Pico Pocket Projector Brightness and Lumens

A Pico Projector is obviously not going to match the performance of a powerful desktop projector. But many people are surprised by how bright an image a mini projector can produce even in the ambient light of a meeting room or home. 

There's a huge range of different brightnesses for pico and pocket projectors though. The lumens value is what we are looking for here. As you would expect, more expensive projectors often offer the highest lumens values so you only want to pay for what you need. 

We'll also look at a range of mini projectors available in 2012 and the brightness they offer. 

At 10 lumens the AAXA P1 Jr Ultra Portable Pico Pocket Projector is very much at the low end of brightness range. 

This projector is described as a personal projector. It offers an image with a diagonal of 10 to 50 inches but does require low light for a reasonable image and dark for a large image. 

It's a good option if you need a cheap pico projector for one or two people to use to watch movies in the dark. This is an older model portable projector which is reflected in the price. 

The iGo AC05050-0002 Pico Pocket Projector UP-2020 is a 20 lumens Pico Projector. There's a really big difference between 10 and 20 lumens. 

This Pico projector projects images of 5" - 70" viewable screen size (diagonal). For larger images you will need dim lighting, but the projector will cope with some ambient light in the room. 

It's good enough for occasional business use with smaller groups. It's ideal as an inexpensive projector to take traveling so you can watch movies on a hotel ceiling. 

The 3M MP225 Mobile Projector offers an output of 32 lumens. This means the projector is better able to come with some light in a room, though of course you'll get the best results in a dark room. 

This projector works with a wide range of Apple devices and also laptops and video game systems. (You will need extra cables for some devices.)

"if you'd be happy with a 3.5 feet wide screen in a 45 watt lighted room, you'd be happy with this projector's sharpness." (Amazon.com)

The Optoma PK301 Pico Pocket Projector offers a brightness of up to 50 lumens. It's important to note that 50 lumens is only possible when the projector is plugged in to mains power, or is using an optional extended battery pack. 

When running on the included batter, the rating drops to 20 lumens. 

If you want a pico projector for home or business use where you will be able to plug the device in then you can project widescreen images of up to 120" diagonal. 

This is a very popular pico projector with excellent reviews. 

If you're looking for a small and very bright projector then consider the Aaxa P4 Pico Projector which offers 80 lumens of brightness. 

This is a recent model of pico projector which runs Windows CE which gives it the ability to work with documents and presentations without another device being connected. 

The Aaxa P4 Pico Projector is designed for business use. 

For a really bright pocket projector which will cope well with ambient light and offers a great picture, consider the Vivitek Qumi Q2. 

The Vivitek Qumi Q2 offers up to 300 lumens of brightness which will cope with daylight if the media you want to project is bright enough. 

" I was able to watch 'A bugs life' with full lights on in my basement. Not so with 'Gladiator'" (Amazon.com)