LED Projectors
The LED projectors category includes the latest projector technology used in ultra-portable projectors, business projectors, and digital projection. See below for a list of LED projector reviews and information pages.
LED projectors are becoming more and more popular. LED technology is used in a wide range of products, including home theater projectors, business and education projectors, and even the emerging market of pico projectors, handheld projectors, and other mini projector systems.
LED light sources have some serious advantages over conventional lamps. LED projectors require little maintenance, as there is no lamp to be changed. Furthermore, LED light sources last significantly longer than the competition. Lastly, the techonology is greener than the alternative conventional projector lamps. Between their long lives, lack of upkeep, and lower power usage, LED projectors save you money in the long run.
Popular LED Projector brands: Sony, Samsung, Dell, Mitsubishi, and Toshiba.
Article on Mini Projectors: The 2010 Pico Projector and Pocket Projector Report
LED Projector Reviews
-
Casio XJ-H2650: This Casio education projector is a fine choice for school and district administrators shopping for a projector with low maintenance costs. With an LED/laser light source lamp, it can last up to 20,000 hours. -
Viewsonic Pro9000: We take a look at an early pre-production version of this DLP projector that sports a 20,000 hour hybrid LED / Laser light source, something rare in home theater projectors. -
Optoma PK320: The coolest little pico projector around! Very capable and with a street price of around $400, this Optoma is not only a great bargain but also a great investment! -
Optoma ZX210ST: This Optoma is one of the most feature-laden multimedia projectors we’ve reviewed. Overall, the Optoma ZX210ST’s combination of features, brightness, cost savings and warranty make it a desirable choice for the K-12 education market. -
Optoma ML500: Looking for a small portable projector for the road to watch movies with or play files from a compact flash drive or SD card? This could be the solution for you. Its 500 lumens of brightness were sufficient and pretty impressive! -
Casio XJ-ST155 projector: Overall it is a good choice and it will serve the needs of a university nicely with all its command and control features, but make sure the native resolution of XGA(1024x768) fits your requirements. -
Viewsonic PLED-W500: Overall, the Viewsonic PLED-W500 provides good brightness and sharp image for its size, combined with a decent price and a 20,000 hour LED light source. -
Acer K330: The Acer K330 provides an attractive option for those looking for a portable projector that’s has decent light output at a reasonable cost. It provides a sharp, fairly bright image across a screen size of 80” diagonal. -
Casio XJ-M145: This Casio deserves serious consideration for your school district or business! It boasts LED/laser light source that never needs replacing, a great warranty, wireless networking and 3D readiness. Our Hot Product Award! -
Vivitek Qumi Q2: This incredibly compact mini projector, weighing in at just 1.4 lbs., does well against the competition! It boasts great color rendition, a long light life thanks to its LED light source, and 3D capability! -
Casio XJ-A250V: It turns out that Casio makes an excellent, and reasonably bright, highly mobile widescreen projector. Also, with the excellent warranty, and hybrid light source, long term ownership costs should be minimal. -
Samsung's F10M: This is their first low cost LED projector ($1299). It sports very good color, and measures just a tad short of its claimed 1000 lumens. Its LEDs barely dim compared to conventional projectors, offsetting the lower starting lumens. -
Casio XJ-A140: Casio's Green Slim series uses a hybrid light source of LED and Laser for 20,000 hours life. Casio has lowest total cost of ownership around. Excellent, portable or mountable, 2:1 zoom. Most impressive! -
About LED Projectors
The life of an LED light source is seriously spectacular. Even with 40 hours of viewing per week, the average LED can run for an impressive 10-25 years, which is longer than the expected life of the product itself! Let us put in perspective how long 25 years really is in the world of technology. In 1985, the VHS was the standard in home recording, a really huge TV was only 32 inches, CDs were new, DVDs were only a dream, and high-definition was still 15 years away. Thus, because technology changes so much, the use of the same LED projector 25 years into the future is not really practical. But theoretically, it's possible!
But back to reality. To our knowledge, all current pico projectors use a small LED light source. Pico projectors make possible integration with small devices such as smart phones, etc. They can boast an absurdly long life of up to 20,000 hours.
Above is a picture from the LED Optoma PK301 pico projector.
In the home theater space, LED light sources are emerging, typically in higher-end 3-chip DLP projectors. As of the 2010-2011 season, all home theater projectors using LED light sources are over $10,000. LEDs are somwhat limited in brightness, however, which might explain why we haven't seen more in the lower price ranges.
In the business sector, LED light sources are beginning to rival conventional lamps. However, despite these developments, we can't guarantee that LED light sources will replace all conventional lamps, especially if you consider that we are now seeing some business projectors sporting lamps with lives as long as 5,000-6,000 hours.
LED light sources may come into the main home theater market a little behind their acceptance in the business education market. For example, the Samsung SP-F10M at $1,299 is an excellent example of LED light sources going into lower cost projectors.
Another example is Casio's LED hybrid projectors, which use both LED and laser technology. Both the LED Samsung and the hybrid Casio projectors have the same kind of extremely long life ratings, and both run around $800-$1,500 dollars.
The future of LED light sources
We should keep in mind that the business sector is more than 10x the size of the home theater world. As a result, as it comes to economies of scale, LED light sources are quickly becoming valid propositions in buisness and education, whereas they are still very expensive in home theater space (due to low numbers and high development costs).
With developments in LED technology, LED popularity and widespread usage is anticipated to rise. It is expected that, in the business/education world, LED light sources will become dominant over conventional lamps over the next few years (2011-2012). Furthermore, LED home theater projectors should soon become available at lower prices.