Overall this is a nice looking device that has a decent price tag for what it offers. It is small, portable and easy to use. It will never replace a full size projector but if you want to impress your friends at home, or fancy using this at the office, then it has potential.
The 3M MPro150 is the latest pocket projector to be released by 3M, building on the previous MPro 120.
The MPro 150 is essentially the same as the MPro120 but with 1Gb internal storage, improved file format support, a USB mini out port and a MicroSD card slot. The only downside is reduced battery life.
The full specifications page provides further information if you want to compare these two models further.
Box Contents
In the box you get the following:
- MPro150 projector
- 2Gb MicroSD card
- Battery
- Wall charger with adapters (US, EU, UK)
- USB to mini USB cable
- Composite video cable (RCA)
- 3 x RCA Gender Converters
- VGA computer cable
- Tripod
- Soft protective pouch
- Quick start guide
First Impressions
Out of the box the MPro150 is surprisingly light, weighing only 160 grams. It is small enough to fit in a suit or jacket pocket. The MPro150 exterior looks well built and feels good to hold in your hand.
On the top of the device are controls for adjusting volume and for navigation around the menu systems, a zoom button and an on/off switch.
1Gb of memory is built into the device and a 2Gb MicroSD card is included should extra storage be needed. Personally we would have preferred a standard SD card, we find the MicroSD variety too small and fiddly for our liking.
The front of the device holds the projector screen and a dial focus control. The rear of the device holds a VGA/AV port and a mini USB port. Again we would have preferred a standard USB cable connector.
The MPro150 connects to a variety of devices such as digital cameras and MP3 players, but the box only includes an RCA cable with a variety of gender connectors.
That only provides half of the connectivity you need though. If you want to connect one of these to your iPod Touch or digital camera for example, then you’ll need to buy additional cables that connect to the provided RCA gender connectors. So it was a shame we couldn’t hook up these devices out of the box.
Performance
Setup is straightforward, simply connect the MPro150 to your laptop or PC and transfer the necessary files onto the internal memory.
The MPro150 supports a variety of file formats, including Microsoft Office (DOC, XLS, PPT), Adobe (PDF) as well as BMP and JPG image formats. MP3 audio and MP4 video formats are supported.
A small three legged tripod is provided to enable the projector to stand safely on a desk.
Once the projector is turned on a menu system is projected allowing a user to navigate and operate the projector. The menu system is not the most intuitive and could be made easier to use, but after playing with the system for 10 minutes we felt comfortable working our way around.
A fan kicks in when the projector is initially switched on but soon switches off again. We saw no signs of overheating or a noisy fan continually coming on.
Brightness or power is clearly not up to par with a dedicated full size projector, especially in brighter rooms, but if you can find a sufficiently dark room it is pretty good.
We tested out some Microsoft Word and Excel documents, these projected pretty well in small size rooms where we were sitting close to the projector. Sitting further away and the brightness was not really sufficient to read text clearly, the font sizes became too small, so this projector won’t really scale up for larger size meeting rooms or for complex business documents containing a lot of text or graphics.
The MPro150 is more suited to small meetings or for simple PowerPoint presentations with a few bullet points on each page.
We also tested projecting some JPG photos and these worked well. Picture quality was pretty good and if you move the projector sufficiently far away from a wall then you can enjoy photo slideshows occupying a whole wall.
Summary
Overall this is a nice looking device that has a decent price tag for what it offers. It is small, portable and easy to use. It will never replace a full size projector but if you want to impress your friends at home, or fancy using this at the office, then it has potential.
We’d like to see a more generous selection of cables inside the box, improved brightness and resolution. We give this a 4 out of 5 star rating.
Enter a competition for a chance to win
Fancy winning one of these pocket projectors?
To enter, visit the mobile u web site and simply tell in 50 words or less the most memorable, funny or embarrassing presentation you’ve delivered or seen. One winner will win £500 worth of iwantoneofthose vouchers and an MPro150 as well as a short viral video being made, which the winner can star in if they wish.
Buy the 3M MPro150 Pocket Projector from Amazon. 
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Technical Specifications
Size & Weight
- 60mm x 130mm x 24mm
- 160 grams
Power & Battery
- Battery Life: 120 minutes
- Battery Type: rechargeable lithium polymer battery
Memory
- Internal: 1GB
- External: Micro SD Card slot (free 2GB card included)
File Format Support
- Business Tools: DOC (MS Word), PPT (MS PowerPoint), XLS (MS Excel), TXT, PDF (Adobe)
- Image File: BMP, JPG
- Movie & Audio: MP4, MP3, PAL, NTSC, H.264, AMR, AAC
Inputs / Outputs
- VGA
- Composite Video
- Component Video
- USB Mini 2.0 (Data Transfer)
- Audio Out (3.5mm Stereo Jack)
- Micro SD Card Slot
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Tailors // Apr 27, 2010 at 5:25 am
Pocket Cinema V10 Pocket Projector has hit the market since the day it was launched. This little han…3M MPro110 pocket projector is highly impressivePocket projectors continue to steal the show with excellent creations being put forward by one after…Optoma PK102 Pico Pocket Projector.
2 Tailors // May 7, 2010 at 12:20 pm
I am having problems with the resolution. I am unable to see the picture clearly through projector on wall. The picture or presentation is OK on my monitor. How to resolve this issue. Kindly help me in this regard.
3 Dean // May 7, 2010 at 12:48 pm
You could try turning the dial on the front of the projector to improve the clarity, otherwise it sounds like the resolution is too high for the projector to handle.
4 Tailors // Jun 1, 2010 at 1:05 pm
The picture or presentation is OK on my monitor. How to resolve this issue. Kindly help me in this regard.
5 Tailors // Jun 3, 2010 at 11:00 am
The projection size is disappointing but I think I would be able to put up with that if it had built in speakers. However without speakers it would be useless for taking on the road with an ipod unless you were watching old silent movies.
6 wii // Nov 12, 2010 at 12:48 pm
That looks nice device really having god storage capacity and makes it really easy to keep it in pocket for its review.
7 Jennievictorian // Nov 23, 2010 at 10:55 am
As I read the review and happy, but few days before I have purchased a pocket projector. In this projector everything is good like size, looks and functions, But sometime it is being stuck like hang and after few minute without any changes it works properly. so I don’t find the reason. I like it very much as well as your blog post. Thanks for provide this valuable information.
8 Dominic Watkins // May 31, 2011 at 12:28 am
I have one of these and am impressed with its performance in small or dark spaces, although understandably it does not work so well in large or well-lit rooms.
The fan is annoyingly loud in a quiet room, but only seems to be active when the brightness is set to the higher setting. This can be adjusted with the directional buttons (i.e. left and right).
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