3M MPro150 Pocket Projector

• Storage: 1 GB internal memory with 2GB mini SD Card
• Cordless: Download files from your digital sources and go!
• Media: Connects to your favorite digital media sources like PCs, DVD Players, iPods and iPhones, Digital Cameras and Cell Phones
• Sound: 2 x 0.5 watt built-in Speakers
• Long life: 20,000 hours LED life; Rechargeable battery with 90 minutes of battery life (high brightness mode)

This is my second pico projector so I knew not to expect something that would fill a bright room. It does come with a lot of basic cables and even international plug adaptors but it does not come with a direct iphone/ipod cable. That said you can open it like a hard drive on your computer and drop and drag you MP4 video files, MP3 music and PowerPoint presentations onto it and they play just fine. To me that is the best feature; you can play video and PowerPoint without having to connect it to anything. You need to think of it as a gee-whiz unit rather than a presentation workhorse.Really is pocket sized and includes sound and at least one hour of battery life. I'll probably take it camping.

It is sort of crazy that it comes with a quick set up guide but no operating instructions. I'm used to looking things up though and easily found the PDF on the 3M Website.

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While LED pocket projectors are a good concept,they still don't hit the mark.

The 3M MPro150 was a big disappointment for me. I bought this projector to use in my office to display documents and presentations during discussions, however even with all the lights extinguished (I have no external windows) performance was weak. The ambient light coming through my glass door window was enough to dim the output of the unit enough for it to be unreadable.

If we lived in a world without lights, this little gadget would probably rate higher, but we don't and it doesn't. With a maximum output of only 15 lumens, your viewing area has to be near dark in order to see the image with any clarity, even then the image seems to be spotted with out of focus area's. You notice this more when you try to project a document that has a lot of text (yes I did clean the lens). But this was not the worst feature for me. When the MPro150 is attached to the included tripod, it becomes back heavy and very unstable. This issue is magnified when you try to attach the video and power cables to the back. The thing just doesn't want to stand up....even with the legs splayed a good distance. I think that this issue could have been reduced if 3M would have made the tripod attachment in the middle or towards the back of the unit to counter the load of the attached cables. I will be trying another type of mini tripod to see if this problem can be eliminated.

On a positive note, the MPRO150 is a sleek and fashionable design and the unit comes with a multitude of goodies including; multi-country power adapter connectors, various audio connectors and a bag to protect the unit (which doesn't quite fit).

So, if you are a consumer looking for an LED alternative to a traditional lamp projector, this 15 lumen paperweight will not do it for you. I would wait until 3M has resolved the counter-balance problems and increased the lumens to over 50 or go with one of the bigger LED models that pack a more serious lumen output. The Optoma PK301 Pico Pocket Projector puts out 50 lumens for around $80 more in the same form factor as the 3M. I will be swapping mine for the PK301.

Great concept that falls short on practicality and performance.

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MPro 150 is the coolest mobile projector I have seen on the market. I bought this unit when it first came out for its versatile functions and its quality design. I have played movies, presentation files, photos with it and they all work great. I can't believe it runs like a handheld computer with such a small form factor. With it I can project a movie to 50inch size in the dark and that is a good quality movie I can enjoy. The internal memory is really useful so I can see goodbye to cables on the go. Unlike some other units I have tried, the projector stay cool during the entire operation. And the color is accurate. I love it!

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I was fortunate enough to be able to test this product for the Vine program. The 3M Pocket Projector MPro150 is a product that is useful, as my job frequently requires presentations without there always being projectors readily available. I was happy to take a look at the MPro150, to check out its different capabilities and see what it could do.

In terms of the quality of the image, I have to say that the projector looks great projected against a screen or a plain wall. The box says that it works at up to 50 feet away from the surface being projected onto, and while I didn't test it at that great a distance, I got a great looking picture at all the different distances upon which I tried it.

As far as ease of operation is concerned, the unit is superb. The menu has some easily recognizable pictograms, and navigation is extremely simple. I had little problem going through Excel and PDF files, as well as the more vanilla PowerPoint and text files. Good stuff.

