A helpful story guide about buying a projector
With tiny reviews for the Epson 2250, 2100, 3800, Optima UHD35 and UDH 30
The other day my friend Miles asked me which projector I chose and how I made the decision. He’s been thinking about getting a projector for a long time, but for reasons that become clear when you try to buy a projector, has never bought one. To help him out (and because it’s fun for me) I wrote a (very) long iMessage reply, which is now this article (most f words have been removed).
Mostly dates on articles don’t matter, but tech changes. This is written in June of 2021. If you are reading this from the future, this article is exclusively about old technology.
Background
This wasn’t in the message because Miles knows us, but you don’t. So for context: My wife and I do not own a TV and haven’t for around fifteen years. We’re not heroes. We watch a lot of “tv””. We just do it on devices.
Fifteen years ago (give or take) we moved to a new place and left our old clunky CRT behind. We assumed we’d get a new TV. These new flat screens were just coming in, maybe one of them?
In the meantime we set up our place and got comfortable in our place.
We settled in.
This was before Netflix steamed, but there were ways to watch things on our laptop computers. No big deal. We figured it out.
The conversation started changing. Sure, we would get a TV, but where would it go?
As time went on it got hard and harder to figure out to where to put one. We loved having the space to focus on friends and each other. And, isn’t it nice to have less stuff? At the same time, watching content got easier and easier. We got more screens and the world got more content.
So, years went by and no TV.
Then suddenly we had a ten year old. I mean, I guess we saw it coming, but it sure felt a little sudden. He’s a giant (compared to our cats) and from what I can tell will be fifteen in about five minutes. He plays video games. He spreads out. He will have big friends.
We got a sectional to accommodate.
A sectional basically comes with a TV. Have you met someone with a sectional and no TV? You haven’t. We still didn’t want a TV to take over our room (a teenage will be enough thank you). but the growing need was obvious, so we decided we’d get a projector.
Simple, right?
Uh, no.
Buying a projector is ridiculous
If you are not really into TV and projectors and screens figuring out what to do is super opaque. The easiest thing to do is just to hire someone, but… money.
There are a lot of subjective things about projectors, combined with a lot of semi-meaningless numbers, and we generally just don’t have day to day experience. Plus projectors are never set up side by side in a show room. Where can you go to see five projectors in person compared?
You can’t. So it’s all just reading on the internet.
With all that in mind here is my buying projector guide.
This article is for regular humans interested in mostly other stuff.
What I told my friend Miles about buying a projector
I did a bunch of poking around and decided the Epson 2250 was probably the way to, and I think generally is what I recommend most people get.
It’s not what I bought.
I like Epson projectors, they get great reviews, and the quality for price seems awesome. In terms of the 2250 I didn’t love that it has Android tv (for obvious reasons)¹, but other than that it seems like the best projector dollar for dollar for my home needs.
I read more and Wirecutter recommended the Epson 3800 (a 4K projector). I read all about it, got excited, found one on sale and bought it. It was that fast and easy.
The 3800 is probably amazing, but in buying I forgot to look at the dimensions. This thing is huge (and cheap for a crazy good projector, but not cheap for me). Again, it is giant, and we’re not opening a movie theatre. So, without even coming out of the wrapper it was going back.
Okay, we were back to getting the Epson 2250, or even the 2100.
Yes! The 2100. It’s cheap (for a projector) and we found a great article about a sweet set up with the 2100 that is worth reading and has great pictures. Really this seemed like the best option. It’s a great Epson projector and doesn’t have android built in (win!).
So! I called the projector place back to put one on hold, they only had them at the central warehouse, it would take 3 days. ….Like any grown up I really wanted one now … but the 2100 seems like a great balance of quality and price and no Android tv.
I took a breath. Yes, I will wait and get the 2100. I can exert control. I am an adult.
“What about the 2250,” says the sales guy, “better contrast ratio.” (70 000:1 vs 35 000) . Hmmm. Contrast ratio². Good point.
