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Mitsubishi PK20 Portable LED Projector: Summary, Pros and Cons

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Art Feierman

Mitsubishi PK20 Portable LED Projector: Summary, Pros and Cons

Playing with the PK20 projector was much fun. I'm pretty sure I don't need one myself, as I have a (relatively) lightweight business projector and a great home theater model. Neither of mine, however, will fit in a large pocket, nor run for two hours on batteries. I'm thinking of the PK20 more and more, as a "personal" projector, used a lot by just one person, but then able to do some things well on a very small screen in front of a very, very small group.

I'm still not happy that the review PK20 projector didn't come with the PK20's rechargable battery pack as part of the review, I would have liked to see if the PK20 can get the full 2 hours on a charge that their literature states. Taking it outside at night might have been an interesting experience, perhaps showing a movie on the wall of my house, in my backyard.

What impresses me most about the PK20, though, is that it's image quality is rather good. As I pointed out earlier, it actually does better bright reds and yellows than the typical business DLP projector can do, in their brightest - their presentation modes.

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(They all do very well when in their video modes, but those portable DLP projectors give up, typically, about half their brightness.)

I can definitely see the PK20 for limited presentation use, best for presenting data, graphics or video to 1 to 3 or 4 people.

And it looks like it has great potential for working with PDA's and Smartphones that can output a signal, not to mention, game machines, and other gadgets.

Mitsubishi PK20 Pros:

  • Tiny, extremely portable
  • Very lightweight
  • Very clear, sharp image
  • Works very well with PC's and Macs, SD cards, digital cameras, supports a wide range of other devices, such as video iPods
  • Handles SVGA beautifully, and does a very good job on XGA resolution sources (compressed)
  • Affordable
  • Better than average color accuracy for a DLP projector
  • Can be mounted to tripod
  • Long life lamps (10,000 hours)
  • Solid build quality
  • Good warranty
  • Very functional remote control
  • Optional rechargable battery, mounts to bottom of the projector
  • Low cost, extremely low cost of ownership (thanks to 10,000 lamps).

Mitsubishi PK20 Projector - Cons:

  • Very low brightness (25 lumens)
  • No zoom lens (not really an issue for a product of this type)

Mitsubishi PK20 Projector - Typical Capabilities

  • Documentation (the tall skinny print manual is extremely thin on details, but the included CD has the full manual on it, and it is rather comprehensive)
  • Menu layout
  • Audible noise levels

Mitsubishi PK20 LED Portable Projector - Summary

The bottom line is that the PK20 represents a new breed of portable projector, one which redefines portable, to include battery operation, and redefines size with a footprint about a quarter that of the smallest traditional DLP projectors (and even less compared to the smallest LCD projectors.

It comes down to this. If you really want a "hyper-portable" projector solution, whether for small presentations, gaming, gadgets, movies, etc., the PK20 is a very impressive projector. In low light environments, images can be projected and look good up to about 60" diagonal, although with some lighting, 40" is definitely more ideal.

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You just have to get used to the idea, that it cannot compete with "traditional" portable projectors in terms of brightness, but it certainly is a serious contender, in terms of overall image quality.

In summary, the Mitsubishi PK20 LED projector offers a combination of size, battery operation, and image quality, that make for a most respectable product. One that is likely to find many enthusiastic users.

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