Many factors warrant the deliberate search for best portable projector comparison in 2024. And just as the use cases differ from one context to another, the needs of individuals looking for affordable projector buying guide are also different in most cases.
By going through the best budget projector comparison, you’ll be informed enough to choose one that suits your own peculiar needs in all ramifications.
Among other things, the reviews here will make it possible to discover the full spectrum of what is available within your budget. And if you are price conscious person, be rest assured that these products belong to a class of high quality projectors under $1000 in 2024. For those familiar with online purchase on Amazon, you don’t have to spend time looking for where to buy projector online with very fast shipping and impressive return policy.
Why Buy Projector Online
Replacement: Probably, you’ve used one or two types of projectors before. You’ve had so many experiences. And possibly for the purpose of unexpected damage or malfunctioning as a result of aging, the need for replacement often arises from time to time. And that’s one of the reasons why people make commitment to buy projector online.
Starting A New Business: This particular factor seems obvious. There are different types of businesses that often need high quality projectors to deliver content viewing experiences to their clients, students or partners. It really makes a difference as opposed to relying on traditional presentation methods.
Business Expansion: Following increased demand for some services or outside office presentations, some expanding businesses often comes to market to buy affordable projectors online or offline.
And beside these, there are so many other good reasons why people conduct deliberate search and shopping for the best portable projectors with the intent to make comparison.
Portable Projector Comparison: The Bestselling Brands
Epson Projectors (Best for home cinema)
In my own experience, Epson is one of the leading brands when it comes to office electronics and not just projectors only. At least this assertion seems to hold true judging by how popular it is in business and education contexts.
Besides, they also have interesting range of home related products Epson Expression Home XP-440 and Expression Home XP-340 printers. Founded in 1942, this Japanese company had earned the trust for exporting their products across many countries of the world. Some of the best Epson projectors under $500 include the following –
Epson Home Cinema Projector – LS100
One of the first noticeable thing about the projectors from this brand is they were built with home use cases in mind. In other words, if you are looking for the best home cinema projectors,
Epson certainly has interesting good options for you. And this one, Epson EH-LS100 is just one of them. In a situation where tight spaces is an issue, this projector can serve you well as the Ultra Short Throw (UST) which makes us of laser light engine makes quality viewing experience possible.
With the eco-friendly lamp settings, the laser diode can be extended up to 30,000 hours. As for the color intensity, this brand promises up to ten years quality service with limited maintenance except for air periodic air filter changes.
The product weighs about 11kg with measurement around 494 x 172 x 437 mm.
Clearly stated in the packaging is the 4000 lumens output which contributes to the impressive brightness for gaming and cinema use cases. In some sense, this is usually expected in all 3LCD projectors whether it’s from Epson or other brands. Impressively, this product is very easy to set up.
Epson EX3240 SVGA 3LCD Projector
Among many other use cases, here is another Epson projector that serves well for powerpoint presentations too. Some you can be sure that all what they got are not home cinema projectors. Slightly below the one reviewed above, the lumen rating on the Epson EX3240 stands around 3,200. Unlike the EX3212, it also comes with a carrying case that’s meant for easy movement from one usage location to the other.
Interestingly, the two shares one important feature which is the 3 chip LCD engines. In most practical use settings, this gives them some advantage over the best DLP projectors like the Optoma HD39Darbee, Sony VPL-VW300ES and many others.
With this product you should expect vibrant, eye catching bright colors when it’s setup properly for optimum performance.
Between analog (VGA) and HDMI connections, it is practically hard to notice any difference while using the Epson EX3240 projector. For relatively small conference rooms, the 2 watt in-built speakers deliver sound audio quality to give your audience what they expect.
Even though this 3LCD projector is comparatively more affordable than many counterparts in its category, you can still get attractive high brightness, high quality imaging and good video viewing experience.
The only downside which doesn’t matter for many is the absence of optical zoom and it lacks audio port. But as for home cinema projector experience, this could your best bet.
Optoma Projectors
Here is another great brand that is becoming very popular in recent times. Probably, this could be attributable to their special focus on sound and audio visual products meant for educational entertainment and business uses. In some sense, this could be judged as one of the best projector brands in the market today.
Unlike many others, this brand makes use of mainly what they call NuForce Sound range and DLP technology pioneered by Texas Instruments.
Below here are some brief reviews of the best Optoma projectors under $1000.
Optoma EH200ST DLP Projector (Best for business)
Top selling business projectors come in different shapes, sizes and price. But sometimes, design and brand factors influence purchase decisions more than anything else. Yes, performance really matters a lot but as noted earlier in the best portable projector comparison post here, everybody’s needs and preferences are never the same.
Coming from the stable of this global brand Optoma is the EH200ST high resolution projector created for business and educational users in mind.
