[SimonsPlasma]

Hi folks,

Does anyone out there own or use the Pico Genie P100? I know it's not a "real" projector, but my needs are:

- ad-hoc presentation at work
- holiday large screen for the kids

I'm a travelling consultant and often find myself needing to present to a room full of people, we usually end up with everyone crowding around my laptop (a 13" macbook). It would be really useful to have something I can carry Pwith me that I just plug in and have a screen on the wall that everyone can look at.

As for holidays, we regularly go away with the kids and end up in places that don't have televisions, or do but they're old TV's with no useful inputs. A portable large screen TV would be great to have.

So -- assuming I need something portable that I can carry everywhere, any real-world thoughts on the P100?

-simon

[SimonsPlasma]

Well, I have an update for anyone interested. The projector itself is simply superb! Here are my preliminary thoughts:

• It's *tiny* - shorter than my iPhone!
• It "just works" with any HDMI input. I've tested a Samsung NC10 netbook, a 2010 Macbook, a macbook air, and my iPhone via HDMI adapter, and all have been flawless. It also works extremely well with a Raspberry Pi - which can take power from the on-board USB charger.
• The image is of reasonable size - about 3 metres away it gave a 70" picture or so (can measure exact numbers if anyone is interested).
• It has a very bright image for its size, even in a reasonably lit room. For presentations in a meeting, it's going to be just ideal.
• In a darker room while watching films it's actually pretty decent - obviously not as good as a "real" projector, but frankly a hundred times better than a plain TV.
• The only "negative" thing I'd say is that it's noisier than I expected it to be, even on battery. I guess that can't be helped, it needs to keep cool, but it's certainly louder than I was hoping for. Again, for my uses, it's not a problem.

So, very positive feedback on the projector. Now for the bad part -- the company that sells it has appallingly bad customer service. Even though the product is well worth getting, I recommend strongly against buying from personalprojector.co.uk.

Here's my story. I placed an order last Thursday, the 29th, before their 2:30pm "guaranteed next day delivery" deadline. I really wanted to use it on Monday for a meeting, but I didn't receive a confirmation email, so I dropped them an email. And called (and left voicemail on the vodafone mobile it was redirected to). And tried to get in touch via Skype IM and Skype calling. And facebook. And their Web contact form. And SMS to the number that the voicemail provided. All with no response. I got a confirmation mail finally, but the order stayed in "Pending" state. Finally at 11:24pm, I got a mail:

Sorry for your experience today.

Plse call again on 0845 121 8800 and i will try and help.

Most items are in stock on next delivery.

So, the next morning, I called again. Nothing. I tried all the forms of communication they had available. Here's a pic of my Facebook post on their page (they've since deleted it):

So, it got to Monday...called them in the morning. No apology, just "we were busy with the GadgetShow Live event". Erm, too busy to answer the damned phone or so much as respond? Or maybe *mention* in the one lone single email that was sent back that they were busy and might have trouble delivering as promised? Right. They also claimed that "there was something wrong with our computers", and then best of all that "oh we sent it on Thursday, it must have been lost by the courier". *sigh* Finally they promised that they would "send it out guaranteed next day delivery". At 4pm I received a "shipment email", with a link saying that it had been sent with "Hermes".

Tuesday comes...no delivery!! I call up at 5:30, the answer is "they might still deliver until 6:30pm". I wait for 6:30, no delivery, and company is back on answer-phone.

Wednesday morning, I phone up again. They finally agree to send it with a "real" next day courier if it doesn't arrive by 4pm. 4pm comes, no delivery, so I phone them up again, and they send it off another one by Parcelforce.

Finally, on Wednesday at 5:30pm, the Hermes delivery arrives. Six days for the "guaranteed next day delivery". At least I have their verbal agreement that they will refund my delivery costs (nothing in writing of course, but I will certainly be checking my credit card statement). Of course, there's another one coming by Parcelforce now, the delivery of which I'll reject. Their priority here was to inform me that:

I must advise you that if you accept the delivery tomorrow you will need to return it to us at your expense

so I'd better make sure it's rejected. Because this is all my fault, you see.

In summary - I think the projector is simply superb if you're looking for a portable large screen, but I would not deal with this company if you have any other option.

If there is any interest in a more detailed review of the projector, let me know and I'll spend some time taking photos and the like...

-simon

[True Romance]

Do you feel better now

[SimonsPlasma]

Originally Posted by True Romance

Do you feel better now

Of course I do, ranting on the internet is really cathartic. ;-)

I have the projector finally and the review will probably be useful to someone eventually!

[True Romance]

Originally Posted by SimonsPlasma

Of course I do, ranting on the internet is really cathartic. ;-)

I have the projector finally and the review will probably be useful to someone eventually!

was thinking about one of these to take camping so its good hear from an owner. you'll have to report back in a few months once its had plenty of use.

[SimonsPlasma]

I posted basically the above review on Amazon, and the MD of the company posted a reply. Since I wrote this here, I thought it only fair to provide a link so that anyone who finds this can also read the company's response.

Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: Pico Genie P100, 85 Lumens, HDMI Projector

(Click on "comments" to read the response).

As for the projector - I used it at a meeting today and it was simply superb :-)

-simon

[ScoobyZ]

Looks good. I am think about changing my Acer c20. 85 Lumens looks good and I need the hdmi connector. Did you look at any others like the optoma PK 301(100 lumens) Optoma PK-301+ HVGA 100 ANSI Lumens LED PICO Projector | Ebuyer.com

[SimonsPlasma]

Was put off by a couple of bad reviews -- one on amazon, can't remember where else. They were the same price. Always hard when buying remotely!