Optoma Technology EW330 Projector

The experience of setting up and using the lightweight EW330 is a mixed bag. It has a smooth zoom lever and focus ring, plus three tilt-adjustment feet for raising the beam of light. Like all portable projectors, the EW300 has a keystone control (to adjust image distortion caused by tilting), but the amount of correction is a modest 18 degrees, while most of the others in this group can achieve as much as 30 to 40 degrees of correction. In addition to its HDMI connection, this model provides inputs for VGA, composite video, S-Video, and mini-USB (cable included), the last of which adds mouse and page up/down control to the remote.

The EW330's circular control panel puts some of the buttons so close together that it's easy to push the wrong one from time to time, and the small remote control isn't much easier to use. The menu button and selection keys are buried among all of the other tiny buttons, and you get no handy hot-button for changing the preset display mode. The remote's laser pointer is a welcome plus, however. The EW330's on-screen display is easy enough to navigate, and its extensive options include more color controls than most other models have.

If you want the best bargain on a projector with a wide aspect ratio, the EW330 is about $200 less than the InFocus IN1102, and the two models share many features, including the same WXGA resolution and high brightness rating. However, although both come with a two-year warranty, the EW330's 90-day lamp warranty is shorter than the IN1102's six-month lamp warranty, and the cost of its 3000-hour replacement lamp ($399) is about $75 higher than that of the one the IN1102 uses ($325). Nevertheless, given the substantial difference in the initial purchase price, anyone on a budget should take a close look at what the Optoma EW330 has to offer.