Aiptek V10 PLUS - Review Summary

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Art Feierman

A bottom line summary of the Aiptek V10 Plus LED projector's pros and cons and capabilities.

Aiptek V10 PLUS: Bottom Line

The V10 Plus'es key advantage over the competition is its ability to be used without a device connected to it - using its media player to run photos and videos stored on its internal memory, or the SD card slot.

Aiptek V10 PLUS Projector: Pros

Extremely portable, smaller than a pack of cigarettes ("100's"), definitely "fits in a pocket"
Simple to use, in most situations, it's plug and play, unless you want to download your "stuff" to the internal memory.
Built in multimedia player, with 4 gig of internal memory - allows you to download your images, videos, etc., and leave your other devices at home
You can take movies and other video files with you. For example, hoook up to a DVD player, select internal or SD memory card, and press the OK button, and the media player will record the movie or video file. When the movie finishes, hit OK again, to stop the recording. You can disconnect the source, and now run the movie, etc., from the projector's media player
Composite video input and SD card slot (with support for SDHC, MMC, MS Pro)
Provided ArcSoft software can convert PDFs and Powerpoint presentations to JPEGs, to run on this projector using the media player

Battery good for up to one hour of use between charges (seems to get slightly less runtime when using the media player than a feed through the composite video)
Relatively quick recharge (4 hours or less)
Stereo sound - a pair of .5 watt speakers, surprisingly good sounding, all considered
Built in recessed screw thread for a standard tripod screw
One year warranty
Good resolution, typical for the class - 640x480
Long life LED light source, rated 20,000 hours - by the time you get through 20,000 hours (20 hours a week, for 20 years), you'll long since have replaced it with newer devices

Aiptek V10 PLUS Projector: Cons

Colors tend to be oversaturated, gamma high (dark image), and too blue. Skin tones are dark
Very limited brightness - suitable only for small screen viewing - maximum size is about 48 inches diagonal. Even if you want to go a bit larger. For best results though - 12 to 20 inches diagonal, to have some punch to the images
Cannot charge the battery, while running on AC power (turn off the projector to have it charge)
Image controls only work when viewing content from the card slot or internal memory, not from composite video inputs
No way to directly work with a PC interface (VGA)
If you want more playing time, say, to watch a 2 hour movie, you'll want ot buy a spare battery

Aiptek V10 PLUS Projector: Typical Capabilities

Fixed lens - no zoom
Brightness - at 8.3 lumens, the V10 Plus isn't near asbright as the Optoma, and is about 6% less bright than the 3M
Documentation - not bad, but typically "thin" on details Note, the provided disc with ArcSoft software also has a more extensive manual on it, that is helpful regarding downloading file types and storing them to internal memory, as well as creating presentations from Powerpoint and PDF file formats (converting to JPEG)
Phsyical size
Weight