Best in Class – Pico Projector: AAXA P300 Neo

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Art Feierman

The P300 Neo was my third projector from AAXA, and my first pico. My immediate reaction was to exclaim, “cute!” – a comment that made Art wince. I stand by my initial response. It’s a classic pico, measuring 5.4” wide, 3.5” deep, and 1.2” tall, weighing just 0.84 lbs. That’s positively tiny! I’ll save the rest of the specs and get into features in the Overview section of this page, but first, I want to mention one thing.

I had my seven-year-old nephew Anakin over while I was training my brother Chris who recently stared reviewing projectors. Ani got cranky, as young boys do when they’re made to sit quietly. So, I set him up with this AAXA and the NVIDIA Shield I mentioned earlier, and downloaded this Ninja video game (he loves ninjas). He enjoyed the projector experience so much that my fiancé and I decided to buy it for him for his birthday. My brother has plans to mount it under Anakin’s loft bed, and I’m having him write a blog post about it when he does.

Overview

The AAXA P300 Neo has respective color for a pico projector, with most colors looking pretty good. Skin tones, in general, look on point, with a slight tinge toward green.

Greens are super vibrant, as you can see from this photo of Moana, but other than that, colors look pretty good.

This scene from Moana is the best representation of the AAXA P300 Neo's color handling.

Kubo, a visually stunning film, looks good when projected by the AAXA P300 Neo.

Animated films look particularly good on this AAXA.

❮ ❯

The AAXA P300 Neo is a $294.99 projector with 720p resolution – 1280 x 720 pixels – and has an LED light engine. That light engine has a lifespan of up to 30,000 hours, the higher end of what is to be expected from LEDs. Being a pico, it has a fixed lens, so where you place it determines the size of the projected image. The P300 Neo can project an image of up to 120” diagonally without going blurry, but it doesn’t quite have the lumens for that size during the day time (the bigger the screen size, the more lumens you need).

Best Pico and Pocket Projectors Report - Best in Class: Pico Projector AAXA P300 Neo

AAXA claims 420 lumens for this guy – not so. It measured at 208 in its brightest mode, Boost, which I wouldn’t use, as it doesn’t have the best color. That honor falls to Standard, a mode that measured 141 lumens. Not particularly good to come in so far below claim, but that 141 lumens was super bright when projecting that ninja game for Anakin, at around 24” diagonal. Pulling the projector back to project 60”, it was still bright enough to handle some ambient light leaking from my kitchen window.

Officially, home theater standards say you need a bit more than 400 lumens to properly fill a 100” screen to the same brightness as a movie theater. With a working 141 lumens, that would provide theater brightness with image sizes around 60” or a bit larger. At 100”, 141 is going to start looking a bit dim. It’s important to note that just because a manufacturer claims the projector can do 120” or 300” doesn’t mean they’re not pulling your leg – that’s what us reviewers are here for, to make sure you’re not getting duped and you have all the information you need to be happy with your investment!

Most pico and pocket projectors have a built-in battery feature, allowing you to disconnect from direct power and play games or movies on battery power. What varies is exactly how long you can do that, and how much that affects brightness. In the case of the AAXA P300 Neo, that battery lasts 2.5 hours in ECO Mode, which is just about the best claim around. I would save that battery power for something like an outdoor movie night, when the stars are out and the only ambient light comes from the moon. AAXA offers an interchangeable battery with all their projectors, so you can buy an extra and switch it out if need be.

As for color, the P300 Neo is nicely vibrant. Most pico and pocket projectors have color that’s a little off, and the same is true for the Neo. Standard Mode, as I mentioned, is the best mode, and though most movies look pretty good, you can see that the foliage behind Moana on her island is super green and vibrant, way less natural looking than when viewing the same film on a higher priced projector. Still, color is respectable for a projector at this price and size, and what I would expect from a pico.

On the downside, the AAXA P300 Neo has a small speaker, a 1-watt mono, that is pretty quiet even at full volume. If you’re not getting this for a child, then I’d recommend getting a small set of portable or powered speakers. The unit has an Audio Out port you can utilize. Speaking of inputs, it’s got a DC power input, a headphone port, an AV connector, with the remaining ports separated by the speaker. Those are the HDMI and USB ports, and continued on the side of the projector are the TF card (SD card) and VGA inputs.

For gamers – it’s definitely “good enough.” I didn’t measure the input lag, as we only write one page reviews for picos, but AAXA’s other projectors tend to live around the 40ms mark, which is suitable for gaming. 33ms to 40ms is considered good, with 50ms being at the top of what’s acceptable, and 16ms being about as good as it’s going to get. Only one projector in this report can claim that, and it won our Best Pocket Gaming Projector Award – rightfully so. The AAXA P300 Neo comes with a 1 year parts and labor warranty, which is pretty standard on these types of projectors.

The Bottom Line on the AAXA P300 Neo

Bottom Line: Respectable color, exceedingly portable, with a light engine lifespan that’s hard to beat. The other pico projector we reviewed was from Acer, and the P300 Neo won against the Acer C200, no contest. That projector is $100 less, which I considered when pitting the two against each other, but the Neo has better color, a longer battery life, and higher resolution. In my review, I positioned the projector as being great for a child or teenager’s bedroom, a college student’s dorm room, or for those who want to take a projector on the go as they travel. You could even take it camping and watch content on your tent wall!

