BenQ LW600ST Review

Search BenQ LW600ST ($899) on BenQ’s website and you’ll find two entries: LW600ST Installation Projector and LW600ST Golf Simulator Projector. They are actually both the same model, with two separate web pages attesting to the versatility of this excellent projector in a wide range of uses. Other attributes of the WXGA (1,280-by-800 pixel) projector, ideal for many business and education setups, include a short throw and the ability to manage color to better display photorealistic images. As it turns out, they’re also what you need to build a golf simulator in your basement. This makes the LW600ST, which has both, a good choice for both purposes. On the other hand, if you don’t need a small throw, the inexpensive, Editors’ Choice-winning Epson Pro EX7280 is a good option.

Design: Four LEDs to increase color accuracy

BenQ calls the LW600ST an installation projector because it’s clearly suited for permanent installation in a conference room, classroom or golf simulator. It’s actually small and light enough to use as a portable projector, at 4.2 by 11.9 by 8.7 inches (HWD) and 5.8 pounds. For reference, Epson’s EpiqVision Flex CO-W01 portable projector weighs just half a pound.

Like most BenQ models we’ve seen lately, the LW600ST adds a DLP chip (in this case with a native 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution) along with a four-LED light source (red, green, and two blues). which is designed to last the life of the projector. It is rated at 20,000 hours in normal power mode or 30,000 hours in eco mode. According to BenQ, the second blue LED both increases brightness and improves color accuracy.

The short throw lens is considered a key feature. As with any short throw projector, the lens allows you to get a larger image from closer to the screen. However, the LW600ST adds a 1.2x zoom, which is unusual for a short throw lens and adds welcome flexibility to how far you can position the projector from the screen for a given size image. This helps make ad hoc setup faster for portable use. This is even more helpful with a permanent ceiling mount installation because you can compensate for minor inaccuracies in mounting placement. In my tests, I measured a 57-inch throw distance for a 78.4-inch-wide image, corresponding to the low end of the rated 0.72-to-0.87 throw ratio. (The lowest number is the wide angle setting, for the largest image.)

Apart from positioning the projector and setting the zoom, setup basically involves connecting an image source and adjusting the manual focus. The back panel offers two HDMI ports and a USB port that can work with an optional $45 Wi-Fi dongle to connect via Wi-Fi Direct for mobile devices and PC mirroring.

As with most projectors, you can use the digital zoom and image geometry controls (in this case with a four-corner adjustment) to adjust the size and shape of the image. However, it’s always best to avoid digital adjustments if you can because they reduce brightness and can introduce artifacts in some images. A better choice is to position the projector to avoid keystone distortion and use the 1.2x optical zoom to adjust image size if you can.

Using Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations, the LW600ST’s rated 2,800 ANSI lumens will deliver a suitably bright image in a dark room using a roughly 200-by-235-inch, 1.0-gain screen at the projector’s native 16. :10 aspect ratio. In a typically bright conference room or classroom, it will still be bright enough to fill a screen as large as 120 inches. However, keep in mind that the brightness settings for a projector also provide the least accurate color. In my tests using my preferred settings, the projector delivered a comfortably bright image using a 93-inch, 1.0-gain screen in a dark room, and a viewable (though slightly washed-out) image at 84 inches in a brightly lit room.

The onboard 10-watt mono speaker provides serviceable audio at a volume suitable for a small conference room. If you need better sound quality or higher volume, you can connect an external sound system to the 3.5mm stereo audio-out port on the back panel.

BenQ LW600ST in review: Photorealistic quality

The LW600ST doesn’t support 4K input or HDR, but it does support resolutions up to 1,920 by 1,200 pixels (WUXGA). In my tests using a PC, it negotiated a 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution connection, which Windows 10 also reported as the recommended setting. When I switch to my DVR, it negotiates a 1080p SDR connection. I ran my tests in both cases with the resolution of the projector discussed.

