At a Glance
The Bad: Loud fan, extremely hot
Specs
- Lamp life: 3,000 hours
- Brightness: 3,000 lumens
- Contrast ratio: 2,000:1
- Native resolution: 1280 x 800 (WXGA)
- Size: 11.5 inches wide x 8.3 diameter x 1.7 high
- Weight 3.8 pounds
Performance
As with other high-end projectors, the Epson PowerLite 1775W isn't light on the price tag ($1,199). But where it is light on is … well, its weight. About the size of a DVD player, the 1775W clocks in at a featherweight of 3.8 pounds.
Along with the standard inputs (HDMI, component, composite, etc.), the PowerLite 1775W has wireless connectivity and comes with a wireless USB key included in the box. All of its controls are placed conveniently on the top. It can operate via USB, so a computer isn't mandatory. One pet peeve: Instead of a manual focus ring, it uses button controls to set the focus. I found it more difficult and time consuming to set the proper focus this way.
A variety of color settings are available, including the ability to automatically adjust the color based on the surface it's being projected on. Since a blackboard will obviously affect a display in a different way than a white board, this option can be invaluable to presenters. In these tests, the picture proved to be clear with sharp colors.
Loud Fan Doesn’t = Cool Machine
Unfortunately, which is often the case in the projectors, its speaker is disappointing. While you shouldn't expect home-theater quality from a non-home-theater projector, the 1775 has only a 1-watt mono speaker, which was easily drowned out by its loud fan.
And, as stated earlier, the fan may have been loud but it wasn't particularly effective. The model became extremely hot after a short period of time -- hot enough that you wouldn't want to carry it around after just 15 minutes of use.
The Bottom Line
The PowerLite 1775W scores points for its cool factor in its construction and ease of use, but it loses them in a big way for its loud fan and hot performance.
