BenQ GP1 (P1) LED pocket projector eyes-on

Remember that GP1 pico projector that was quietly announced alongside a slew of others at CES this year? Apparently it's sporting the P1 moniker in Europe, which is infinitely confusing given that BenQ used to have a PJ that looked mighty similar to this one, and yeah, it too was called the P1. At any rate, the GP1 you see here is BenQ's first ever LED beamer, and with it will come an 858 x 600 native resolution, 100 ANSI lumens, 2,000:1 contrast ratio, an integrated USB reader, TI's DLP technology and a lamp life of 20,000 hours. It should be out in Germany by April, but we're still expecting it here in the US next month for a lofty $599.

BenQ GP1 (P1) LED pocket projector hands-on

[GadgetGeeks Posted Mar 5th 2009 1:09AM]

Kinda chunky for a pocket projector.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 5th 2009 1:22AM]

very good

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 5th 2009 1:23AM]

They should be called "micro" or "mini" projectors.

[jhoff80 Posted Mar 5th 2009 1:50AM]

It's hard to get a perspective on this, how about some general dimensions?

And assuming that it's a bright room that you're in for those pictures, I'm pretty impressed at the brightness of the thing. In a slightly darkened room, that should work really well, without having to kill every single light source in the place.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 5th 2009 2:01AM]

When I see an article entitled "hands on" I expect some general takes on the product.. such as;

Is it good?
How does it perform compared to similar products.
Does it make me better at halo...
ect..


but at least you show us these products.

[dishbreak Posted Mar 5th 2009 2:02AM]

I always wonder when one of these stories comes up--what is the use case for pico/pocket projectors? Am I missing something here? They just don't seem very useful or interesting, but they keep coming up on Engadget. Can someone enlighten me?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 5th 2009 3:22AM]

That is quite the small projector, good for business people to carry in their luggage, but not in their pockets. I dunno of Pocket=Pico, but doesn't look like it to me. This one actually seems to have better illumination than the P&S camera-sized ones (Optoma Pico Projector).

It is perfect to install in a van and then you could watch a movie in your vehicle.

[Sam of the Sun Posted Mar 5th 2009 4:09AM]

Engadget, have you been bashing it around?! Very naughty!

[Wwhat Posted Mar 5th 2009 8:47AM]

Cam somone explain those immense prices for projectors? Last I heard you could get LED's of several watt for $10, and although a DLP chip might be expensive is it really THAT expensive?
And at these resolutions the lens can't really break the bank either I imagine. (and I mean a pre-economic disaster bank)

[Jorvay Posted Mar 5th 2009 8:48AM]

It looks like someone took my old Creative Zen Micro and zapped it with a enlarging ray gun.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 5th 2009 10:39AM]

I don't get the 100 ansi lumens brightness considering today's LED lights put out 180-200 lumens with a Cree emitter or 700-900 using the SSC P7 4-die emitter. What is the problem using a modern LED emitter in these and getting actually decent light output?

Is it a case of the light passing through the projection process that severely limits it? Perhaps it is a case of heat dissipation and they can't heatsink and therefore cool the brighter LED's? We know the LED is nowhere near as hot as the typical incandescent bulb a larger projector has so I doubt heat is the issue.

I wish we could get more engineering details and the challenges they face. I can see getting one of these and replacing the emitter with a modern one and ramping up the light output (read lumens) significantly with a little modding.

[(Unverified) Posted May 13th 2009 10:41PM]

check out the GP1 Youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZLbkV2XdQ