You can now buy a mind-blowingly small UST triple-laser projector in the US – huge, colorful images from a tiny box that sits right next to the wall

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It's barely bigger than a book, but it throws huge images from short distances

A lifestyle photo of the Optoma Photon Go projecting a (most likely rendered) image onto the wall behind it in a normally lit room during the day.
(Image credit: Optoma)
  • The Optoma Photon Go is now on-sale in the US for $999 / £899
  • Delivers 60 to 100-inch images at under 10 inches from the wall
  • 650 lumens, 8,000:1 contrast and 1.5 hours of battery life

It's all gone a bit Alice in Wonderland at Optoma, which has managed to get a triple-laser projector to drink a shrinking potion. The Optoma Photon Go is barely bigger than a chunky book, but it can project rich images in 1080p Full HD, at up to 100 inches even while sitting under a foot from the wall – and has a punchy stereo speaker system inside.

The Photon Go is now available in the US and Canada after a European launch earlier this year, and it's being marketed as a home or outdoor projector thanks to its easily transportable size and relatively light weight. It's 9.92 x 6.18 x 2.44 inches and 3.79lbs; for metric users that's 25.2 x 15.7 x 6.2cm and 1.7kg.

It's certainly small, but the specification isn't.

A product photo of the Optoma Photon Go projector on a grey surface against a grey background

(Image credit: Optoma)

Optoma Photon Go projector: key features and pricing

The Photon Go is an ultra-short throw projector delivering 1080p resolution and contrast of 8,000:1. Its throw ratio is 0.18:1 and it's capable of delivering a 100-inch image from just 10 inches away. The minimum image size is 60 inches.

The triple-laser RGB light source delivers up to 650 lumens of brightness, Optoma says, and it's expected to last for 20,000 hours.

The Photon Go has automatic focus and keystone correction, Google TV for streaming, HDMI 2.0, USB (C and A) and a 20-watt stereo sound system, and its TSA-compliant battery is good for 1.5 hours of playback.

It's an impressive specification for such a small device, and while the battery life is on the short side it's nothing an external power bank can't fix.

It's a really interesting option among the best portable projectors – it's rare for them to be ultra short throw, so this might be just what you're looking for, if you want to create a huge image anywhere without worrying about having enough distance from the screen.

The Optoma Photon Go is available now with an MSRP of $999. In the UK, it's £899.

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Carrie Marshall
Carrie Marshall

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

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