Review: Epson EB-S10

[This review originally appeared in the November 2011 issue of Gadgets Magazine]

By Benjamin Arnold

THE EB-S10 3LCD projector may have been designed for the busy business man. At 5.07 lbs., one could easily bring this projector from the car straight and to a presentation as it comes with a simple carrying case that holds all the needed accessories. With the plug-and-play feature, all you have to do is set up the projector and hit the power button and it boots up straight away. Upon clicking the power button it took around 10 seconds to turn on and another 20 seconds to warm up the light to its full brightness.

The Epson EB-S10 features adjustable legs that ensure that you can set up the projector anywhere with easy just by sliding the legs to the height you need. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feature the auto keystone and angle detection that its sibling models (the EB-X10 and W10) feature. So it takes time to adjust the angle of the projection properly. This is okay though, as the menu of the projector is easy to maneuver through and simple to understand.

There are multiple ways of connecting the projector to your laptop. I am not sure if it was just the unit I tested or all the units out there, but when using the VGA connector, for some reason the projector wouldn’t display the color red, and instead substituted it with the color black. Even after adjusting the settings of both the computer and projector and testing it out on multiple units, I couldn’t get the red to project. This led me to using the USB connector.

With the USB connector, all I had to do was connect the cable and install the driver that auto-plays upon connecting the cable to the computer and I was good to go. This remedied the problem of the VGA connector and projected the visual in a bright and vivid full-color projection.  The problem though with the USB cable is that it slowed down the refresh rate of my computer and caused it to lag. It also wouldn’t let me play any movies for some unknown reason. I could tell it was from the projector as the moment I turned off the projector, the movies started to play, and the lagging disappeared.

In terms of brightness, the projector is superb. Even in a fully light room, the images displayed by the projector were still vivid and bright. When in a small room though, the images can get so bright that it becomes blinding, but that was an easy fix by simply adjusting the brightness of the projector. It also makes the projector heat up pretty quickly, but the large exhaust fan compensates for this.

There is also a security feature that allows you to chain the projector to a stand if necessary, as well as apply a lock and password so that others can’t mess around with the settings or protect it from theft. It also comes with a remote that can serve both as a way to adjust the settings as well as a pointer and mouse.

WHAT’S HOT:
 • Comes with carrying case
• Plug-and-Play
• Quick boot up
• USB connection option
• Bright even in fully lit room
• Great security option
• Remote control works both as pointer and mouse

WHAT’S NOT:
 • When connected via VGA connector, the color red is subbed with black
• When connected via USB causes computer to lag

BOTTOMLINE:
Though it has a few snags here and there, the Epson EB-S10 3LCD Business Projector gets the job done with bright visuals and easy-to-handle carrying case.

SPECIFICATIONS:
PIXEL NUMBER: 480,000 dots (800 x 600) x 3
NATIVE RESOLUTION: SVGA
ASPECT RATIO: 4:3
LAMP HOURS: Normal Mode: 4000 hours; Eco Mode: 5000 hours
BRIGHTNESS: Normal Mode – White Light Output 2600 lumens, Color Light Output 2600 lumens; Eco Mode – White Light Output 2040 lumens, Color Light Output 2040 lumens
CONTRAST RATIO: 2000:1
DIMENSION: 228mm x 295mm x 77mm
WEIGHT: 5.07 lbs