AAXA M5 Pocket Projector Review – Summary: Summary, The Bottom Line, Pros, Cons
The AAXA M5 is an LED pocket projector with DLP technology. AAXA claims 900 lumens when plugged in, 500 when running on battery alone. It didn’t quite reach its claim, but came close at 790 lumens in its brightest mode. That battery is claimed to last 70 minutes, and it does just that. Not quite long enough for a film or a good video game session, but you’ll be able to watch a few episodes of sitcoms or one episode of Game of Thrones or a similarly timed TV show.
It’s a 6” x 6” projector that stands just 1.8 inches tall and weighs just under two pounds. The AAXA M5 comes with a black carrying case with a handle. The case contains the power brick, remote control, an RCA cable and a small tripod that helps with adjusting the height of the projector, which helps with the otherwise-non-existent placement flexibility. The M5 can project a very small image, to a decently sized one – up to 86” (possible more).
The AAXA M5 has a built-in media player for easy viewing of photos, video, and audio via either a USB or Micro SD card. This is great for those road warriors on a budget who need a portable projector for their presentations. It is first and foremost a home entertainment projector, however, and it does well at that. For the high school, college kid, or young millennial adult, the AAXA M5 is a portable projector that is sure to impress friends when bringing it around to friends’ houses, apartments, and dorms for casual gaming or binge watching.
This pocket projector has all the inputs and connectors you’d need for home entertainment purposes, as well as business/education. It has an HDMI port, a VGA connector, Micro SD slot, and a USB input. There's also an audio out port and an input for headphones. The 2-watt speakers, located on the top, are loud enough to fill a small to medium sized room, and even can be used for a summer movie night outdoors, provided that your location is somewhat peaceful.
I consider the AAXA M5 to be a projector that is suitable for the younger crowd, perhaps as a first projector or for someone who needs an HD projector that is highly portable. It has reasonable color for a pocket projector, and with a little tweaking, you can get better color. It has a sharp image and is 720p, which is the lower end of HD, but still looks pretty good.
I am not a fan of the squishing issue, where the image is slightly squashed inward and makes people’s faces look skinny and slightly off. For a $499 list price, I would have liked to see that issue resolved before the projector hit the market. That said, I did find the AAXA M5 on Amazon for $382.50, which is a much better deal. Again, I did bring the issue to AAXA, who says they are putting their engineers on it because it is likely a software issue. That means it should be able to be fixed with a firmware update. My dealings with AAXA have been great, so I trust they will find a solution shortly.
Personally, I’d say to go with the AAXA M6, their 1200 lumen, 1080p pocket projector with a 90 minute battery life. That one sells for $599, so if you’ve got the extra $100 in your budget, go with that. If not, the AAXA M5 has quite a lot of lumens and reasonably good color for a pocket projector, and that rechargeable battery and media player give it higher value than some of its competition, and its predecessors – just don’t pay full price, if you can swing it.
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