screen Size	8.9″	9.1″
Screen Resolution	3840 x 2400 px	4096 x 2560 px
Pixel Size	0.050 mm (50µm)	0.048mm (48µm)
Build Volume (XYZ)	192 x120 x 245 mm (WDH)	196 x 122 x 200 mm (WDH)

So, if you are currently a Mono X owner you can probably tell that there’s little need to upgrade.

Whilst the screen resolution has now improved to what is generally coined “Ultra 4k”, (4096x2560px). Which is a 4% increase from the previous generations, slightly above standard, 3840×2400 (Standard is 3840×2160 at 21:9). The screen size is also larger. 3.8% larger, So the improvement difference in resolution, is 0.2%

Oh and with the new reduction in both depth (2mm) and height (45mm), you are looking at an overall 15% reduction in build volume over its predecessor.

Anycubic advises it’s faster and more stable, but until we see hands-on, this is an arbitrary metric of comparison.

No wonder we haven’t seen any of the usual suspects getting advanced copies of the printer to review. There’s nothing new or exciting here. But its release does benefit many of us considering a new printer.

Anycubic Photon Mono X2 – Should I Buy one?

Well, If you don’t know already, let me tell you again, I’m a miniature painter. So my focus when reviewing 3D Printers is it’s performance when printing miniatures. Occasionally I’ll print a bust or something larger just because the printer can, and the models look cool. But when printing miniatures, Pretty much one thing matters to me. The Pixel Size on the LCD.

And this, well it’s a bit below what I would consider being standard by offering only 48µm.

Better choices for resolution include the Anycubic Mono 4k as mentioned above offering 35µm resolution. However, with those printers, I do often feel somewhat limited by the size of the 6.23″ build plate.

Here you are getting half again on XY area over those printers, but at the cost of resolution.

I personally wouldn’t choose one of these for miniatures, not right now anyway. I’d take advantage of the fact that Anycubic has slashed the price of their original Mono X to $349 to sell off old stock. Right now, for the difference, that’s still the better buying choice.

But if you are ok with spending the $429.00 for the Mono X2 there is a bonus option if you can reach just a little deeper into your pockets.

Anycubic Photon Mono X2 – Buy This Instead

Whilst the Mono X2 is no showstopper, and I’d argue a somewhat pointless upgrade over the Mono X for the consumer. With the release of this new printer. Anycubic has also slashed the prices on another X series printer.

The Mono X 6k

The Mono X 6k has a 9.23″ screen, lklarger than the Mono X2

An XY resolution of 34 μm, rivalling the Mono 4k, the Elegoo Mars 3 Pro and the Phrozen Sonic Mini 4k. Though this is by 1 micron.

And! The Mono 6k has a larger build resolution than any of the above with 290 x 270 x 475mm, over double the Mono x 2’s height!

So if you are happy with the current standard of 35μm printers, which I have already said is the sweet spot for miniature printers. Then here you get that resolution and the benefit of a much larger print volume.

That’s more than worth another $70 on top of the current Mono X2 price, you’ll regret not spending the extra. And that makes the Mono X2 a hard sell until we see some discounts.

So yeah, get a Mono 6k, but get them before they sell out!