Benq CP220 review

BenQ's CP220 is part of the company's Commuter Series which, as the name suggests, is aimed at mobile business users.

It is tiny, measuring just 260x330mm and weighing only 1.8kg. The CP220 has an 'Off and Go' feature, which enables the user to switch off and unplug the projector from the power source immediately after use without having to wait for the fan to cool the bulb down. It's a handy feature for making sure you can get out of a meeting room as soon as you've finished your presentation.

With a brightness of 2,200 ANSI lumens, the CP2200 is flexible and you can use it in a variety of meeting rooms without having to dim the lights. At full brightness the bulb lasts for 3,000 hours. As replacement bulbs cost £208 including VAT the running cost works out at 7p per hour. This compares reasonably well with other projectors such as Dell's 3400MP, which costs 6p per hour. There's also an ECO mode, which increases the bulb's life to 4,000 hours and reduces the running cost to 5p per hour.

The CP220 is a DLP projector, so it has a high contrast ratio of 2,000:1. Even so, image quality at its native resolution of 1,024x768 (tested over its D-sub connector, as there's no DVI port) isn't great. Banding was evident in our greyscale test. Our colour tests weren't much better and colours were murky and muted. Detail was missing in the darkest areas of photographs and skin tones looked unnatural.

DLP projectors are prone to a problem known as the rainbow effect, and this was more noticeable on the CP220 than on any other DLP projector we've looked at. Rainbow flashes were visible in moving images from movie clips and games. It's fine for the occasional presentation, but don't expect to use it for anything more demanding.

The CP220 has a second D-sub connector, which duplicates the projector's output on another monitor. This is handy for presentations, as it gives you a second screen to look at. As well as connecting the CP220 to a computer, you can hook it up to other video equipment through its S-video or composite inputs. You can even use component video provided you buy a component-to-D-sub connector.

The CP220 is certainly good value and its tiny size makes it ideal for carrying from meeting to meeting. If you're on a tight budget it's an attractive option, but the image quality isn't as good as we'd hoped and is suitable only for presentation work. If you can increase your budget a little, Dell's 3400MP is a much better choice and has excellent image quality.