Customer Reviews

BenQ Joybee GP1 Mini-LED DLP Projector

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I tend to make jokes about being a dinosaur. I'm not what you'd call real tech-savvy, and I don't generally purchase the newest and latest gadgets. Though my collection seems to be growing of late, one way or another, and I have to admit I'm having fun! Last month I was given the opportunity to review the BenQ Joybee GP1 Mini Projector through the Amazon Vine program. I'll be honest; I wasn't pining away for a mini-projector. Clearly, I didn't know what I was missing.

Now, you may be wondering if I'm even qualified to review this product. As it happens, I am. In my professional life, I'm an organizer of academic conferences. Out of necessity, I've had to learn how to jury rig the most creative AV set-ups, with never quite enough equipment to meet every professor's needs. I've been using full-sized, very expensive LCD projectors in every way it's possible to utilize the machines.

The BenQ mini project is mini indeed. It is a fraction the size of a traditional projector. It's almost exactly the size of a CD case, and about two and a half inches tall. It weighs about a pound and a half. It is insanely portable! Obviously, it's a great choice for anyone who has to travel and make presentations. It won't even cause a dent in your carry-on luggage.

I've found the machine to be reasonably intuitive to use. I say this, because the instructions were useless. The instruction booklet that came with the mini projector has no words. Literally. Just pictures. Seriously, there is only so much you can do with that. Aside from the picture book, there's a CD with extremely, extremely detailed information. I've got no time for that. I haven't even looked at it. So, the good news is I was able to figure everything out on my own. It took a few minutes of playing around, but it was very do-able. For someone more tech-savvy, it'd be a piece of cake.

Straight out of the box, I stuck my thumb drive into the back of the machine. It sort of automatically found the file where all my photographs were, and with basically no effort on my part, I was projecting a slide show onto the wall.

Next, I hooked it up to a laptop, and tested it in a proper darkened room. It was at this point that I discovered what I consider to be the machine's biggest (and possibly only) weakness. I'd say the focus is the worst feature of the machine. Don't get me wrong--it's, absolutely fine, but only up to a point. Despite claims that it will project "up to 80 inches in size," I wouldn't count on really tight focus much more than 60 inches. So, by my reckoning, that makes this an ideal machine for a smaller conference or screening room, but not for a really large one. Smaller machine, smaller projected image. It seems reasonable to me.

Since I never have enough equipment for my conference needs, the BenQ projector seems like a perfect back-up machine. It costs a fraction of what the LCD machines cost and has other advantages as well. This uses LED lights, not the very expensive LCD bulbs that need to be changed every couple of years. Also, this machine doesn't heat up like those do. If I accidentally turn off an LCD projector, I have to wait 20 minutes for it to cool down so that I can turn it back on again. Not so the mini projector. I can turn it off and then right back on again, or pack it up without waiting.

While it's great to have my own projector as a backup for conferences and other presentations I may need to make, that's not what I really use this for. Being me, I have a tiny little 19-inch television at home. Now I can hook up the mini projector to a mini DVD player I have and project DVDs 5-feet across! It's like suddenly having a huge, wide-screen television without trying to fit some monstrosity in my studio apartment. I love it! I have hundreds of movies in my home, and I find myself searching for the ones with the most gorgeous scenery just for the pleasure of seeing them projected huge on my bedroom wall.

Oh, and no screen is necessary. The picture looks quite good against my boring white wall. But get this, the projector even has color correction settings in case you're projecting against a pink, yellow, green, or blue wall, or even a blackboard! There are several other nice features I discovered after I'd mastered the basics. From the on-screen menu, you can control the volume of the speaker (which is adequate for a small conference room without external speakers), a sleep timer, and many other features.

This projector may not be the ideal tool for every person's needs, but it meets mine very well. I'm delighted by how many different ways I can see putting it to use in my life. And it's an affordable option for anyone looking for a good quality, highly portable machine.

