BenQ W1060 review

BenQ has impressed us with some fantastic mid-range projectors in the past, so we were expecting good things from the W1060. The sleek white and silver chassis looks great from any angle, and isn’t so large that you’ll struggle to find a place for it.

Setup should also be a breeze, thanks to a great selection of ports on the back. Two HDMI inputs join VGA, component, composite and S-video inputs, as well as analogue RCA and 3.5mm audio inputs. You can output audio using the second 3.5mm jack and there’s also a USB service port for future firmware upgrades.

The 2,000 ANSI lumen lamp coped well in our dimly lit test room – even when we let in some ambient light, we could still make out details in darker scenes much better than on similarly priced projectors. Naturally, pictures look their best in the dark, but it’s not out of the question to use the W1060 with a light or two on.

Unsurprisingly for a DLP projector, we could see a rainbow effect in monochrome test footage but it was much less noticeable than on other mid-range projectors. It was much harder to spot the effect in full colour scenes, so even people normally susceptible to the effect should be able to watch the W1060 without discomfort.

At the default settings, images looked a little muted, but we had no trouble tweaking picture quality thanks to a comprehensive menu system and intuitive remote control. There’s also a well-equipped control panel on the projector itself. With a backlit keypad, it’s easy to find right button on the remote even when sat in the dark. You can choose from four preset picture settings, or edit brightness, contrast, colour, sharpness and tint manually. Three user settings mean you can have different settings to suit different devices.

Although there’s no motion smoothing system, the noise reduction and detail enhancement features are both welcome inclusions – we set them to low levels to get the benefits without losing too much image clarity.

We might have been impressed with picture quality, but the two 10w speakers were poor. We could barely hear our test tracks from the other side of our test room and up close, there was lack of treble and complete absence of bass. As with all projectors, a dedicated speaker system is the best way to go.

There are plenty of reasons to like the W1060, with the great picture quality being an obvious highlight. It also has a decent three-year warranty for peace of mind. A minimal rainbow effect is inevitable in a DLP system, so try one out if possible before buying. If your budget is limited and you can’t stretch to the superb Epson EH-TW5900, this is a great choice.