Epson Brightlink 1485Fi Business/Education Projector Review-Hardware

Epson Brightlink 1485Fi Business/Education Projector Review - Hardware: Inputs and Connectors, Lens, Control Panel, Projector Mount, Remote Control, Menus

The Epson Brightlink 1485Fi has all the inputs and connectors you need for your typical business and education applications. That means this Epson has you covered for presentations from a computer or smart device (thanks to its wireless capabilities) and playing videos from an external device (like a computer or Blu-Ray player), as well as hooking up external speakers if you need to present to a larger room.

The Epson Brightlink 1485Fi is an Ultra Short Throw projector designed to be right above the screen. The 1485Fi has a digital zoom up to 1.35x. The lens does not feature any lens shift but the projector’s Auto Calibration modes are impressive.

The lens is located on the rear/top of the projector, sticking down about 4-inches, with manual focus controls behind the door on the rear. The 1485Fi has a 1.0 – 1.35x digital zoom, giving the projector some placement flexibility. The digital zoom does help with installation, but it is best to get the placement as close to perfect as possible before resorting to using it.

The 1485Fi control panel is located on the rear of the projector (the end pointing in the opposite direction from the projected image) under a flip-up cover that runs the full width of the projector’s rear. The control panel is to the right section of the rear of the projector and features the stand four position navigation buttons surrounding an Enter button. Around this configuration are four buttons each at the corner of a square that are labeled from left to right: Menu, Esc, Home and Source Search.

The projector mount designed for the 1485Fi is a thing of beauty. Like a German car, it provides a laundry list of possible adjustments to help you get the best, most usable, projected image from the 1485Fi. And, like a German car, you should get an expert to work on it, or in the case of the 1485Fi, to install it. Epson has created a whole series of incredibly detailed installation and setup videos on their support website and YouTube to help your professional installer complete the install process as easily as possible. These videos also provide a wealth of knowledge for the user to make their experience operating the 1485Fi as smooth as possible.

The mount offers the ability to slide the projector back and forth, thus increasing or decreasing the image accordingly. The mount also provides for the adjustment of roll, pitch and yaw in order to help your installer get the projector as physically square to the screen as possible.

Constructed almost fully from metal, this durable mount should provide years of flexible service beyond the life of the 1485Fi. What I’m saying is that it’s built like a tank, and when installed properly, will appropriately support the projector for many years of use.

One of the things I really like about the Epson 1485Fi menu system is the simple scrolling layout. I found it to be incredibly intuitive and had no trouble finding all of the adjustment features I was looking for in my testing. Epson goes out of their way to segment the menu system, combining similar features in obvious categories, like many other manufacturers. However, unlike many other projectors, the linear nature of this projector’s menu system allows you to keep going down the list to see where you were, rather than constantly backing out to a Main Menu to get to another feature. I found this also reduced accidentally going into categories more than once while searching for a feature.

The menu layout is simple and feature rich. I wish more projectors were like this.