Casio's First Projector
The XJ-350 can work in both the conference room and the living room.
Consumer electronics giant Casio enters the increasingly crowded projector market with its new XJ-350 model for travel. This bright, well-designed product will suit both home and business users.
I tested a shipping version with everything from PowerPoint presentations and digital photos to DVD movies and broadcast TV--and I found plenty to like. Although the 3.9-pound, $2299 XJ-350 is slightly heavier than the ultraportable 2.2-pound models
The most impressive feature of this native XGA resolution (1024 by 768) projector is a powerful 2X optical zoom lens that enables it to display larger images than models with fixed-focus lenses can. The XJ-350 can project a sizable 4.5-foot-diagonal image at just 5 feet from the screen, and a huge 7-foot-diagonal image at a distance of 8 feet.
The XJ-350's brightness rating of 2200 ANSI lumens (an industry-standard measure) makes it brighter than most lightweight projectors, which generally top out at roughly 1800 ANSI lumens. As a result, it's ideal for delivering colorful presentations with vibrant graphics and sharp text, either with the lights on in a small room or with the lights off in a larger room or small auditorium. These same capabilities (plus a low-noise mode) also make the unit a solid choice for home theater viewing (although picky users will want to get Casio's $49 optional component-video cable).
The XJ-350's remote has no laser pointer, and its built-in speaker is weak, but these are about the only drawbacks.
Medium-priced among projectors that weigh less than 4 pounds, the XJ-350 is suitable for both the conference room and the living room, and its strong illumination and powerful zoom lens make it quite a compelling option.
Richard Jantz