Connecting to other devices is pretty simple. It really is plug-and-play with the PC, and the iPod/iPhone hook-up worked quite well in being able to play music directly from the phone (though not, say, pictures from the phone). The smart card works well with the unit's file system, and I can't get over the projector being able to actually hold presentations, plus videos and all the rest. Very cool.

Overall, this device does everything that I could possibly have expected it to do. I would give it a solid five stars.

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Just got my new 3M Mpro150 pocket projector and, so far, I'm very pleased with what I've seen. If the user wants a projector that displays a variety of media files from a variety of sources; a projector that has a descent brightness to it (even enlarged to as big as 50"; and the convenience of storing your files within the projector itself this little guy, in my opinion, fits the bill. Let me just say I use projectors all the time in my work so I know what the expensive, very bright projectors are capable of.

Here are the tests I ran it thru :

I did a test sheet in Word to see which fonts styles displayed as they should and I used several sizes. I tested Bookman Old Style 18pt, Comic Sans 12pt,18pt and 24pt, Courier 12 ,16 and 24pt, Impact 12, 16 and 24 pt, Aria 12,14 and 16pt, Times New Roman 12,14,16,18 & 20pt, Commercial Script BT 20pt and Century Gothic 12 and 16pt. UPDATE!! I had said earlier all fonts types displayed accurately but upon closer inspection, of the ones I tested, the only ones that display accurately are Arial and Times New Roman. The others are changed to be a more block styled font. They're all very readable, just not as the original font. They all look more like Arial or Time new Roman.

The Excel spreadsheet I loaded displayed fine.

Adobe PDF file displayed fine.

.JPG images displayed fine

Powerpoint that one was disappointing (sort of). I tried to load a 17MB presentation that included lots of slides with images and/or images with text. I got an "out of memory" error. There were 130 slides in the presentation so I went ahead and started displaying the presentation (it partially loads it even when out of memory). There were some pauses on occasion as it seemed the projector was loading more slides into memory. So, you need a little patience , especially moving thru a lot of slides with images in them. The projector seems to load only 3 or 4 image slides at a time. After slide 82 of 130 the images no longer displayed , just text. I assume that's where it ran out of memory. After slide 100 nothing displayed. I went back and deleted all but 82 of the slides and found the file size to have been reduced from 17.5mb to 10.4mb so , maybe, the memory is limited to 10MB file size. Not a big problem for me . I'll just have to be conscious of that in the future and adjust my presentations accordingly by either shortening the presentation or making it a two part presentation. Keep in mind this was with the presentation loaded into memory on the projector. Results may be better played from an external source such as a laptop. I haven't tested that yet. I've emailed 3M with the issue and will update my review if I get a response.

The tripod is a bit wimpy and the tripod mount is located too far forward. I had already heard that complaint in other reviews so I've already designed a rear mount for mine if I want to use the wimpy tripod. I will also use another, better table top tripod I have if that works for my situation or I'll break out the Bogen mammoth tripod if necessary.

You'll want to do whatever it takes to keep your projector perpendicular to your screen as there is a lot of distortion (keystone effect) when projected at an angle.

I had the unit blinking red 3 times after about and hour of use which was telling me that it was either overheating or the battery wasn't in well or wasn't charged well but the unit felt cool to the touch. I'm afraid the battery life may only be lasting an hour. Will need to check that more closely.

The fan it has runs quietly.

There is no owners manual packaged with the product but you can get one from 3M () . I found the user interface to be very easy to use.

Some of the comments I've heard from co-workers were : "That's nice!" "Unbelievable!" and "Nice dude!" I did have one co-worker say that he'd rather spend more money on the brighter projectors and carry around a laptop or other source but that was mainly because he usually had a big audience. (I wonder if the bigger, high-end projectors have the capability to store the files in the projector?)

Anyway, on a scale of 1-10 I'd give this guy an 8+ for my needs. I'd have to downgrade it somewhat on brightness and the battery life I've seen so far but it CAN be powered from a wall outlet as well. Supposedly, this even adds to the brightness somewhat.

Should also note that the Apple component cables I have for my ipod touch did not work with the projector but the included cable I got with my order DID work. It's by a company called Dexim and says on the box it's made for use with the 3M Projector.

That's all for now. Will update later as I find out more.