Aha, I think, you won’t upsell me. The 2100 is brighter! A bit (or maybe not) I thought it was, but further research shows the 2100 is 2500 lumens and the 2250 is 2700 Lumens (about one 40 watt bulb brighter) so I was wrong, but so was the sales guy. He had no idea.
But yeah contrast ratio. That seems important. Maybe less washout, better detail. It got me thinking about our space. Where your projector will go is an obviously huge consideration.
The thing about our place is that we are lucky to have this big skylight. In terms of tv and projectors this means the room is almost always bright. The review with the amazing set up with the 2100 shared that it is pretty much unusable during the day. So maybe no big deal, but I’m typing this at 9pm in mid-June and it’s basically full daily light in my living room. So for us big deal. I think. I mean is 200 lumens a big deal? Jesus.
I remembered that the wirecutter also recommended the Optima UHD35. The place I was talking to (really only so many places to buy these things unless you just hire someone to do it all) didn’t have that. They did have the UHD30 so… last years model? Not sure. It was $200 more than the 2250, but way less than the giant 3800 sitting on my floor, doesn’t have android built in, (best) and was in stock now!
The Optima has a fuck off contrast ratio of (500 000:1 so many zeros) and lumens of 3400 (so many more lumens). It is a 4K projector (honestly not sure I care) and it is basically the same size as a regular projector like the Epson 2250/2100. It is 0.4 inches longer or maybe 0.6 wider than those and way smaller than the the Epson 3800 like 4+ inches narrower.
So I said forget it. I’ll pay $200 more(ish) for a crisper image I can watch in the evening daylight of my living room that I can get right now, and still have a basically regular size projector. At this point I was returning the 3800 so it felt like I was making money.
I bought the Optima UHD30. Seems good. Apparently it is a gaming projector.
The hard thing is because you can’t really see projectors next to projectors anywhere I have (still) no real sense of how this compares to the 2250. I know I can watch TV during the day (ish Clone Wars is so cartoon black it’s only okay, but Gilmore Girls, and sports look just fine). And I don’t have a stupid google spy device in my home (uh, other than the google drive I use constantly on my phone, iPad and computer… shit! They got me!)
The thing I forgot! Is god damn throw vs screen size. We need a huge screen 100inch probably. This is a little still up for debate as we live with our new projector and figure out final projector placement. But this is not an Optima vs Epson thing.
Most projectors need 100 inches at about 12 feet.
A review I read of the optima complained that this was a problem because at 12 ft they wanted a MUCH BIGGER image. I am not that lonely guy in his room playing video games on a billboard. I just didn’t want a giant TV always around. I want a hidden thing that lets me watch stupid stuff on something bigger than my iPad or if I’m going all out my 13” MacBook Pro.
So, calculate throw distance and think about screens and size and all that.
Then buy a projector (either the 2250 or an Optima UHD30/35) they’re awesome!!!! Oh, and get an AppleTV. I finally got one and they are (now) the best thing ever, but that’s a whole different article.
¹This preference falls into what Benedict Evans rightly refers to as basically a religious arguement. After working for Apple for 13 years I fully acknowledge that I am biased to their type of surveillance and control. I basically just like and trust them more. You may feel that way about Google and so you should immediately go buy a 2250.
²A short helpful take on what contrast ratio actually does for you is at The Best in Tech . They write: You wouldn’t believe how many people ignore this. They tend to focus on pixels and pixels are important but so is Contrast Ratio. It determines the visibility and clarity of blacks and whites. Modern games are increasingly using vast color pallets with ever increasing uses of darks and lights. So it’s not just for movies that you need a good Contrast Ratio. Look for a 1080p Projector, with a Contrast Ratio of over 20,000 and you’ll be enjoying arcade quality gaming.
Thank you for reading! If this helped you may also be interested in these also useful articles about Hell’s Kitchen and Performance.
If you have a comment, feedback, or idea add it below, shoot me an email, or send me a tweet.
Thank you,
Ian
