The Twenty Smallest Portable SVGA Projectors

Buying Issues: LCD vs. DLP, Zoom lenses, and ANSI lumen ratings

LCD vs. DLP

Of the twelve unique projector products in the current list, nine use transmissive LCD technology, and three use Texas Instrument's reflective DLP.  The latest additions to the category, which are the Epson, Sony, and Mitsubishi products, are all 3-panel polysilicon LCD.

One of the common differences between LCD and DLP is the wattage of the lamp that is required to drive each engine. Most of the LCD projectors in this category have 120-watt lamps. Conversely, several of the DLP products (those made by InFocus) have 270-watt lamps. There are three comparative disadvantages to be aware of. First, a 270-watt lamp will throw off double the heat of a 120-watt lamp. In a small conference room or meeting room populated by a number of people, this additional heat may not be welcome. 

Second, a 270-watt lamp requires more cooling than does a 120- or 150-watt lamp. Thus the fan noise on a projector with a higher-wattage lamp can be more noticeable than the noise from projectors with smaller lamps.

The third disadvantage is that the lamp life is shorter on DLP units, typically 1000 hours as compared to 2000 hours on most LCD units. Replacement lamps for most projectors in this class usually run around $400, and sometimes more. So if you intend to use the projector frequently and for long periods of time, the cost to replace lamps will be a factor you want to consider. Since lamps need to be changed twice as frequently on a DLP projector, you should estimate your anticipated usage to see if replacement lamp costs will figure significantly into your long-term cost of ownership.

Zoom Lenses

For the mobile presenter, a zoom lens is a very handy feature. The zoom lens lets you set up the projector on whatever table or desk happens to be convenient, and you can resize the image for the screen and audience that you have at the time. If you are going to use your projector in many different projection environments, a zoom lens will be an important feature for you to consider.

Fifteen of the twenty projectors in this category have zoom lenses. The five that do not are the two Lightware products, the Dukane 7700, the InFocus LP400, and the Boxlight CD-40m.

Power vs. manual zoom? Of the fifteen units that have zoom lenses, ten are manual and five are motorized. For the mobile presenter, a power zoom lens may sound like a nice feature, but it really isn't for several reasons. First, the mechanics needed to drive a power zoom add unnecessary cost, weight, and size to the unit. Second, most electronic controls for automatic zoom and focus don't provide the pinpoint accuracy that you can achieve quickly with a manual adjustment. So power zoom and focus can be a nuisance to fumble around with as you are setting up for a presentation. Finally, it's just another component that has the potential for failing. While we would not avoid the purchase of a projector solely on the grounds that it has power zoom and focus, we consider it to be a disadvantage.

Among the twenty projectors in this category, the two Sanyo units and their Proxima, Eiki, and Boxlight private label equivalents have power zoom lenses. In part due to the power zoom feature, these products weigh 8.6 pounds, and are the heaviest and largest in terms of cubic inches in the category.

ANSI Lumen ratings

The light output of a projector is usually quoted in ANSI lumens; the higher the rating the brighter the projector. The lowest rated products in this category are the Lightware Scout and the Dukane ImagePro 7700, which are 500 ANSI lumens. The brightest is the newly announced 7 lb. Mitsubishi S50 at a remarkable 1100 lumens.

Several notes on ANSI lumen ratings. First, ANSI lumens are often over-emphasized as a factor in comparing one machine to another.  When two projectors, one rated at 600 lumens and the other rated at 700, are projected side-by-side, it is difficult to see a difference in brightness. Comparing a 600 lumen unit to an 800 lumen unit, there may be a small difference in apparent luminosity, but most viewers would not consider it to be a difference worth paying a significant premium for.

In general, there needs to be about a 30% differential in the ANSI lumen rating before the human eye can really notice an appreciable difference in brightness when the two projectors are shown side by side. In this category, most of the products rated 600 or 700 lumens will look about the same when compared with one another. Most of the products rated 900 to 1100 lumens will also look about the same. However, those rated 900 to 1100 lumens will produce noticeably brighter pictures than those in the 600 to 700 range.

How much lumen output you need depends upon five factors, (1) the level of ambient room light in your normal presenting environment, (2) the size of your typical audience, (3) the size of your projected image, (4) the quality of the projection screen, and (5) the amount of detail in your presentation material (e.g., do you normally present "bullet-item" type sales presentations, or financial data on spreadsheets?). The more lumens (and contrast) your projector has, the greater its ability to deal with these conditions.

In general, most mobile presenters can function very well with 600 to 700 lumen machines. However, projectors with higher light output can give you more flexibility to throw brighter images on larger screens.