The BenQ Joybee GP1 projector is a small, 3LED projector targeted at the consumer market. It is lightweight and has a very sleek design that looks very modern. This is not the monster projector you may have seen at the office.
BenQ sent one to us to review, and here’s what we thought about it.
When I opened the box I was surprised to see how really small this projector is. It literally fit in the palm of my hand. The projecter is very light as well. I jumped right in by locating the included quick start guide and powered up the GP1 and faced it at the dining room wall. The picture is not extraordinarily bright, but in a room with the shades closed during the day seemed to be dark enough to enjoy it. The quick start guide showed a usb thumb drive connection and so we set out to watch Wall-E from my 16GB Sandisk Cruser using the digital format from the Wall-E disk. We were not able to because the codec from the disk wasn’t supported. We then copied one video for each of the formats listed in the manual with random videos we had of the kids. Some of the supported codecs listed did not work, even though we created the video on our Mac with iMovie and exported to a supported format. We did inquire with BenQ about this and we’re advised to use transcoding software that was Windows specific. If you’re on Mac or Linux, check out FFMpeg (free) for your transcoding needs. It seems that after we started reviewing our GP1, BenQ updated their website to amend the supported codec list to MPEG1 and MJPEG.
The interface is intuitive and did not take a whole lot of work to master quickly. The included remote is also very simple and gets the job done. It has an integrated speaker that was loud enough for all of us in the room to hear, but you may want to use your computer speakers to get a louder or higher quality experience.
The Good: The 800 X 600 resolution we tested at is more than enough to enjoy movies on with the kids. You can plug a thumb drive into the projector and display movies or slideshows of images without the need for a computer. With the iPhone / iPod dock (coming soon), I can imagine using this to set up movies for the kids when they have their friends over or while we’re traveling. The user interface is intuitive and easy enough to feel like I instantly knew it. It is tripod ready and has an included speaker.
The Bad: Not all of the codecs claimed to be supported in the product manual actually work. Hopefully they’ll fix this in a future software upgrade. The device does seem to get warm quick, and for those thinking about using this around children you may not want to leave them unattended with it. It wasn’t hot enough to seriously burn me, but it was instantly uncomfortable and to a small child trying to pick this up they may drop it quickly.
If you’re looking for a small and portable projector for your home or travel, I enthusiastically recommend it! If you’re looking for a business class projector, you will want to look at some of the higher end models BenQ has with better brightness and resolution features.
UPDATE: BenQ sent us an Apple Component AV Cable to check out movies on our GP1! We had a few movies on our iPhones, so we thought we’d check it out! We were very easily able to hook up the iPhone to the GP1 projector and watch Wall-E on the Wall! It was great! The quality was pretty good. The sound was decent. You do have to be in a quiet room to be able to hear it well, but for watching movies at home while snuggling on the couch as a family.. it’s perfect!
You can enter to win a BenQ Joybee GP1 Projector directly from BenQ!
Review written by: Ryan Brady / @rjbrady