THE BEST DEALS OF THE DAY
One minute review
The Polaris 4K is a first try at the top of the line from Bomaker when it launches on Kickstarter. Gets the job done as an entry-level ultra short throw 4K projector, claiming to be the most extensive range of colors on the planet (thanks to its RGB laser technology) to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Companies will love its ability to handle 4K content natively, offering vivid colors even in a very bright room. While it delivers on that side, it still lacks the utility of a more mature platform and that's not forgivable at this cost, especially with lineups.
Or buy
The projector is directly Bomaker-free since just under €1900 with a discount of €800 when you use the promotion code POLARIS800 at checkout. Please note that the cost does not include shipping or any ancillary charges you may have to pay for mail handling and local taxes. Offer ends September 18.
How does this stack up against the competition?
The VAVA 4K projector received great reviews in its review and retails for around $2,800 in the US on Amazon. In other places,
there are a number of ultra-short throw 4K projectors that have emerged as potential contenders in the sub- $3,000 and surprisingly, all tied to Chinese user giant Xiaomi; Fengmi ($1870 on Banggood) and Mijia ($1770 old version, $1900 new version, both on Banggood) are untested, but still worth a look given the ever-increasing weight of their backing pool.
As of this writing, an 4-inch 86K TV from Tier 1 brand LG costs less than $1900 and can serve as a useful benchmark when choosing between a projector and a TV. Anything larger costs exponentially more and falls into the category of large format billboards/digital signage. Samsung's 98-inch QB98R, for example, costs more than $7,800 and weighs 77kg without the stand.
Design and functionality
- Solidly built
- No smart features
The Polaris 4K adopts the exact same format that others have popularized before. A quadrangular block of obsidian black plastic with a matte surface and a huge slanted glass window in the middle. Twenty two centimeters move the side of the projector that rests against the wall away from the laser beam window.
This is an ultra-short throw projector with a bit of oomph. With 520 x 331 x 152 mm for a weight of 9.2 kg, it's a lot of electronics and it's safe to say it's reassuringly heavy. A note to the manufacturer; It may be helpful to have recessed handles or pockets to help transport the device safely.
4K UST projector in front of 4K TV
As a category,
ultra-short throw projectors offer unique benefits that other projector or display technologies do not. It's primarily portable and mobile, ideal if you have a small flat or live upstairs and want immersive experiences like home theater. The screen size can be changed in seconds and there is little chance of "walking to the front". You will need a flat wall, preferably covered with a unique painting, or a projection screen. Made from ALR (Ambient Light Rejecting ) material Read our colleague Henry St Leger's great article on life with a 4K UST projector if you need to be persuaded.
In front of the window, the connections are located on the right side of the device, there are 2 HDMI ports (labeled 4K @ 60Hz) with one of them labeled ARC enabled, 2 service ports, one AV input, one SPDIF port, a Gigabit Ethernet port and a USB port that can handle 5W of power.
Keep in mind that there is another one located on the left side of the device, while the power button is a touch button located near the right corner of the screen.
Inside there is a radio chip that provides Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.2 as a 4-core processor (Mstar 6A-838 processor) with 3GB of memory and 32GB of storage integrated.
It's a huge disappointment that the Polaris 4K doesn't come with smart features; Forget the very slick and also intuitive Android TV experience like on the Xgimi MoGo Pro. On your site, say hello to a user interface that runs on Android 7.0, a 5-year-old operating system. There's no app store, and while the extensive granular control was better than expected, we were only able to avoid the fact that the Roku 4K device was given simply as a way to patch up the cracks.
Bomaker explained that "Google AndroidTV authorization certification only leaves TV brands and projector brands are not tolerated. Consequently, China's projector products in foreign markets are content-free (except those tolerated by TV brands)" and this includes contenders like VAVA and Optoma.
Speaking of the Roku stick,
the latter identified the Bomaker Polaris 4K as a Hisense laser TV and the two shared a number of peculiarities. The company has confirmed that Hisense is its OEM, that is, it produces the projector for Bomaker and, therefore, it will most likely use many related parts found in the former's more expensive laser TV. Nonetheless, they have their R&D team.
