Need advice: What pico projector/portable projector to get?

cavemanit

cavemanit

Enthusiast
I'm in the market right now for pico projectors. Any suggestions? Need something portable but powerful enough to present quality images/videos. I plan to connect it to my phone. I did some research and looked at a few options...

Axxa Technologies P2 Jr. Pico Project
[video=youtube;G0Ofhhma1io]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Ofhhma1io[/video]

3m MP225 Pico Projector
[video=youtube;VGMpp0xmVg8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGMpp0xmVg8[/video]

Optoma Pico Projector
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
What are your actual usage conditions and expectations?

I consider Pico projectors to be a joke. They aren't bright enough for any serious use, and their resolution and optics are weak. If you ever go by a Brookstone, they sometimes have one running and on a 24" screen, it is generally a very poor image. This is because they just aren't bright enough to be usable in the condition that people typically dream of using them.

That is, most people want them for portable presentations.

Since most presentations happen in a room with uncontrolled ambient light, you don't get the 100% dark rooms as shown in your two example videos above. That's just not the reality of what most people are thinking of. They are thinking of recreating a nice boardroom projector with something 1/100th the size... and that's just not gonna happen yet.

If you have a 100% dark room like the example videos above, then good for you. Go ahead and get one of those Pico models with less than 100 lumens and enjoy.

But, reality dictates that a normally lit conference room needs no less than 50 lumens per square foot after calibration, which typically (for boardroom projectors) means about 80 advertised lumens (or more) per square foot of screen space.

Do the math:
3M MP225 - 32 lumens - Less than a 1 square foot screen in normal boardroom lighting. About the size of an iPad screen.
AAXA P2 Jr. - 55 Lumens - Just about the size of a small laptop screen.

Of the two, the AAXA is a widescreen projector which is a much better choice.

There are some micro projectors which can give you a few feet of diagonal right now in a normally lit room and deliver with 1280x800+ resolution.

Here's the list, and the only list, of projectors which I consider worth the slimmest margin of consideration:
Find Projectors By Feature

The Optoma ML1000 realistically should be able to deliver a 62" diagonal image under normal boardroom lighting without a problem.

Wishing for a Pico projector which can deliver that same light output is nice, but the technology just isn't there yet. You also have to consider the poor optics, sharpness issues, etc. which are often associated with these types of projectors. They continue to be something I would call a 'toy' instead of a serious workhorse product, but they certainly have improved significantly in the past three or four years to the point where the better micro projectors can work as replacements for standard projectors in home theater on smaller (80" or so) screens as long as full 1080p resolution isn't demanded.

There is a new 1080p version just coming to market which is worth consideration for the home theater folks.

Still, at $1,000 for a quality unit, there are many excellent widescreen traditional lamp based models which are far brighter and cost closer to $500-$600 which leaves money for a replacement lamp or two and will last several thousand hours on each lamp as it is.

Find Projectors By Feature

Just some thoughts to consider.
 
cavemanit

cavemanit

Enthusiast
What are your actual usage conditions and expectations?

I consider Pico projectors to be a joke. They aren't bright enough for any serious use, and their resolution and optics are weak. If you ever go by a Brookstone, they sometimes have one running and on a 24" screen, it is generally a very poor image. This is because they just aren't bright enough to be usable in the condition that people typically dream of using them.

That is, most people want them for portable presentations.

Since most presentations happen in a room with uncontrolled ambient light, you don't get the 100% dark rooms as shown in your two example videos above. That's just not the reality of what most people are thinking of. They are thinking of recreating a nice boardroom projector with something 1/100th the size... and that's just not gonna happen yet.

If you have a 100% dark room like the example videos above, then good for you. Go ahead and get one of those Pico models with less than 100 lumens and enjoy.

But, reality dictates that a normally lit conference room needs no less than 50 lumens per square foot after calibration, which typically (for boardroom projectors) means about 80 advertised lumens (or more) per square foot of screen space.

Do the math:
3M MP225 - 32 lumens - Less than a 1 square foot screen in normal boardroom lighting. About the size of an iPad screen.
AAXA P2 Jr. - 55 Lumens - Just about the size of a small laptop screen.

Of the two, the AAXA is a widescreen projector which is a much better choice.

There are some micro projectors which can give you a few feet of diagonal right now in a normally lit room and deliver with 1280x800+ resolution.

