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A**R
Bright and clear with surprisingly decent audio
DISCLAIMER: I received this projector at no cost on the condition I write a review. The impressions and opinions are my own.We are very happy with this “budget” projector. We had replaced our TV several months ago with an even cheaper projector (a QKK mini-projector, purchased new on Amazon for ~$65). and though we’d been quite happy with that one, this a notable upgrade. We have it set up on a shelf, projecting on a blank white living room wall. It has a Roku attached, and that is it—the projector audio is good enough that we haven’t felt the need to set up external speakers. We had installed blackout curtains for the old one, but this one is bright enough that we often don’t need them for casual viewing, even in the daytime. The front of the projector is just under 10' from the wall, which yields an image just over 100”. Vertically, the projector sits roughly in the middle of that image, though it throws a bit more up than down.Here’s more detailed overview of our experience so far, from watching several movies, cartoons, and YouTube videos in this first week we’ve had it. See pictures also: some were taken with lights out and blackout curtains drawn, others with blinds wide open and all the lights on. Take them with a grain of salt, though, since cameras don’t capture projections that well ...PROS:* Good resolution - It seems like every budget projector boasts “1080p support”, but are actually 480p. (Read the descriptions carefully.) That was the case for our old one, and it was fine, but this one actually has the 1920x1080 resolution—and it’s very nice and clear. You can still just see pixels when it’s blown up to the size of a wall, but we haven’t found it distracting and even small text is readable.* Bright - Our projection wall is right next to a sliding glass door, so when it’s light outside (into the evening when it's summer), the projector has a lot to compete with. For dark movies—or just for the full theater experience—we make sure the room is dark, and draw the blackout curtains, or details get washed out. But for many movies or videos, this is bright enough to not worry about it too much. We’ll often put on an exercise video or watch cartoons in the morning/afternoon, and it’s still a sufficiently clear and colorful image even with blinds open and lights on.* Surprisingly decent audio - The “TruSurround” audio setting does a surprising job at “separating” sounds, making voices and foreground sounds quite clear, while music and background sounds still sound good for action and dramas alike. I’m not a big audiophile, so YMMV, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. (Pro tip: When switching between audio settings, take the volume down 20pts before switching to TruSurround. It's much louder than the other two. But those other two options sound muddy to me, so we don’t use them.)* Even focusing - When the image is focused, it’s pretty evenly focused across the whole image. It’s not perfect—maybe a hair fuzzier at the edges if it’s perfect in the center—but I haven’t found it distracting or even noticeable while watching.* IR sensors on front and back - We can point the projector remote at the screen (the wall), and the signal bounces off and makes it to the projector. A nice touch. That way we don’t have to point the remote over our heads to change the volume.* USB powerful enough for Roku - as a small bonus, the USB ports have enough oomph to power the Roku (the cheapest Roku, not the stick kind).* No overheating issues so far - I’ve tried running it for ~5hrs in a row so far, back-to-back movies, and haven’t had any issues.CONS:* Somewhat unbalanced colors - The colors often seem either muted or oversaturated in the same image. This isn’t a huge issue, but we often end up turning the color settings up or down a bit depending on the movie. Most are fine at the defaults (Color: 50), for instance, while on others we’ve needed to drop color to 35 to avoid weirdly red/orange faces. Cartoons and anime look consistently great, however, as the color over/undersaturation just makes things pop.* Dust cleaning? - Eventually, after some weeks or months, dust will accumulate on the lenses inside, which will appear on the image. I think this happens with all projectors. The manual (which is in broken English) does not mention this, or how to clean it. However, peeling back the sticker on the bottom reveals a dust removal port. In principle one can then use compressed air or a blow dryer (with cold air) to blow dust off the lenses. No dust has accumulated yet, so I haven’t tried this yet.* Lens cap only loosely attached - The lens cap attaches by friction, but only loosely. This hasn’t been an issue so far, but I wonder if it’ll start falling off eventually. I plan to make a dust-cover for the whole projector eventually though, so not a biggie.* Auto-detect resolution issues (maybe a Roku problem) - This might just be a Roku problem, and not a projector issue, but I’ve found the Roku can freak out and start throwing up starting and image artifacts when the Roku resolution setting is set to “auto-detect”. Changing it to 1080p manually in the Roku settings fixes this. This didn’t happen with our old 480p projector.Is this one worth the price? I can’t really say, since we got it for free to test and review it, and I haven’t tried any others at this price point. As far as replacing a TV with it: I think I’m glad that we started with an even cheaper one to try it out. We’ve been happy we did, but the switch isn’t for everyone. For us, that first $65 projector, Roku, and IKEA shelf, curtain rod, and blackout curtains totaled something like $170, a very reasonable start-up cost for an experimental home theater. But if we weren’t reasonably happy with that first one, I doubt we would’ve liked this one, either. This is an upgrade in every way from our first projector, and at ~$100 more definitely makes for a better experience. But it’s still a projector. It doesn’t have the pristine image quality and flexibility of a big HD television (especially for dark movies), the image is affected by ambient light, and the built-in audio isn’t magical. But it gives us a fun wall-sized screen with good sound at a fraction the cost, and that’s worth it to us.
