To be honest, the budget projector market is filled with lemon projectors that promise a lot and deliver very little. Hence, it can be a tricky choice while buying a budget projector that works well.
Having said that, few brands offer excellent spec’d budget projectors and put money where their mouth is. One such budget projector brand is Yaber that offers a slew of entry-level and budget projectors that perform very well.
One such projector that we’re going talk about today is the Yaber Y31. In this Yaber Y31 review, we’ll go over the projector’s design, build quality and performance. Later, I’ll let you know should you invest your hard-earned money on this budget projector or not.
Are you ready?
Let’s get started!
Yaber Y31 Review
- 🌻 [Innovative One-Click to Brighten & 4D Keystone Correction Function] Official Feature Sponsor of New Orleans Film Festival-Our Y31 hd projector is the first projector with One-Click to Brighten function and Auto Vertical Correction. With manually ± 50° 4D (Vertical & Horizontal) Keystone Correction, One-Click Restore & -25% zoom function, very convenient to adjust the screen by using the remote control, especially for the projector suspended from ceiling.
- 💜 [1080P Native Resolution (1920*1080), Support Play 4k Video] The projector with native 1920*1080 resolution, remarkable 9800L Brightness and high dynamic contrast ratio of 10000:1, provides sharp and detailed images from HD content without downscaling or compression, which is four times higher than 720p, ensuring the best video experience.
- 💙 [HIFI Stereo Sound & Latest Advanced Cooling System] The LED projector has built-in 3W dual stereo speakers with SRS sound system provides a great auditory sense experience without external speakers. Updated an advanced and silent cooling system with 3 fans running simultaneously. Adopt the latest SmarEco technology to minimize lamp power consumption to extend the useful life of the lamp to a maximum of 100000 hours.
- 💚 [300" Giant Screen & Wide Compatibility ] The video projector offers the projection size from 50" to 300" depending on the distance and 10ft is the recommended viewing distance. Equipped with 2*HDMI ports, 2*USB ports, VGA port, AV port, this phone projector easily connects with TV Box, Amazon Fire Stick TV, Chromecast, PC, laptop, tablet, external speakers, Xbox, DVD player, USB stick, iPad, iPhone, Android smartphone.
- 💞 [Three-year & Lifetime Professional Support] This 1080P projector is very suitable for home movie entertainment, backyard, games and party fun. YABER provides 6-month back and 3-year repair, lifetime professional technical support. NOTICE: Jerky or lag when playing videos is not a quality problem and can be solved by Firmware Upgrade. Any problems, please let us know anytime.
First Impression & Design
At first glance, the Yaber Y31 looks a little hefty and is a medium-sized budget projector. It weighs 5.7 pounds and measures 12 inches wide, 9 inches deep and 4.1 inches high.
Talking about the design, the textured front hosts an IR sensor and a projection lens, located on the extreme left side of the projector. Just above the projection lens, you can see a focus dial and zoom ring for fine tuning the projection.
The top is fairly empty and has a control panel and navigation buttons situated at the top right corner. The left and the right sides have perforations for exhaust fans and airflow, whereas the right side also sports 2x USB ports.
The back contains connectivity options like 2x HDMI ports, 1x VGA port, 1x headphone jack, and 1x AV port. The back also has another IR sensor and power cable connector. Plus, you get 2x stereo speakers placed on the left and right side of the projector’s back.
Yaber has been generous enough and you get plenty of accessories within the package itself. Once you open the box, you are greeted with the projector, along with an HDMI cable, VGA cable, composite video cable, RCA cable, instruction manual, remote control and two height adjustment screws. Compared to many budget projectors I’ve reviewed, you get numerous accessories in the Yaber Y31’s package.
Built Quality & Performance
The Yaber Y31 has an entire plastic body construction, which is apt for the price. The projector casing is white and has a rectangular box-like design that is common in most budget projectors.
Out of the box, the projector looks solidly built, as there’s no squeaking of plastic when you move it around. The body is very stable and there’s no panel gaps whatsoever. Hence, you won’t have any issues using this projector on a day-to-day basis, plus it can take everyday beating unless it falls. A fall from waist height might be enough to damage the projector’s internals and its projection lens permanently.
Setting up the projector is very straightforward and most times you won’t have any issues. If it’s your first time using a projector, then the initial setup can take some time. You’ll need to adjust the projector distance from the wall/screen, keystone adjustments, and focus and zoom adjustments.
Although, an issue that plagues most budget projector is that the setting screen projection will be slightly bigger than regular projection. The settings screen looks very basic; however, you get all the important options to improve your projector using experience.
Priced under $250, the Yaber Y31 comes with native resolution of 1920 x 1080p. Thus, you can get better picture quality compared to 720p resolution on most budget projectors. This projector support maximum projection of 300-inches; however, the sweet spot is between 80-120-inches. You can achieve a 100-inch projection from a distance of just 10 feet.
To further improve your viewing experience, you get up to ±50° keystone adjustment and 25% zoom. Using the zoom feature, you can extract a slightly bigger screen from a shorter distance. Whereas, if the keystone adjustment is set at maximum, the projection edges can get little blurry and out of focus. Thus, it is recommended to place the projector in the center as possible WRT the projection screen.
Talking about brightness, Yaber doesn’t mentions the exact lumens value. Instead, you get an 8500L Lux value, which can be a little misleading. From my experience, the Yaber Y31 outputs around 300 lumens brightness. In a moderately dim room the projection looks well in its brightest settings; however, as you turn on the light, the projection does start to fade.
In terms of picture quality, you won’t have any issue if it’s your first projector or an upgrade from a sub-$100 projector. It has a 10,000:1 contrast ratio; thus you get awesome separation between colors, and darker scenes look good due to better noise suppression. To extract the best picture quality, I’d suggest using a dedicated projection screen. Suppose, you want to project on a wall. In that case, I’d recommend painting the wall with projection paint for brighter projection output.
The Yaber Y31 also has built-in 3W stereo speakers. Compared to projectors in similar price range, the speakers on this projector are loud and work very well. For casual usage, you can easily use the built-in speakers without any issues. However, to get the full-range auditory experience, I’d suggest investing in a dedicated Bluetooth speaker or soundbar speaker setup.
Important Features & Functions
Yaber Y31 Review: Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
Conclusion
For the price, you get a featured-packed projector from Yaber. Having said that, the Yaber Y31 misses out on wireless connectivity features, which offers better usability.
Hence, if you can spare a slightly extra budget, I would suggest going with Yaber Pro V7 that gets you slightly better picture quality, higher brightness, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity options.
In case you have a strict budget, you can get stick with the Yaber Y31. It will serve you well and if used properly will work for multiple years to come.
If you have any questions regarding this projector, please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below.
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Is aspect ratio 4:3 available
What is the throw ratio
Yes! 4:3 aspect ratio is available on this projector