These days the best projectors come in many forms, like ultra portable for instance.
Like the BenQ EP5920 digital projector, the latest ultra-portable BenQ i500 LED projector incorporates a short-throw lens, Bluetooth speaker, and wireless streaming capabilities into a single sleek and compact device that’s made to keep up with “youthful” users who are always on the go and want something they can pop out of their backpack and get watching in minutes. But will BenQ’s focus on portability proves to be too much for such a small projector that costs the same as others twice the size and three times the performance? Is it as good as the Vankyo Leisure 3 Mini Projector?
Read on in our BenQ i500 LED projector review to find out!
Overview
Price: $780.00 on Amazon
Available: July 1, 2016
Model: i500
Summary: The BenQ i500 LED projector tries to be too many things at once, without focusing on the one thing it should do better than anything else: look good, perform well, and sound solid whether you’re watching from the road or curled up on the couch at home.
What We Liked
- 20,000-hour LED lamp life
- Smart TV functions are a nice touch
- Light and portable design
What We Didn’t
- Terrible picture quality
- Bad sound out of the speaker in projector mode
- Too expensive
BenQ i500 Specs
 | |
| BenQ i500 LED Projector | |
| Screen Size | 40″ – 200″ |
| Native Resolution | 1280 x 800 |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
| Lumens | 500 ANSI |
| Contrast Ratio | 100,000:1 |
| Refresh Rates | 60Hz (120Hz in 3D) |
| 3D Capable? |  |
| Display Technology | DLP |
| Short Throw? | |
| HDMI Ports | 1 1.4/MHL |
| Onboard Speakers | 10W |
| Weight | 2.87 lbs |
| Device Dimensions | 8.5 x 7.9 x 3.5 inches |
| Price | $899.00 |
| Buy Now |
Design
Designed as a projector for “youthful modern lifestyles that are all about upward mobility, engaging entertainment, and instant gratification” (we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried), the BenQ i500 is made to be a small, portable projector that millennials can stash in their bags on the road, wherever their “youthful” adventures take them.
At just 8.5 inches long and 2.87lbs, this projector is undoubtedly the smallest and lightest we’ve tested to date. Designed to be both a projector and a Bluetooth speaker, the back of the unit is encased in gold, grated aluminum while the front houses the LED lamp. It’s rounded on both edges, and although this isn’t something you necessarily look for in a projector, also fits quite nicely in the hand. If you pulled it out at a party or on a road trip, it would look right at home with the rest of the mobile devices you have laying around beside it.
For all my complaints levied against the current state of the projector industry and the stagnant, boring design in its products, it’s nice to see that finally, BenQ has stepped up to the plate to release a device that breaks from the norm and tries to do something a little different for once.
Related: If you like this projector, you might be interested in our BENQ HT4050 Projector review.
Hardware
The BenQ i500 uses DLP technology to create its images at a maximum WXGA display resolution of 1280 x 800 at a contrast ratio of 100,000:1. With its short-throw lens, it has the ability to show an image as large as 200″ across from corner to corner at a distance of only 10 feet.
This being a portable projector first and foremost, it wasn’t all too surprising to see that the i500 keeps its port options limited to a select few inputs and outputs. The BenQ i500 sports only one HDMI 1.4/MHL port, a pair of USB 2.0/3.0 ports, one audio in/out, one LAN port, one PC connection, and oddly one connection for an external mic, in case you plan on hosting any karaoke parties in the near future. This setup is vastly different than the BenQ GP20 Ultra-lite LED projector, since it offers a multitude of input options.
User Interface and Settings
A rare bright spot in an otherwise muddled test, the user interface and settings menu of the BenQ i500 was one of the best we’ve seen on a projector. Running a modified version of Android OS, the BenQ uses its own proprietary dashboard to let you navigate through the settings, as well as choose any media you want to watch through apps like Netflix or Hulu directly from the unit itself. This means that as long as you have a connection to the internet, no wires or cables are needed to enjoy much of the content that you would have to stream off an Xbox or PC anyway. This only adds to the portability factor, while making it a whole lot easier to get plugged in and projecting in a matter of minutes.
