Are you looking for the best projector for bright room use? If yes, you’ve landed on the right page.
With advancements in technology, you can now get projectors that produce high brightness at an affordable price.
Therefore, you can use these projectors during daytime or in a room with ambient lighting.
In this article, we’ve listed the 5 Best Projectors for Bright Room that you can use during the daytime or with lights on.
Are you ready?
Let’s get started!
Best Projector for Bright Room: Top 3 Picks
5 Best Projector for Bright Room
1. Optoma HZ39HDR
The Optoma HZ39HDR is one of my favorite bright room projectors that’s available at a reasonable price.
The Optoma brand produces many high-quality projectors in the budget, mid-range, and premium segments. Optoma HZ39HDR sits in the mid-range category and offers a ton of features.
For starters, the Optoma HZ39HDR sports a LASER light source instead of a lamp. Compared to lamp-based projectors, laser projectors offer consistent illumination and have 5x more lifespan.
The laser light source on this projector can last up to 30,000 hours, and it can project up to 4000 lumens of brightness. Th brightness is excellent for daytime viewing; thus, you can use it for office presentations, classroom teaching, and daytime movie watching at home.
Design-wise, the projector has straightforward looks. It is encased in a white box that sports the projector lens at the front. The zoom ring, focus ring, and controls buttons are at the top, plus a good amount of connectivity options are available at the back.
In terms of wired connectivity, you get a 2x HDMI port, micro-USB port, 1.5A USB port, VGA port, RJ-45 LAN port, RS-232 port, and audio in & out ports.
Talking about its usability, with 4000 lumens brightness and HDR10 & HLG support, this projector can output bright images along with fantastic picture quality. Owing to this, you can add this projector in your living room rather than building a dedicated home theater room.
Due to its 1.3x optical zoom, the Optoma HZ39HDR can produce a 100-inch screen size from a distance of just under 9 feet. At the same time, a 120-inch screen requires just 10.5 feet distance. Thus, you don’t need a big room to output a big theater-like projection at home.
For its price, this projector has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080p and can support up to 4K HDR input. This projector is 3D capable and requires DLP link 3D glasses to enjoy 3D content at its full glory.
“The Optoma HZ39HDR offers a great balance between features and pricing. Compared to DLP projectors, this laser-powered projector sits at a higher price. Plus, you get instant startup and zero cooling period, and no need to deal with frequent lamp changes.”
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2. Viewsonic PX748-4K
The Viewsonic PX748-4K is one of the most cost-effective native 4K projectors you can find under $1000.
To keep the price low, the brand had to cut a few corners, like reusing the same body from its sub-$500 projectors, low-watt speaker, and limited connectivity options. However, it offers native 4K resolution and displays them through a 4000 lumens brightness lamp.
In its normal mode, the Viewsonic PX748-4K is rated to last up to 4,000 hours. However, the lamp life bumps up to 20,000 hours if you consistently use the projector in SuperEco+ mode.
Indeed, the SuperEco+ mode reduces the brightness by a considerable margin. However, with a proper mix and match, you can achieve over 5,000-7,000 hours of lamp life with this projector.
It has a native 4K resolution but uses pixel-shifting technology to achieve it. Don’t fret because projectors within the $2000 price range also use a similar technology, which isn’t a deal breaker.
It uses a six-segment RGBRGB color wheel to produce a vibrant image. The picture quality with SDR content is excellent, and you won’t have any complaints.
However, things start to fall apart when you switch to HDR. Again, DLP projectors aren’t popular for producing eye-watering HDR content; hence, there is no fault of the projector here.
For the price, the Viewsonic PX748-4K comes with a plastic body. The body feels sturdy, but you won’t feel much difference in quality if you upgrade from $500 to a $1000 projector. It shouldn’t be a deal breaker if you want the best features without burning a hole in your pocket.
In the features department, you get ±40° vertical and horizontal keystone correction. It also offers corner correction to ensure you get a perfectly squared-off image.
In addition, if you have a curved wall, the projector will adjust to that. The warping support feature is only seen in expensive projectors, but you get it for a steal.
While the Viewsonic PX748-4K isn’t a short-throw projector, but with the 1.3x optical zoom, you can get a 100-inch screen from 8.2 feet.
Suppose you have $1000 to spare and want the brightest projector with native 4K support. In that case, you wouldn’t go wrong with the Viewsonic PX748-4K. Sure, it cuts back on a few things to keep the price down; however, none are a deal breaker.
“Get the Viewsonic PX748-4K if you have $1000 to spare and want the brightest projector with native 4K support. Sure, it cuts back on a few things to keep the price down; however, none are a deal breaker.”
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3. BenQ MH733
The BenQ MH733 is one of my favorite projectors for business and educational needs. It is compact, extremely bright, and available at an affordable price.
