Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsAmazing product BUT cheap and defective VGA cable...
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 23, 2011
I bought the PK301 in the middle of January, 2011. As everybody here, I guess, I had been watching hours and hours of Youtube videos and reading thousands of words in reviews. In order to better help and explain my opinion to you, who is considering this projector, let me tell you keypoints:
- I'm an University teacher, and my main use is showing simple graphics and texts;
- My classes have 40-90 students;
- Most of my classes are at night;
- I don't need sound and was not expecting this pico projector to fill this task.
So, YES, I can use it in a BIG room with 100 students. With the desk 5 to 6 meters away from the wall I can get a pretty decent big screen so they can easily read the texts and see some graphics. (wall needs to be white os whiteish - it's not good on a black-green board). Some people say it can't be used in a large room and I disagree. IMPORTANT: LIGHTS NEED TO BE COMPLETELLY OFF. I tried using this during my morning classes and, as expected, the lamp doesn't have enough lumens to make the projection visible at daylight (but i knew it and it's not bad for me).
The "fan" sound, which a lot of people say is too loud, is not a problem for me. Even in a quiet room its sound isn't loud or annoying. I watched a movie in my living room and with the film's sound I could't listen to the projectors cooler system (no, the external speaker I hooked it up wasn't very loud).
What else... hum, it gets hot, really hot after a 1:45 hours of class. I think it's normal and predictable. The first few times I smelled "smoke". It ceased after the third time I used the PK though.
MY ONLY WARNING IS: THE VGA CABLE, AFTER LESS THAN 2 MONTHS OF LIGHT USE IS DEFECTIVE. Projection gets pink. If I hold the cable in as specific part (next to the ferrite) it stops. I've just sent an email to Optoma. Let's see how it ends.
I recommend this equipment, some of my co-workers bought regular projectors and I see them carrying heavy and elephant-like units to their classes. Here in Brazil we have a popular saying for this.In English it sounds like: "(the other regular-sized projectors) are cannons to hit a fly".
IMO, for classes, the PK301 is dead on. Don't listen to people saying it has not a good resolution or it has a poor contrast. It is a PICO projector. Expect what is reasonable. I can live with it when I think I can put the whole set (remote control, cables, tripod, power-supply, unit itself) in my backpack adding around 1kg to my back.
BAD THINGS OVERVIEW:
- OBVIOUSLY: POOR QUALITY VGA CABLE. BAD CONTACT NEXT TO THE FERRITE. WAITING FOR OPTOMA'S ANSWER.
- REMOTE CONTROL HAD TO BE BOUGHT SEPARATELLY. OMG...
- TRIPOD HAD TO BE BOUGHT TOO. Seriously, Optoma. Do you really think your users would mind paying, let's say, 15 dollars more, included on the price, for a "full set" INCLUDING the damn remote and a tripod? OMG again...
- power supply could follow the PORTABLE mentallity, right Optoma dudes? NEEDS to be smaller, but it's not bigger than the average ones.
- included cables are too short AND have I alrady said tha one of them is defective?
GOOD THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE OVERVIEW:
- extremelly light, portable and small
- sports an execellent construction (at least, looks like - feels sturdy...);
- recognizes the input MUCH faster than other unities I've ever seen (Samsung, Epson, 3M and BenQ). In 8 seconds you're ready to go!
- quiet unit;
- good resolution for its size;
- good contrast for its purpose;
- several cables included to make you start (hope no other breaks...);
- micro SD slot works pretty well, so you can really go portable, leaving your notebook at home and saving your smartphone's battery;
I recommend this item. But Optoma needs to work with better cable suppliers...
