Optoma PK301 in May (UK)

[koenigma]

Just been told today that the PK301 is available in May at £299 in UK. Very interesting and a good price and given the incredible good service I just got from Optoma (48hr turnaround) with my little PK101 it is very tempting.

[koenigma]

I will add that Expansys is pre-selling at £364.99 inc Vat which for me puts it way to near the LG HS200 this may threaten its take-up?

[woods]

Hi Koenigma - Sorry been away for over a month - Its great to hear about the pk301 - I can't wait to get my hands on one of those and at that price it seems possible. What happened with your pk101? was it a repair?

I am not sure about Expansys - never really used them as they don't usually compete when all is said and done. I will be looking into the pk301 much more and sticking it up on compare.microprojector when I can sort out our little database issue. I don't know if the PK301 from optoma will be competing with the LGHS200 - what do you think - would you (like I think most people will) opt for the Optima PK301?

Thanks for posting though - will definitely post up about the pk301.

[koenigma]

For me who would use it in a more static manner rather than portable all the time I would most likely opt for the LG as it has 200 lumens, 300 lumen's in their new model out this Quarter, however the PK301 does have 16:9 native and is much smaller. Optoma said to me the PK301 is not intended to compete with the LG and if portability is what you really need then I would also opt for the PK301 but 50 Lumen's I think was a bad thing it should have been at least 100, will others opt for the slightly larger sized pico's in order to have those extra 200 or so lumens?. At 50 Lumens £350+ is a bit steep I think given the others available that are not as small but still fit in a laptop bag etc easy.

I must say the little niggle I had with my PK101 was sent, solved and got back in 48 hrs so nobody can grumble at their service for sure. I am holding back at the mo to see exactly where the LED market is going, I think LED is the future and within a year or so will make normal projectors (bulb) redundant for Home Cinema (hopefully). I see Casio has already produced 2000 Lumens from their LED projector and HD ready, but the image is not on par with say the HD20 yet and the price too high so will have to wait and see.

As for the Pico market I am " umming and aaring" as to what to go for. I think I will wait to see this PK301 first and hope there is a lot more videos and reviews to come as there seems to be nothing at all at the moment which is a surprise this close to launch. Currently I am looking for using my PK101 as a side projector for CCTV etc and taking on holiday, get a PK301/LG etc for my Bedroom and a full HD projector for the living room.

Hi Koenigma - Sorry been away for over a month - Its great to hear about the pk301 - I can't wait to get my hands on one of those and at that price it seems possible. What happened with your pk101? was it a repair?

I am not sure about Expansys - never really used them as they don't usually compete when all is said and done. I will be looking into the pk301 much more and sticking it up on compare.microprojector when I can sort out our little database issue. I don't know if the PK301 from optoma will be competing with the LGHS200 - what do you think - would you (like I think most people will) opt for the Optima PK301?

Thanks for posting though - will definitely post up about the pk301.

[woods]

For me who would use it in a more static manner rather than portable all the time I would most likely opt for the LG as it has 200 lumens, 300 lumen's in their new model out this Quarter, however the PK301 does have 16:9 native and is much smaller. Optoma said to me the PK301 is not intended to compete with the LG and if portability is what you really need then I would also opt for the PK301 but 50 Lumen's I think was a bad thing it should have been at least 100, will others opt for the slightly larger sized pico's in order to have those extra 200 or so lumens?. At 50 Lumens £350+ is a bit steep I think given the others available that are not as small but still fit in a laptop bag etc easy.

I must say the little niggle I had with my PK101 was sent, solved and got back in 48 hrs so nobody can grumble at their service for sure. I am holding back at the mo to see exactly where the LED market is going, I think LED is the future and within a year or so will make normal projectors (bulb) redundant for Home Cinema (hopefully). I see Casio has already produced 2000 Lumens from their LED projector and HD ready, but the image is not on par with say the HD20 yet and the price too high so will have to wait and see.

As for the Pico market I am " umming and aaring" as to what to go for. I think I will wait to see this PK301 first and hope there is a lot more videos and reviews to come as there seems to be nothing at all at the moment which is a surprise this close to launch. Currently I am looking for using my PK101 as a side projector for CCTV etc and taking on holiday, get a PK301/LG etc for my Bedroom and a full HD projector for the living room.

Great to hear what you think Koenigma, you definitely have a point with the lumen count - in the end consumers are not all as savvy as each other so the majority will see bigger numbers and go for them, even if the thing is two times the weight (not saying that any of these pico's are even that) so perhaps optoma will have to rethink their next generation of releases so as to get the most out of their line. Although like yourself I bet there are a good proportion of buyers at this point who do know a bit more about projectors - at current I suppose pico projectors are not quite mass market, so perhaps theres a bit more room for quality over brute numbers yet.

LED's are a good step forward but we hope to see laser based pico's improving a lot more - LEDs are a step up from lamps but without doubt Lasers are a step up from LED's - although the pico projectors using lasers are not there yet imho.

I think a lot of people will probably be in your position, umming and arring as to what to buy in terms of pico's in 1st half of 2010. Hopefully the later half of the year will be more clear cut, or at least have some spangly new pico's released