The in-built speaker and HDMI provides for fast easy set up. Following through the manual, there won’t be any technical hassles at all. In fact, you can be up and running with it in20 minutes or less.
Depending on the preferred use cases, you can get up to 100 inch clear imaging in short distances. The short throw projection capabilities makes that possible.
Even when you intend to use this with the latest gaming consoles, you can be sure of getting high resolution 3D contents from sources like 3D blue rays or 3D broadcasting.
The high contrast 20,000:1 ratio makes it easy to get ultra bright, dim and dull image displays.
For flexible fast presentations or viewing experience, Optoma EH200St MHL connectivity makes it possible to stream videos, view documents and even share photos from your smartphone or tablet. So depending on your audience you can make the experience practically fulfilling.
With this product you get 6500 hours lamp life and 5 years color guarantee.
Optoma S341 3500 DLP Projector
If you have used models from other brands and now looking to buy business projector with upgraded performance capabilities, look no further. Here another interesting option that is likely to have all the features and specifications you have in mind.
On the very first impression, Optoma S341 specification might look like very similar to what you have used before. However, it offers really good and distinctive projection experiences both for the presenter and audience.
One of the key distinctions is that you’ll notice is the multiple connectivity options that are offered in this product. Specifically, you get HDMI, USB and VGA. And then there is 2 watt speaker too.
With the aesthetically sound design, the weight is about 2.7kg.
To help extend the life of the bulb, there are different cooling spaces and features built into the S341 projector. Expectedly, this is a high resolution DLP projector with 3,500 lumens. For the purpose of finding your gem through the best portable projector comparison, you can compare this with other models from the brand mentioned earlier.
With regard to the lamp life what you get here is 10,000 hours in comparison to 6500 hours obtainable from the other bestselling projector brands.
The implication is that this one is very likely to give you higher value for money over the course of its life span.
Very much interesting in this product is the Eco Ave Mute feature. According to the manufacturer, presenters can turn the screen to be totally blank when the contents are longer needed even while the presentation is still ongoing.
This also helps to extend the lamp life.
Contrast in this one is like 22,000:1, coupled with the 3500 lumens, you are sure of getting impressive brightness while using your Optomo business DLP projector.
Note that this is one of the best chromecast compatible projectors you can get in the market today.
And like many others from this particular brand, you get five years color warranty. Whether 3D or other types of content, you can get full 1080p bright streaming from this Optoma S341. And you don’t have to worry about the hassles of handling cables in most cases.
ViewSonic Projectors (Best For Gaming)
In this portable projector buying guide, ViewSonic is another great brand with lots of affordable gaming projectors under $500.
In other words, if gaming is your top most use case, then you’ll find this one particularly useful. However, most of the features under review can as well be used just like most other home theater projectors. Besides projectors, this company also manufactures other electronic products like monitors, commercial interactive boards and accessories. Let’s look at some of the cool ViewSonic projector models in their stable.
Viewsonic PX700hd High Resolution Gaming Projector
Just as the name sounds above, this is a full HD 1080p resolution projection device with 3,500 lumen brightness. This also provides for impressive high quality image and video viewing experience. In the case that long lamp life matters much to you, you’ll get 15,000 hours here with the SuperEco energy saving feature.
This product comes mostly in white color with sufficient space holes for cooling the system while in use. Once again, this one adds up to long lamp life too.
The USB A port provides power for most dongles, so a separate power source is not needed.
Through the HDMI port, wireless dongles like Google Chromecast, Roku Streaming and Amazon Fire TV sticks can be connected easily to have it up and running in minutes. For power gamers and every other user alike, the Ultra low 16MS input latency provides frame by frame action experience.
Outstanding among other ViewSonic PX700HD feature is the optional modes you can select for each viewing options that suits your taste and preferences.
For example, you can choose the sports mode which brings all the varying colors of the game field to life. The standard mode works more like normal PC or Notebook color viewing. Gaming and movie mode enhances immersive colored viewing in almost all types of usage environments.
HDMI enabled devices like laptop, media players and tablets works perfectly well with the connecting port. This in turn makes it possible to stream and view 3D content from Blue ray players too.
With this gaming projector, you can have your in-game commands displayed on screen as promptly as required.
The projector often goes on automatically upon detection of VGA cable connection or simple connection of the power cord. Either way, you can have it up and running in minutes. According to the manufacturer, you get 8 control codes in one remote.
In those contexts when there are periods of inactivity, you can set this ViewSonic projector to go into sleep mode automatically. Unlike the Epson projectors mentioned earlier, you get 1.1X optical zoom capability in this one.
ViewSonic PJD7720HD DLP Projector
Practically, this one seems more like multi purpose portable projector. In other words, you can use the PJD7720HD as business, educational and home theater projector. From the experiences of past users, this product has served really in all these different usage contexts.
