The Epson PowerLite 109W is a WXGA (1280 x 800) business and education projector claiming a wall melting 4,000 lumens. This brightness claim makes it suitable for classrooms and conference rooms where there is little control over the amount of ambient light that enters the space. Its 3LCD technology, coupled with the high brightness, means this projector will not only cut through the ambient light, but maintain excellent color while doing so. 3LCD projectors produce the same amount of color lumens as they do white ones, so you can expect the Epson PowerLite 109W to be vibrant whether the room is fully darkened or not.

Like always, I’ll begin this review of the Epson PowerLite 109W with a brief overview, followed by some highlights before moving on to a list of its special features. We will also tour the hardware, discuss picture quality, and talk about performance before summing it all up for you on the last page. By the end of this review, you should know if the Epson PowerLite 109W  is the right projector for your business or education applications. Let’s get started!

We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors report.  

The Epson PowerLite 109W is a 4,000 lumen projector, and if past experience is anything to go by, you can expect this Epson to meet or exceed that brightness claim. The W in the “109W” model number stands for WXGA resolution (1280 x 800). Consider WXGA to be the business and education world’s 720p – so, expect a nicely sharp image, though not as good as 1080p (or WUXGA, in this case). For most business and education applications, WXGA will perform brilliantly. With a list price of just $749, this projector will be quite attractive to K-12 school districts, and offices requiring more than one projector.

It has an impressive lamp life of up to 12,000 hours in ECO Mode – remember, however, that ECO Modes tend to reduce the brightness of the projector by up to half. Still, even if you were running the projector at full power all the time, you can expect the lamp life to be around 6,000 hours. That’s quite a bit more than the average! That is substantial when you consider the projector will likely be used about 20 hours a week or less.

Running 20 hours a week, 10 months out of the year is only 870 hours per year, so it will be over 7 years before you’d have to replace that lamp running at full power. Good deal! And, when you do need to replace that lamp, Epson has an excellent education program that gives discounts to school districts on the projector and its accessories. So, if you’re looking for a projector for education applications, Epson is a brand to seriously consider.

The Epson PowerLite 109W weighs just over 6 lbs, making it a portable projector. This means it can easily be shared amongst conference rooms or classrooms if necessary. The projector has some features desirable amongst those looking for a business and education projector such as wireless capabilities and compatibility with the iProjection app by Epson, which we’ll get deeper into on our Special Features page! Let’s check out the projector’s highlights before taking a closer look at its features and performance.

The Epson 990U projector is a powerful, feature packed classroom projector with impeccable color and brightness. The 990U weighs in at 7 pounds and includes a formidable 16 watt mono speaker that should stand on its own in a classroom or boardroom without any need for extra speakers, but there is the audio out option if you need it.  This WUXGA (1920x1200) Full HD resolution projector costs around (typical street price from authorized Epson dealers) of about $1080 and claims to deliver 3800 lumens.

The Epson 990U is part of Epson’s new PowerLite lineup that includes two other projectors built for the classroom, with quality image, brightness, and sound performance at affordable prices.  The new PowerLite series includes native WUXGA, WXGA, XGA resolutions among all the projectors.  The series comes with Epson’s remarkable color brightness and color gamut, three times higher than that of competitive single chip DLP projectors in similar price ranges.  In addition, Epson claims to get 12,000 hours of lamp life in Eco mode on each projector in the series.  All in all, it looks like a pretty solid series based on my experience with this top line 990U.

We wish to thank Epson America for sponsoring this year’s Best Classroom Projectors Report. 

The Epson 990U is most often ceiling mounted (but small business is also likely to use it as a portable).  Schools, on the other hand, will likely mount it, but if not, it may be destined for a rolling AV cart so it can be easily moved from room to room. The lamp can be changed while mounted if/when it does need to be replaced.  Since the projector’s lamp will last almost 6,000 hours even at full power, and far longer using various eco features, many users will never need a replacement lamp.

Designed primarily for the classroom and schools, the Epson 990U has the ability to connect up to 50 Chromebook, Mac, PC, iOS, and Android devices, and simultaneously display up to four screens, with Epson iProjection (wireless module sold separately for about $100).  That same ability, of course is valuable in business conference rooms, and huddle spaces.

Teachers can also push content from the projector to wireless connected devices using Epson’s iProjection software and control which device screens to display; meanwhile students can make notes and send their work back to the projector at the teacher’s discretion.  Lastly, for the school minded, you can utilize RJ-45 and optional wireless connectivity for remote projector management and presentations over the network, leaving you the ability to centralize school announcements among other things in all classrooms.

Bottom line, as you’ll soon read, this projector is an award winner, performing brilliantly in all facets, brightness, color accuracy, powerful speaker, interactive and wireless features, all packed into the Epson PowerLite 990U and making this projector perfectly suited for any classroom or school environment, and well up to the standards of any business professional on the go or in the boardroom.  Even better, if you join Epson’s Better Futures program, you can have this projector for $825, saving $254 per projector.  Plus you get all the benefits of the program including competitive pricing on all Epson projectors, 3 year limited warranty & 90 day lamp warranty, free next-business-day replacement with free shipping both ways, access to Epson’s PrivateLine toll-free tech support at no charge for the life of your warranty, and your own dedicated Epson account manager.

The Epson Home Cinema 1040, aka the HC1040 projector is designed to tackle "bright rooms" - that is, you won't need to put it in a dedicated home theater or cave,  to enjoy sports, HDTV and movies.

The HC1040 provides an alternative to the more "home theater" focused HC2100 and HC2150.