This week we are taking a look at a pico projector from 3M, the MP180 model to be exact. The pocket sized projector isn’t the smallest we’ve seen, but does measure in at 65x33x150mm making it easy enough to fit in a pocket. It weighs 338 grams which also isn’t the lightest, but comfortable enough to carry around.
Other specs show that it uses DLP projection technology and has a native resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. The lamp life is rated at 20,000 hours and the brightness is rated at 30 ANSI Lumens. It also has 4GB of memory built in, a 2 hour battery and a microSD card slot. Lets take a look and see if it’s any good.
3M MP180 Pocket Projector Review
One thing that stands out on the MP180 pocket projector is the small touchscreen on the top. This allows you to navigate around the menus and load up content from the internal storage or microSD card without the need of an attached computer. As mentioned, the screen is touch capable which also adds the benefit of being a touchpad for when browsing the internet over the pocket projectors built in WiFi connection. The downside is that the browser is quite bad and the touchpad mode isn’t the greatest. But, the touchscreen worked very well whilst navigating around the various menus of the device.
A quick look around the projector shows that on the front, there’s the lens with the light source behind it. A focus dial can also be found. The device is able to throw about an 80 inch screen although in the dark the image looked a little washed out at full size. Closing down to about 60 or 70 inches seemed to be the maximum that looked good while keeping in focus.
Although the picture quality was quite good, it also wasn’t amazing, but if you want it for presentations or a small projector to carry around to watch movies on, this will do the trick.
On the back of the device you’ll find the main inputs which includes the DC In, VGA-A/V port and a USB port. Although there’s just the one main input for a video/audio signal, 3M provide a number of cables in the box that allow you to connect up a number of different sources. Unfortunately the iPhone/iPad connecter is not included by default.
Under the device holds the battery along with a place to connect a supplied mini tripod. The tripod is quite robust considering its small size.
Overall we liked the MP180 from 3M. The build quality is great and the touchscreen is a nice addition although the browser isn’t that great. For navigating around the various options it does work well.
Due to the small size of the projector it’s very handy to carry around for presentations for a few people, or perhaps for sitting back and watching a movie while travelling. As it has 30 ANSI lumens, you’ll need to be in a dark room for best performance and have a screen size of 60 to 70 inches to keep the image sharp and the best quality.
The 3M MP180 pocket projector is available in the UK from a number of online stores such as Amazom, Expansys, Tesco and 3M direct with the recommended retail price of £399.99 although you get it a little cheaper if you shop around.
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