M2 Full HD 1080p Smart Portable LED Projector

I had a LG PF50KS, which I loved for it's 'triple wireless' features (battery power, bluetooth audit and wifi streaming) and compact stature for my living room coffee table. After 2 years of use, the image packed up and credit to LG, they issued a full refund so I thought I'd look around for something else. I tried the Viewsonic X10 4K for a week or so, but it is just far too big for my space. I settled on the M2 and after a month of use, I'm very happy with it. It has a really great image for my relatively casual entertainment needs. Clearer, better colours and dark colour definitions and dramatically brighter than the PF50KS. It is also whisper quiet, in fact inaudible when eco mode is on. Much quieter than the PF50KS. Features are good for my needs, especially bluetooth audio out. It's good that it has the Android aptoide OS, but it is fiddly to use. Firstly I had to dig around online (including an informative review on Amazon UK) to find out that it is possible to install another app, called Aptoide, which is essentially an updated version of the onboard app store. You have to download an .apk file and install it via USB. Once installed, you open that app, and can download additional apps. Some of the apps look dodgy and there are alarming pop up advertisements that take over the screen. But the relevant media apps all seem to be there. The remote does not work with many/all of the apps, so after some more research and trial and error, I worked out that I could plug in a bluetooth mouse and run things properly with the remote in one hand and mouse in the other. Manageable, but not exactly slick. My main persisting issue is that I can't play Netflix properly. The issue is that the aspect ratio automatically adjusts to the wrong setting so that the image appears squashed in from the sides. The aspect ratio setting can be brought up with the remote, but it's very frustratingly greyed out, and thus impossible to use. Strangely enough, it only became greyed out after the onboard operating system updated itself to v0.57. Before that, the aspect ratio could be used in netflix and so the image could be correctly adjusted. I tried a complete reset, but this did not roll back the OS from v0.57 and the aspect ratio setting remains greyed out. I tried using older versions of the netflix app that can be found on the aptiode store but no joy. I called netflix and they said it was a hardware issue and they couldn't support. So only choice seems to be to stream netflix from another source over HDMI. I'm yet to get in touch with viewsonic tech support, so will see if they can help. Other than this annoyance, it's a great projector. Note, I sent the first one back as it was only possible to properly focus the top half OR the bottom half of the screen, not all of it together. The second machine is crisp and clear from corner to corner.Édit: update March 2021. An automatic update to the operating system was rolled out aspect ratio issues mentioned above are now completely fixed! Thanks to ViewSonic tech support!

The picture and brightness is OK for a cheap projector in a dark room however it's biggest selling point is the ability to access an app store and install your favourite apps. However this app store is not Google play. It's Viewsonics custom store....sort of. Most of the apps don't work or are outdated so you will be forced to use a firestick or similiar with this projector. The projector is easy to use and the remote is basic but not the best. Sound is also clear and can go quiet loud but does lack depth and bass. If you wanna watch this projector at an angle to the wall or mess with the keystone manually......DON'T. You will get microstutters. This is a known issue that viewsonic do not want to address and fix. Pointed straight at a flat wall using auto keystone the project works stutter free.For the money I would avoid this projector it really is that bad if you want to have the projector to the side of you as opposed to behind you. Also the apps store is a con and side loading apps doesn't mean it will work due to the out of date android OS. Version 8.0 I believe.