It is an excellent pick for smaller businesses, conference rooms, and educational institutes that need a projector daily without exceeding their budget.
For starters, the BenQ MH733 offers a Full HD native resolution, with a maximum supported resolution of 1920 x 1200p. Therefore, you can view your presentations and documents in a 16:10 format, common in most business laptops. (Read full review)
Apart from this, the BenQ MH733 is compatible with most projector control systems like Crestron, AMX, PJ-Link, and Extron Control IP Link for network control via LAN.
Moreover, the USB reader software within the projectors ensures you don’t need to connect a laptop to view your important files. You can connect your pen drive and view documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and videos from the projector.
It is also compatible with BenQ’s Qcast app. You can summon this app by using BenQ’s wireless USB dongle. The Qcast app enables additional features like split screens, wireless connections, and mobile remote control.
Being a business projector, the BenQ MH733 is optimized for graphics and text. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t watch movies on this projector.
A dedicated movie mode brings down the brightness and amps up the vibrancy, and you have a theater-like experience at home.
While the BenQ’s lamp life isn’t as high as the Viewsonic mentioned above, with its LampSave mode, you can extract up to 15,000 hours of lamp life from this projector. However, the LampSave mode reduces the brightness by 70-80%.
The BenQ MH733 also comes with a 10-watt speaker. By default, the speaker is loud and apt for a business environment; thus, you don’t need to fidget with connecting external speakers. However, it still feels loud at the lowest volume setting for a personal viewing experience.
“BenQ is a renowned projector brand, and the BenQ MH733 is a testament to this fact. Thus, if you want a feature-packed business projector at an affordable price, it’s hard to go wrong with the BenQ MH733.”
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4. Epson Pro EX9220
If you’re looking to set up a movie theater-like experience in your living room, the Epson Pro EX9220 is the right choice. With its 3600 lumens brightness, you can also use this projector in your office or classroom environment.
Office and educational-use projector are notorious for having high brightness but poor color output. However, with Epson’s in-house 3LCD projection technology, the Epson Pro EX9220 can produce vibrant colors, making it ideal for home and office usage.
With Epson’s 3LCD technology, watching movies on this projector will be a breeze. Owing to its WUXGA native resolution, you get crisp image quality and clear text display.
The WUXGA resolution translates to Full HD+ i.e. 1920 x 1200p resolution. Thus, compared to a Full HD resolution, you get larger vertical pixel space. The 16:10 aspect ratio makes it ideal to view presentations and infographics in their full glory.
This projector is available in a compact form factor and weighs around 6.2 pounds. Thus, carrying around this projector won’t be an issue. Plus, Epson is generous enough to provide a messenger-style carrying bag within the package. Hence, you wouldn’t need to micro-manage while transporting this projector.
In terms of connectivity, this projector has 2x HDMI ports, 1x VGA port, 1x RCA port, USB port, 1x USB Type-B port, and audio in port. Epson claims this projector also has wireless capabilities; however, it doesn’t work as advertised in our testing.
“Epson Pro EX9220 improves upon Epson’s Home Cinema projectors, which makes it a great choice between the office and educational usage. Plus, WUXGA resolution offers higher and better resolution than a Full HD projector.“
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5. Viewsonic PG703X
Suppose you’re looking for a compact-size high brightness projector for office or school usage. In that case, the Viewsonic PG703X fits the bill perfectly.
It weighs just 5.29 pounds and is small enough to carry around easily. Even with its portable size, this projector can produce 4000 lumens brightness, making it a good pick for a bright environment.
The Viewsonic PG703X has XGA native resolution that translates to 1024 x 768p resolution. While it isn’t close to the 1080p resolution seen in above projectors, yet it’s usable considering its price
This XGA resolution is ideal for viewing infographics and text with crystal clear quality. The projection will seem clear, and the output doesn’t look hazy.
Talking about its design, it looks similar to Viewsonic PA503W projector. It has a projector lens and IR sensor at the front. The zoom ring and focus ring are placed at the top, along with the power button, indicator lights, and control buttons.
The sides feature exhaust perforations along with a 10W speaker. The back features connectivity options like a 2x HDMI port, mini USB, VGA port, monitor out port, RS-232 port, LAN port, S-Video port, component video port, and audio in and out port.
As you can see, you get a plethora of wired connectivity options; however, it misses out on wireless connectivity. You can add WiFi and Bluetooth options by connecting a streaming media player like Amazon Fire Stick, Chromecast, or Roku to the projector.
This projector uses DLP projection technology and is illuminated by a 240W metal halide lamp. This lamp can last up to 15,000 hours in SuperEco mode. It can last up to 4000 hours in regular mode, which uses its total 4000 lumens of brightness.
