It’s this time again when I’m trying a new projector. I retired my Xiaomi DLP, not because it was bad, but because I received NexiGo PJ40 with a gaming mode – and as it turns out – my PlayStation 4 days are not over and rocking twin-stick shooters lag-free on a 100″ display – was something I preferred. I have Wanbo New T2 Max to test and see if it can dethrone the competition. I’m excited, as on paper it looks great!
🛒 Wanbo Store
🛒 AmazonUK
🛒 AmazonUS
Wanbo New T2 Max
I thought that my Xiaomi DLP was small. Wanbo New T2 Max is even smaller and comes with very similar features. It’s a 1080p projector with 2.4/5G WiFi and a very basic I/O at the back. There is a HDMI port, USB, 3.5mm headphone jack and a 19V DC Jack. You better keep your remote safe, as Wanbo New T2 Max comes with a single (power) button. The projector is equipped with 3W speakers and a tripod mount at the bottom of the unit.
The included remote works via infrared. It’s a shame, that it’s not a Bluetooth one, as I took a liking to the responsiveness of the Bluetooth remotes. With that said, the remote works well and I have not found it to be a source of frustration.
Features
For a device this inexpensive, Wanbo New T2 Max offers a lot. Besides built-in speakers and 5G WiFi, Wanbo New T2 Max brings autofocus and auto-keystoning. As the device runs Android OS – it’s also possible to download Android apps. It offers 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. With these stats, it’s not the swiftest Android TV box, but it gets the job done. HDMI port supports ARC and CEC, so if you want to use other devices to wake the projector, settings are there to set this right.
Included remote works well. It navigates through various menus as expected on Android TV boxes. It also comes with a mouse option – where you can enable the cursor to move it across the screen but as the remote is IR-based the experience is not ideal.
Picture throw and noise
The projector shoots slightly upwards. The bottom edge of the projection aligns with the base of the unit. As you have a 4D keystoning, you can adjust that as needed. Just remember, using keystoning steals pixels from your resolution. To complement your settings, Wanbo New T2 Max supports from and rear projections in both normal and upside-down modes.
What took me by surprise was the size of the projection area. I expected Wanbo New T2 Max to land somewhere around the projectors I had, but it turns out, I didn’t have to mount the projector that far from the wall to fill it. At 1m, the screen would expand to 40″ and in my bedroom (at 2.7m distance), it would fill the wall with a 105″ projection.
Wanbo New T2 Max is audible and perhaps a little bit louder than the Xiaomi DLP, but I would consider it to be ok for bedroom use. Once the media started playing, I quickly stopped paying attention to it.
Video and audio
I’m slightly annoyed that the splash screen wasn’t in focus at first, but Wanbo New T2 Max remembers the last set focus, and as long as the projector is set at the same distance, that annoyance isn’t there any more.
Despite the catchy 5000 lumens in its listing, Wanbo New T2 Maxisn’t a projector that you could use in daylight. To enjoy the projection, you need to draw your blinds or fire it up in the evening time. When the environment is dark, you can use the Picture settings to dial in the picture quality. After tweaking the brightness (if you go too high it washes the image completely and loses a lot of details) I was able to find the balance that provided me with great brightness for nighttime viewing and colour reproduction. It’s 1080P projection, but it’s enjoyable and gives the cinema vibes. The bigger the screen the further away you need to be to ignore the resolution – when I’m 3m away from the screen, I don’t notice the pixels on 100″ projection. Anything bigger than this, and it’s probably not worth your hassle.
One thing I noticed was that the projector was very sensitive to corner blurriness. To get even sharpness across the projection, you have to keep the projector centred. In addition to that, move away from the wall too much and the distance from the lens to the corners of the projector will overrun the depth of focus resulting in blurriness. In short – pay attention to where the projector is mounted, it’s not forgiving.
I didn’t expect much from its 3W speakers. They are very loud and can fill the room with sound without a problem. The sound isn’t as impressive as on my Xiaomi counterpart, but after looking through some sound options and discovering a quite rich interface to adjust how the projector speakers deliver the sound I managed to find acceptable settings. It’s true, that the audio feels a little dull at the higher frequencies, and due to the size of the speakers you can’t expect powerful bass, but you won’t run to get the nearest speakers straight away. If you wish to have a more cinematic experience perhaps take a look at the Majority Audio speakers from this write-up.
Gaming
I like playing the original Helldivers on the NexiGo PJ40 projector, so I was keen to test the latency on Wanbo New T2 Max. I launched a couple of games to test it. If you are looking to game on a really big screen, I found the twin-stick shooters, strategy games and arcades to be the best types to enjoy – with the first-person shooters being my least favourite due to the sheer confusion I get caused by extremely large projection.
To access Game Mode (low latency) the option appears in Picture settings when HDMI input is selected. The mode isn’t available in other inputs, so you cannot set it in advance.
In my humble framerate test, I pointed the camera running 50FPS recording at my primary display and Wanbo New T2 Max projection to record the delay between the two displays. After checking the footage, I noted a 3-frame delay – which equals to approx 60ms. It’s noticeable, but shouldn’t ruin your gaming sessions all this much. Would I recommend it for a competitive play? No. But get a local coop going, or cast your casual game on the wall to entertain friends and you are guaranteed to have a good time.
Apps and smarts
Under the hood, Wanbo New T2 Max uses Android 9 OS to run things. Most common apps like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime or YouTube are already pre-installed, and the projector offers an alternative app store alongside Google Play Store and the ability to sideload the apps using a USB port at the back.
You can connect a mouse and keyboard, or even an Ethernet adapter, but as there is only one USB port, the use of a USB hub is recommended unless you bind your devices using Bluetooth. All tested apps worked fine for me, although the interface is slightly sluggish. I strongly recommend using the mouse and the keyboard for all accounts sign-in and the initial setup – it will speed things up. Alternatively, connect your phone or a tablet via EShare app and turn it into a dedicated remote as Wanbo supports that (it works actually very well).
Final thoughts
It’s portable, capable and handy! Wanbo New T2 Max isn’t going to win any prizes, but considering the price just under £200, it’s a feature-rich projector that may just fill the craving for the evening cinema! You can easily take it with you to organise a film night with friends or have it in the bedroom as it makes very little noise. In short, for the money spent, you won’t be disappointed. If you have questions, let me know in this Reddit thread.
🆓📈💵 – See the transparency note for details.
