Projector Reviews

Best Selling Projectors: Business Mainstream, 5000+ Lumen Projectors, Home Entertainment – Feb/April 2018

We are pleased to be able to share with you, recent business, education, and home projector sales tracking information, for North America.  Below are the rankings of the top five best selling projectors, in three categories, the info is provided by PMA.

Pacific Media Associates (PMA) publishes what is typically a bi-monthly list of the best selling projectors in the Home Entertainment, Mainstream (Business) and 5,000-plus lumen categories (US sales only).  The 5,000-plus lumen category replaces the 4,000 lumen category which was used in previous reports.

This time around as you can see below, Epson dominated (no, crushed!) the Mainstream (business / education) Category for both months.  They swept all 5 slots twice in a row. In our previous reporting, I’m not sure anyone had ever done that.

But, if anyone could, it would be Epson, which PMA reporting last year, said had over 50% of North American projector marketshare, all to themselves.  (Next I believe was Optoma with 7 or 8 percent.)

Optoma took three positions in both February and April, while Epson and BenQ, each had one each in February, and Epson had two in April.   The 5000+ Lumen Category is more varied, including two Epsons, two Panasonics and a Sony in Feb. while in April, Sony and Hitachi had two each, while Panasonic had one.

In Home Entertainment Projectors (which includes Home Theater), for February, Optoma picked up 3 out of the 5.  BenQ and Epson each scored one.  In April, Optoma beat out Epson, three projectors to two.

Note, since this is above unit shipments, the Home Entertainment list is dominated by sub $1000 projectors.  Epson’s lineup, has traditionally included dominating the $2000 – $4000 range, but those projectors just don’t sell in as high a volume, to match these lower cost projectors numbers. Sony also is strong, but with their entry level home projector starting at $1999… same thing.

It would be nice if PMA did capped home entertainment to under $1500 and created a separate  “over $1500” category too.

PMA has been doing this reporting since the 1990s, and the releases continue to provide our industry with valuable information.  They sell detailed information of their tracking to the manufacturers, which find the data useful.  We get a summary – a  top five, while paying manufacturers get virtually a unit by unit breakdown of most projectors sales numbers.

When my old company was a major internet projector reseller, we, like most others, reported our data to PMA.

We combine their data to produce our summaries and comments for your information.

We’ve provided some links at the bottom of each list.  Those are either a review of the same projector as seen on the list, or a sibling – typically one with almost identical feature sets, except perhaps different resolution, or different brightness.  Any links will relate closely to describing the projectors making the PMA lists shown here.  -art

February 2018 Top Projectors By Sales and Category

Best Selling 5000+ Lumen Projectors 2/18

Projector Comments
#1 Sony VPL-PHZ10 Laser light engine, 500,000:1 contrast, 5 year warranty, read our review
#2 Panasonic PT-RZ570W/B 5200 lumens, WXGA resolution, 20,000 hour LED lamp
#3 Epson PowerLite 2250U Wireless networking, 5000 lumens, WUXGA resolution, MSRP $1499
#4 Epson PowerLite Pro G7500U 7,500 lumens, optional lenses, suitable for large venue install,
#5 Panasonic PT-VZ580 5,000 lumens, WUXGA resolution, 10.6 lbs., 3LCD

Best Selling Mainstream Projectors 2/18

Projector Comments
#1 Epson PowerLite X39 XGA resolution, 3500 lumens, $449 MSRP
#2 Epson PowerLite 108 $599 price, 3700 lumens, 15,000:1 contrast, WXGA
#3 Epson BrightLink 695Wi 3500 lumens, MSRP $2290, 5000 hour lamp life
#4 Epson BrightLink 685Wi Interactive, Short-throw lens, MSRP $2090
#5 Epson PowerLite 109W 16.0W Mono speaker, 6.2 lbs., 4000 lumens

A few observations about the results:

Best Selling Home Entertainment Projectors 2/18

Projector Comments
#1 Optoma HD142X Full HD 3D projection, portable, $999 price
#2 BenQ HT2050 7.3 lbs., 15,000:1 contrast, Full HD 3D
#3 Optoma GT1080Darbee Full HD 3D, 30,000:1 contrast, Short-throw lens
#4 Optoma HD27 DLP, $599 street price, 3D, 1080p resolution
#5 Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2100 Link to our full review and video below

Epson Home Cinema 2100 Review

Epson Home Cinema 2100 Video Review

 

Now let’s look at April’s best sellers.

April 2018 Top Projectors By Sales And Category

Best Selling 5,000 + Lumen Projectors 4/18

Projector Comments
#1 Hitachi CP-WU5505 Large venue, 5000 lumens, WUXGA resolutio, PIP
#2 Sony VPL-PHZ10 Read all about it in our full review, link below
#3 Sony VPL-PWZ10 WXGA, Laser Light Engine, $2049 street price
#4 Hitachi CP-WX5505 Street price $1859, WXGA, 1.64:1 zoom, 8.0W stereo speakers
#5 Panasonic PT-RZ570W/B WUXGA, 5200 lumens, Picture-in-picture

Best Selling Mainstream Projectors 4/18

Projector Comments
#1 Epson PowerLite 107 $549 MSRP, XGA, 3LCD, 6.2 lbs.
#2 Epson PowerLite 109W $749 MSRP, WXGA, 3LCD, 6.2 lbs.
#3 Epson PowerLite 108 Link to our full review below!
#4 Epson BrightLink 695Wi Interactive, Short-throw, CC, $2290 MSRP
#5 Epson PowerLite X39 3500 lumens, $449 MSRP, 15000:1 contrast ratio

Epson PowerLite 108 Review

Best Selling Home Entertainment Projectors 4/18

Projector Comments
#1 Optoma HD142X Full HD 3D, portable, $999 price
#2 Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2150 1.60:1 zoom lens, 1080p, 60:000:1 contrast, read our full review in the link below
#3 Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1060 3100 lumens, $641 street price, 1080p HD, 6000 hour lamp
#4 Optoma GT1080Darbee Full HD 3D, 30,000:1 contrast, $1599 MSRP
#5 Optoma HD143X Street price $899, 3000 lumens, 1080p HD

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2150 Review

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2150 Video Review

A few models continued to be popular in both months.  We’ll have to wait and see if there is crossover next time!