Aaxa 4k1 Home Entertainment Projector Review-Hardware Page

Aaxa 4k1 Home Entertainment Projector Review: Overview, Inputs and Connectors,Lens, Control Panel, Remote Control, Menus

The aaxa 4k1 mini projector delivers a lot for such a small form factor. The projector its self is 3.8lbs(1.72Kg) measuring about 21/2" tall, 71/2" wide and 81/2"deep. As it uses an external laptop-style 19v power brick, you will need to keep that in mind for mounting and if taking it with you. If you were to include the power brick, I am sure it comes in between 41/2 to 5 pounds.

The projector can be mounted in various orientations, there are 4 mounting points on the bottom of the projector so you may ceiling mount it. It also supports tabletop and rear projection. Which would allow you to use the aaxa 4k1 in a variety of scenarios. Although, with the external power supply that leads to other challenges when installing it on the ceiling. The power supply is as large as the projector.

The airflow of the 4k1 is a crossflow pattern, going from left to right as you are looking at the back of the projector. This allows you to back it up to a wall, but you will need to be careful if you put it on a bookshelf, you don’t want that hot exhaust circulating back into the intake.

Equipped with all the basic connectivity you would need 2 HDMI inputs. 1 3.5mm AV input for composite video and another 3.5mm audio out for use with external speakers or headphones. There is a slot on the side for a micro SD card ( supports up to 32gig) and a USBA port on the back panel for thumb drives. The aaxa on has 2 speakers in front of the projector which allows you to use it as a stand-alone system all by itself. I will touch on that more in the performance section.

A fixed 1.2 lens is great for a tabletop projector. It allows you to get a good size image from not too far back. Great set up if you are using it for a Sunday football game and projecting from the coffee table. The offset is 100%, which allows the bottom of the image to be even with the centerline of the projection lens. Again lending itself to tabletop projection. There is no zoom, so if you want a bigger image, you need to move the projector back. Electronic focus is a nice feature. If the projector is moved you can easily adjust the focus. It was smooth and accurate. After several power cycles, I did not notice any drift or movement which was nice. The lens is also recessed, which is great if you want to move the projector around, take it out back by the pool or safely store it away. This keeps the outside of the lens from getting dinged or scratched.

The keypad on the aaxa 4k1 is simple and easy to figure out. I was surprised to not find a power button. Being an LED solid-state projector there is a hard switch on the back that you can use to turn it on and off. As there is no need for slowly cooling the LEDs. Another benefit of LED is its quick rise to full brightness. The keypad worked well. No complaints. The buttons are large with well-defined ICONs. If you wanted to adjust the focus, there are small +/- Buttons on the side of the projector closest to the projection lens.

I found the IR sensor, centered in the rear bottom of the projector. This was an odd space and often I found the effective range/angle to be hard to get a response. If you hook up a few cables to the back you limit the ability to get that IR signal to bounce into the tight receiving angle of the sensor. The first few interactions, I was thinking the remote may be faulty. I then realized you just need to be fairly close and pointed straight at the IR sensor. It was recessed so much, it seemed to have maybe a 15-degree angle for proper reception. This was a little frustrating.

The remote itself is pretty basic. I was surprised how inadequate it felt compared to the solid feeling projector. In your hand, it feels very delicate and not very solid. There are very basic controls on the remote. There are controls for navigating through the menu, volume/mute, controls for the onboard media player and focus buttons. There was also a power button, which I had mixed feelings about. There were several instances where I hit the power button, the projector shut off and then powered back on 5 seconds later. More on that later.

As you can see, there were not a whole lot of adjustments. Really one should expect that with a mini projector. Its target at the home entertainer that wants to set it quickly use it and stow it away or place it on a shelf when finished. There aren’t a lot of settings that really allow for dialing in the aaxa 4k1 for your home theater. Keep reading on, I will dig into that topic more in the performance section and picture performance.