3M MPro 150 Review (Projector)

"... It's neat and compact and weighs only 155g. Its non-slip rubber coating makes it easy to grip and we like the fact you really can slip it into an inside jacket pocket to take out and about with you. ... We got more than 2.5 hours active use from the MPro 150 Pocket Projector with no indication that the battery was fading and no excessive build-up of heat."

"... The most significant problem of pint-sized 'pico' projectors is its lack of image brightness. At 15 lumens the MPro 150 is slightly brighter than previous models, but it's still not enough of a boost to make much practical difference. The room will need to be dark if you want to see the screen properly, especially with larger screen sizes. ... Although the MPro 150 is an improvement on the 120 model, the key issues of moderate image brightness, limited battery life and high price keep it from being a business tool we can recommend."

"As a concept the Pocket Projector is a great idea, however in practice it's a bit of a disappointment compared to more traditional projectors. At £350 you are clearly paying for the size and initial wow factor of the device, plus the ability to leave the rest of your usual kit behind. In practice that d-pad is frustrating to use and a lot of the videos we tried to play just weren't supported. ... As for quality it's good, but not great. It is also very noisy ... at the steep price you'll probably wonder why you shouldn't just opt to put your back out and get something that can actually pack a punch."

"... You wouldn't expect a projector of this size to offer stunning display quality, but we found it better than we'd anticipated. You do need a very dark room for larger images, but it's just about acceptable for tabletop presentations in normal office lighting, although videos suffer more than presentations. The focusing wheel isn't very precise and there are distinct colour bands visible on white slide backgrounds ... but, for simple face-to-face presentations, the benefits of portability outweigh some of the shortcomings. ... For the ultimate in projector portability it's hard to beat, as long as you're not expecting it to perform miracles."

"... You'll definitely need a darkened room to project images up to the claimed 50in diagonal, but just closing the blinds in one of our meeting rooms and turning the lights off was enough for a modest 20in image with reasonable quality. Colours have punch ... It won't have even the cheapest of standard projectors worried then, but given the MPro150's lofty ambitions, 3M deserves credit for turning the pico projector from a mere curio into a viable business tool. ... The quality is as you'd expect, but the battery and internal storage make it an intriguing travel companion."