3M MPro150 Pocket Projector Review

Overall this is a nice looking device that has a decent price tag for what it offers.  It is small, portable and easy to use.  It will never replace a full size projector but if you want to impress your friends at home, or fancy using this at the office, then it has potential.

The 3M MPro150 is the latest pocket projector to be released by 3M, building on the previous MPro 120.

The MPro 150 is essentially the same as the MPro120 but with 1Gb internal storage, improved file format support, a USB mini out port and a MicroSD card slot.  The only downside is reduced battery life.

The full specifications page provides further information if you want to compare these two models further.

In the box you get the following:

MPro150 projector2Gb MicroSD cardBatteryWall charger with adapters (US, EU, UK)USB to mini USB cableComposite video cable (RCA)3 x RCA Gender ConvertersVGA computer cable TripodSoft protective pouchQuick start guideOut of the box the MPro150 is surprisingly light, weighing only 160 grams.  It is small enough to fit in a suit or jacket pocket.  The MPro150 exterior looks well built and feels good to hold in your hand.

 

On the top of the device are controls for adjusting volume and for navigation around the menu systems, a zoom button and an on/off switch.

1Gb of memory is built into the device and a 2Gb MicroSD card is included should extra storage be needed.  Personally we would have preferred a standard SD card, we find the MicroSD variety too small and fiddly for our liking.

The front of the device holds the projector screen and a dial focus control.  The rear of the device holds a VGA/AV port and a mini USB port.  Again we would have preferred a standard USB cable connector.

The MPro150 connects to a variety of devices such as digital cameras and MP3 players, but the box only includes an RCA cable with a variety of gender connectors. 

That only provides half of the connectivity you need though.  If you want to connect one of these to your iPod Touch or digital camera for example, then you’ll need to buy additional cables that connect to the provided RCA gender connectors.  So it was a shame we couldn’t hook up these devices out of the box.

Setup is straightforward, simply connect the MPro150 to your laptop or PC and transfer the necessary files onto the internal memory.

The MPro150 supports a variety of file formats, including Microsoft Office (DOC, XLS, PPT), Adobe (PDF) as well as BMP and JPG image formats.  MP3 audio and MP4 video formats are supported.

A small three legged tripod is provided to enable the projector to stand safely on a desk.

Once the projector is turned on a menu system is projected allowing a user to navigate and operate the projector.  The menu system is not the most intuitive and could be made easier to use, but after playing with the system for 10 minutes we felt comfortable working our way around.

A fan kicks in when the projector is initially switched on but soon switches off again.  We saw no signs of overheating or a noisy fan continually coming on.

Brightness or power is clearly not up to par with a dedicated full size projector, especially in brighter rooms, but if you can find a sufficiently dark room it is pretty good.

We tested out some Microsoft Word and Excel documents, these projected pretty well in small size rooms where we were sitting close to the projector.  Sitting further away and the brightness was not really sufficient to read text clearly, the font sizes became too small, so this projector won’t really scale up for larger size meeting rooms or for complex business documents containing a lot of text or graphics.

The MPro150 is more suited to small meetings or for simple PowerPoint presentations with a few bullet points on each page.

  

We also tested projecting some JPG photos and these worked well.  Picture quality was pretty good and if you move the projector sufficiently far away from a wall then you can enjoy photo slideshows occupying a whole wall.

Overall this is a nice looking device that has a decent price tag for what it offers.  It is small, portable and easy to use.  It will never replace a full size projector but if you want to impress your friends at home, or fancy using this at the office, then it has potential.

We’d like to see a more generous selection of cables inside the box, improved brightness and resolution.  We give this a 4 out of 5 star rating.

Fancy winning one of these pocket projectors?

To enter, visit the mobile u web site and simply tell in 50 words or less the most memorable, funny or embarrassing presentation you’ve delivered or seen.  One winner will win £500 worth of  iwantoneofthose vouchers and an MPro150 as well as a short viral video being made, which the winner can star in if they wish.

Buy the 3M MPro150 Pocket Projector from Amazon.

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Size & Weight

Power & Battery

Battery Life: 120 minutes Battery Type: rechargeable lithium polymer battery

Memory

Internal: 1GB External: Micro SD Card slot (free 2GB card included)

File Format Support

Business Tools: DOC (MS Word), PPT (MS PowerPoint), XLS (MS Excel), TXT, PDF (Adobe) Image File: BMP, JPG Movie & Audio: MP4, MP3, PAL, NTSC, H.264, AMR, AAC

Inputs / Outputs

VGA Composite Video Component Video USB Mini 2.0 (Data Transfer) Audio Out (3.5mm Stereo Jack) Micro SD Card Slot