Today I’m taking a look at the Crenova XPE498 projector. I’ve been a bit obsessed with projectors for a while, but I’ve never had the budget to get a “proper” digital projector and all of the sub $100 models I’ve looked at in the past have been huge letdowns.
In the case of the XPE498, the image is bright and crisp as long as you make sure the projector is within the optimum projection range (between 1.12 and 6 meters). If you’re outside of that range you’re not going to be able to get a clear picture (unless you use external optics), but that’s more than enough room to work with.
Unlike many of the lower cost projectors I’ve used in the past, the XPE498 had very few problems with ambient light. I was able to see the display well from between 1 and 3 meters with basic room lighting, and I didn’t even need complete darkness at the 6 meter range. Keep in mind that this was just done using my off white wall and not a specialized projection screen, which would have improved the display efficiency significantly.
Also, the fact that the native resolution of the LCD in this projector is 800 x 480 (which is common for projectors in this price range) made no real difference in the image quality. I didn’t even start to notice the difference in pixel density until the screen was around 100 inches across.
If you’re wondering about how loud the fan is, it’s about on par with some desktop PC case fans. Since the XPE498 uses an LED as opposed to a halogen lamp like other projectors I’ve used, it puts off way less heat and eats through bulbs at a much slower rate. I still don’t know if the 50,000 hour lamp life is true, but maybe I should leave it running non-stop for 6 years to find out.
Now I just need to make a mount of some kind so that I can suspend this projector over my gaming table. I will never need to waste ink on DnD maps again!
