AAXA M1+

Introduction

The AAXA M1+ is the first micro projector I’ve reviewed. There are two main reasons to classify the M1+ as a micro projector and not a pico projector: its larger size and the lack of a battery.

If you think of the M1+ as a regular projector, it is tiny! But, if you think of it as a pico, it is large—about 2-3 times bigger than the PK102 or MPro120.

AAXA has put the extra size to great use. The M1+ is much brighter than the other pico projectors I have seen so far. It also has a complete array of inputs on the back.

I’ve included the AAXA M1+ in the Head-to-Head videos with the PK102 and the MPro120 so that you can see what sacrificing a little size and portability does in terms of brightness.

Read on for the complete review!

Package Contents

* M1+
* Remote Control
* Power Adapter (International with US plug)
* RCA AV inputs to 3.5mm AV cable
* USB to USB cable (read more below)
* Case
* User Manual

Look & Feel

The M1+ is nice looking, with a super glossy black finish. The downside to the gloss is that it takes on fingerprints and dust very easily, as I found out when trying to take pictures of it.

After using the picos, this mini projector feels very solid and sturdy. It sits in place with no problems. The picos would move around at the slightest touch.

Case

The case is a black velvety drawstring bag. It will be nice for keeping the glossy finish scratch-free, but doesn’t offer any kind of drop protection.

Tripod

The M1+ doesn’t include a tripod, and curiously, no tripod adapter. It’s funny, but I didn’t even notice the lack of the tripod screw until I was writing this review. I guess that’s because it is more solid and I just didn’t have the need to use a tripod.

Cables and Connectors

The M1+ has a complete array of inputs on the back, including a full-size VGA input (no adapter cable necessary), an SD card slot, a USB port, plus a 3.5mm AV input, headphone jack and power input.

An RCA to 3.5mm AV cable for Composite video is included, along with a special USB cable. I believe this is the first time I’ve ever seen a USB-A to USB-A cable. I’m pretty sure that is not allowed in the USB spec and really should be a USB-A to USB-B cable. It seems to work fine, though. And, there is a good reason: the single USB port can be used with a thumb drive and also for the computer connection. Clever! Just don’t lose that cable.

No iPod adapter. This small projector isn’t really a perfect match for iPhone/iPod like the picos are, so I wouldn’t consider this a problem (as I do with the pico projectors).

Sound

The sound wasn’t bad and seemed in-line with the size of the projector. I found that turning it up to 4 “notches” was about right for me. There were still three notches to go, but the distortion was too much for me. Even though it’s better than the picos, I would still recommend an external speaker solution.

Fan

The M1+ has a fan, and when compared to a pico, it is quite loud. On the other hand, if you think of it as a little projector, it seems much quieter. The case has air vents on the back, top, one side and front; the air really moves through this projector keeping things cool, but also sharing the fan noise with us.

Temperature

The M1+ never felt very hot, in fact, the case was always cool due to the airflow. The lamp inside is obviously very hot, but it is well shielded.

Keystone correction

This is how you can correct the projected image when the projector is either pointing up or down. Unless you have this feature, the image will be either larger at the top or at the bottom, instead of a perfect square or rectangle. Otherwise, you have to make sure the projector is level and pointed straight at the wall. Neither of the pico projectors I’ve tested so far have keystone correction. Detail from Wikipedia.

Media player

I tried a few files, although I would really like to put together a much more comprehensive set of media to test with in the future.

I took a miniSDHD card and put it into an SD card adapter. From there, I tried a JPEG file that came from my Nikon D40 and an MP3 from eMusic.

I also tried an unprotected AAC file from iTunes and a PowerPoint slideshow (tried both ppt and pptx files). These did not work.

I was able to copy files from the SD card to the internal memory using the M1+’s interface.

Remote Control

Comes with a credit-card size remote control. This remote is required to use the projector. It does’t auto-detect video, so you have to tell it which input via the remote. The only control on the projector itself is a power switch.