Unfortunately, because we were testing the i500 ahead of its actual release the app store wasn’t live yet, but we imagine it works in much the same way as it might on any other competing Smart TV.
Related: Also check out our BenQ MH760 1080P Business Projector review.
Testing and Performance
Brightness/Picture Quality
For all its portability and sleek design, the BenQ i500 falls 100% flat on its face when it comes to overall picture quality. With a pitifully low native resolution of 1280 x 800 (barely over 720p), the BenQ is rocking a picture fidelity that most other projectors haven’t included as the default for over five years and counting.
This makes all the content you play on it – even in native – look washed out, blurry, and downright bad when compared to other projectors in the same price tier. This is disappointing to say the least, as I was really excited to see such a small and compact projector perform at least in line with or above the recommended spec for devices that crack the $900 limit.
Read More: Best Projector Under $1,000
And don’t even get me started on the brightness levels, if you could even call them that. With a sad 500 ANSI lumen rating, watching the BenQ i500 in the middle of the day is a near impossibility, and even in total darkness you’ll still be straining to see what’s happening on screen. In our tests at five and ten feet, we tested a mere 640 lux and 223 lux of brightness, respectively. This is the lowest score we’ve seen, and is just further indication that with this projector BenQ was far more focused on making it “cool” than letting it perform up to spec.
Gaming Performance
Just as was the case with the picture quality, the gaming performance on the i500 suffered throughout our testing on multiple consoles and PC games. In both fast-paced shooters and even slower single-player adventures, nothing about how the i500 held up under the strain of modern gaming screamed “$900 projector” the way you might hope.
3D Performance
While it would be possible to continue trashing the i500 in a myriad of ways for its poor picture quality, I’ll only say that its 3D performance matched everything else we’ve seen so far, i.e. – not great.
Noise and Heat
Well it can’t be all bad, right? Although there are many things the BenQ i500 gets wrong, one thing it does do nicely is keep quiet and cool under pressure. During our tests, the i500 stayed well under the acceptable limit for the amount of ambient noise it puts off during general operation, and the same goes for the heat we felt coming out the vents on both sides. If you were scrunched up against the projector in the backseat of your SUV, you’d barely even notice it was there.
Sound
For a projector whose other main selling point is that it doubles as a Bluetooth sound system for when you’re on the go, I was thoroughly unimpressed by what the i500 had to offer. While the sound itself was decently balanced (not too tinny or oversaturated), it was so quiet when playing content on the projector that it would be hard to appreciate it in any scenario other than total silence. If you plan on firing this thing up around a campfire while friends are talking over it, or worse yet, busting it out at a house party, be prepared to strain your ears just to hear the whisper-low volume it puts out.
Disappointingly, once you swap it over to the actual Bluetooth speaker mode and play through an iPhone or other Bluetooth device, suddenly the volume boosts up 50% or more. Why one mode is so quiet and the other loud enough is a mystery, as I tried multiple sources but still couldn’t get the speaker to budge when playing content on the projector itself.
Wrap Up
When you look at the BenQ i500, it’s hard to exactly figure out who this projector is supposed to be for. According to the poorly written copy it’s for “youthful, upwardly mobile individuals” – whatever the heck that means – but even they should know that 1080p is the absolute bare minimum that any projector should be able to display, as you’ll find in our Crosstour mini projector review and our
Elephas Mini portable projector review.
Yes it’s more portable than anything else we’ve seen and its LED lamp life beats out traditional bulbs by a factor of three, but it looks bad, sounds bad, and doesn’t really do anything to justify its wallet-punching price tag. If you want a projector that you can take with you wherever you go, a couple of extra pounds to carry around is going to be worth the increased performance if this is the only alternative we have to work with.
BenQ has a lot of great projectors on its roster, which is why it’s a shame to see the company veer so hard into territory that no one was asking them to go to in the first place. I’m still not exactly sure who this projector is aimed at, but no matter who you are, you’re better off spending your money somewhere else instead.
Read More: Best Home Theater Projector for 2018
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