TABLE OF CONTENTS
There’s always a catch in the budget projection market. You simply can’t manufacture a Projector for under 150 dollars without leaving something out. So, the question is always about what kind of catch we’re looking at and whether that matters to you. What do you get for the money? What don’t you get? Is it worth it? And, How Portable is it? These questions and more will be answered here.
PROS
- Very Portable
- Short Throw
- 20,000 Hour Lamp Life
- Upscales to 1080p
- 120 Inch Screen Size
- Clear Images in the Dark
- 1800 Lumen
- 1000:1 Contrast Ratio
CONS
- Must Purchase Wireless Dongle to Connect Phones.
- Some Modes aren’t that Great. They don’t do much.
Size/Design
With DBPOWER GP15 portable projector you’ll find are the types of people who know what they like and stick with it. This is especially true in terms of design. In fact, if you placed 5 DBPOWER Projectors side by side, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell which one is which. And, that’s not necessarily a bad thing in this case, because DBPOWER’s standard design is pretty good. Their Projectors aren’t beautiful or futuristic looking, but you get a nice finish (black on the GP15), a Keystone Wheel on the top going out to 15 degrees, and basic controls which you’ll probably never touch because you have a remote control. It’s a box with a Lens and Dial measuring 8.18×6.6×3.07 inches and weighing 1.76 pounds. The weight and dimensions are key selling points because they mean it’s small and light enough to carry around easily even in a large pocket. It’s one of the lightest projectors on the market, but don’t drop it because the build isn’t fantastic.
Special Features
Set-Up
Very simple. It’s plug-in and plays so you can get images up almost immediately after turning it on. First, you’ll be presented with a screen doing the basic introductions, then you can add various devices like Phone’s, Laptops, Tablets, Games Consoles, and PCs. When this is done you’re rolling.
Image Quality
I’m not a huge fan of the factory color and brightness calibrations on this or any other DBPOWER Projector. So as soon as I take them out of the box I’ll raise the brightness levels and sharpen the images to my liking. But in all fairness to DBPOWER GP15 portable projector, they have provided an incredibly easy to navigate interface for you to do this. Once I got this done, I avoided Movie Mode because it’s ok but not as good as Picture Mode which is what I watch movies in on any DBPOWER. Having turned on Picture Mode you can play a movie but the native resolution is only 800×480 so you go to the resolutions options and click 1080p. Then you’ve got fantastic images for a very cheap price. It’s upscaled 1080p, but it’s still very good quality without any distortions at all. Images are stark, bold, and vibrant (see below to the LED section to find out why). What I want to finish with here though, is that there’s some work to do, changes to make, but once you’ve done that a terrific picture is your reality.
LED Light Source
LED stands for Light Emitting Diodes and it’s a relatively new technology that is much brighter than LCD or any other light source. They also have a wider color gamut (more colors). So, although in this case, the LED light source is reflecting onto an LCD display, you will see brighter more detailed images than other models in the price range without LED.
1800 Lumens
To get these brighter more vibrant LED images, however, you will have to turn the lights out. With only 1800 Lumens you won’t be able to see much of anything with the lights on. So close the curtains and enjoy a movie. Or take it outside for movie nights.
Lamp Life
Another thing LEDs do is they last a long time. First-time Projector buyers or buyers without much technical knowledge should listen up here because I’m alerting you to a major expense in projector ownership. One day you’ll have to replace your Lamp. It just depends on when that is. The market average is 6000 hours. You get 6000 hours and then a replacement Lamp is needed. Here you get 20,000 hours so big difference and that’s why LED Projectors are becoming more popular
Throw distance
You can get a screen size of up to 120 inches on this, and to get the maximum you need to place the Projector back 3 meters. Although it should be noted that to view the best quality pictures you should place the Projector back 1.5-2 meters and have a screen size of 100 inches. Is this good in comparison to other efforts on the market? It’s fair but not amazing. Although for the price it is value for money. And if you have a small room then you’ll appreciate the short throw distance.
Connections
You can connect this up to your Phone, Tablet, PC, Games Console, or Laptop, and you do get full mirroring of these devices. However, for Phones and Tablets, you’ll need to purchase a Wireless Dongle sold separately. You could also get an MHL converter which would give you an HDMI Port. PCs can be hooked up straight away via the VGA Port, with Laptops and Games Consoles connected right out of the box via the HDMI Cable.
Conclusion
The LED light source makes it bright and vibrant and the upscaled 1080p images are pretty good for the price. If you give Movie Mode a miss and instead watch movies and play games in picture mode. I liked the range of connections available here and although you’ve got to make extra purchases like Dongles and Adapters, it’s very easy and very cheap. You’ll be hooked up in no time. It should be noted that common with most sub-100 Dollars designs, the GP15 isn’t a tower of strength. So, it does need some extra care. Don’t drop it. Other than this slight issue, it does everything they promised including full mirroring of your Phones and Games Consoles. And, for 90 bucks you can’t argue with that. Thank you for reading.
