Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-W01 Portable Projector

I did NOT receive this projector, free of charge to do a beta test and review… so this review is completely unbiased. [ although…. Epson… I would certainly be honoured to do a beta review for a future new-release projector]. Having been forced to toss out a few lower-priced, but vastly inferior single-chip LCD projectors (with burn marks on the polarizer), I am so very impressed with this capable Epson-quality, ultra bright, long-lasting and flexible projector, I managed to grab a 28% off deal. I have stretched and stapled a screen over a 108”x60” frame built with 2”x2” wood, resulting in a wrinkle-free 124” (10 foot) screen measured on the diagonal. With the ceiling installation of this Epson projector I have the equivalent of a 10-foot HD TV for roughly $550 all-in. Sure, it is at the low end of Epsons’ offerings, but it creates a supersized, immersive big screen experience for streaming movies at home as well as for delivering sharp presentations in smaller office settings. The CO-W01 delivers an amazingly bright, sharp, crisp and clear image perception in vibrant, vivid colours, even with ambient light. It can achieve all this with up-to an impressive 300 inch display. The stated colour brightness of 3000 IDMS 15.4 lumens (equals roughly 3750 ANSI lumens ! ) has been notably verified by independent test results reported in reviews posted on-line. [According to the ISO 21118 standard, a single ANSI Lumen should equal 0.8 ISO Lumens]. An ideal lumen range for multi-purpose spaces is 2000 to 4000 ANSI lumens. For rooms with low ambient light you can select the ‘ECO’ Light Output setting (using a dedicated button on the remote) which slightly reduces brightness, providing a better contrast ratio for darker black-level performance, extends bulb-life, and also reduces power consumption and fan noise (from 38 dB to 29 dB, very noticeably quieter). A personalized selection from various Picture Modes can enhance the experience. In bright rooms, and for larger screen sizes, the ‘High’ Light Output setting bumps brightness up to the maximum when you need need a higher brightness to deliver quality images that are significantly less washed-out by excessive ambient light. To protect the bulb, the projector slowly warms up for 30 seconds or so before reaching maximum brightness. Lamp-hours-used under each Light Output mode can be displayed in the Info Menu. The advanced 3-chip 3LCD technology (one chip for each primary color: red, green and blue) displays 100% of the RGB colour signal for every frame. This provides outstanding and realistic colour accuracy, up to 16.77 billion colours, and better performance by providing colour with up to three-times the illuminance over a single-chip LCD projector at equal lumens level. The projected image is crisp and bright, even at the corners. Of course, a menu ‘Projection’ option can flip the picture for ceiling mounting. A manual keystone correction can properly adjust otherwise skewed or crooked image proportions, when projected at an angle, (as much as 30 degrees for this projector). I was pleasantly surprised that the ceiling-mounted projector reacts to commands from the remote even from directly beneath it. There is a manual focus lever and menu-selected digital zoom (optical zoom not available). Menu options permit adjustments to aspect ratio and colour mode. Picture Shift is a handy feature to help centre the image on a screen. While the resolution of the projector may seem odd, and to lean into the Epson forte for office presentations from computers, rest assured it is indeed high-definition (HDTV) quality and Epsons’ SizeWise chip ensures support for other display resolutions (up to and including Full HD 1080p (1020 x 1080) video via HDMI). The aspect ratio is 16:10, with a native WXGA resolution of 1200 x 800 Pixels or 1,024,000 dots (roughly the 720p (1280 x 720) being broadcast by many TV stations). It is not 4K compatible. The CO-W01 had a long lamp life of up to 6,000 hours ( 12,000 hours in ECO mode, equivalent to nearly 7 years of viewing at 5 hours per day). It is a great value for the money, especially when compared to the relatively short life of lower quality single-chip LCD projectors often reported (in 1-star reviews) as susceptible to projecting anomalous images, resulting from burn marks on the polarizer (progressing from yellow/orange, through brown, to black) after a just few months of use. Directly connect an HDMI cable from, a laptop, cable/satellite box, DVD player, gaming console, or your preferred streaming device. I have an ‘HDMI switch’ that easily enables alternating between Fire Stick or satellite receiver. Unfortunately, the 5 watt built-in speaker is not very impressive. Strangely, there is no 3.5mm jack for sound output, but this deficiency can easily be overcome by inserting an inexpensive ‘HDMI Audio Extractor’ in the HDMI cable linkage to provide the ‘3.5mm jack’ needed to run a separate cable from the Audio Out port of the Extractor to a sound system input. The USB Type-A port permits connection of USB thumb drives, or the USB power cable from a Fire Stick (providing sufficient 5v, 2A). Sadly, the projectors’ USB file support is very-limited to; .jpg , .bmp , .gif , .png , and .avi (720p and < 2 gb).