The Pico projector market is hotting up and their potential in special education and is great. For years we have had the Optikinetics Solar projectors and the Mirage from Spacekraft however these are both limited by the fact that although they use moving images it is done by rotating a plastic wheel behind a lens. Pretty archaic you may think, but actually they are still fantastic for ease of use and the fact that you can make your own wheels without having to understand technology.
But now with a few technical skills you can have movie technology which is portable, light, cold and even battery operated. They are called ‘Pico’ or pocket projectors, they plug into mobile phones, ipods and computers and what’s more you never have to change the lamps. Although new, there are three clear leaders appearing but each with pitfalls.
There is an Optoma Pico Pocket projector which is the one I use on courses and featured on the YouTube video. Its connectivity to iPods and phones is relatively simple but connection to the VGA out on a laptop is difficult and can only be done using a third party lead. It has a small built in speaker, can be mounted on a camera tripod and comes with two batteries each lasting about 40 minutes. I like it because I have used it. The cost of these is around £200 plus VAT so its quite cheap. I found them on Amazon and at Just Projectors.
3M have released (Sept 2009) the MPro 120 (website here) and (good revue here) which is basically the same as the Optoma but it looks like it only has one battery and it has in built speaker so unlike the 110 you will need separate speakers. The advantages over the Optoma is that the connectivity is much better. According to the website it comes with the leads and bits needed to connect it to a computer, which for many schools would be an advantage over the Optoma. Everything else appears to be the same but its a little more expensive at around £350. I found this on Amazon at £239 + shipping.
There is a good video of the 3m here
(Mike Ayres) is a fan of data projectors and has put a SAMSUNG P410 (website here) and its fantastic. Its a little bigger and mains power only but its much brighter and has fantastic connectivity. As well as being able to connect an iPod, Wii or other games platforms and a computer, it has a USB slot so you can play movies or show photographs from a USB memory stick with its own built in media player. The sound is very good too, its not going fill the theatre but for a small audience its fine. (good blog here)
The last projector I looked at is the Acer K10 Pico Projector at around £345. This is the same LED technology but much brighter. Its also bigger and not exactly pocketable. It needs to be connected to the mains which makes it a little less portable but it connects to a PC and is much brighter at 100 ANSI Lumins as opposed to 10 for the other two projectors.
All three of these projectors have plus points, they all share the fact that they are very portable. You don’t have to wait for 10 minutes to switch them off, they run cool and they never need new lamps.
So if you want a little cheap Pico around the classroom and can always have mains the Acer the one because its the brightest, although its a little bulky. For connectivity to PC’s its the 3M. But I have the Optoma Pico on the course and like it. Once you get the leads sorted out its a great choice but if you don't want to go digging around for leads the 3M would be my choice.
Amazon have good prices and I found ‘Just Projectors’ to be really helpful when writing this paper.
But now with a few technical skills you can have movie technology which is portable, light, cold and even battery operated. They are called ‘Pico’ or pocket projectors, they plug into mobile phones, ipods and computers and what’s more you never have to change the lamps. Although new, there are three clear leaders appearing but each with pitfalls.
There is an Optoma Pico Pocket projector which is the one I use on courses and featured on the YouTube video. Its connectivity to iPods and phones is relatively simple but connection to the VGA out on a laptop is difficult and can only be done using a third party lead. It has a small built in speaker, can be mounted on a camera tripod and comes with two batteries each lasting about 40 minutes. I like it because I have used it. The cost of these is around £200 plus VAT so its quite cheap. I found them on Amazon and at Just Projectors.
3M have released (Sept 2009) the MPro 120 (website here) and (good revue here) which is basically the same as the Optoma but it looks like it only has one battery and it has in built speaker so unlike the 110 you will need separate speakers. The advantages over the Optoma is that the connectivity is much better. According to the website it comes with the leads and bits needed to connect it to a computer, which for many schools would be an advantage over the Optoma. Everything else appears to be the same but its a little more expensive at around £350. I found this on Amazon at £239 + shipping.
There is a good video of the 3m here
(Mike Ayres) is a fan of data projectors and has put a SAMSUNG P410 (website here) and its fantastic. Its a little bigger and mains power only but its much brighter and has fantastic connectivity. As well as being able to connect an iPod, Wii or other games platforms and a computer, it has a USB slot so you can play movies or show photographs from a USB memory stick with its own built in media player. The sound is very good too, its not going fill the theatre but for a small audience its fine. (good blog here)
The last projector I looked at is the Acer K10 Pico Projector at around £345. This is the same LED technology but much brighter. Its also bigger and not exactly pocketable. It needs to be connected to the mains which makes it a little less portable but it connects to a PC and is much brighter at 100 ANSI Lumins as opposed to 10 for the other two projectors.
All three of these projectors have plus points, they all share the fact that they are very portable. You don’t have to wait for 10 minutes to switch them off, they run cool and they never need new lamps.
So if you want a little cheap Pico around the classroom and can always have mains the Acer the one because its the brightest, although its a little bulky. For connectivity to PC’s its the 3M. But I have the Optoma Pico on the course and like it. Once you get the leads sorted out its a great choice but if you don't want to go digging around for leads the 3M would be my choice.
Amazon have good prices and I found ‘Just Projectors’ to be really helpful when writing this paper.