With all features mentioned above, the Viewsonic PG703X also offers low input latency of 16ms. During regular usage, you won’t feel much difference with this feature; however, if you prefer fast-paced gaming, then the 16ms low input latency will be a boon for you.
“If you’re looking for a compact projector for a small office or educational usage, the Viewsonic PG703X is an ideal pick. Plus, the addition of 4000 lumens brightness makes it usable in a bright room.”
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Things to Consider Before Buying the Best Projector for Bright Room
1. High Lumens Brightness
Isn’t it obvious? If you’re looking for a bright room projector, the projector needs to produce high brightness. Currently, lamp-based projectors produce the highest brightness and are available at an affordable price. You can get 3600 lumens lamp-based projector for as low as $299, which is good enough to be used during daytime or brightly lit room.
In our list, we’ve featured projectors that can produce up to 4000 lumens brightness. Such high brightness value ensures that you do not need to darken the room every time you want to use the projector.
2. Projector Light Source
Currently, a ton of projectors are available with different light sources. We have lamp-based projectors, laser projectors, and LED projectors.
For our requirements – lamp-based projectors and laser projectors get the job done efficiently. The #1 pick on our list, i.e., the Optoma HZ39HDR, comes with a laser light source that can produce up to 4000 lumens brightness and last longer.
On the other hand, you can find a lamp-based projector that produces up to 6000 lumens brightness at an affordable price range. Comparatively, LED-based projectors are available for as low as $50.
Any projector that you find under $300 that claims to produce 6000 or 7000 lumens is false advertising, and please don’t fall into the trap. Hence, if you want the best projector for a bright room, make sure it has either a lamp-based or laser light source.
3. Usability
Not all projectors are created equal. Many high lumen projectors are targeted towards office, commercial and educational usage. Since most offices and schools work during the day, it is crucial to get a projector that can produce high enough brightness during daytime.
Every office or school can’t invest in room darkening interior setup; hence picking a high lumen projector is a viable option.
Having said that, high lumen projectors are notorious for skimping on color accuracy. Hence, if you decide to use such a projector for watching movies or sports at home, you’ll be highly disappointed.
Hence, before choosing a projector, make sure it’s targeted towards home or commercial usage.
Moreover, a projector meant for home usage will have visual enhancing features like HDR, HLG, Rec.709 color space coverage, and a higher refresh rate. Whereas projectors meant for office usage tend to have better network control and are portable in size.
4. Lamp Life
Lamp life is an essential factor to consider when picking a high brightness projector. Many lamp-based projectors claim to last up to 15,000 hours but fail to mention that you can achieve that number in SuperEco mode. In SuperEco mode, the projector’s lamp brightness decreases by up to 70% and might not be usable in a bright room.
Realistically, a lamp-based projector can last anywhere between 2000-6000 hours in Normal mode with full brightness. Alternatively, laser-based projectors have better lamp life. The Optoma HZ39HDR projector mentioned in our list can last up to 20,000 hours in full brightness mode. Whereas, in Eco mode, the lamp life gets extended up to 30,000 hours.
5. Price Range
As mentioned above, you can find a bright room projector for as low as $299. Hence, you aren’t restricted to a stipulated budget to suffice your requirement. However, a lower price means lesser features and connectivity options.
For comparison, the Viewsonic PA503S is available for under $300. It offers 3800 lumens brightness, but you need to deal with a lower SVGA resolution and older connectivity ports.
On the other hand, the Optoma HD146X is available for under $550 and offers 3600 lumens. But you get features like Full HD resolution, 16ms response time, lightweight body, and a plethora of connectivity options. Hence, you need to decide if you’re getting your money’s worth or not for the price you pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 2200 lumens good enough for a bright room?
No! Projectors within the 2000 lumens category are usually meant for home theater usage. Since you don’t need a high brightness in a home theater setup, the manufacturer’s settles with lower brightness to put forward better color accuracy and improve lamp life. For a bright room, you need to consider a projector that produces over 3600 lumens of brightness.
Can I replace the light source on laser projectors?
Unlike lamp-based projectors, you cannot replace the light source on a laser projector. Laser projectors work on a complicated principle, and the light source is not user-replaceable. On average, a laser projector is rated to last up to 20,000 hours. This means the projector can last anywhere between 10-15 years, depending on usage. Read this article to learn more about laser projector lifespan.
Conclusion
If you’ve reached till here, I can safely assume you liked this article and are indeed interested in getting the best projector for bright room usage.
I know it can get confusing to choose the best projector within your budget. The 5 projectors that we’ve picked offer the best price to performance ratio.
If you have any questions or are confused which one is the best for you? Leave your query in the comment section and I’ll answer it as quickly as possible.
Thank You!