Sounds like even if you have creality you still might consider the btt because if you ever decide to get a different printer you can swap it to the btt pretty easily.
Actually, while the Pad 7 is certainly more flexible (the CAN bus is a great option), both pads are mostly to upgrade existing printers. The creality pad is of course most easy to use with creality printers - but beside the few non-creality printers already supported (like the Prusa mini) it also not hard to find config files and instructions for other printers. The pad 7 is much more advanced, but lets be real: If you know how to use CAN and want to use it, a pad to contain your klipper instance wouldn't be the best choice anyway. A tinkerer often moves his printers around, and you want a dedicated controller for each printer (and does two printers using the same CAN in two instances even work?). So it might be better to use a mantra board with cb1 or use an old thin client if you are a tinkerer.
the Pad 7 is great if you build self sourced printers that have smaller or cheaper mainboards. I have 3 printers that run klipper and it's nice to use cheaper MCU to run them and just connect them to one Pad 7. Buying a Manta board every time adds up. There are pros and cons to both and I agree having CAN for more that one printer doesn't make sense.
I had the sonic pad running on Elegoo Neptune printers, but you need to find a bin or have someone build it for you because the sp doesn't have the full make menuconfig. Pad7, cb1, btt-pi all the way.
Thanks for the comparison infos. BTT is not a beginner plug & play but has more room for future. Maybe their firmware upgrades and hardware upgrade is the buying choice for me. Thanks again for your sharing ❤
I have 2 Ender 3s running on a Sonic Pad, but I want to put them in my farm with my Elegoo 3s w/Bigtreetech Pad. Are the Creality-created CFGs compatible with the Pad 7? I'm getting communication errors but haven't tinkered with baud rate or such yet.
Given an Accelerometer is only used for initial setup and tuning occasionally and not always installed, I think the GPIO version is fine. You have 2 USB Ports on the BTT pad so you could always get your own USB based device, like a KUSBA or similar. A lot are happy to use an SPI connected device as it gives a lot of choices.
Watch out with the Sonic Pad. They won't support it even when it fails if you're using non-creality printers. Mine stopped working with MCU overload errors after printing fine for a month no changes made to the configs. They didn't bother to look at my logs just saying that they don't support non-creality printers and keep closing my tickets. Now I have a non-working SP. So if you don't own at least one Creality printer I'd think twice about buying the Sonic Pad. I'm definitely not buying a creality printer just to prove to them that there's a hardware issue with the pad. Maybe I am doing something wrong but they won't even look at my logs. I'm super disappointed because my two printers were running so good on the SP before this happened. kiauh was easier than I expected to get running though so I guess it's for the best. I just really liked the clean looking setup with the Sonic Pad.
@@tvideo1189 Yeah bagged it altogether and went with Klipper on an old Surface Pro. It works great. Also turns out there was nothing wrong with my Sonic Pad it was the USB firmware bug that affects Prusa MK3s's. Easy flash with an Arduino Uno so it's working perfectly now. Zero disconnects now.
Hello, thank you very much for the excellent review, I am a beginner in this and I would like to know what it is like to be able to control 3 Artillery Hornet + 1 Ender 3, which is basically why I would opt for the BIGTREETECH Pad 7, thank you very much!!!
@@Rolohaun appreciate it! I have some Ender 3's heavily modded, and trying to decide if to take separate motherboards and controllers or do something like this.
Since you mentioned the k1 with klipper as well as the custom klipper versions on both the sonic pad and k1: both are violating klippers open source licenses by not publishing tge source code. Hell, early sonic pads even got the part numbers and designations of the processor etched away. For me personally thats a absolute no go. Dont get me wrong, i have nothing against closed source like the bambus or the new prusa xl and mk4 firmware (yes, prusa has now closed source software) as long as you have created it yourself. Im even ok with looking for inspiration at other projects, but straight up taking a open source project, modifying it and calling it your own is just wrong and unethical. Not that i would need the source code or so, but thats not playing by the rules
@@Rolohaun im surprised that this is just accept by the public, meanwhile people are cursing bambu being closed source and nobody noticed that tge new prusas are also closed software wise
Agreed wholeheartedly. There is a time and place for both however, we mustn’t ever forget the open source / open design movement is what has made 3d printing what it is today and is at the heart of the closed source designs hitting the market. I chose the pad7 because BQ stuck with that and it’s incredibly important. Creality is awesome and they’ve done an incredible job. The sonic pad looks great and would’ve been a consideration for me IF they had published, and frankly not altered Klipper. Last, on price, my PAD7 is on the way today and I got it for 129.00.
