Optoma PK201 - Performance
09/28/2010 - Anthony Arrigo
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Optoma PK201 Brightness
Brightness levels in Pico projectors as you can imagine are on the low side. They are designed to be used in dark environments. If ambient light in the room can't be controlled completely, then generally you will be forced to set the projector up so that the image is no more than about 15 inches diagonal. The 20 lumens that the PK201 produces will allow you to project about a 30 inch diagonal image and still find it satisfactory. This is assuming you are in a room with blinds closed and lights off. Small amounts of ambient light from a doorway would be ok, but certainly not ideal.
Most Pico projectors have two brightness modes and the PK301 does have a Standard Mode and a Bright Mode. You are going to want all the power you can get from the unit so I recommend using Bright Mode, however if you can, Standard Mode will increase battery time, but the vibrance of the image will drop. Expect to project about 5 lumens at the most when projecting a 33 inch diagonal image. That was the actual lumen output of the projector in a completely dark room with literally no ambient light when the projector was in Bright Mode.
Sharpness
The higher resolution of the Optoma PK201 really came through when projecting Microsoft Office documents using the VGA port from a Laptop. Out of the projectors I have reviewed, Optoma Pico projectors really have done the best job when it comes to sharpness. Text in spreadsheets is readable assuming you send the projector a resolution that matches its native resolution. Once you start to try and send the projector higher resolutions than what is native, which 854x480, text and menu items become almost unreadable and some serious eye fatigue sets in.
Although text might be difficult to read, pictures and video content at higher resolutions is not a problems. If you plan to show some quick numbers from a spreadsheet, larger type in the 15pt to 20pt range is going to be best if you want to display your presentation clearly. The PK201 is no substitute for a true portable projector in the 1500 to 3000 lumen brightness range. Its purpose is to be a low price, extremely portable device for sharing images from smartphones and other really portable devices like netbooks. Long sessions, with large audiences would not make the PK201 or the any Pico for that matter an ideal way to convey your ideas. However, for small intimate presentations where you need to show information to a few people with an image larger than your smartphone or netbook, the PK201 would produce a satisfactory image.
Light Leakage
Light leakage is minimal and the ambient light the menu system produces will not wash out the image.
Audible Noise
Because of the light technology being used, the projector produces no sound.