The BenQ GV30 is a lightweight 720p projector. It's small and light, can be rotated vertically on its stand, has an integrated battery, and has auto vertical keystone correction and autofocus, making it easy to carry around and install anywhere. The projector uses an LED bulb as its light source with a rated lifespan of up to 30,000 hours. Optimal projection quality is achieved at a distance of 5.2 feet for a 60" image up to 7 feet for an 80" image. It comes with the Android TV 10 QS01 Media Streaming dongle, which has Apple AirPlay and Google Chromecast support, Wi-Fi 5, and Bluetooth 4.2. Finally, it has a 2.1 sound system with dual 4W midrange tweeters and an 8W woofer.
Our Verdict
The BenQ GV30 is inadequate for watching movies. It's not bright enough for even moderately lit rooms, and its contrast is mediocre, so it looks unremarkable in dark rooms. The projector has poor pre-calibration image accuracy, and there's no way to improve it as it doesn't come with any calibration options. The unit does come with a wide color gamut, but it's just not bright enough for it to matter.
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Included QS01 Android 10 dongle has smart features and wireless support.
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Is very small, has a battery, and has many image correction features for easy portability.
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Poor brightness levels results in very dim images.
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Poor pre-calibration accuracy that can't be improved due to the lack of any calibration options.
- 5.0 Movies
- Updated Feb 28, 2024: Mentioned the newly-reviewed KODAK LUMA 350 in the Contrast section of this review.
- Updated Feb 22, 2024: Review published.
- Updated Feb 17, 2024: Early access published.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the BenQ GV30 projector. The manufacturer has replaced it with a newer model, the BenQ GV31, which projects a 1080p image and has an extra USB-A port for data transmission. There's also a lower-tier model, the BenQ GV11, which projects a lower resolution 480p image.
| Model | Dongle | Resolution | Throw Ratio | Speakers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GV31 | QS02 (Android 11, Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.0) | 1080p | 1.2 | 2x 8W tweeters, 8W woofer |
| GV30 | QS01 (Android 10, Wi-Fi 5, BT 4.2) | 720p | 1.2 | 2x 8W tweeters, 8W woofer |
| GV11 | QS01 (Android 10, Wi-Fi 5, BT 4.2) | 480p | 1.3 | 5W chambered speaker |
Compared To Other Projectors
The BenQ GV30 is a small, lightweight, portable projector. It's not very good, but it's quite cheap. The XGIMI MoGo 2 offers better image quality at this price point, but the GV30 has an integrated battery. You can rotate it vertically on its stand, so you can easily switch from watching content on the wall/screen to the ceiling, like if you want to watch movies while lying in bed. Otherwise, if you'd like much better image quality, you'll have to get the more expensive XGIMI Elfin or the much bigger Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-W01.
The Samsung The Freestyle 2nd Gen is better than the BenQ GV30. The Samsung has better contrast and much better color accuracy, especially after calibration, so it offers superior image quality. Portability-wise, the BenQ has a battery, but the Samsung is smaller and has full auto keystone correction, making it even easier to carry around than the BenQ as long as you have access to an outlet or a portable battery pack.
The XGIMI MoGo 2 is better than the BenQ GV30. They're both small and light projectors that are easy to carry around. The BenQ GV30 has an integrated battery and can be rotated vertically on its stand, while the XGIMI doesn't have those features but has a full suite of auto keystone correction features. The XGIMI offers better image quality, with higher peak brightness and better color accuracy, although you need to calibrate the XGIMI for its colors to be decent.
The Anker Nebula Capsule Max and the BenQ GV30 are similar projectors that are both very portable and are better than each other in different ways. The Anker has better contrast, so blacks are deeper in a dark room. The BenQ has better color accuracy, so colors are displayed closer to how they're intended, but it's still not very accurate, and you can't calibrate either projector to improve their accuracy further. The BenQ is cast-capable, while the Anker is limited to screen mirroring, so content from your phone looks much better on the BenQ.
The XGIMI Elfin is better than than BenQ GV30. It's brighter, has better contrast, and is much more accurate than the BenQ. The BenQ has two advantages over the XGIMI: it has an integrated battery and can rotate vertically on its stand. That does make it slightly easier to carry around than the XGIMI, but the XGIMI is even smaller and has a full suite of automatic correction features, so it's equally, if not more, portable than the BenQ if you have access to an outlet.
The Epson Home Cinema 5050UB is much better than the BenQ GV30, but they're completely different products. The BenQ GV30 is a small projector with an integrated battery, so it's very easy to carry around, but it offers inadequate image quality for watching movies. The Epson is a very large projector and is not meant to be carried around; it's meant for a fixed installation in a home theater scenario. It does have impressive image quality, dwarfing what the BenQ offers in that department.
The Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-W01 is much better than the BenQ GV30, but they're different products. The BenQ GV30 is a small portable projector with an integrated battery and inadequate image quality. The Epson, for its part, is a bigger projector meant for office use, so it's not very easy to carry around, but it's no slouch as a home theater machine due to its impressive brightness and good pre-calibration color accuracy.
Test Results
The BenQ GV30 has a compact design, weighs only 3.2 pounds, and has an integrated battery, so it's very portable. It has vertical auto keystone correction and autofocus, so it's easy to set up. The device can be rotated vertically on its base, letting you easily switch from projecting on the wall to the ceiling, for example. The projector has an integrated 2.1 speaker system, so you won't need to worry about connecting it to a soundbar or audio system when bringing it with you.
This 720p DLP projector uses an LED bulb as its light source, and it's rated for up to 30,000 hours by the manufacturer, so you likely won't ever have to worry about replacing it.
The BenQ GV30 is very dim, so you absolutely need to turn off the lights when using it. It has good brightness uniformity, so there's little variation in brightness between the sides and the center. However, the projector is so dim that you wouldn't notice any uniformity issues. If you'd like a brighter portable projector, check out the XGIMI MoGo 2 instead.
This projector's contrast is mediocre, as its whites just aren't bright enough next to the blacks to offer a truly contrasting image. If you're looking for a portable projector with better contrast than this, look up the KODAK LUMA 350.
This projector has poor color accuracy out of the box. Its white balance is bad, with bright whites showing a noticeable blue tint. Its color accuracy is all over the place, with cyans and purples showing up far too blue and all other colors showing a large number of inaccuracies. The projector's problem with blues is further highlighted in its inaccurate color temperature, which leans far too cold, giving everything a very noticeable blue tint.
The BenQ GV30 has no calibration options, so there's no way to improve its poor image accuracy.
The projector has a wide color gamut. It covers nearly all the Rec. 709 color space used with SDR content. It also does a passable job with the wider Rec. 2020 color space.
The BenQ GV30 has two HDMI ports, although one is hidden behind the projector's top cover and comes with the Android QS01 Media Streaming dongle pre-installed, giving the projector Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 capabilities. You can use the USB-C port to charge the projector as long the charging source's power is at least 45 watts (3A), and when fully charged, the projector can output 1.5A of power through the port to charge external devices. The USB-C port also has DisplayPort Alt Mode if you want to connect it to a screen.
This projector comes with the QS01 Media Streaming dongle, which has Android TV 10 with full Apple AirPlay and Google Chromecast integration for casting, so you can share your phone or laptop screen directly to the projector. It has an integrated 2.1 sound system with dual 4W midrange tweeters and an 8W woofer.
