Pico Projector Advice

So what exactly are Pico projectors?

Pico projectors give you the freedom to give presentations whenever and wherever you like as they come supplied with a battery to power them (providing typically 1.5 hours running time) and therefore do not require a power cable connected between it and the nearest wall / floor power socket.

Pico projectors (or LED projectors as they are sometimes referred to) are pocket sized and small enough to fit into the palm of your hand with the vast majority of them weighing less than 800g/0.80Kg which is approximately 3 times less than the average traditional projector.

In addition to the weight and size benefits, Pico projectors do not use a mercury lamp as their light source, they use LED's which last up to 20,000 hours thereby eliminating the need to buy costly replacement lamps as is the case for a traditional projector.

Extensive Connectivity

The majority of Pico projectors have a USB input and/or SD Memory Card reader which allows for PC Less presentations. Simply load your powerpoint slides (in .jpg format) or photos onto your USB stick or SD memory card, pop it into the Pico projector, switch it on and project its that easy. The newer models comming through onto the market also have in addition an HDMI input for a direct digital connection to DVD players/Games consoles and or input for connecting to iPhone, iPad, iPod or Blackberry

Not just for business presentations

As Pico projectors feature USB and or SD memory card inputs, you can load your favourite movies (most Pico projectors support avi, wmv, mpeg and mp4 file formats) onto a USB stick or SD memory card, pop it into the projector, switch it on and project. Great for watching movies in your bedroom for example.

Resolution

As Pico projectors are a new and emerging product, resolution on this type of projector is currently limited to WVGA (854 x 4800 pixels) as the highest native resolution available. At the time of writing this guide, only 1 model (The Qumi from Vivitek) has native WXGA (1280x800 pixels) resolution.

If you require immense clarity and detail in your projectors, then Pico projectors are not for you and you are better off taking a look at our range of traditional business projectors. To help you decide which projector type is better for your needs, the below table shows you the current available resolutions traditional and Pico projectors are capable of displaying.

Resolution	Pixels (Width x Height)	Total pixels displayed	Traditional Projector	Pico Projector
SVGA	800 x 600	480,000	Yes	Yes
WVGA	854 x 480	409,920	Yes	Yes
XGA	1024 x 768	786,432	Yes	Yes
WXGA	1280 x 800	1,024,000	Yes (limited models available)	Yes
WUXGA	1920 x 1200	2,304,000	Yes	No

How bright are Pico projectors?

In short...Not very bright at all. At the time of writing this guide, the brightest model available produces 300 lumens output. Brightness is improving on Pico projectors all the time but even the most very basic traditional mercury lamp projector produces 2000 lumens output over 6 times the brightness of a pico projector.

Pico projectors are great for impromptu meetings where the audience size is no more than 10 people and are in close proximity to the projector (less than 2.5mtr). If you have audience sizes larger than 10 people, or there is ambient light in the room you cannot control or you intend to place the pico more than 2mtr away from your screen then Pico projectors are not for you and we would advise you take a look at our range of traditional business projectors.

The below table shows the brightness levels traditional mercury lamp and LED Pico projectors are capable of producing.

Brightness	Traditional Projector can output	LED Pico Projector can output
100 lumens	Yes	Yes
300 lumens	Yes	Yes
1000 lumens	Yes	No
>2500 lumens	Yes	No
>5000+ lumens	Yes	No

So are Pico Projectors any good then?

As mentioned earlier on in this guide, Pico projectors are great for small or impromptu meetings as their compact and lightweight design allows it to slip comfortably into any bag or even jacket pocket, making it the perfect projector for business or sales people on the move. USB / SD memory card inputs allow for PC less presentations and with no need for mains power connection , the pico's are capable of projecting for up to 1.5 hours on a single battery charge,

Pico's are improving more and more with each new release. However..If you have ambient light in the room you cannot control and black out or intend to have the Pico more than 2 mtr back from the screen or have audience sizes in excess of 10 people we would say this type of projector is not for you and you are much more suited to a traditional business projector

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