For the price, its cheaper to buy a pi 4 and a 7 inch touch screen than it is to buy the pad 7. However the creality sonic pad is cheaper than a pi 4 and a 7 inch screen. I bought a pi 4 and screen for $185 aud and a sonic pad for $179 aud. Cant find the pad 7 for under $300 aud. Further it takes minimal work to get debian onto the sonic pad for vanilla klipper.
A few years ago, Creality refused to unlock the version of Marlin that they were/still are loading into their printers. This created a huge wave of people boycotting Creality for locking down open source firmware. If Creality wants to play the lockdown game with their version of open source firmware again, maybe another boycott is in order.
I've got the FLSUN SPEEDER PAD, Swapped out their shitty stock klipper firmware for another one. Running two srs and an anycubic predator from it. It has 3 usb slots. The interface is just like the btt
Sounds like even if you have creality you still might consider the btt because if you ever decide to get a different printer you can swap it to the btt pretty easily.
Actually, while the Pad 7 is certainly more flexible (the CAN bus is a great option), both pads are mostly to upgrade existing printers. The creality pad is of course most easy to use with creality printers - but beside the few non-creality printers already supported (like the Prusa mini) it also not hard to find config files and instructions for other printers. The pad 7 is much more advanced, but lets be real: If you know how to use CAN and want to use it, a pad to contain your klipper instance wouldn't be the best choice anyway. A tinkerer often moves his printers around, and you want a dedicated controller for each printer (and does two printers using the same CAN in two instances even work?). So it might be better to use a mantra board with cb1 or use an old thin client if you are a tinkerer.
It’s the update. They don’t do that much amongst custom stuff. His other video on the creality shows him setting it up on flsun
the Pad 7 is great if you build self sourced printers that have smaller or cheaper mainboards. I have 3 printers that run klipper and it's nice to use cheaper MCU to run them and just connect them to one Pad 7. Buying a Manta board every time adds up. There are pros and cons to both and I agree having CAN for more that one printer doesn't make sense.
You can also use it to control several printers over the network.
I had the sonic pad running on Elegoo Neptune printers, but you need to find a bin or have someone build it for you because the sp doesn't have the full make menuconfig. Pad7, cb1, btt-pi all the way.
Thanks for the comparison infos. BTT is not a beginner plug & play but has more room for future. Maybe their firmware upgrades and hardware upgrade is the buying choice for me. Thanks again for your sharing ❤
I have 2 Ender 3s running on a Sonic Pad, but I want to put them in my farm with my Elegoo 3s w/Bigtreetech Pad. Are the Creality-created CFGs compatible with the Pad 7? I'm getting communication errors but haven't tinkered with baud rate or such yet.
the Pad 7 will work with any klipper config, you should have no problems
Hello, thanks for your information. On Btt pad 7 can I use sovol machines that use creality boards?
yes because it has full normal klipper it will work with any board that supports klipper
Given an Accelerometer is only used for initial setup and tuning occasionally and not always installed, I think the GPIO version is fine. You have 2 USB Ports on the BTT pad so you could always get your own USB based device, like a KUSBA or similar. A lot are happy to use an SPI connected device as it gives a lot of choices.
Watch out with the Sonic Pad. They won't support it even when it fails if you're using non-creality printers. Mine stopped working with MCU overload errors after printing fine for a month no changes made to the configs. They didn't bother to look at my logs just saying that they don't support non-creality printers and keep closing my tickets. Now I have a non-working SP. So if you don't own at least one Creality printer I'd think twice about buying the Sonic Pad. I'm definitely not buying a creality printer just to prove to them that there's a hardware issue with the pad. Maybe I am doing something wrong but they won't even look at my logs. I'm super disappointed because my two printers were running so good on the SP before this happened. kiauh was easier than I expected to get running though so I guess it's for the best. I just really liked the clean looking setup with the Sonic Pad.
Just a heads up, I found BTT support sucked BIG TIME too.
@@tvideo1189 Yeah bagged it altogether and went with Klipper on an old Surface Pro. It works great. Also turns out there was nothing wrong with my Sonic Pad it was the USB firmware bug that affects Prusa MK3s's. Easy flash with an Arduino Uno so it's working perfectly now. Zero disconnects now.
