The Epson EX3260 is a budget-oriented business projector aimed towards small schools and pint-sized businesses. It is meant for people who don’t need a feature-packed projector but want one that performs all the basics tasks brilliantly.
This is where the Epson EX3260 comes in – it offers decent image quality, necessary connectivity options, and sufficient resolution, making it a viable office projector. But, the ultimate question is how it fares against its competition.
In this Epson EX3260 review, we’ll go over the projector’s design, built quality, performance, and essential features. Later, we’ll let you know if it’s the right projector for you or should you consider other alternatives.
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Epson EX3260 Review
- Amazing brightness — 3,600 lumens of color and white brightness (1) ideal for displaying large-group presentations, spreadsheets and videos, even in well-lit rooms
- Crisp image quality — XGA resolution delivers crisp text and images; perfect for displaying presentations, video and more
- True 3-Chip 3LCD technology — displays 100% of the RGB color signal for every frame, providing outstanding color accuracy while maintaining excellent color brightness, without any distracting “rainbowing” or “color brightness” issues seen with other projection technologies
- Versatile connectivity — features an HDMI port, so you can easily connect streaming devices, including Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and Chromecast (2)
- Easy setup — built-in speaker for easy setup for video and audio right out of the box
- Built-in picture skew sensor — automatically analyzes the picture and instantly corrects the vertical keystone to help square the image
- Amazing dynamic contrast ratio up to 15,000:1 — provides crisp, rich detail for graphs, images and videos
- Award-winning service and support — standard 1-year limited warranty, full-unit replacement, along with free technical phone support for the life of the product
First Impression & Design
At first look, the Epson EX3260 has the same design as most of its other projectors. The same design language is carried throughout its projectors that cost over $1000. Hence, you get the best design possible at an affordable price. The projector has a complete plastic body with a two-tone design. The projector’s front is predominantly black, whereas the entire body has a white plastic chassis.
The projector chassis is compact and measures 11.9 x 9.8 x 3.6 inches (Width x Depth x Height). It is compact and weighs around 5.5 pounds. The package comes with a soft carrying bag that holds the projector and all its accessories. The carrying bag has a messenger-style design; hence it’s easy commuting with this projector.
The front hosts the projection lens, and on top, there’s a focus ring and slider for manual horizontal keystone correction. The EX3260’s top contains a power button and several controls buttons. Control buttons for vertical keystone adjustment, source select, zoom, menu are present. Few LED indicators display projector status, lamp, and temperature.
The Epson EX3260’s back features a plethora of connectivity options. It includes:
A 3.5mm audio connector is missing, which makes it easy to connect with numerous audio devices. The USB-B port is used for video connection through a laptop’s USB port. The USB-A port is useful for connecting a thumb drive or an optional Wi-Fi adapter for wireless connectivity.
Built Quality & Performance
The Epson EX3260 comes with a native resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, popularly known as SVGA resolution. While the SVGA resolution seems low compared to today’s standard, it works well for schools and small businesses that occasionally use a projector.
The lower resolution cannot show accurate details like tiny text, watermarks, or micro-sized dividers. Yet, most presentation elements are easily viewable, and the viewers do not need to struggle.
Moreover, the SVGA resolution has an aspect ratio of 4:3, which is commonplace between business projectors. In case you’re wondering, you can also display 16:9 aspect ratio content on this projector.
The 3,300 lumens lamp inside Epson EX3260 is capable of producing bright visuals during the daytime. While 3,300 lumens is bright enough for most cases, many business projectors are available with up to 5000 lumens brightness. Higher brightness ensures the projector is usable comfortably during the daytime without turning off the lights and using curtain blinds.
Having said that, constantly using the projector at its full brightness will result in reduced lamp life. Whenever possible, it’s good to use this projector in Eco mode to improve lamp life and reduce bulb replacement costs. You can expect 6,000 hours of lamp life in Normal mode with full 3,300 lumens brightness, whereas, in Eco Mode, the projector can last up to 10,000 hours, albeit at lower brightness.
Also Read: How Long Do Projector Bulbs Last?
The Epson EX3260 is a long-throw projector and can comfortably output a 100 to 120-inch screen from a 10-feet distance. At this distance, the display quality is respectable for office and classroom usage. The text is clear, and the text size over 8 points is easily readable.
It comes with Epson’s in-house 3LCD projection technology that offers the right balance between brightness and color accuracy. As a result, graphs and visuals in a presentation look delectable. The color fade seems ineffective even when ambient light is introduced. In comparison, DLP projectors have slightly low color brightness than its white color brightness. The issue is noticeable in budget office projectors like Viewsonic PA503X and BenQ MH733.
While the Epson EX3260 is mainly geared towards office usage; however, you can use it for watching videos, movies, and TV shows. The color output is good enough yet not at par compared to Epson’s dedicated home theater projectors.
Important Features & Functions
Epson EX3260 Review: Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
The Epson EX3260 provided all the necessary features like high brightness, longer lamp life, and clear text output, making it an ideal budget-oriented office and school projector. It has a compact body, and the provided carrying bag makes it easy to carry around the projector.
In addition, this projector also offers horizontal and vertical keystone adjustment. Hence, even with slightly offset projector placement, you get a perfect rectangular projection.
At this price point, there’s hardly any worthy competitor to the Epson EX3260. For $50 more, you get its bigger brother, the Epson EX3280 that offers 3,600 lumens brightness, XGA resolution (1024 x 768p), and a higher 15,000:1 contrast ratio.
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