If you’re looking for a lightweight projector with XGA resolution, the Optoma TX7155 is a good choice. This small, black, and boxy 3.2-pound unit sports pretty impressive specs, including 2500 lumens of brightness for a reasonable $1,100.
The TX7155’s Decent Feature Set
The TX7155 can accommodate not only the traditional assortment of VGA, composite, S-Video and audio connectors but also digital video via an HDMI port. It comes with a relatively standard assortment of cables: AC, VGA, and composite video.
With a full-featured remote control, this Optoma provides not only a laser pointer but also a full set of mouse-control buttons. Unfortunately, the sheer number of buttons may confuse presenters. For example, there are two separate quartets of arrow keys, one for moving the mouse pointer and the other for navigating the on-screen menus. It’s very easy to confuse the two. Also, the Page Up/Down buttons are too small and not well labeled.
Performance
The TX7155 didn’t fare especially well on our lab tests. In its default Presentation mode, the projector registered only 1699 lumens; we had to switch the projector to its Bright mode to pump its score up to 2264 lumens. Although this score follows an industry tradition of being about 10 percent short of its advertised value, it’s still plenty bright for most typical business applications.
Thanks to this model’s DLP imaging engine, we expected a high contrast ratio but saw instead 229:1, one of the lowest scores we have seen for projectors using this technology. On our subjective tests, images were sharp and steady. The projector excelled at resolving very dark grays, but, like most DLP models, the yellow colors were dull and mustard-like. We liked this projector’s quick cooldown time of only 15 seconds. The cooling fan was not noticeably loud.
Optoma TX7155 Verdict
With a street price of $1,100, this ultraportable model includes a very generous three-year warranty that features a one-year warranty on the lamp—four times longer than most other projectors. With this factored in, the price is equivalent to that of the Dell M209X, which has similar performance. The Optoma TX7155, however, is a half-pound heavier and has a lower contrast ratio.
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