As with all projectors, the fan noise is distracting. You can switch to a dimmer LED lamp mode that reduces the noise considerably, but we found it too dim to be useful. The fast-cooling LED lamp has other benefits too: when you switch the projector off, the fan stops almost immediately and the device is already cool enough to be packed away.

It looks big in this photo but, in reality, it's barely larger than its own power supply brick

There is a good set of onscreen controls, allowing you adjust RGB levels, colour temperature, contrast and brightness. You can switch between 'normal', 'film' and 'sports' quick settings, flip the image in both directions, apply an auto-sleep function and mute the screen in a number of ways, including using a custom image.

The remote control handset is also rather better than we expected for an ultra-portable. It provides a good range of buttons, both for the onscreen menus and for browsing and playing media files through the DivX player.

Verdict

Make no mistake, this is no home cinema projector. But as a general-purpose, set-up-and-go projector for quick media shows, small presentations and general fun on the road, it is really very good indeed. The tripod support eradicates practically all problems normally associated with setting up a projector, and the LED lamp makes the unit cheap to maintain. Our only gripe is the native 800x600 resolution, which limits its usefulness in too many ways for the HS102 to be truly compelling. ®