Best Cheap Projector to Choose

For years now, the use of projectors and interactive whiteboards for educational and training purposes has been spreading rapidly through schools throughout the country. Schools, colleges and universities, as well as language schools and driving schools, can take advantage of the opportunity to improve the quality of their training offer, so it is essential to take into account some tips when buying projectors.

As a general rule, we recommend using these projectors, since they allow you to place the projector much closer to the screen or interactive whiteboard than with conventional projectors. Being closer to the projected image, it prevents the teacher from being 'in the middle' of the beam of light, which in turn avoids 2 things: shadows in the projection, and glare to the teacher and students who come to the blackboard. As for its installation, it is more comfortable, because they are fixed with wall brackets instead of having to do it on the roof. Examples: Vivitek DX881ST and Epson EB-530.

For primary classrooms, it may be enough with SVGA or XGA projectors and 2500-3000 lumens, and 1.8 m wide screens. Examples: Ricoh X2440 and Epson EB-X39. In institutes, academies, driving schools and small classrooms of universities, the minimum resolution would be XGA and recommended HD High Definition, with a brightness of 2500 to 3500 lumens. These better features will allow us to project a bigger image without losing detail level and make presentations in lighter classes. Use screens from 1.8 to 2m wide. E.g., Epson EB-W42.

For any other environment where there are large classrooms (function rooms, universities, etc.) High Definition HD and High Definition FullHD of minimum 4000-5000 lumens, and 2.5-3 meters screens are recommended. See the article on projectors for large classrooms.

The factor that most determines the maintenance cost of the projectors is their lamp, which has a limited life and a high acquisition cost. When choosing a projector, it is good to take into account:

That has a lamp duration as long as possible: until now lasted 3000-4000 hours but recently have appeared projectors with lamps that last even 10,000 hours. That the replacement lamp is as economical as possible: the lights of the current education projectors cost around 100-150 euros.

Led projectors? Although it is very tempting to forget the replacement lamps, the existing LED spotlights in the market either do not have enough light, or have an extra cost equivalent to buying 2-3 bulbs together with the projector, so it only makes sense if we want to forget maintenance and have a higher budget (example: Casio XJ-V2).


Manufacturer's Warranty: An excellent way to protect the investment in projectors for education is to buy projectors with more than 2 years of Warranty. Epson and Hitachi offer 3 and 5-year Warranty on their projectors. Also, as the manufacturer has more prestige, the warranty conditions will be better, and we thus make sure to quickly find spare parts and Technical Assistance if needed (in this respect Epson are the most recommended for us).