This is going to be a review that should be for the masses - not just cinemaphiles or anyone with an advanced knowledge of projectors. Also note that the photo I included won't do it justice, because this is one of those things you actually have to see to really appreciate it.
Having previously purchased a cheap sub-$200.00 projector from Amazon, I decided that the one I had just wasn't good enough. It was perfectly fine for the impromptu movie night, but I was never truly satisfied with the picture.
This led me to look into new projectors, and I came across this laser projector. I'll give a very simplified explanation as to the three different types of lights used in projectors.
Lamp: These have been around for years. Usually middle of the road price, but you make up for that with very expensive bulb replacements that only get you about 1/8th of the life of the other options.
LED: Very light, very cheap, and the light pretty much lasts forever. Caveats are that they are *never* as bright as any other option, and usually the brightness is very poor.
Laser: The new hotness. Uses literal pew-pew lasers to draw the image on screen. All the life of an LED, with *most* of the brightness of a lamp. They also run cool and pretty quiet.
That brings me to this projector. As mentioned, I was tired of a washed out picture from my cheapo LED projector. I bought this because "LaseRS ArE COoL" and I've heard great things about them. These claims are NOT unsubstantiated.
Let's talk about the cons first.
This projector is expensive, and it only does 1080p.
It does not have built in Wi-Fi, nor does it have any sort of media controls (like Netflix or anything). You'll need an Apple TV, or better yet, a Roku Stick/Chromecast which can be powered off the lone USB port.
No auto focus. That's ok, as the focus knob is quite sensitive, and I doubt you'll be running around with this thing while you're using it.
No Bluetooth.
Does auto *vertical* keystone correction - but not horizontal.
That's kind of about it for the cons.
Pros - there's a lot of 'em.
First off, for you gamer types out there, yes - there is lag. BUT I will say that my very scientific test of launching Sonic Mania and just having Sonic jump presents itself with an almost imperceptible amount of lag. If there's lag there, my old eyes can't see it, and I can't feel it either. You can very easily game on this.
Picture quality:
This projector may only be 1080p, but you'd be hard pressed to find a TV that is as sharp as this. There are some software enhancements that can be enabled (and are by default), but these are shockingly good enhancements that don't go crazy. It's a very sharp, very bright, and very vivid picture.
Audio:
I'll be honest - I didn't bother testing this, as I have this hooked up to an A/V system. I'm not looking to use this portably, although you very easily could.
Noise:
This thing is *silent*. It's not perfectly silent, and you'll notice it if there's no other audio, but if you have any modicum of dialog happening, or music playing - you'll quickly forget this thing even has a fan. Fun fact: If you hold the power button and plug in the power, you can hear the fans ramp up to 100%. Let's just say that this is probably running at about 5% of their full speed, because if they go 100%, it's like a jet engine. (Anyone with a PS4 knows the sound.)
Other:
This is just other stuff I love about this thing. First off - it's TINY. For scale, it's one Monster Energy can by one Monster Energy can. It's quite lightweight, but packed. This is mostly because the power supply is external (meaning there's a power brick). This is great for keeping thermals low, and fan noise to a minimum.
The device only allows for a 1080p signal or lower. It does NOT accept a 4k signal and downsample it. Again, with the image processing it does, it looks extremely crisp.
One last thing of note - if you are mounting, be sure you can either use a plate that works with the 3 hole mounting setup it has, or buy the mounting plate - this doesn't come with it.
I truly can not say enough wonderful things about this projector. As someone who really doesn't understand things like Contrast Ratios, Lumens, etc, I just think this looks nice.
With that being said - this is NOT a good projector for bright areas. You can still see the picture, but it will absolutely be washed out. Dim, indirect lighting is great, so something like a lower wattage table lamp should be fine.
It may be pricier, but it's WELL worth it, especially if you're not looking for the most fancy pants models out there.
Absurdly highly recommended.