Here's the list, and the only list, of projectors which I consider worth the slimmest margin of consideration:
Find Projectors By Feature

The Optoma ML1000 realistically should be able to deliver a 62" diagonal image under normal boardroom lighting without a problem.

Wishing for a Pico projector which can deliver that same light output is nice, but the technology just isn't there yet. You also have to consider the poor optics, sharpness issues, etc. which are often associated with these types of projectors. They continue to be something I would call a 'toy' instead of a serious workhorse product, but they certainly have improved significantly in the past three or four years to the point where the better micro projectors can work as replacements for standard projectors in home theater on smaller (80" or so) screens as long as full 1080p resolution isn't demanded.

There is a new 1080p version just coming to market which is worth consideration for the home theater folks.

Still, at $1,000 for a quality unit, there are many excellent widescreen traditional lamp based models which are far brighter and cost closer to $500-$600 which leaves money for a replacement lamp or two and will last several thousand hours on each lamp as it is.

Find Projectors By Feature

Just some thoughts to consider.
Your awesome dude! Thank you so much for the advice. It's highly appreciated! Your response was very detailed! I'm not really looking for anything magnificent. This is just something to use for presentations during business meetings or sharing videos/pics with the family. However, I would love to get the most bang out of my buck. Budget is $300 - I know it's not that impressive but that's all I'm willing to pay.

Based on the response you've provided, I'm going for AXXA Technologies P2 Jr Pico Projector. :D It has all the features I want - based on the video that was posted. I think this is going to work for me. Additionally I found a coupon at retailmenot for $60 off! hehe. The catch is though, you have to post a review. I just placed an order. Hopefully I get it this week! I'll let you guys know if it works out - will post the review here. :)

Btw for anyone interested, here is the coupon page...

AAXA Review It! Program Guide
 
cavemanit

cavemanit

Enthusiast
I posted a long detailed response. How come it didn't post?
 
cavemanit

cavemanit

Enthusiast
I'll post it short this time.

Thanks BMXTrix for your detailed response. I'm not interested in anything "magnificent" - just something that can hook up to numerous devices like a phone, camera, or laptop - while offering decent image projections. Additionally I'm on a tight $300 budget, so I can't really afford those premium models.

Judging by your response, I think I'll go for the AAXA Technologies P2 Jr. because it offers the best bang for the buck - actually just ordered it. :D Originally $199 - but got $60 off to post a review! I'll let you guys know how it fares.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
I've heard good things about AAXA, but it remains that they are only really usable in a dark room on a smallish screen size. I'm looking forward to the day that these types of projectors can deliver 500+ lumens which is very usable in a lot more situations and will truly be worth the money. One of the big reasons these are all just so inexpensive is that they are just so unusable in any practical situation. They are toys, and hopefully you are comfortable with that as a concept. They do have the connectivity to allow images to project, they just won't be visible in anything but a dark room and they won't look anything like what a quality image from an entry level projector would look like.

I sincerely hope you enjoy the heck out of it, and please do respond back once you have it and are using it.
 
cavemanit

cavemanit

Enthusiast
I've heard good things about AAXA, but it remains that they are only really usable in a dark room on a smallish screen size. I'm looking forward to the day that these types of projectors can deliver 500+ lumens which is very usable in a lot more situations and will truly be worth the money. One of the big reasons these are all just so inexpensive is that they are just so unusable in any practical situation. They are toys, and hopefully you are comfortable with that as a concept. They do have the connectivity to allow images to project, they just won't be visible in anything but a dark room and they won't look anything like what a quality image from an entry level projector would look like.

I sincerely hope you enjoy the heck out of it, and please do respond back once you have it and are using it.
Oh man. Thanks for that tip BMXTRIX. Darn it, I already placed an order. I'll take a look at it. If it's not what I'm looking for I'll definitely return it. When I present though, it's usually in a dark room so I'll see if this works out. I should get that product today. I'll post up a review in this forum asap.
 
S

Sountonics

Audiophyte
Review IT is awesome!

Oh man. Thanks for that tip BMXTRIX. Darn it, I already placed an order. I'll take a look at it. If it's not what I'm looking for I'll definitely return it. When I present though, it's usually in a dark room so I'll see if this works out. I should get that product today. I'll post up a review in this forum asap.
I went on not to long ago to check out the Review It Program you guys were talking about and now they're let you review the P300 along with the P2 Jr. So I signed up for the P300!

Thanks for the suggestions guys! =)
 

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