I'm very satisfied with this projector. I set it up in my bedroom with a portable projector screen (60" wide) and fed it 720P and 1080i inputs thru the component outputs of my HD satellite receiver and DVD player,(Toshiba XD-E500, available on Amazon, DVD upscaled to both 720P/1080i)to the VGA connector on the projector and it performed admirably. I moved the projector back to fill the entire screen width (60") with a 16X9 picture and the clarity/sharpness when receiving 720P/1080i signalling was better than I expected. The picture with a dimly lit room was very watchable and with the room darkened was outstanding. The colors were bright and vivid and the brightness/contrast were excellent. I used a RCA component male x 3 to VGA female adapter cable, 1 ft. long,(vendor description-HD15 VGA female to RCA x 3 male double shielded, HD15 to component video, available from Wholesale Cables on Amazon), that mated to the projector's VGA male connector plus a 12 ft. component cable that mated with the adapter's 3 male RCA's thru 3 RCA female to female barrel connectors. I also used a video switching box for the video, 4 inputs/1 output, and audio switching box, 4 inputs/1 output for the L/R stereo audio (available from Radio Shack) so I wouldn't have to keep unplugging/plugging cables all the time. I connected the L/R stereo audio switcing box output to my video/Aux audio inputs on my Aiwa home stereo/CD unit. Setup was very easy as the projector has auto-keystone adjusting feature. The projector has pre-programmed selections for movies/photos/pc/brightest/user. The user setting allows the user to set their own desired picture settings as they wish. The projector distance from the screen to fill the 60" width of the screen was about 9 ft. Although the projector has a tripod mounting hole, I used a music stand available from any music store and velcro'd the projector to the music stand. The music stand is adjustable in all three dimensions, pitch/yaw/height with locking adjusters when you get it where you want it to stay. This setup sure meets my needs/requirements completely and no lamps to replace periodically on the projector (it uses LED's). I was concerned about the 100 lumen output of the projector prior to getting it home and trying it out, but my concerns were relieved when I set it up and actually saw the picture for myself. It's not washed out or too weak to watch. I was extremely pleased with the video quality of the projector. I watched a MLB baseball game on it and fast moving objects (the ball,runners) were not blurred at all. I'm satisfied. One note: the projector pictured on Amazon doesn't look like the present BenQ Joybee GP1 model that I have. Mine is white with a black top and is almost square. Perhaps the version shown on Amazon is an earlier or another version of the product.

The Joybee is small and light but it makes a huge screen and does very well for brightness. I am a teacher that travels to six different buildings and I like to project my computer on the wall. With the Joybee I can carry it in my bag (along with the cords that do not fit in the case with the projector) and use it in all of my buildings.

I bought the BenQ Joybee GP! after reading many reviews. Size and weight are big considerations as I will be traveling with it frequently. This unit and it's giant power cord easily fit with my laptop and all my other stuff into my laptop case and didn't cause a stir going through security. Even so, I wish I had gone with the pico unit. The reason I went with this unit is because it has more lumens than the brightest pico unit I could find. The room did need to be darkened to see the pictures well, which can make it difficult for people to take notes during the presentation. The unit was simple to set up and worked perfectly with my Dell laptop. I haven't yet bought the cable to use it with the MAC. The focus is simple and the picture looks great even without a screen. I've showed Powerpoint shows on both a green wall and a yellow wall and the picture looked fine. So far, I am very happy with this cute little unit.

We've already tried out this tiny projector by running it off a laptop and off a memory stick, and were pleasantly surprised with how bright the display is and how simple it is to use. We tried it first in a room with thin shades on a very sunny day, so the room wasn't very dark -- it did well. When we were able to try it in a darker room, it did *very* well.

I agree with some minor drawbacks mentioned by others. The remote has no backlighting, so it's difficult to use in a really dark room. The focus mechanism is a little too touchy -- I had to fiddle a bit to get the focus right. And the on-screen interface to run a slideshow directly off a memory stick with multiple folders was a little awkward. However, as another reviewer suggested, if you just put all the photos in the root directory (folder) of the memory stick, then the interface isn't an issue.

We had waited a long time to buy a projector, and are very pleased with the value of this one.

UPDATE 11/3/10: Discovered a bug (or is it user error?) with running a slideshow off a memory stick. The sort order of the files is peculiar, so the slideshow may not run in the desired sequence. I created a slideshow using PowerPoint to generate JPG files in the same order as the original PPT show (e.g. Slide1, Slide2, Slide3...Slide40). However, the GP1 shows the files in this sequence instead: Slide15, Slide16...Slide40, Slide1, Slide2...Slide14
This makes the feature of creating a usable slideshow just on the memory stick pretty unusable.

I am not up to date on most electronics. Fortunately, I have children. My daughter worked as a catering manager in a major Houston hotel. AV equipment was needed for many of the meetings she organized. She is now a college professor, so she uses that equipment herself, now. She was the one I called on to help me evaluate the BenQ Joybee GP1 Mini-LED DLP Projector.

The first thing she said is that this is much smaller than the equipment she has used. She found it very easy to set up. She had never connected one through the computer before, but found this one was very easy to do. She said she didn't think this would work in a large setting, like a ballroom, but would work very well in a smaller setting like a meeting room or a classroom. Her one complaint about the device is that it gets very hot. - both the unit and the power cord.