AAXA P300 Neo Review

Full Review

The P300 Neo was my third projector from AAXA, and my first pico. My immediate reaction was to exclaim, “cute!” – a comment that made Art wince. I stand by my initial response. It’s a classic pico, measuring 5.4” wide, 3.5” deep, and 1.2” tall, weighing just 0.84 lbs. That’s positively tiny! I’ll save the rest of the specs and get into features in the Overview section of this page, but first, I want to mention one thing.

I had my seven-year-old nephew Anakin over while I was training my brother Chris who recently stared reviewing projectors. Ani got cranky, as young boys do when they’re made to sit quietly. So, I set him up with this AAXA and the NVIDIA Shield I mentioned earlier, and downloaded this Ninja video game (he loves ninjas). He enjoyed the projector experience so much that my fiancé and I decided to buy it for him for his birthday. My brother has plans to mount it under Anakin’s loft bed, and I’m having him write a blog post about it when he does.

Overview

The AAXA P300 Neo has respective color for a pico projector, with most colors looking pretty good. Skin tones, in general, look on point, with a slight tinge toward green.

Greens are super vibrant, as you can see from this photo of Moana, but other than that, colors look pretty good.

This scene from Moana is the best representation of the AAXA P300 Neo's color handling.

Kubo, a visually stunning film, looks good when projected by the AAXA P300 Neo.

Animated films look particularly good on this AAXA.

❮ ❯

The AAXA P300 Neo is a $294.99 projector with 720p resolution – 1280 x 720 pixels – and has an LED light engine. That light engine has a lifespan of up to 30,000 hours, the higher end of what is to be expected from LEDs. Being a pico, it has a fixed lens, so where you place it determines the size of the projected image. The P300 Neo can project an image of up to 120” diagonally without going blurry, but it doesn’t quite have the lumens for that size during the day time (the bigger the screen size, the more lumens you need).

AAXA claims 420 lumens for this guy – not so. It measured at 208 in its brightest mode, Boost, which I wouldn’t use, as it doesn’t have the best color. That honor falls to Standard, a mode that measured 141 lumens. Not particularly good to come in so far below claim, but that 141 lumens was super bright when projecting that ninja game for Anakin, at around 24” diagonal. Pulling the projector back to project 60”, it was still bright enough to handle some ambient light leaking from my kitchen window.

Officially, home theater standards say you need a bit more than 400 lumens to properly fill a 100” screen to the same brightness as a movie theater. With a working 141 lumens, that would provide theater brightness with image sizes around 60” or a bit larger. At 100”, 141 is going to start looking a bit dim. It’s important to note that just because a manufacturer claims the projector can do 120” or 300” doesn’t mean they’re not pulling your leg – that’s what us reviewers are here for, to make sure you’re not getting duped and you have all the information you need to be happy with your investment!

Most pico and pocket projectors have a built-in battery feature, allowing you to disconnect from direct power and play games or movies on battery power. What varies is exactly how long you can do that, and how much that affects brightness. In the case of the AAXA P300 Neo, that battery lasts 2.5 hours in ECO Mode, which is just about the best claim around. I would save that battery power for something like an outdoor movie night, when the stars are out and the only ambient light comes from the moon. AAXA offers an interchangeable battery with all their projectors, so you can buy an extra and switch it out if need be.

As for color, the P300 Neo is nicely vibrant. Most pico and pocket projectors have color that’s a little off, and the same is true for the Neo. Standard Mode, as I mentioned, is the best mode, and though most movies look pretty good, you can see that the foliage behind Moana on her island is super green and vibrant, way less natural looking than when viewing the same film on a higher priced projector. Still, color is respectable for a projector at this price and size, and what I would expect from a pico.

On the downside, the AAXA P300 Neo has a small speaker, a 1-watt mono, that is pretty quiet even at full volume. If you’re not getting this for a child, then I’d recommend getting a small set of portable or powered speakers. The unit has an Audio Out port you can utilize. Speaking of inputs, it’s got a DC power input, a headphone port, an AV connector, with the remaining ports separated by the speaker. Those are the HDMI and USB ports, and continued on the side of the projector are the TF card (SD card) and VGA inputs.

For gamers – it’s definitely “good enough.” I didn’t measure the input lag, as we only write one page reviews for picos, but AAXA’s other projectors tend to live around the 40ms mark, which is suitable for gaming. 33ms to 40ms is considered good, with 50ms being at the top of what’s acceptable, and 16ms being about as good as it’s going to get. Only one projector in this report can claim that, and it won our Best Pocket Gaming Projector Award – rightfully so. The AAXA P300 Neo comes with a 1 year parts and labor warranty, which is pretty standard on these types of projectors.

The Bottom Line on the AAXA P300 Neo

Bottom Line: Respectable color, exceedingly portable, with a light engine lifespan that’s hard to beat. The other pico projector we reviewed was from Acer, and the P300 Neo won against the Acer C200, no contest. That projector is $100 less, which I considered when pitting the two against each other, but the Neo has better color, a longer battery life, and higher resolution. In my review, I positioned the projector as being great for a child or teenager’s bedroom, a college student’s dorm room, or for those who want to take a projector on the go as they travel. You could even take it camping and watch content on your tent wall!