Viewsonic M1 Mini Plus Review: Compact & Reliable Projector
Viewing content on a large screen is something we all want, Televisions have moved from 32" to 65" and above. Projectors are an easy and affordable way of watching content on a large screen. There is a lot that goes into elevating the viewing experience can the Viewsonic M1 Mini meet the expectations of today's binge-watching generation? let's find out
At the first glance, you won’t be able to recognize that it is a projector that can project a huge screen. The USP of the Viewsonic M1 mini Plus is its small size and portability. The projector is very sleek even you can carry it in your pocket wherever you go. The LED projector comes in a square shape design with rounded edges for better grip.
The hood that hides the lamp is intelligently designed so that it can be doubled up as a built-in stand. Moreover, you also get interchangeable top panels that are easy to fit and give a new look to the projector every time.
Coming to the ports, the Viewsonic M1 mini plus get HDMI 1.4, USB 2.0 Type-A, and USB Type-C for charging. There is no control panel on the projector, which implies that if you misplace the remote, you probably will not be able to use it. You also get a focus ring at the right corner of the projector to adjust the focus.
The LED projector uses a DLP chip and offers 854x480 pixels (480p resolution), which is common to small size projectors. The light source is claimed to offer 30,000-hour usage, which is typically more than the life of the projector. Talking about brightness, M1 Mini Plus offers 50 ANSI Lumens and 120 LED Lumens with Rec 709 Colours. It means despite having a 480p resolution, the videos will still remain sharp and bright. During our usage, we tried to reproduce bigger screen sizes (more than 100 inches) as well but as it started losing the details after 80 inches (diagonally). The best watching distance with crisp and clear video detail was around 2 meters from the screen. At a distance of 20inches, you don't need to turn off the ambient lights, but as you increase the screen size you need a darker environment for optimum viewing pleasure.
Viewsonic M1 Mini Plus Video Sample
The sound quality on the M1 is amazing, The in-built JBL speakers are enough for the small room (if sitting near the projector) and even Netflix shows runs with good quality SFX (Netflix is known to have a quieter cinematic sound effect). In a medium-size room then you need to connect it with an auxiliary speaker for better sound coverage.
Moreover, you can mirror YouTube videos and your local gallery videos, but do it only if you have a strong internet connection, otherwise, you may feel the lag and video and audio will be out of sync. Also, you can not mirror Netflix to the projector. However, you can watch it by downloading the Netflix app directly from its inbuilt app store.
Now the thing where it falls short is its battery life. It offers less than 2 hours of battery life if you are using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth simultaneously. If you are planning to watch movies on it, you might have to charge it in-between to complete your movie. However, it supports Power bank charging as well making it truly portable. We noticed during our usage that if you are not using Wi-Fi and other streaming services to watch your content, the battery has enough juice to complete a full 2hour movie.
Our Thoughts
Viewsonic M1 Mini Plus is a well-designed and compact projector that offers real practicality for day to day usage. You don’t need to think once as it is easy to set up and offers good picture quality for home-usage. If you are Hodophile, then this is the perfect companion for the nights. If you are looking for a pocket-sized projector that also can perform well, Viewsonic M1 Mini Plus is worth considering.