The menus offer five preset color modes and two user modes, but all modes are customizable. Like many projectors, the brightest mode, Bright, has a noticeable green bias that can be avoided unless you need the brightest image possible. On our PowerPoint test slides, photos showed a clear green shift, and graphics colors were dramatically off target, with cyan almost white, pinks and purples both fading to nearly identical purple grays and orange browns. However, all of our graphs were highly readable, making Bright mode usable if you need brightness and don’t care too much about getting the colors right.

All other modes did better with color accuracy, showing little variation in color from one mode to another. Most people would consider both graphics and photorealistic images more than acceptable in most cases. However, both Presentation and Golf modes provided noticeably better color accuracy than the others. If there’s a difference between them in rendering color, it didn’t show in our testing, though BenQ says the Golf mode is tuned specifically for golf simulation software. For my formal testing, I chose Presentation mode for both Presentation and Movies and Video.

Regardless of mode, the detail and crispness are decent for the resolution. That said, the relatively low resolution makes it difficult to make out individual lines with many fine lines close together in a crowded CAD test image.

The LW600ST achieved mixed results for cinema and video. The bad news is that although I saw less rainbow artifacts (red/green/blue flashes) than most DLP projectors I’ve reviewed recently, I saw them often enough to make it hard to recommend the projector for applications like movie watching. Some people in a classroom can see these flashes more easily than others, and the more people watching, the more likely some people will find the flashes annoying.

The good news starts with the fact that I see almost no flash on PowerPoint slides or other graphics and text slides that don’t have objects moving on the screen. They showed only one of our test slides designed to make the artifacts easier to see Even then, I only saw fleeting hints as I quickly moved my eyes back and forth trying to make them appear.

And it gets better: Both color accuracy and contrast in bright scenes were easily good enough for presentations that included film or video clips — as well as for golf course simulations. And for film and video the LW600ST does a good enough job of avoiding rainbow artifacts that even those sensitive to them won’t find them annoying for clips that only last a minute or two. One potential issue is that the projector doesn’t capture shadow detail well, making it difficult to see what’s going on in the darkest scenes in our test clips. However, this shouldn’t be a problem for the types of clips and photos you can use in presentations

A nice extra is 3D support, for the small number of people who need it. The LW600ST offers a single 3D mode and works with DLP-Link glasses. In testing, 3D-related motion artifacts were a little more apparent than is typical for current-generation 3D models, but I didn’t see any crosstalk.

I measured the LW600ST’s input lag with a Bodner meter at 33 milliseconds for 1080p 60Hz input. Most gamers will find it small enough for casual gaming, and input lag isn’t critical at all for most business or education applications. This is not a critical issue for golf simulations.

Verdict: A top-tier pick for your short throw needs

For applications that require a short throw projector—whether for business, education, or DIY golf simulators—and don’t need a finer resolution than can handle 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution, the BenQ LW600ST is a strong candidate. . However, remember that you are paying extra for a short throw lens. If you don’t need it, consider the Epson CO-W01 or the Epson Pro EX7280, both of which have lower list prices than the LW600ST. The CO-W01 offers the lowest price of the three models and a touch higher brightness rating than the BenQ Meanwhile, the EX7280, which is one of our Editors’ Choices, offers significantly higher brightness than either. Epson models have the advantage of guaranteeing no rainbow artifacts.

The big advantage of the BenQ LW600ST is its short throw. If you need a projector that can give you a larger image from closer to the screen, due to the size of the room or need to avoid casting shadows on the screen, these models are the only ones that can do the job. This alone may be enough to make the right choice.

About M. David Stone

Contributing Editor

Most of my current work for PCMag is about printers and projectors, but I’ve covered a wide variety of other topics—in more than 4,000 pieces, over 40 years—from computer-related fields and monkey language experiments to politics, among others. , in cosmology, to space colonization. I’ve written for PCMag.com since its inception PC Magazine Before that, as a Contributor, then a Contributing Editor, then as the Chief Analyst for Printers, Scanners and Projectors and now, after a short hiatus, back to Contributing Editor.

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