I've seen these and similar ultra-low-budget projectors floating around different stores after BlackFriday, and this particular one caught my eye with the startling honesty of its specs...and the roughly $100 price at the time.
I shouldn't want this. I have all the projector/s I need. More than I need. ... If it's bad I can always return it, and if it's good I can box it back up and possibly gift it to someone. Guess I'm getting a new projector.
The claimed specs are accurate as far as I can tell; native 720p resoution, a little over 150lm WhiteBrightness and a little over 100m ColorBrightness. I'm guessing it's using strobed RGB LEDS through a single LED panel because of the lower ColorBrightness and I don't see any color-fringing or pixel misalignment, but I also can't see any RBE nor temporal dithering on most paused images..though I'm not sure how common that is for strobed LCD VS DLP which I'm more familiar with.
This all leads to some good news and some bad news.
I'll start with some negatives:
-The fan noise, though smooth and medium-pitch, is about as loud as a modest AC (or bad central air) or a space-heater. I don't personally find it aweful once a movie starts playing or if I'm watching in a room with higher ambient noise from open windows or a loud fridge, but in the small home theater it's pretty off-putting when you first turn it on against the previously dead silent room.
-Placement flexibility is basically non-existant. There's no zoom and using the optical keystone causes poor top-to-bottom focus, so you're best location is about center screen-height and I want to say roughly 1.45:1 throw-ratio...perfect for some rear-shelf mounts onto a bare wall, terrible for ceiling-mount or particularly long or short rooms or needing to fit a pre-installed screen's size.
-There appears to be some temporal dithering in some moving images though I'm not sure if that's the panel, scaler or possibly even the source itself...I don't find it bothersome, but figured it's worth mentioning...particularly if someone else happens to know what the cause is.
-There aren't advanced color/calibration options (it still has common/typical options which are customizable for each input), the slightly higher white VS color brightness is a real thing (even if it's more subtle than most non-RGBRGB DLPs), and I think purple shades look a little weak/pastel.
-The LCD panel on mine seems to have shipped with a couple tiny spots of dust, but it's only visible as a couple small, unfocused, lighter spots when the screen goes full black in a darkened room.
-The included power cord is unusually short. It's a common "mickeymouse" style if you want to get a longer one, but still..
On the positive side:
-The brightness uniformity looks great even on full-screen solid colors or whites.
-The single panel design's lack of color-fringing makes B&W content particularly nice.
-Focus is decent as long as you aren't really using the optical keystone..none of the sides/corners look distractingly soft.
-I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of SDE despite this being a relatively low-resolution LCD PJ...it looks more like a DLP than an LCD in this regard.
-Decent input/output options including 3hdmi (one with an included RokuStick plugged in), VGA, AV (requires a 1/8" to AV adapter which isn't included), USB (fullsize for playing media), USB (micro for powering included RokuStick), microSD, 1/8" stereo AUX out, and bluetooth audio output...and a standard threaded tripod mount in a decently balanced location.
-I haven't measured it, but I'd roughly judge the contrast to be similar to a budget DLP or some of the nicer budget LCDs...around 500:1-700:1 nativeCR. Different ultra low-budget LCDs can be all over the place for CR, but this is one of the better ones.
-The builtin speakers are pretty decent compared to other portables I've tried. A little louder and fuller than some...definitely useable in a pinch.
-I have no way to measure input-lag, but it doesn't feel sluggish so I'm guessing it's decently low.
-The Standard and Soft color presets aren't aweful out of the box, and simply adjusting the User color option a little can give some nice improvements (mine has worked well set to: Brightness 45, Contrast 30-35, Color 40, Sharpness 20, WhiteBalance Warm, AspectRatio JustScan, NR OFF...though each one might be a little different and YMMV). I wouldn't call it super accurate, but it has a nice white-balance (no exaggerated green tint or cold/blue appearance) and the colors look decently natural for the most part rather than the extreme overcooked and oversaturated look of some displays.
Most of this is pretty common to LED-lit portable PJ's, but this combination of brightness, contrast, resolution (and lack of SDE) used to start closer to 3X this price just a year or two ago. This price-category tends to be dominated by 360p resolution, 50lm models with fewer options and much higher claimed specs.
This is exactly the kind of projector I'd recommend to someone on an extreme budget who wants to dip their toes while projecting onto a wall or sheet in a dim room (or at night). The price, LED lamp, wireless features and typically hassle-free returns are a lot less scary to folks just looking to try something new.