However, one disgusting thing for some users is the relatively noisy fan. But somehow, this is a minor issue in comparison to all other great features you can get from this affordable ViewSonic masterpiece.
In some sense, this product stands neck to neck with the BenQ HT2050 and Optoma HD26.
Coming with the smart compact design is 10W speaker that provides for sound and bright audio quality. This means that everyone in your audience can assimilate what is being projected both in terms of auditory and visual output.
For high quality image production, the Exclusive SuperColor technology offers wide range of color configurations for varying usage environments.
For optimal big screen viewing experience the display size comes out at 30 – 300 in.
The Lumens brightness on this one stands at 3,200 while dynamic contrast ratio is 22,000:1. The battery life obtainable in this ViewSonic PJD7720HD is 10,000 hours.
As obtainable from other competing projectors in its category, you will also get wireless streaming from other compatible devices (dongles) too. This is made possible through the cable connection point or MHL/HDMI port. As for optical zooming experience, what you get here is 1.1X zoom.
For those looking for where to buy PJD7720HD online now, you can find it on Amazon slight under $600. Looking at price, this is slightly more expensive than most of the best budget projectors in the market today.
Probably, some of the seemingly superior features that made it outstanding contributed to the high price.
Remember what I said that this is more like a multi-purpose portable projector.
So in that regard, this product cannot be compared as much with those other that were built with a single use case from day one.
Worthy of note here is the fact that these three are not the only brands in the market. In fact when you do a search for the best project brands in Google, you are bound to find too many.
I just selected the bestselling options with highest reviews and rating as at the time of this writing.
Top Essential Projector Accessories
Whether at the first point of purchase or on a later date, there are different types of projector accessories that will help you and your audience get the ultimate experience. In most cases, each one of the brands reviewed here and other brands often have compatible accessories meant specifically for their own product models.
However, take notice of the fact that some accessories are meant for specific products in a series built by a particular brand. That means that some certain accessories like carrying case could serve for different projector models.
Projector Screen
Expectedly, this is a core component in the whole projection process. Ultimately, this is where you get the real visual experience. The other key component is the speaker but it is usually inbuilt. Most projector screens are usually in white color and they come in different sizes.
Some of these are easily foldable. And the size often ranges between 24 – 300 inch diagonal. Meanwhile, this is should distance between the screen and the projector itself.
Carrying Case
While some brands will have their own custom made carrying case for each series or models, a whole lot of them do not offer this. And when you are buying from a retailer, it could be Amazon or another seller you are very likely to have a carrying case to come with it at the point of purchase. So in most cases, you’ll still need a carrying case to make it possible for you to be moving your projector from one place to another.
Projector Mounting Kit
Regardless of the type of portable projector you buy, you’ll certainly need a mounting kit to set it up as quickly as possible. When you buy projector mount on Amazon or from any other seller, it comes with nuts and bolts for easy fixing as you like. And most of them are usually foldable.
There mainly two types of mounts; first is the ceiling mount and second is the wall mount. So consider your own intended use case and environment.
Another important thing to check is compatibility with some specific brands and projector models. Price ranges between $40 and $200.
3D Projector Glasses
Especially for people interested in the best gaming projectors; don’t forget this one too. 3D projector viewing glasses come in different shapes and sizes as well. You can find them mostly in black color. Example is the ELEPHAS 144Hz Active Shutter Eyewear. As for this one, it works with almost any projector brand that comes to mind.
Another one is the GooDee rechargeable 3D glasses. For these types of projector accessories, you can find majority of them selling under $100. Yes, they are cheaply affordable.
Projector Screen Tripod
This one is used mainly for office, church and educational presentations. Size range is something like 70 to 100 inches. However, your preference will determine what you buy. Good examples here include Celexon 74 inch and Taotronics projector screen tripods. For these tripods, you can adjust the height as easily as required.
So that both the audience in the back and front will have complete view of every contents displayed.
Conclusion
As noted earlier, the best portable projector comparison is meant to help you accomplish one thing and one thing only; and that is to choose the one that suits your need among the available options in the market today.
Through to this point, I have intentionally limited the options to the best projector brands that have been proven in different usage environments.
So whether you have home theater, business presentations, professional training, indoor events or gaming projectors in mind, the brands represented here have you covered.
Without clicking further away to read other projector price reviews, you can be sure that all of the options here are affordably selling under $1000.
In fact, Epson alone has got many different models for all the use cases you may have in mind and at the same time great options under $500. Just be sure to test everything after making the commitment to buy anyone that appeals most to you.
NOTE, by clicking through the links in this buyer guide, you’ll land on Amazon. And so you could have the one you want shipped to you 100$ fee within 48 hours or less.