Transparent pink isn't a colour you buy by accident. In January 2021 I tested the Translucent Pink PLA from Xingtong Zhi Lian (XTZL3D), who kindly sent me a spool, and it turned out to be one of the easiest filaments I'd printed so far.
Benchmarks at 205 degrees
As always, I split the review into benchmarks, tabletop pieces and useful objects. This time I swapped my usual Benchy for a more detailed boat I found on Thingiverse, with lots of details inside. I found the sweet spot at 205 °C and kept it there for every single print in the video. No adhesion problems and almost no stringing: you have to get really close to spot it.
Because it's transparent, you can actually see the infill inside, which is great for educational purposes too. To push the stringing test further I printed a pineapple, and there wasn't a single string. Then the CaliCat, with sharp edges and corners: simply amazing. It feels like a hard, sturdy PLA, yet it looks very delicate.
Tabletops and lights
The best use for translucent PLA is anything that plays with light: a lantern, a lamp, a lithophane. I printed Casper the ghost, which my kids loved. With a light behind it, it looks great in their room. I also printed one of the easy dinosaurs/Pokémon I collect in every colour. The transparency gives it a different, glossier, slightly stiffer feel than regular PLA.
A vase in vase mode usually looks like it's about to break, but this one came out great. Make a hole for air, drop a candle inside, and you have a lamp.
Something useful
Finding a use for transparent pink isn't easy. My daughter, who was four, was starting to read, so I printed her some paper clips for her books. A week later they still worked. My articulated piranha was a little stiff to open at first (maybe this PLA's melting point is slightly higher), but after a bit of force it works perfectly.
At around 20 euros on Amazon at the time, it sat in the medium-cheap range, and I kept finding myself reaching for this brand because it was easy to print and never gave me trouble.