Cheap and cheerful Chinese projector brand Wanbo has debuted a new portable model that makes outlandish claims about its level of brightness for a device that costs under £300.
It’s called the Wanbo Vali 1, and it’s described as a 1080p “smart portable projector” featuring Android TV 11 for built-in streaming. It promises pretty decent sound output from its integrated pair of 6-watt speakers, and it can display images at a maximum of 130-inches, with features such as auto-keystone correct, auto-screen fit and auto-focus to simplify the setting up process. That will be further aided by its handy stand, which can rotate up to 200-degrees, allowing great flexibility in terms of placement.
Where the Wanbo Vali 1 really stands out though is its claims of greatness in terms of brightness, with the company promising that it can beam pictures with up to 900 ANSI lumens.
That number makes it about twice as bright as similarly priced portable projectors. For instance, the brightness of Samsung’s Freestyle Gen 2 projector is specified at 230 lumens, while the XGMI MoGo 3 Pro is said to hit up to 450 lumens. One of the best projectors in the low-cost category seems to be LG’s CineBeam Q, which is a 4K model that’s rated at 500 lumens.
As such, Wanbo’s claim of being able to hit 900 lumens is quite astonishing for a model that costs just £269, and it therefore prompted the boys at Projector Central to attempt to verify that figure.
Unfortunately, it found that anyone hoping for a blazing-bright bargain is likely to be in for disappointment, as it turns out that the Vali 1 doesn’t reach anything like the heights it claims to achieve. In its review, Projector Central rated the projector’s brightness at just 422 lumens, with a peak of 529 lumens in the bottom sector of the image it generated. As such, it’s actually less than half as bright as what it claims to be.
That is, of course, a very significant discrepancy and we do hope that it was an error. Perhaps the model tested was faulty, although you’d think the company would take care to ensure it is not. In any case, if Projector Central’s findings are true, it would suggest that buyers are not getting anything like the bargain they had hoped for.
The disappointing results have not been confirmed by HDTVTest, but they do call into question Wanbo’s claims of being able to enjoy “vivid and vibrant visuals even in brightly lit daytime rooms.” But then again, you don’t know until you try, and with its very reasonable price tag, there may yet be some takers who are willing to give it a go.
