Acer S5201M

Acer S5201M

Interactive short-throw projectors like the Acer S5201M ($900 street) aren't as inherently impressive as interactive ultra-short-throw projectors like the Editor's Choice Optoma TW675UTi-3D ($1800 street, 4 stars), but they're less expensive. The S5201M is a fairly typical representative of the breed. What makes ultra-short-throw projectors like the TW675UTi-3D or the Hitachi iPJ-AW250N ($1,800 street, 4 stars) so impressive is that they can throw big images from short distances. For the 78-inch wide image we use for most testing, they typically need only 10 to 15 inches between the projector and the screen. For the same size image, the Acer S5201M needed 49 inches in my tests. That's enough farther to make it a little harder to avoid shadows when you're standing close enough to the image to interact with it. However, it's far closer than the nine or more feet a standard projector would need, close enough so shadows aren't a major issue, and not a bad tradeoff for the lower price. The S5201M is also smaller and lighter than ultra-short throw projectors. When I reviewed the Hitachi iPJ-AW250N, I pointed out that unlike other ultra-short-throw models, including the Optoma TW675UTi-3D and Dell S500wi ($1,599 direct, 4 stars), it was light enough to serve as an occasional traveling companion.