So Light It’s Feather-like

Portable projector weights are like a line from the B-52s’ song, Rock Lobster – they just keep going “down, down, down.” At last year’s Infocomm, the audio/video and presentation industry’s largest trade show, attendees were buzzing about several of the newest, lightest projectors that finally broke the three-pound barrier, weighing in at a svelte 2.9 pounds. This year’s Infocomm, held June 13-15 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, saw the debut of the first projectors weighing just two pounds.

PLUS Corp. unveiled the two-pound V-1080SF and V-807F, two DLP projectors measuring 7″ by 5.6″ and just 1.8″ tall. The XGA version, the V-1080SF, puts out 800 lumens and the SGA version, 700 lumens. Both will be available in the fall for yet-to-be-determined prices. Acer Communications and Multimedia unveiled a two-pounder as well – the 1,000-lumen XGA ES100X.

PLUS also overhauled its U3 series, the 2.9-lb., 800-lumen projectors unveiled last year. The company added 200 lumens to both the XGA and SVGA versions, bringing them each to 1,000 lumens, and it added a zoom lens, giving buyers the option of a short-focus, or, for an additional $500, the zoom. The XGA U3-1100 with zoom (U3-1100z) and with short-focus lens (U3-1100sf) will list for about $4,495 and $3,995, respectively. The SVGA versions (U3-810z and U3-810sf) are expected to list at $3,495 and $2,995, respectively. All four models will ship in either July or August this year. If you’re interested in these models, you’d better get to the gym – PLUS added an extra 0.3 pound to the new U3s, bringing them each to 3.2 pounds.