The Twenty Smallest Portable SVGA Projectors

Lightware Scout 2000

Lightware's new Scout 2000 has just started shipping this month. It is available from Lightware through its website at http://www.lightware.com . At a selling price from Lightware of $2,495, it costs less than the CS1, but it has fewer features as well.

The Scout 2000 at 4.8 lbs is the lightest SVGA projector on the market. It is a stripped-down edition of the 5.3 lb. Lightware Scout. In order to reduce cost and weight, the manufacturer has removed the on-board audio and the video inputs from the standard Scout configuration. The Scout 2000 is the only projector in the category (maybe the only one in the industry) that is not capable of accepting a video signal.

The Scout 2000 has a fixed focal-length lens, a 500 ANSI lumen rating, and a 500-hour lamp life, which is the lowest in the category.  However, it should be noted that the replacement lamp cost is only $199, which is about half the cost of a replacement lamp on most other projectors. The lamp is 200 watts, which will throw off more heat than competing units with 120-watt lamps.

At $2,495, the Scout 2000 needs to be compared to the next least expensive product in the group, the Sony CS1 at $2,699. For the extra $204, the CS1 provides an array of features that the Scout 2000 does not offer, including video capability, a zoom lens, digital keystone correction, SXGA compression, 600 ANSI lumens vs. the Scout 2000's 500, on-board audio, and a nearly silent fan. At 6.4 lbs. the CS1 weighs 1.6 lbs more. However, it is physically smaller by about 20%: the CS1 is 255 cu. in. whereas the Scout 2000 is 307 cu. in. 

The Scout and the Scout 2000 have a unique light engine built around a single 1.6" LCD panel, rather than the 3-panel LCD configuration in every other LCD product in this group. The design cost is reduced because of this, but the image quality suffers somewhat as a result. The Scout 2000's contrast ratio is rated at relatively low 100:1. By comparison, all other 3-panel LCD products in the group have contrast ratios between 200:1 and 300:1, and have better brightness uniformity from edge to edge. 

The Scout product line is intended to be a low-cost, low-performance alternative for mobile presenters on tight budgets. And indeed it was until the release of the Sony CS1. But with the arrival of the CS1, the Scout 2000 is now a poor value at $2,495. Lightware will need to drop its price by about 20% to keep the interest of cost-conscious mobile presenters.