I have a Cr-6 se with BTT CR6 board. Which is the best to use with that?
PAD 7
because toy have already modded your Cr-6 I would take the Pad 7
Can I connect to a Creality ender 3 ve se to the pad 7 and a sovol sv07 to the pad 7 ?
yes that should not be a problem
Sooooo. Bamboo lab printer is not locked in? Like the K1?
The bamboo x1 is locked, the creality k1 has klipper and it was just unlocked for full access
Going on the nightmare im having this Pad 7 might be the answer to run both my machines. Temptation is there.
Will it standard work with the ender 7
the Sonic Pad will work with the Ender 7
Hello, thank you very much for the excellent review, I am a beginner in this and I would like to know what it is like to be able to control 3 Artillery Hornet + 1 Ender 3, which is basically why I would opt for the BIGTREETECH Pad 7, thank you very much!!!
you can run multiple off one pad 7, you might want to have two but getting one and then buying a second one later would be the best
@@Rolohaun Thank you very much!!!
I wonder if someone can/will 'unlock' the Sonic Pad so we can put vanilla Klipper on it?
that would be awesome
@@RolohaunAppears such a thing exists on git. Debian SonicPad.
Thanks awesome
Which one is the best for Ender 3 V3 SE ?
if you want something working out of the box go with the sonic pad
@@Rolohaun
Thank you 😊, the Sonic pads operating system very slow but this pads operating system looks good than the Sonic pad.
How many printers can run off Pad7 at once?
I think 2 - 3 would be ok stock
@@Rolohaun appreciate it! I have some Ender 3's heavily modded, and trying to decide if to take separate motherboards and controllers or do something like this.
How easily can they be changed to can bus?
I have never tried canbus so I don't know
Since you mentioned the k1 with klipper as well as the custom klipper versions on both the sonic pad and k1: both are violating klippers open source licenses by not publishing tge source code. Hell, early sonic pads even got the part numbers and designations of the processor etched away. For me personally thats a absolute no go. Dont get me wrong, i have nothing against closed source like the bambus or the new prusa xl and mk4 firmware (yes, prusa has now closed source software) as long as you have created it yourself. Im even ok with looking for inspiration at other projects, but straight up taking a open source project, modifying it and calling it your own is just wrong and unethical. Not that i would need the source code or so, but thats not playing by the rules
yes I completely agree, hopefully creality releases the firmware soon
@@Rolohaun im surprised that this is just accept by the public, meanwhile people are cursing bambu being closed source and nobody noticed that tge new prusas are also closed software wise
Agreed wholeheartedly. There is a time and place for both however, we mustn’t ever forget the open source / open design movement is what has made 3d printing what it is today and is at the heart of the closed source designs hitting the market. I chose the pad7 because BQ stuck with that and it’s incredibly important. Creality is awesome and they’ve done an incredible job. The sonic pad looks great and would’ve been a consideration for me IF they had published, and frankly not altered Klipper. Last, on price, my PAD7 is on the way today and I got it for 129.00.
For the price, its cheaper to buy a pi 4 and a 7 inch touch screen than it is to buy the pad 7. However the creality sonic pad is cheaper than a pi 4 and a 7 inch screen.
I bought a pi 4 and screen for $185 aud and a sonic pad for $179 aud. Cant find the pad 7 for under $300 aud.
Further it takes minimal work to get debian onto the sonic pad for vanilla klipper.
ya it depends on where you live, for me they are the same price. I like the nice clean setup of the Pad 7 and easy of use. Personal taste though
wow here on amazon the pad 7 is 60USD cheaper
@sarcastrophe6992 the key difference is creality has a pile of distributors and they're all competitive and they do discounts on ebay/Amazon.
A few years ago, Creality refused to unlock the version of Marlin that they were/still are loading into their printers. This created a huge wave of people boycotting Creality for locking down open source firmware. If Creality wants to play the lockdown game with their version of open source firmware again, maybe another boycott is in order.
I've got the FLSUN SPEEDER PAD, Swapped out their shitty stock klipper firmware for another one. Running two srs and an anycubic predator from it. It has 3 usb slots.
The interface is just like the btt
oh ya I heard to can get decent klipper on the speeder pad
Sonic pad 7 has already provided root access. Therefore, it is unrivaled in its characteristics and price!
Sonic Pad and the Pad 7 are the same price. I like the Pad 7 better