The projected image is larger than this screen by a good 8″ all around and there is ambient light in the room (dim, but not dark).

This is still impressive for the cost.Ībove is the start up screen (once you’ve done the initial setup) on my 80″x45″ screen (92″ diagonal). If you use keystone (which you probably will want) it becomes impossible to focus the top and bottom of the screen as the focus plane appears to be on an angle. Keystone is limited, and appears to interact badly with focus. The focus is pretty finicky, it feels like getting precise focus will be challenging as the control is quite loose. My initial impression was the fan was much quieter than I expected, and this was setup in my dedicated theater room which is nearly silent.

The HDMI cable is fairly long (5 feet?), but the power cable lead is quite short (3 feet?). The projector itself is very small, roughly 5.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.5″ – literally about two soda cans side by side. This is what came in the box: The projector, a remote (2 AAA batteries not included), mini-tripod, power supply, HDMI cable and a couple of wooden q-tips (for cleaning?). I decided that I was going to keep my outlay low and avoid too many features, I just needed a display. If you bump your budget to $150 there are many more options, and many more features they promise. The price is well under $100 including taxes and delivery. It had enough reviews which helps gives some confidence that they are not all sponsored/bought reviews. I settled on the Akiyo O1 Mini Projector which I found on Amazon.ca. The only good news here is there are many low cost choices so you’re not risking a lot, but remember the golden rule here: You get what you pay for. There is also the misleading ‘sponsored’ reviews. How do you pick one? You also have to wade through all of the technical mumbo-jumbo descriptions and marketing claims, many of them which are there to confuse you. There is a whole class of low cost “mini” projectors out there, with so many choices. This sent me looking at much less expensive solutions. The Epson would be suitable for a ‘home theater’ space, and I don’t need my “no tech get away” to have an amazing audio video setup.

A local dealer has a great Epson 1080p projector for $700, and I’m certain with a little shopping we can cut that price down significantly – or look on the used market for a great deal at half the price.

There are many great, low cost, projectors now. You can imagine the slippery slope we are on, and it was not a huge leap to think about setting up a projector and getting the ‘outdoor movie’ experience. Watching Ratatouille on a 16″ laptop screen on the screened in porch after sunset was pretty nice. Under the guise of making things more fun for our teenage son, we decide to bring a movie to watch the other day. Still, as a general rule we put our devices away and enjoy the sounds of nature and the freedom of being disconnected. I also put the cottage on the internet for some automation setting up a remote site with openwrt and wireguard. Over the years this has eroded a little as we’ve ended up with generous mobile data plans, and our kids have become more technology attached. We are fortunate to have a cottage where we can get away from it all, and one of our rules there is “no tech”. I may completely lose my credibility as a home theater enthusiast, but hear me out.

1080p mini projector