I shouldn't want this. I have all the projector/s I need. More than I need. ... If it's bad I can always return it, and if it's good I can box it back up and possibly gift it to someone. Guess I'm getting a new projector.
The claimed specs are accurate as far as I can tell; native 720p resoution, a little over 150lm WhiteBrightness and a little over 100m ColorBrightness. I'm guessing it's using strobed RGB LEDS through a single LED panel because of the lower ColorBrightness and I don't see any color-fringing or pixel misalignment, but I also can't see any RBE nor temporal dithering on most paused images..though I'm not sure how common that is for strobed LCD VS DLP which I'm more familiar with.
This all leads to some good news and some bad news.
I'll start with some negatives:
-The fan noise, though smooth and medium-pitch, is about as loud as a modest AC (or bad central air) or a space-heater. I don't personally find it aweful once a movie starts playing or if I'm watching in a room with higher ambient noise from open windows or a loud fridge, but in the small home theater it's pretty off-putting when you first turn it on against the previously dead silent room.
-Placement flexibility is basically non-existant. There's no zoom and using the optical keystone causes poor top-to-bottom focus, so you're best location is about center screen-height and I want to say roughly 1.45:1 throw-ratio...perfect for some rear-shelf mounts onto a bare wall, terrible for ceiling-mount or particularly long or short rooms or needing to fit a pre-installed screen's size.
-There appears to be some temporal dithering in some moving images though I'm not sure if that's the panel, scaler or possibly even the source itself...I don't find it bothersome, but figured it's worth mentioning...particularly if someone else happens to know what the cause is.
-There aren't advanced color/calibration options (it still has common/typical options which are customizable for each input), the slightly higher white VS color brightness is a real thing (even if it's more subtle than most non-RGBRGB DLPs), and I think purple shades look a little weak/pastel.
-The LCD panel on mine seems to have shipped with a couple tiny spots of dust, but it's only visible as a couple small, unfocused, lighter spots when the screen goes full black in a darkened room.
-The included power cord is unusually short. It's a common "mickeymouse" style if you want to get a longer one, but still..
On the positive side:
-The brightness uniformity looks great even on full-screen solid colors or whites.
-The single panel design's lack of color-fringing makes B&W content particularly nice.
-Focus is decent as long as you aren't really using the optical keystone..none of the sides/corners look distractingly soft.
-I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of SDE despite this being a relatively low-resolution LCD PJ...it looks more like a DLP than an LCD in this regard.
-Decent input/output options including 3hdmi (one with an included RokuStick plugged in), VGA, AV (requires a 1/8" to AV adapter which isn't included), USB (fullsize for playing media), USB (micro for powering included RokuStick), microSD, 1/8" stereo AUX out, and bluetooth audio output...and a standard threaded tripod mount in a decently balanced location.
-I haven't measured it, but I'd roughly judge the contrast to be similar to a budget DLP or some of the nicer budget LCDs...around 500:1-700:1 nativeCR. Different ultra low-budget LCDs can be all over the place for CR, but this is one of the better ones.
-The builtin speakers are pretty decent compared to other portables I've tried. A little louder and fuller than some...definitely useable in a pinch.
-I have no way to measure input-lag, but it doesn't feel sluggish so I'm guessing it's decently low.
-The Standard and Soft color presets aren't aweful out of the box, and simply adjusting the User color option a little can give some nice improvements (mine has worked well set to: Brightness 45, Contrast 30-35, Color 40, Sharpness 20, WhiteBalance Warm, AspectRatio JustScan, NR OFF...though each one might be a little different and YMMV). I wouldn't call it super accurate, but it has a nice white-balance (no exaggerated green tint or cold/blue appearance) and the colors look decently natural for the most part rather than the extreme overcooked and oversaturated look of some displays.
Most of this is pretty common to LED-lit portable PJ's, but this combination of brightness, contrast, resolution (and lack of SDE) used to start closer to 3X this price just a year or two ago. This price-category tends to be dominated by 360p resolution, 50lm models with fewer options and much higher claimed specs.
This is exactly the kind of projector I'd recommend to someone on an extreme budget who wants to dip their toes while projecting onto a wall or sheet in a dim room (or at night). The price, LED lamp, wireless features and typically hassle-free returns are a lot less scary to folks just looking to try something new.