R**S
AMAZING <$150 Projector
I should probably have titled this review, "Why do we need another projector?" That's what my wife said when this one showed up... Maybe I have a problem, but when I saw that I could get this projector for $149 ($160 + $20 coupon), my finger automatically clicked the button to put it in my cart. Admittedly it took a few more clicks to actually check out, but did you see what I got it for?!?!I have a couple of other projectors from this company that I use for digital decorations in the yard (Halloween, Christmas) and I've used the smaller ones for projecting movies out by the pool. Those smaller projectors have always had a couple of challenges; 1) it was hard to get a large enough picture and 2) the brightness of the image left a bit to be desired. This is fine because those were super inexpensive projectors and they got the job done.This is a much larger projector and the size is no longer a problem. The product description claims up to a 200" image. I was playing around with it in my media room and I believe them. I currently have a 132" diagonal screen and filling it up was not a problem. I haven't tried it outside by the pool yet, but my outdoor screen is actually a bit smaller. I could immediately tell a difference in brightness. I don't claim to know the different lumens levels, but the brightness of this projector rivaled my epson projector in my media room. Also, it's actually quieter than my epson.Pros:1 - PRICE!2 - Ease of use (simple menus)3 - PRICE!4 - (Almost) all needed accessories included. (HDMI Cable, AV Cable) It would be nice if they included a couple of cheap AAA batteries for the remote, but they left me plenty of money to buy some.5 - Built-in speakers (I guess), but I use a nice speaker outside for the sound.Cons:1 - Manual Keystone adjustment (this is the control to make the screen square instead of a parallelogram) - but I'm prepared to not care due to... wait for it... PRICE!2 - Lens cover does not stay on. It's a friction fit and it comes off way too easily. I guess that's why they included the cleaning cloth. :) Again, this is NOT a big deal.Summary:As a buyer, you MUST be educated. Don't buy this projector and expect 4K super-detailed images. This is a VERY nice projector for under $200, and if you're lucky like me, under $150. You could use it in a starter media room, but I'd definitely use something else for sound. It would be great for a kids room or for gaming. I think it's also a great one for outdoor use. The brightness is impressive and it's nice and quiet.Thanks and I hope you enjoyed my review. Now I need to go hide this projector before my wife gets home.
S**R
Wonderful product!
This is a fantastic projector. The resolution and color are great. I purchased an Amazon Fire stick to expand the capabilities and options of this projector and am glad I did..On occasion I have opted to watch programs on the projector instead of watching them on my television set.The controls are easy to navigate. The focus is great when projecting on a screen or wall I have not noticed any distortion on the edges.The brightness is wonderful. I have watched shows in the daylight, with the sun shining through the window with no difficulty. I have tried to expand the display to its maximum, but ran out of wall space. The larg display I did get was great.The sound from the fan is hardly noticeable. Sound output is great, crisp and clear. When connected to an inexpensive portable speaker the sound is such that you could be in a home theater.I have used this projector for PowerPoint presentations and the output is amazing. The output was almost identical to the one I got when I used in public library conference center.It is sturdily built and a convenient size for use. It is mountable, however, I have not opted to do this.In summary, this is all I need in the way of a projector. You can pay more, but I really do not think you are getting much more in value.
Trustpilot
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