Finally, the control is champagne gold with solid buttons, comfortable to handle and quite sensitive throughout use; Too bad we didn't take advantage of a unified remote control environment.
Image quality
- Native 4K
- HDR10
- 2500 ANSI lumens
As this is an ultra short throw projector, keep in mind that it has a short throw ratio of 1:4, which Bomaker says means you'll get a 250cm screen at a distance of 25cm. Obviously, the further away you are from the screen, the paler and more muddy the images become and this is especially true in the upper right and also left corners. Just to confirm, this is a thing that affects any and all projectors, not just Bomaker's.
Sticking the projector to the side of the wall resulted in a diagonal 40cm, plus or minus 55 inches, with the bottom of the screen 25,3cm off the ground (or 10.3cm higher than the top surface of the Bomaker Polaris 4K). Although this is a large enough screen, an ultra-short throw laser is developed for much, considerably larger screens.
Pull a little further (48cm) and the diagonal changes to 353cm (or roughly 40 inches) with the 170 x 310cm screen.
We couldn't go any further because this was the largest vertical surface we had available., but we see no reason why you wouldn't use this projector on a much larger virtual screen.
How do we test?
When it comes to projectors, at least six variables come into play to determine the viewing experience: content, who is viewing the images, ambient light, the projector itself, its ability to be changed immediately. The box and the screen on which the images are displayed. In the absence of a dedicated screening room, we resorted to the smoothest wall we could find in our makeshift “studio”. It is uniformly pale green with rough spots, which is not ideal for testing. We used videos of Clownfish in Anemone (1080p) by Mark Schellenberg, slow-motion water droplets (HD) by NatureClip, and 4K footage of the rocky shoreline of Hawaii that we shot from a USB drive. The lights were dimmed and the curtains were drawn to make the viewing experience as stable as possible.
With a lamp life of 30.000 hours, this "RGB color laser" projector uses MEMC motion compensation technology, which artificially increases the frame rate, and the same 0,47-inch DMD (digital micromirror) as most 4K UST projectors, but with a laser light source compared to, say, VAVA's ALPD thirty source, like most of the competition. This translates to lower power consumption (185 W), which means quieter cooling and fans.
The Polaris 4K claims to use three different color sources (Class 2 laser beams) that converge to provide above-average color gamut coverage, up to 193% of conventional NTSC gamut (geek, Rec/BT.2020 at 107% and DCI.P3 at 151% ). In theory, this translates into finer details, truer colors and deeper black levels.
The manufacturer claims up to 2500 ANSI lumens of brightness, as well as a 2000:1 contrast ratio, something we haven't tested, but which, if true, should match the numbers of the Vava and Optoma CinemaX P1. Keep in mind that just as a color print is only as good as the paper it's printed on, the image quality of any projector is highly dependent on the surface it's attached to. Please note that the Polaris 4K laser TV has the ability to detect an approaching body (animals, children, adults) and automatically turn off the projector to prevent any risk of injury. Technicians should note that the projector uses a Ricoh lens
, it comes with HDR10 and doesn't have built-in 3D capability.
Our test (see sidebar) shows the Bomaker Polaris 4K to be a capable workhorse. Still images certainly take advantage of unit resolution, which could pave the way for some intriguing use cases in a WFH scenario. In addition to above-average detail colors, which while slightly off are on the right side of realism, the Polaris 4K color engine brings out well-defined skin tones.
We didn't notice any rainbow effects or artifacts common to DMD projectors. However, please note that we have tested the unit to the best of our ability, but we understand that there are circumstances beyond our control that prevent us from further exploring the capabilities of the Polaris 4K.
- Very calm
- Dolby Audio and DTS
The first piece of good news is that the Bomaker Polaris 4K is quiet, in part due to its relatively low power consumption (and dissipation). At 185W it is significantly lower than the competition despite using 3 light sources instead of one.