Seek for the BenQ LW600ST ($899) on BenQ’s web site, and you will flip up two entries: the LW600ST Set up Projector and the LW600ST Golf Simulator Projector. They’re really each the identical mannequin, with the 2 separate internet pages proof of this glorious projector’s capability to serve a variety of use instances. The perfect WXGA (1,280-by-800 pixel) projector for a lot of enterprise and training setups has, amongst different qualities, a brief throw and the colour dealing with prowess to point out photorealistic photographs nicely. Because it seems, these are additionally what it’s good to construct a golf simulator in your basement. That makes the LW600ST, which has each, a good selection for both goal. However, in case you do not want a brief throw, the cheaper, Editors’ Alternative-winning Epson Professional EX7280 is a greater possibility.Design: 4 LEDs to Enhance Shade AccuracyBenQ calls the LW600ST an set up projector as a result of it is clearly appropriate for everlasting set up in a convention room, classroom, or golf simulator. It is also really small and lightweight sufficient to make use of as a transportable projector, at 4.2 by 11.9 by 8.7 inches (HWD) and 5.8 kilos. As some extent of reference, Epson’s EpiqVision Flex CO-W01 Moveable Projector weighs solely a half pound much less.
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As with most BenQ fashions we have seen currently, the LW600ST pairs a DLP chip (with a local 1,280-by-800-pixel decision, on this case) with a four-LED mild supply (purple, inexperienced, and two blues) that’s designed to final the lifetime of the projector. It is rated at 20,000 hours in Regular energy mode or 30,000 hours in Eco mode. In line with BenQ, the second blue LED each boosts brightness and will increase shade accuracy.
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The brief throw lens counts as a key characteristic. As with every brief throw projector, the lens allows you to get an enormous image from near the display screen. Nonetheless, the LW600ST provides a 1.2x zoom, which is uncommon for brief throw lenses and provides welcome flexibility for a way far you’ll be able to place the projector from the display screen for a given dimension picture. That helps make advert hoc setup for transportable use a lot sooner. It is much more useful in a everlasting ceiling mount set up since you’ll be able to compensate for minor inaccuracies in putting the mount. In my checks, I measured a 57-inch distance for a 78.4-inch-wide picture, in line with the low finish of the rated 0.72-to-0.87 throw ratio. (The bottom quantity is for the large angle setting, to offer the most important picture.)
Other than positioning the projector and setting the zoom, setup consists principally of connecting to a picture supply and adjusting the handbook focus. The again panel gives two HDMI ports and a USB port that may work with an non-obligatory $45 Wi-Fi dongle to attach by Wi-Fi Direct for mirroring cellular gadgets and PCs.
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As with most projectors, you need to use digital zoom and picture geometry controls (together with a four-corner adjustment, on this case) to regulate the picture dimension and form. Nonetheless, it is all the time greatest to keep away from digital changes in case you can since they decrease brightness and might introduce artifacts in some photographs. The higher alternative is to place the projector to keep away from keystone distortion in case you can and use the 1.2x optical zoom to regulate the picture dimension.Utilizing the Society of Movement Image and Tv Engineers (SMPTE) suggestions, the LW600ST’s rated 2,800 ANSI lumens ought to ship an appropriately shiny picture in a darkish room utilizing a roughly 200-to-235-inch, 1.0-gain display screen on the projector’s native 16:10 facet ratio. In a sometimes shiny convention room or classroom, it will nonetheless be shiny sufficient to fill a display screen as giant as 120 inches. Nonetheless, understand that the brightest settings for a projector additionally ship the least correct shade. In my checks utilizing my most well-liked settings, the projector delivered a comfortably shiny picture utilizing a 93-inch, 1.0-gain display screen in a darkish room and a watchable (although barely washed-out) picture at 84 inches in a brightly lit room.
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The onboard 10-watt mono speaker delivers serviceable audio at a quantity appropriate for a small convention room. For those who want higher sound high quality or greater quantity, you’ll be able to join an exterior sound system to the three.5mm stereo audio-out port on the again panel.Testing the BenQ LW600ST: Photorealistic QualityThe LW600ST does not help both 4K enter or HDR, however it does help resolutions as much as 1,920 by 1,200 pixels (WUXGA). In my checks utilizing a PC, it negotiated a 1,280-by-800-pixel decision connection, which Home windows 10 additionally reported to be the beneficial setting. Once I switched to my DVR, it negotiated a 1080p SDR connection. I ran my checks in each instances with the decision the projector negotiated.The menus provide 5 predefined shade modes plus two consumer modes, however all of the modes are customizable. As with many projectors, the brightest mode, Vivid, has a noticeable inexperienced bias that makes it greatest prevented except you want the brightest picture potential. In our PowerPoint check slides, photographs confirmed an apparent inexperienced shift, and colours in graphics have been dramatically astray, with cyan practically white, each pink and purple rendered as an almost an identical purplish grey, and orange turning brown. Nonetheless, all of our graphs have been extremely readable, making Vivid mode usable in case you want the brightness and do not a lot care about getting the suitable colours.
