Viewsonic M1
PORTABLE PROJECTOR ❘ £249 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34718
Portable projector recreates that cinema experience wherever you are
A decent budget projector that offers a 100in screen and homecinema speakers
Pet projector
Digital projectors are typically hefty and pricey, so it’s fun to see one that’s portable and affordable. Packed up, the M1 looks like an external hard drive. Swing out its pivoting stand, which cleverly protects the lens, and you’re instantly ready to throw a video feed on to the nearest light-coloured vertical surface, creating a picture up to 100 inches across the diagonal. That’s when you place this unit 2.6 metres (8ft 6in) away. You might want to move it closer for a smaller and brighter picture. If a mains socket isn’t handy for the external power adapter, the built-in battery lasts up to six hours, again depending on brightness, and the LED lamp is guaranteed for 20,000 hours – just as well, because it doesn’t seem to be replaceable.
With HDMI and USB-C inputs, you can hook up the M1 to almost any PC, DVD or Blu-ray player or video-streaming box, and there’s also a standard USB port and a microsd card slot to play video files straight from memory cards or sticks. You can even store 16GB of content on the projector itself (that’s at least half a dozen Full HD fims).
Talking of Full HD, however, you don’t get that resolution at this price. In fact, while it accepts 1080p input, the M1 is limited to 854x480 pixels, about the same as DVD. So you won’t see every detail of
SPECIFICATIONS
LED projector • 250 lumens • 854x480-pixel resolution • 24-100in image size • 16GB storage • 2x 3W speakers • HDMI, USB-C, USB-A and Microsd inputs • 40x126x148mm (HXWXD) • 750g • Two-year warranty www.snipca.com/34719 your favourite show, and forget about appreciating subtle cinematography. However, we found the picture very watchable, with vivid colour, as long as the room lighting was low to dark. Built-in Harman Kardon speakers add to the home cinema vibe with richer sound and a better sense of stereo than we expected. There’s an audio jack if you have better speakers to plug in.
A remote control is included, drawing attention to the M1’s one eyebrow-raising design flaw: they put the infra-red receiver next to the lens. This would make sense if you were sat in front of the projector, but you’ll actually be watching from behind it. While trying to reach around to point the remote control at the front. Oops. Still, with a bit of contortion it does work.