Review: 3M MPro150 Pocket Projector

Handheld projectors, or “pico” projectors, have been gathering strength recently as an alternative to the big whirring beasts that sit on conference room tables projecting Powerpoints for all to see. 3M’s latest offering combines the right amount of extra features to be a useful as well as a geeky gadget.

The £350 device straddles the divide between business and home users – it was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – and it’s certainly crossed the divide in my household. I’ve found it good for showing presentations, and also as a quick and easy projection TV at home.

A projector that can travel light

Weighing 160g, and measuring 130 x 60 x 25 mm, it feels similar to a large remote control or old-fashioned phone. It comes in a shoebox sized package, which contains lots of stuff to make it useful – a charger for the 2200mAh Lithium-ion polymer battery, a bunch of cables, manuals, an SD card and a bendy tripod.

The projector itself can travel much lighter. It has a handy leatherette pouch, and with a two-hour battery life and on-board storage, you could easily use it on its own to present. It also includes its own speakers.

The projector uses LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) technology, with an LED light source. It throws out 15 lumens, which is a far cry from the 2000 lumens or more which more substantial projectors produce, but it is easy enough to project a small desktop-size image in a lighted room, or a room-size display in a dark one.

The image focuses with a thumb-wheel, producing very usable results in both Powerpoints or videos. Colour reproduction, also is good enough for all but really demanding uses.

You don’t get any of the optical adjusters which bigger projectors have, to straighten up trapezium effects, or enlarge or reduce the image. But you don’t need these – move it nearer or further from the screen to adjust the size, and tilt it to get a squarer image.

I found the included bendy tripod to be useless and frustrating in providing a level image. Much better results were easy to get with a stack of books on a table.

The projector has internal storage of 1Gbyte, and came with a 2Gbyte SD card (bigger ones can be used). There’s also a mini-USB cable to transfer files to the device – and this cable also appears to charge the unit.

The other cables plug video sources into the device – either VGA from a laptop or video/audio out plugs form a DVD player or similar. We tried VGA and video inputs, and the projector adapted easily, finding the best resolution and throwing a good image.

It came into its own projecting TV images onto the wall in the family living room, giving a decent experience compared to our current old TV, and a significant advantage compared to large flat-panel displays – the option to take part in your favourite TV shows using shadow-play.

The fact that the projector Includes sound is a major strength. It has a volume control and its own speakers, which are usable, but of a similar level to most laptop speakers, ie not good enough for room-size use. There’s a headphone socket, so it’s possible to plug in better speakers. 3M also points out that the device can be used as a music player for files stored on the device.

One factor to consider with any projector is the cost of replacement bulbs, but 3M rates the lifetime of the MPro150’s bulb as 20,000 hours, so we can dismiss that concern. LED projection technology is developing fast, and better cheaper projectors will be avalable when this burns out.

A projector we can live with

The MPro150 strikes us as a very sensibly put together gadget that combines exactly the right amount of features, in a very usable package. Pico projectors won’t replace desktop projectors, or the larger portable ones, but they will find plenty of niche uses as people carry more and more content with them, on phones laptops and cameras, and are looking for ways to share that content with other people.