Gigaware Micro Projector

[steveG]

Hi all,

I thought some of you might like a quick review of the Gigaware Micro Projector. I picked one up at Radio Shack last week for $99 (regularly $199). So far... I love this thing!

This is far from a high-end projector and no, the picture quality is not high-definition or near as good as your TV. Buuuuut, you have to consider where it's coming from. The projector is super, super small and super portable. You can put video just about anywhere you want. I've used it against the interior and exterior walls of my house and the ceiling. The best surface to project on is a smooth flat white surface (a white bed sheet works great).

Connecting to it is a piece of cake. You can use the RCA output from any video player or through the VGA connection from a computer. Using the VGA cable will require additional audio equipment (like your computer). The speaker on the projector is tiny but sufficient for most circumstances. Still, I prefer to run the audio through a pair of auxiliary speakers I already had for my iPod. There is also a 1/4" bung on the bottom that allows you to use it on a tri-pod (I think this was genius). This also makes it easy to do ceiling projections.

Overall, this thing rocks! I've been wanting a projector to take when we go camping and I finally found it. As a bonus, it's 12v powered, so I can power it through a cars (or the camper's) cigar lighter.

Being excessively curious, I already disassembled it to try to get to the LED. I got most of the way but the plastic that covered the emitter didnt' want to come off and I'm not quite ready to break it... I bought two of these and I swear one of them is slightly brighter than the other. I'm guessing the LED lottery that goes along with flashlights also applies here.

Pics:

I picked up this bag at a local thrift store. It used to carry my GoPro Hero Cam but that got bumped by the latest toy.

The projector:

Connections:

Controls and speaker:

Tri-pod mount:

This is what comes in the box:

This is what I carry in the bag:

Tech Specs

Dimensions
Height: 3.5" x 1.7" 3.15"
Weight: 6.7oz

Connections
* VGA in (1)
* VGA out (1)
* 1/8" combo audio/video (1)
* RCA composite video (1)

Max Resolution: 640x480
Viewable Size: 12.5" - 50"

 

[steveG]

Here is some video I took video of the projection with my digital camera which was sitting on top of the projector zoomed completely out.

This was done in my garage during the day with the blinds closed but some light leaking in... basically enough to navigate without tripping over anything. A picture of the wall with the light on.

The view with the lights on so you can get an idea of distance:

Video"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJP9YbfqGWE

 

[BobVA]

Yeah, I picked up one as well. I put in on the headboard of the bed, pointing at the ceiling and connected it to my portable DVD player. It's a blast to watch when drifting off to sleep!

I did wire up a custom mono miniplug to four-pole miniplug cable to connect it directly to the DVD player. A standard stereo miniplug patch cable hooks the sound to an iPod dock. (Makes a tidier setup than all the RCA cables and adapters.)

Not a lot of output, so it's really only usable in a very dark room with a very reflective surface.

Next experiment is to tack a piece of high gain screen material scrap to the ceiling and see how that fares.

Cheers,
Bob