APEMAN 4K Projector LC650

The best review I can give the LC650, is to tell you that I have just purchased my second one. Anyone familiar with any kind of beamer will tell you that they do not last forever. If you go for a premium brand name, you will either be replacing expensive bulbs about once every 9 months, or the whole unit between 3-8 years, depending on how heavily you use the projector. I use my projector instead of a large television, so it is very heavily used, for tv, movies and games. I have tried several 'budget' projectors over the years, but the LC650 is by far the best model I have found so far. Compared to the other makes I have owned, the LC650 feels and looks more premium and upmarket. The top is made of metal, with just a single power button. All controls are accessed from the remote control, including the electronic keystone correction. The only manual adjustment is the focus. Even this is nice, as the focus ring around the lens does not move in and out, instead, the lens moves backwards and forwards inside the machine. The focus wheel is nicely damped and the machine has a nice weight to it, which again adds to the quality feel. But the best features of the LC650 are hidden inside the case. Firstly, it has a very efficient cooling system. Secondly, the entire light path is sealed, so dust cannot enter the machine and begin to dim the edges of the picture, or speckle the LCD panel with black spots, two problems that affect so many other projectors. The sound quality from the built-in speaker is perfectly reasonable for late night television with your main cinema amp turned off. But it is the picture quality and colour accuracy where the LC650 really blows your socks off. For such an inexpensive machine the colour accuracy is very good indeed. Unlike other inexpensive projectors, this one is true 1080p (1920 x 1080) and not SXGA (1280 x 1024) that so many other projectors try and fob off as HD. If you run a well encoded Full HD movie through this projector, I guarantee you will be impressed. But, as I said earlier, the LC650 will not last forever. Like all LCD projectors I have owned, the heat shield polarising filter will eventually cook inside the machine. This will show itself during lighter parts of movies, or if you send a white test signal to the projector. You will start to see an area of the image that is beginning to look stained or burnt. The stain will slowly increase in size and darken, until it begins to affect your viewing pleasure. Nothing you can do but replace the machine I'm afraid. My last LC650 was very heavily used. I started to notice the sepia stain after two years. I kept the projector for another year, but by then the burn mark was very noticeable. This time around I am trying something new. I have the projector mounted inside a bookcase. It is sitting on a laptop cooling pad with an AC Infinity 120mm fan running behind the projector to suck air past it. The projector is running noticeably cooler, so I am hoping to get another three years out of it, but for the burn mark to be much less obvious for longer this time. At which point I will buy another LC650 as long as Apeman still sell them. If you decide to buy an LC650, there are a few other things you need to know. The first is that although the picture quality is excellent, the brightness is not earth shattering, you will definitely need to use the projector in a dimly lit room. Next, no matter how much tinkering I did with the last projector and the new one, the very edges of the picture are softer than the middle. Not a deal breaker. If you only use the projector for movies and games, you might not even notice it. But run your PC through it and you will notice the softer focus at the edges. You can either refocus the whole picture to achieve a compromise, or there is a setting in the menu to quickly switch between 100% and 75% screen size. The smaller screen size minimises the effect. It's also only fair to tell you that my experience with Apeman Customer Support has been terrible, non existent to be exact. When I first noticed the sepia stain on my projected image, I tried several times to contact Apeman, to ask if they made a replacement polarising filter, but just got static back from them. Zero replies. It's a shame, because everything else about the experience has been positive. If you only intend on using the projector for cinema nights, or only running it for a few hours a day, you should expect the LCD heat shield to last at least 5 years. If you are going to use it as your main entertainment device, like I do, then you should either make sure that the projector has good natural air flow, or (in enclosed spaces like a bookcase) help it with auxiliary fans. Even though I have provided the new projector with lots of additional cooling, I am still budgeting for the heat shield to wear out after three years of hard use. But all LCD projectors wear out eventually, and this one is worth every penny.

APEMAN 4K Projector LC650

Starting with negative to finish with positive. Not as bright as my previous vga projector but good enough in darkened room at night. The info on website was lacking and took too long to get from Q &A via chat. The definition, options and projection ratio are all excellant. Connectivity are fine for what I want and work well. Quick start up and shutdown times. Easy height adjustment. Would recommend with proviso. Only other grouch was the box it came in looked like it had been under a barbecue and had been used as a punchbag for part of it's journey to me. Thankfully well packaged so no issue.

Have a few lower spec projectors already. Thought I would try and buy from a manufacturer. Read all reviews on Apeman. All positive reviews, although there were only 12 reviews. The projector I ordered was under £100, so it was only £20 more than the 2 others I have. What a difference, far clearer, far brighter, better contrast this one was. I’ll be ordering another one to replace the one in the other bedroom shortly

I honestly can't fault it as a budget projector. I have it at about 110" and the picture quality is good as is the sound. Very happy with it.