This remote is one of my favorite features of the M1+, but also one of my biggest concerns. I don’t understand why when you connect your computer to the VGA input, it doesn’t auto-detect that and just display the image. With that, you could actually still use the projector if the remote was lost, battery died, broke or whatever.

The M1+ is almost big enough that there could be a little compartment to hold the remote, similar to the way you insert an SD card. That would make it easier to keep track of.

The input sensor for the remote is on the back of the projector. I found this generally worked fine, just something to know.

The remote is very easy to use and has discreet buttons for the most common functions, like volume.

Picture

Much brighter than the PK102 or the MPro120 (not totally fair comparison, since they both run off of batteries and are half the size). But, this level of brightness does make the M1+ a viable projector for a presentation. I would rather use my own M1+ than spend the 15 minutes trying to hunt down the ‘loaner’ projector at the beginning of a meeting.

The projected image is quite white. There is always a little halo around the image, almost like a picture frame. It isn’t too noticeable unless you are looking at something with a black background, in which case it is a problem. I’ve heard others describe this effect as light leakage as well. I’ll try and figure out if it has an actual name.

Performance

Brightness

For these measurements, I used a digital light meter set to Lux. I noticed that the values for the center of the screen were much different from those at the edges, so decided to take a pattern of measurements.

Initially I tried to take these very close, but by moving the light meter even a tiny bit, the readings would change. So, I backed up until the projected screen size was 39.37″ (1 meter).

I projected a plain, white screen (a blank PowerPoint slide).

Throw

The M1+ has a “regular” throw ratio. The projector needs to be back 1.5 inches for each 1 inch of (diagonal) screen size.

Temperature

I did two measurements, both after the projector had been on for at least 10 minutes. The first time, I found a high of 87 degrees on the case itself, at the top. I measured the air coming out at 105 degrees, so it certainly is generating a lot of heat inside. The second measurement showed 95 degrees.

Sound

I constructed a box, added some sound deadening material and also some sound absorption material inside. I made a hole large enough for the sound meter sensor to poke through. I think put the sound meter on a little tripod and did measurements as a 10 second average. The sound level in the box with nothing inside was lower than the sensitivity of my meter. The lowest it can read is 50dB, which is still quite audible to me, but only if the room is quiet.

There are also two options for weighting the measurements, called A and C. A is designed for background noise and C is for music. I’m not sure yet which one I think is the most representative, so I’m taking and publishing both for now.

M1+ on, no sound from the speaker: C 61dB, A 567dB

For the speaker measurement, I used an iPhone application called White Noise. It allows you to play many different sounds, like raindrops, etc. The one I chose was simply White Noise. I turned the volume up to maximum on the iPhone, in the application and on the projector to take this measurement.

Results: C 94dB, A 94dB

Power

For this measurement, I used a device called the Kill-A-Watt. I’m in the US, so voltage is set to 110. I first remove the battery on projectors that have one, unlike the M1+. Next, I set to maximum brightness and show a pure white screen (a blank PowerPoint slide) from the VGA input.

Result: 31 watts

Version

Model: MPD-0001 (taken from the back of the projector)
FW version: AAXA v3.18 2010-02-26 (taken from an M1+ menu item)

Pictures

The AAXA M1+. Click an image for a high-resolution version. Click anywhere in the image to close or click the next/previous buttons at the bottom of the image.

Videos

Conclusion

A quick story: My kids joined me for the video test (translation: we watch a movie). After the movie, I asked what they thought, and my son said, “oh, I forgot we weren’t watching the big TV after a couple minutes.” My “big TV” is a Hi-Def 65″ Mitsubishi rear projection. I consider this quite an endorsement!

If you are looking for a small, not too expensive, version of a regular projector, this fits the bill perfectly. It is very portable, assuming you have an outlet handy, is bright enough for many purposes and is very flexible in terms of video input capabilities.

Tagged as: aaxa, m1+, m1plus