There is nothing wrong with watching movies on a TV, but sometimes you may prefer to watch on a bigger screen and have a better viewing experience. This is where a projector is useful, and nothing beats a small, portable and affordable projector that you can bring wherever you go. Vankyo Leisure 3 LED projector is one such projector. Let’s find out how it works and if it is worth your money.

Small and Portable

The first thing you will notice when you open up the packaging is how small the projector is. It comes with a small carrying bag, and everything is packed nicely within. The carrying bag makes it easy to carry around, and you can keep it in your closet without it taking up a big space.

Open it and you will find the following items:

  • Vankyo Leisure 3 ProjectorUser ManualPower Cable3-in-1 AV CableHDMI CableVGA CableRemote Control

The following are the specifications:

  • 2200 Lumens2000:1 Contrast Ratio40000 hrs Lamp Life100V-240V PowerSupport resolutions: 576P, 720P, 1080P

Usage

The projector comes with a VGA port, HDMI port, TF card slot, and USB-A port. This means you can connect your computer, laptop, DVD player, TV box, XBox, Playstation, or even your SD card or USB drive to it to play media files.

It is very easy to use. To start watching movies on the projector:

  • Connect the power cable to the power port and power it on.Connect your computer or USB drive to it. The projector should automatically detect the input source. If not, click the “Source” button to switch to the active input source.Focus your lens and start watching your movie.

There is a set of control buttons at the top of the projector, so if you lose the remote control, you can still control the projector. The set of control buttons includes a power switch, a Back button, an OK button and four directional keys, a Menu button, and lastly, a Source switcher button.

On the front there are two knobs to control the lens. One is for changing the lens focus, while the other is for controlling the keystone. The keystone is for adjusting the tilt of the display image to adapt to your viewing angle.

At the bottom of the projector is a screw where you can make it longer or shorter to adjust the angle of projection.

Configuration Options

There are several configuration options. All of them are rather basic. Most of the time the default options will suffice, and there will be no need for you to adjust any of the settings.

Performance

This Vankyo projector has a projecting distance of 1.5 – 5m. If you want your screen really big (and you have a big area), you can move it far back and still have a clear image on the screen.

One thing I found is that while it supports 1080p resolution, the output doesn’t seem to be of that quality. The image is clear and fine, but it wasn’t exactly HD quality. The following images shows what it looks like.

As I don’t have a projector screen, the movie was projected onto a white wall (with some edges). It is not really that bad, though I would prefer it to have a sharper image.

Also, you need to use it in a dark room or at night. Using it in the daytime in a room with the curtain closed, the brightness is not enough and the image is faded.

As a result of trying to keep the packaging small and compact, only a short power cable (of around 1m) is provided. This means that either you have to switch to a longer cable, put the projector near a power source (which is not really applicable most of the time), or use an extension cord. While it’s meant to be small and portable, the short power cable added a lot of hassle when setting it up.

Like most projectors, it gets hot easily, and the cooling fan whirred quite loudly from the start which drowned out the audio a bit. It is best to connect to an external speaker for better and louder audio quality.

Price

The Vankyo Leisure 3 Portable Projector is priced at $89.99 and is easily one of the cheaper projectors around. Until 5th September 2018, you can use the code RVCXTHSR to get a 10% discount off the price.

Conclusion

Overall, the Vankyo Leisure 3 Portable Projector is a joy to use. It is small, compact and the carrying bag makes it really easy to carry around. It is also easy to set up and everything just works. The graphic quality is fine, though it can be better. For a price of under $100, I do think it performs great.

Vankyo Leisure 3 Portable Projector

Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.

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