Vankyo Go200 Mini LED Projector Review

Vankyo Go200 Mini LED Projector Review

Buy it at Amazon: Vankyo Go200 Mini LED Projector [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Compact, lightweight, bright; great for portable streaming but isn't mountable.

You’ll receive the projector, a remote control, AC power adapter, HDMI to mini-HDMI cable, and an instruction manual. The projector is a 2.25” cube with a brushed-aluminum housing and touch controls on top. The volume controls are along the top, the center is a touch mousepad, and menu, home, and back buttons are along the bottom. On the back of the projector, there is the IR receiver for the remote, a headphone jack, USB port, and power input port. On the right side is the power button, mini-HDMI port, charging LED, air vents, and pin hole reset. On front you have the projector’s lens and on the left is the focus wheel, additional air vent, and built-in speaker for audio. The bottom of the projector is also vented and has four tiny rubber feet in the corners. This projector should be set on a flat level surface, as it does not have a place for mounting to a tripod.

To turn the projector on, press and hold the silver power button. This projector has a built-in 3400mAh rechargeable battery that’ll last a little over 3 hours of use on a full charge, though you can leave it plugged in while operating for longer run times. Since the projector doesn’t have zoom controls, the only way to make the projection larger or smaller is to move the projector farther or closer to the surface you’re projecting on. Keystone correction is also automatic, so the image will try to self-correct for skew and pitch offsets to make the image square. The max recommended size is a 110 inch diagonal, but note that the native output resolution is 854 x 480 resolution, so it’s not HD, and the larger the image the more visible individual pixels will be.

The default interface is an Android 7.1 OS. The projector has built-in WiFi so you can connect to the internet. Once connected, you’ll have to opportunity to download and install updates to the firmware and other apps. You can also use apps like YouTube to stream content directly to the projector. The projector comes preloaded with a few other streaming apps like AptoideTV app to access other streaming channels like Twitch and Prime Video. Just note that if you haven’t used the channel before you’ll have to download and install it first.

You can navigate the interface by using the touch controls and track pad on the top of the projector, the remote control, or even attach a USB wired or wireless keyboard and mouse. Swiping on the touchpad in the middle moves the cursor on the screen. Tapping clicks or selects and menu option. Using two fingers to swipe on the pad will scroll up and down the screen; just note that there’s no gesture to scroll left and right. If you press the mouse key on the remote, this will switch to cursor mode and you can navigate the screen this way to click on menu items. The USB port can also be used to power or charge another device as a power bank, though it’s recommended to leave the projector plugged in if you wish to do this.

The projector has a built-in mono speaker, but it’s not very loud and doesn’t quite cover the sound of the cooling fan, so you may want to plug in external audio using an AUX cable. You can also pair a Bluetooth speaker to the projector for wireless audio streaming. When watching video the Bluetooth audio and the video line up perfectly and there’s little to no lag between them.

There’s also a screen mirroring mode that lets you mirror a mobile device’s screen to the projector wirelessly. So for example I can use the Eshare application on my phone and watch videos on my phone on the projector. However, transmitting large video files this way tends to be a little choppy. The projector also accepts HDMI input via its mini HDMI port, for example from a computer or laptop.

Overall, this tiny projector is bright, easy to use, and great for streaming video. It’s compatible with a wide range of devices thanks to the mini-HDMI input. For me I found the best image quality when projecting at about a 50” diagonal. Bluetooth audio works great and is recommended to drown out the fan noise. It’s lightweight and has decent battery life, even with WiFi turned on, however, I would have liked a ¼”-20 threaded screw hole for tripod mounting.

Buy it at Amazon: Vankyo Go200 Mini LED Projector [Affiliate Link]