Her overall impression of the projector was very good. She said I may not get it back!

I recently had the opportunity to receive one of these projectors and was impressed with what was delivered in such a small package. Included below are some pros and cons on this projector.

PROS
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+ Size. The projector weighs less than 2lbs and can easily slide into a laptop bag at around 5" d x 7" w x 2" h.
+ Very quiet. With some projectors you can hear the fan going, but even with no sound in the room it was hard to hear the project at all.
+ The price for having such a portable solution is great. Many of the big projectors with similar features are only approximately $50 more in cost. In addition, many of the other portable projectors that compete in the same market space are approximately $100-$200 more.
+ Picture Quality. The projector only produces 100 lumen, but I was still surprised with the picture quality, especially in a darker room. The picture quality is pretty good for such a small package. I wouldn't necessarily use this to watch any high definition content that is up-converted, since the image is not very crisp. However, I find it sufficient to watch kid's movies, view family pictures or any other activities that don't require a high level of picture quality like an XBOX 360 game. I would however use this with something like the Wii.
+ Built-in 2W speakers with audio-out. In such a small package it was nice to have some audio even if it's not going to fill a huge room. With the audio out you do have the option of upgrading the standard 2W speakers with something more capable.
+ Dynamic picture correction automatically adjusts the picture based on the angle of the projector to give you a rectangular picture instead of the trapezoid you can get with some projectors.
+ Menu is very intuitive and easy to follow even with a lackluster manual.
+ Picture options like digital zoom, wall color, picture temperature and automatic picture calibration pack a lot of features in a very small product for a very good price.
+ LED versus standard projector bulbs will last longer (20,000 hours), be cheaper to replace, more energy efficient and better for the environment.
+ Picture size anywhere from 14" to 80". The larger picture sizes will look better in a dark room, while the smaller sizes will perform well in daylight.
+ iPod/iPhone support. You can watch videos from your iPod/iPhone using the Composite AV Cable + USB for iPhone 3G 3GS 2G 1G, iPod Nano 3G 3th, iPod Nano 4G 4th Chromatic, iPod Touch 1G 2G, iPod Classic 80GB/160GB/120GB Comptible with ALL Firmwares, 3.0 And Later Supported or the soon to be released BenQ iPod dock.
+ USB reader allows you to plug-in a USB Key and watch movies and pictures. The movie formats are limited to a specific BenQ mpg format, but the projector comes packaged with software to allow you to make the conversion.
+ Remote can control projector features as well as the built-in USB reader. Glow in the dark would be optimal, but the fact that it comes with a remote is a nice touch.
+ You can mount the projector on a tripod for increased stability and positioning.

CONS
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- Brick power cord. I was not impressed with the power cord, which looks like your standard laptop variety. For an item that screams portability the power cord does not.
- No HD or digital inputs. Out of the box you can hook up composite cables (red, white and yellow) or an analog connection to a PC/laptop.
- Awkward resolution support at 858 x 600, but it is still more than most of the other portable projectors. While this resolution will give you black bars along the sides with 4:3 formats, the picture will be maximized when you viewing anything using the 16:9 wide screen format.
- Storage bag for the projector is not big enough for power cord and accessory cables.
- No built-in rechargeable battery, which would be nice for portability.
- Manuals that come with the product are very limited to just pictures and don't do justice of describing what this projector can really do.

Overall I think this projector is the perfect solution for anyone that needs portability. If you're someone on the go that needs a portable projector I would look no further.

I wouldn't replace the LCD TV in my home theater with this projector to watch sports, play video games or watch HD programming. However, this projector now has a home for our family for activities like playing the Wii, watching some movies or checking out some pictures. Best of all I can even do this on the road in a hotel.


********* I received this product for free as part of the Amazon.com Vine program. Nonetheless, I review the product in the same manner as I would if I had purchased it myself. *********

It seems to be exactly what is promised - lightweight, user friendly and easy to transport. The only flaw I've found thus far is that only the projector is easy to transport. The carrying case (if you can call it that as it has no straps or handles) only has room for the projector. You must purchase another case for the cords, remote, user manual and user CD. Projecting a presentation with a USB drive requires converting the slides to JPEG, and then having to go through all the settings for a photo slide show. Not quite the 'plug and play' I pictured, but I'm sure once I get the hang of it, it will be easy.

Brighter than I thought it would be. Very portable. Can be the life of the party very quickly. Works with MAC & PC. Excellent!

It does say that the room needs to be dark, but i never thought that it needed to be that dark. I have barely used this projector because the room conditions are not ideal, instead, i end up borrowing the company's.