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All the opposite modes did a much better job with shade accuracy, exhibiting solely minor variations in shade from one mode to the following. Most individuals will think about any of them greater than acceptable normally for each graphics and photorealistic photographs. Nonetheless, the Presentation and Golf modes each delivered noticeably higher shade accuracy than the others. If any distinction between them in rendering colours exists, it did not present in our checks, although BenQ says the Golf mode is tuned particularly for golf simulation software program. For my formal testing, I picked Presentation mode for each displays and for motion pictures and movies.No matter mode, element and crispness are acceptable for the decision. That mentioned, the comparatively low decision made it laborious to make out particular person strains in a crowded CAD check picture with plenty of nice strains shut collectively.
(Credit score: M. David Stone)
The LW600ST earned combined outcomes for motion pictures and video. The dangerous information is that despite the fact that I noticed fewer rainbow artifacts (purple/inexperienced/blue flashes) than with most DLP projectors I’ve reviewed not too long ago, I noticed them typically sufficient to make it laborious to advocate the projector for purposes like watching motion pictures in a classroom. Some folks see these flashes extra simply than others, and the extra people who find themselves watching, the extra seemingly that some will discover the flashes annoying.The excellent news begins with my seeing nearly no flashes in PowerPoint slides or different graphics and textual content slides that did not have objects shifting on the display screen. The one time they confirmed in any respect was in one in all our check slides that is designed to make the artifacts simple to see. Even then, I noticed solely fleeting hints once I tried to make them seem by shifting my eyes rapidly backwards and forwards.
(Credit score: M. David Stone)
And it will get higher: Shade accuracy and distinction in brighter scenes have been each simply ok for displays that embrace movie or video clips—in addition to for golf course simulations. And for movie and video the LW600ST does a ok job of avoiding rainbow artifacts that even those that are delicate to them aren’t prone to discover them bothersome for clips that final solely a minute or two. One potential drawback is that the projector does not maintain shadow element nicely, which made it laborious to see what was occurring within the darkest scenes in our check clips. Nonetheless, this should not be a problem for the type of clips and photographs that you simply’re more than likely to make use of in displays.One good additional is 3D help, for the shrinking quantity of people that want it. The LW600ST gives a single 3D mode and works with DLP-Hyperlink glasses. In testing, 3D-related movement artifacts have been only a bit extra apparent than typical for current-generation 3D fashions, however I did not see any crosstalk.
(Credit score: M. David Stone)
I measured the LW600ST’s enter lag with a Bodnar meter at 33 milliseconds for 1080p 60Hz enter. Most avid gamers would think about that brief sufficient for informal gaming, and enter lag is not prone to matter in any respect for many enterprise or training purposes. It is not a crucial concern for golf simulation, both.Verdict: A Prime-Tier Decide for Your Brief Throw NeedsFor purposes that want a brief throw projector—whether or not for enterprise, training, or DIY golf simulators—and need not resolve element any finer than a 1,280-by-800-pixel decision can deal with, the BenQ LW600ST is a robust candidate. Nonetheless, keep in mind that you are paying additional for the brief throw lens. For those who do not want it, think about the Epson CO-W01 or Epson Professional EX7280, which each have decrease record costs than the LW600ST. The CO-W01 gives the bottom price of those three fashions and a contact greater brightness score than the BenQ. In the meantime, the EX7280, which is one in all our Editors’ Alternative picks, gives a considerably greater brightness than both. The Epson fashions even have the benefit of being assured to not present rainbow artifacts.The large benefit of the BenQ LW600ST is its brief throw. For those who want a projector that can provide you an enormous picture from near the display screen, whether or not due to the room dimension or the necessity to keep away from casting shadows on the display screen, it is the one one in all these fashions that may do the job. That alone could be sufficient to make it the suitable alternative.
Professionals
WXGA (1,280-by-800-pixel) decision, appropriate for displays and golf simulation
Vibrant graphics and photorealistic photographs
Brief throw delivers an enormous image from near the display screen
1.2x zoom
View
Extra
The Backside Line
The BenQ LW600ST gives a brief throw lens for large photographs in tight areas, similar to golf simulators, and it is usually mild sufficient to function a transportable projector for enterprise or training use.
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About M. David Stone
Contributing Editor
Most of my present work for PCMag is about printers and projectors, however I’ve lined all kinds of different topics—in additional than 4,000 items, over greater than 40 years—together with each computer-related areas and others starting from ape language experiments, to politics, to cosmology, to house colonies. I’ve written for PCMag.com from its begin, and for PC Journal earlier than that, as a Contributor, then a Contributing Editor, then because the Lead Analyst for Printers, Scanners, and Projectors, and now, after a brief hiatus, again to Contributing Editor.
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