Optoma ZW400 WXGA Professional Laser Projector | Compact Design & Bright 4000 lumens | DuraCore Laser Technology, Up to 30,000 Hours | Network Control | 4K HDR Input | Quiet Operation

We had a very specific need with a large venue screen (18ft width) that needed a very short throw so that speakers could walk in front of the screen without casting a shadow. There was only a hand full of projectors that met our criteria and the Optima ZH406ST (ST for short throw) was the least expensive. The next projector up was brighter and had a shorter throw, but was twice as expensive. Very pleased with the purchase.

Purchased this as a replacement for an older BenQ 640x480 projector that had seen better days. Easiest to break this Optima down in pros / cons. Pro: Easy Setup - I had this on my old mount in literal minutes and was projecting in under 10 minutes Brightness - This projector is great for lit rooms; my spouse prefers the lights on and I needed a solution, this fit the bill in terms of being able to overcome strong lighting Menu options - I didnt need to adjust much of anything, it was pretty much ready to go out of the box other than changing the picture orientation for my needs Remote Control - easy to use and navigate Picture size / range - This projector seems to be designed to be used in a number of environments, I was shooting from 13.5 ft and estimate that I could get at least a 110 picture out of it. My current screen is limited to 83, which this was able to easily scale down to - so big points for such a range of size. Sound - While I didnt use the dedicated speakers, the pass-thru to my stereo was a large improvement over my BenQ. Acoustic accuracy was significantly higher than the former. Cons: The brightness and color uniformity was subjectively awful. Whites were heavily blued in large regions of the image, with the left ~1/3 having a strong blue hue. Running single color screen tests showed brightness hotspots all over the screen. It was one of those deals that once I saw it I wasnt able to unsee it. This was actually a deal breaker and unfortunately I had to return it due to this issue as I expected a bit more out of something that costs nearly a grand and a half. Summary / TLDR: If youre thinking about this for a home theater or office projector it will probably fit the bill quite nicely - it has a sharp image and easy setup. My intention was primarily for gaming and this just did not do it for me, the color / brightness issue was too much to overcome - however it may be picking nits where they need not be. I suspect many wouldnt even notice, but it was just too overwhelming for me and I think the uniformity tolerance may have been exceeded in the unit I received.

Came with a scratch on the lens. It should come with some sort of lens cover or something. I called Optoma and they told me to file an RMA claim with them. I’m still waiting to see how it projects at my first class in a few weeks but a $1500 projector shouldn’t come with a scratched lens and at a minimum, should come with a case and lens cover.