ViewSonic M2e Full HD 1080p Smart Projector:Product: sold as used.ASIN: B08TKPKCWDAfter hours of reading reviews about many different projector’s, this trusted-brand of ViewSonic (RRP £500 to £500) *seemed* like a safe bet, so I took the plunge.In practice it seems relatively over-valued.I work from home on a projector so I read many Amazon reviews.(Compared to for less money a Search > Shop for e.g. a £450 free delivery 2021 LED HDR 4K Ultra HD Smart TV, 50 inch with Freeview Play.)I’ve found a screen at a distance majorly reduces eye-strain, if working at a screen/surface for long hours this can be a key point of relief.The projector’s intro-video special effect leave a good first impression, but as one realises in terms of getting the basics right this projector lacks in some key areas.-I recognise everything’s built to a price, but at the stated 100” screen the image has focus uniformity issues.It’s a question of balance, why ViewSonic didn’t recognise as key for a 100” 1080p projector that an OS’s normal size text can be in focus evenly across the image (called focus-uniformity). I’ve tried hard to make a best case setup for the image quality, but this has severely limited where the projector can go to achieve that, undermining the adjustability features which reduce the image quality considerably.Not good for computer (Mac / Windows) use where one needs to read text etc which has poor focus-uniformity.It’s a reasonable expectation to be able to read normal text in an OS across the interface image, e.g. across the tabs along the top of an interface.The computer is outputting standard 1080p HDMI on high-quality HDMI cables.Try as I might I can’t even decipher smaller text across many parts of the image e.g. a month calendar.The projector’s intended to give good initial impressions, with big projector On-Screen-Display interface, the text is so big it’s easy to read, but at normal sizes text tends to be blurry / ghosted.I’ve worked for several hours trying to position this projector / set it up to achieve the best possible image it can manage factoring in every factor I could imagine, after all that without success.As much as I wanted to like this compact mini unit, I have to agree with another reviewer who said it was only possible to properly focus the top half OR the bottom half of the screen, not all of it together. (For that other customer that second machine is crisp and clear from corner to corner), I’m not going to risk a second unit.Your mileage may vary, may others be more fortunate than me.+Lag levels are fine, no significant lag between input and response.-Colours unbalanced.-Focus-blurring, how even the focus is across the image (focus uniformity) becomes very uneven unless projector positioned directly straight (impractical, hence the adjustment features).To try to make the best of and work around this projectors blurred focus & focus-uniformity issues, I’ve spent the last 6 hours re-arranging my room around positioning this projector for optimum results, familiarising myself with all the projector’s various on-screen settings / options including manual sharpness (hold sharpness button down for about 2 seconds) to try to get the stated 100” image to produce readable focus across the image (focus uniformity), with little success.My vision is sharp, this projector image looks ghosted / blurred / out of focus.No matter where the focus range is adjusted, normal OS text is ghosted / blurred / fuzzy across the image.I recognise the projector is technically outputting 1080p, but the optics are so poor the image is blurred. Having endlessly tried adjusting the focus to it’s best case, I’ve given up struggling with it.Neither is it that the projector is too far away nor too close, it’s positioned with the suggested distance of up to 2.7m for a 100” image (throw-ratio).It’s well within it’s digital range of focus / focus-range, the issue here is a blurred focus & focus uniformity. It’s not a 1080p resolution issue, 1080p is fine on a projector which doesn’t have focus issues.I’ve tried all the relevant digital adjustments the projector has including image sharpening auto-focus was a bit out of focus, so the focus was manually adjusted.That’s not done much good to help it’s basic hardware focus-uniformity issues at 100” screen. Focus uniformity is generally an optical hardware issue not a digital issue.-Moving on from the negatives to the positives:+The remote (batteries included) is quite useable, it’s not too fussy about being pointed in a particular direction to work. The remote buttons are low-height rubberised buttons making it easy to find the buttons while looking at the screen.+On-Screen-Display (OSD) not bad, at least the menus don’t time out after a few seconds, the user just clicks back to close the OSD which is preferable. +Colour Temperature is improved when set to Warm but image quality seriously lacks considering the RRP about £500 to £550.+The following are LED projector’s in general (this included): LED has a preferably rapid on/off, LEDs run cooler than bulbs, LED has a descent brightness for their power consumption.+The fan is reasonably quiet, thankfully not too loud.?I didn’t check the sound quality because in my case movie-level sound might upset others, there’s always over the ear headphones or external speakers if one so chooses.+The compact Mac-Mini-like rounded square form-factor is neat.~The rubber feet are good but tend to work loose, watch out you don’t lose them.+The projector fabric carry-case is smart and suits the LED projector’s portable form-factor.