Projector Review: Optoma S311

May 15, 2015 · Optoma, reviews

If you’re on the market for a budget-friendly presentation projector, the Optoma S311 is an intriguing solution. It’s extremely affordable, starting at £229.99. The price in GBP indicates that this projector was released into the UK markets in the beginning of the production run, however a few units have made their way into North America as well after its introduction. Plus, the S311 provides tons of great functionalities, excellent data image quality, and solid construction. In terms of the bad, there isn’t much to complain about. It’s a small-price projector that packs tons of big features. [caption id="attachment_1060" align="aligncenter" width="1500"]

OPtoma S311 Projector[/caption] Optoma S311: The Good From its long-lasting lamp, to a long list of standard features, the Optoma S311 provides an ideal suite of tools for presentations. The S311 is well-suited for classroom or meeting room productions, and it’s light-weight and portable, making this even better for on-the-go business meetings. Here are a few of the best features:

Bright, Long-Lasting Lamp: The S311 is equipped with a 3,200-lumen rated lamp, which delivers vibrant images even in areas that suffer from higher levels of ambient light. What’s more, the lamp has an extremely long lamp life, especially compared to similarly priced projectors. The S311 achieves a 7,000-hour lamp life in Eco+ mode; even in the standard mode the lamp performs well and is able to withstand 5,000 hours of use. Plus, Optoma boasts a suite of energy-saving features that have the potential to increase lamp life to 10,000+ hours.
Image Data Quality: Not only is the projected image from the S311 relatively bright, it’s also well contrasted and integrates vivid colors. The SVGA native resolution image (800x600) projector is aided by Optoma BrilliantColor technology, which produces vibrant, saturated coloring, and the project’s high contrast, a 20,000:1 ratio, creates images that are crisp and clear. Similar image specs are a challenge to find in this price range.
Useful Presenter Features: The S311 is a presentation tool, through and through, and it has features that are designed just for presenters. There’s the AV Mute functionality, which dims the screen and sound, to eliminate classroom distractions, and the projector also features remote control functionalities, including a remote mouse. This frees up presenters, letting them move around the room more freely.
Full 3D Support: The Optoma S311 is capable of projecting vibrant 3D images from a range of in-put sources. It’s compatible with 3D Blu-Ray and 3D Broadcasting. Plus, the S311 features a higher-than-average refresh rate of 144HZ, which improves the overall 3D performance. [caption id="attachment_1061" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Optoma S311 Projector - Inputs[/caption]

Optoma S311: The Bad The S311 does include a lot of great functionality, but it is a fairly low-cost option. That means users don’t get the full suite of features that they can expect from higher-end projectors. Fortunately, the S311 doesn’t have many pitfalls. Here’s a look at what the projector doesn’t get right:

Inadequate Audio: The S311 is equipped with a small 2W speaker. That might perform well in small classrooms and meeting halls, but it’s just not adequate enough for noisy classrooms and larger conference spaces. In addition, the projector doesn’t have an audio-out port, so for louder audio, you’ll have to synch audio with an outside source.
Limited Set-Up Flexibility: The S311 has a limited zoom ratio, just 1.1X, which compared to a number of projectors, is below-average. Plus, there is only vertical capstone correction, and the minimum projection distance is 1.2 meters. That means there’s just not a lot of space to move with this projector, and for smaller rooms, this set-up probably isn’t suited for your space. A short-throw projector would be the better option.
No USB Connectivity: The S311 does have a USB-A power port, so if you need to charge 3D glasses or a USB-connect device, you can do that. But it doesn’t have a USB input port. Presenters often prefer to save their presentations to a USB drive, and plug that directly into the projector. But that’s not possible with this Optoma.

The Optoma S311 starts at £229.99. That’s a small price to pay for a solid piece of hardware. For spacious classrooms and meeting halls, the S311 is a great choice. It’s an effective presentation tool that displays bright, high-contrast images and offers the flexibility for a wide range of in-puts. The biggest set-back is the audio, which can be overcome, and the long-throw set-up. So this isn’t the best projector for small spaces, or spaces without an audio solution. If you do have the room, though, the Optoma S311 is an affordable, high-quality choice.