00:00Spending 30 bucks on an Amazon projector sounds like an absolute steal until your favorite video
00:05game looks like it was rendered on a toaster. Welcome back to Value Verified, the series where
00:10the Tom's Guide saving squad buys the internet's most popular aggressively cheap gadgets to find
00:16out if they're a hidden gem or a complete scam. Today we are diving deep into the wild world of
00:22budget portable projectors on Amazon. Every single one of these on my table claims to deliver massive
00:28screens, crystal clear images, and cinematic sound, all for under $50. But you know the drill,
00:35we don't trust marketing copy around here, we collect our own data.
00:40To keep things completely fair, we put four contenders through a Value Verified gauntlet.
00:45Every projector was set up at the exact same distance from our flat testing wall and we
00:50measured three things. First, brightness. We projected a 100% solid white image and took an average of
00:56nine distinct light readings across the screen using a lux meter. Next, fan sound. Cheap projectors run
01:02hot so we placed a decibel meter exactly 1.5 feet away to see which ones come with their own
01:08soundtracks.
01:09Finally, real world experience. We hooked up a PS5 to play Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to test motion latency
01:15and artifacting, streamed a high definition nature video for color depth, and loaded up a standard
01:21corporate spreadsheet to see if you can actually read it. Together, this information revealed which
01:27projectors are worth it and which ones missed the mark. Coming in at the bottom of our benchmark sheet
01:33is the Mir LED Mini Projector. Now, its Amazon listing is full of beautiful promises and over 11,000 reviews,
01:41but in our lab, it scored an average brightness of just 9.7 lux, and our winner quadruples that for
01:48context. We plugged in the PS5 and the buildings in New York looked like a complete smudge. The frame
01:54rates and motion response were so bad, it actively made it harder to play the game, and at more than
01:59one point, the projector just straight up cut out. The text is barely legible, probably because this
02:05projector features a native resolution of just 800 by 480, and it sounds like it's being broadcast from a
02:11tin can underwater accompanied by a lovely crackling noise. The only positive? At 63.5
02:18decibels? It was technically the quietest fan on our list, but that's probably because it barely has
02:23the energy to run. Sure, it's super cheap, and that's probably why it's been purchased so many
02:28times, but as far as I'm concerned, this thing is a straight up scam.
02:36On a not that much better note, we have the Seabest Mini Projector, yet another puzzling one with
02:42thousands of reviews. At 18 lux, it still struggles significantly in a room that isn't completely
02:48pitch black. When we booted up the PS5, the motion and frame rates were actually quite good. You could
02:53definitely get through a gaming session on this. However, the colors are flat, the picture is still
02:57a bit blurry, and struggles with fine, high resolution details. The spreadsheet test yielded
03:02similar results. The text is readable, but you genuinely need to squint to make it out. It is slightly
03:08passable, but the audio shares that same crackly cheap quality, while the fan noise also jumps up
03:13to a noticeable 69.2 decibels. Encroaching on that 70 decibel threshold, that's your standard dishwasher
03:20or washing machine noise level, which, in my opinion, is way too loud for anybody to properly enjoy a
03:26projector. Alright, now we're getting into the real contenders. This is the TMY Bluetooth projector,
03:34earning our silver medal today. On the brightness front, it pulled an average of 32.3 lux,
03:39and that is a massive leap forward. But brightness isn't everything. Despite the extra power,
03:45the colors on the TMY fell flat and washed out during video playback, and the bright highlights
03:49were completely blown out. When we threw up our lab spreadsheets, we could easily read bold black text,
03:55but standard colors and smaller logos were still blurry and tough to differentiate. Where the TMY
04:00actually wins, though, is its utility features. It has built-in phone casting support and boasts the
04:06biggest, best-sounding internal speakers of the entire group. The downside? To keep that brighter
04:11lamp cool, the fan has to work overtime. Clocking in at 72.8 decibels, this thing is loud. I've seen
04:20this
04:20one go in and out of stock, but after testing it out, I'd generally consider buying a TMY brand projector
04:26for the value, because it's passable. And that brings us to our undisputed champion,
04:35the Altwinit, Altwinit mini projector. You guys let us know how it's pronounced in the comments,
04:41but this device completely dominated our benchmarks, pumping out a chart-topping average of 37 lux.
04:48And the visual difference is night and day. When gaming on the PS5, we can make out an incredible
04:52amount of detail. The color depth was genuinely good, and there was zero artifacting during high
04:58speed web swinging. Our nature videos looked rich and sharp, and even our spreadsheet test was an
05:03absolute breeze. Logos and tiny text looked crisp and sharp. It also comes packed with native apps,
05:10like YouTube, Netflix, Disney Plus, and the Google Play Store, while managing to project a wider,
05:15further image than anything else on the list. But wait, there is a catch, and it's a brilliant piece of
05:21budget tech deception, to the point where you almost have to respect it. When we plugged this into a
05:27Windows PC, Windows detected it as a 4K display, but when we plugged it into the PS5, it did not.
05:33Brands often install cheap display chips that essentially trick a computer into transmitting
05:38a 4K signal, even though the physical glass lens on the front of the projector is only capable of
05:44outputting a native 1080p resolution. So as long as you know that the 4K support is just a digital
05:49masquerade, and you're actually buying a solid 1080p device, I think we're ready to call this what it is,
05:55a verified value. So what have we learned today on value verified? If you are looking for a genuine,
06:02budget-friendly home feeder option that can handle gaming, movies, and clear text, the AllwoodNet
06:08Mini Projector is the only one here that is truly worth the money. Just keep an eye out on your
06:13audio cable,
06:13as we noticed a tiny bit of speaker crackling depending on the HDMI cable used. The TMY is a
06:19decent backup if speaker volume is your number one priority, but you'll have to deal with a loud fan
06:24and washed-out highlights. Avoid the other two, unless you want to end up owning some straight-up junk.
06:29The data doesn't lie, and your value is officially verified. Drop a comment below to tell the
06:34savings squad what suspiciously cheap products you want us to put through the lab next, and don't
06:38forget to like and subscribe. As always, I'm Phil Rodriguez, this is Tom's Guide, and I will see
06:43you in the next video.
