Projector Review: Panasonic PT-F300U

May 25, 2015 · Panasonic, reviews

Since its initial release in 2009, the Panasonic PT-F300U has become a popular choice for presenters, in conference spaces and by governmental and military organizations. The reason: The F300 delivers a bright image and long-lasting durability. Plus, its ease of installation makes it easy to adapt the F300 to an existing mount, and thus, it’s commonly used to replace old worn-out machines. Currently, the Panasonic F300U is out-of-production, but it available by a variety of resellers. You can find refurbished and used Panasonic F300Us available – which is why we wanted to review this set-up. Today, the F300 remains a reliable piece of hardware that delivers a bright, crisp image – there isn’t much more you’d need from a basic projector. Unfortunately, there are a few minor grievances regarding the F300U. It is an aging piece of hardware, and as such, some of the connections and networking capabilities are dated or nonexistent. Yet if you need a projector for basic multimedia presentation, a used or refurbished F300U has a lot of up-side, and you’ll likely save quite a bit of money. [caption id="attachment_1069" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

Panasonic PT-F300U Projector[/caption]

Panasonic PT-F300U: Pros and Useful Features

Even though, the F300U is now about five years old, the projector provides many of the functionalities that you receive from today’s more-expensive projectors. It starts with a bright image that’s equipped with Panasonic’s daytime viewing technology. That means the F300U is suitable for environments with higher levels of ambient light. Advantages include:

Image Quality and Brightness: With a brightness rating up to 4,000 lumens, the F300U provides a lot of light for the price. Plus, the projector is equipped with Epson’s Daylight View 5 technology that boasts the image output based on the level of ambient light. The result is a crisp, clear image with tons of detail and vivid color display. Additionally, the projector supports a variety of inputs including Full HD and SD video. Plus, for the brightness, the Panasonic achieves an above-average lamp life of 5,000 hours.
Build Quality: Another reason the F300 remains a popular projector is its durability. The projector features a built-to-last optical block that includes high-quality LCD panels. The optical block is made for frequent use, without losing image quality. Plus, the projector is built with dust resistant technology and an auto-cleaning filter that make this a long-lasting, low-maintenance projector.
Set-Up Flexibility: As mentioned, the F300 is a popular replacement projector, because it can easily be adjusted to fit an existing mount. The reason is that the F300 has an above-average zoom ratio of 2x, as well as vertical and horizontal lens shift. These features make it possible to reposition the image to fit the screen, without moving an existing mount. [caption id="attachment_1070" align="aligncenter" width="416"] Panasonic PT-F300U - Rear Inputs[/caption]

Panasonic F300U: Some Aging Features

For an older projector, the F300 remains fairly competitive with today’s projectors. Yet, the F300 does have some dated technology that may limit some of its capabilities. These include:

Dated Connections: There are a range of connection ports built into the F300U, including LAN and ports for two computers. Thus, for basic presentations, the F300U is more than suitable. Yet, the F300 is missing an HDMI link and a USB port, which may limit options for connectivity. Today, these connections are much more common.
Low Contrast and Resolution: Although the F300’s image is vividly bright, it does fall short in the category of resolution. The F300 features a native XGA resolution and just a 600:1 contrast ratio. Image quality remains decent at lower screen sizes, but as you increase the size of the screen up to 300”, the lower resolution and contrast do become more apparent.
No WiFi or Cloud Connections: Presenters today pull video and content from the cloud, but that’s a bit more difficult with the F300. It’s not WiFi-ready or cloud-connected, which can limit some of the capabilities in displaying online content. This is only a minor grievance, as it does have a LAN connection, but yet, in today’s projectors, cloud connectivity is a much more common feature.

Overall, the F300U remains a competent piece of hardware, and as it’s only available via resellers, you’ll likely find it at a competitive price. It originally listed at $1,500+, but they often available now around $500. That low cost-of-ownership is one reason this is a great choice. Plus, the projector is an effective presentation tool for basic multimedia projections. If you’ll be mostly using these for presentations with occasional audio and video output, it’s a solid choice. But if you need more advanced features like 3D, WiFi and USB/HDMI connections, you’ll want to consider newer projectors.