Picked mine up earlier today, not ceiling mounted yet and thrown straight onto a light grey wall, however, I wanted to give some on the fence HUKD people a layman's overview.

It's fantastic - buy it. I was converted in minutes and can understand entirely why people choose these over TV's. In fact I've retired my 4K TV in favour of this, it's that good.

Blacks have a nice depth, we're not looking at £1000+ projector levels of blackness, but for the price, it's cracking. Motion and colour reproduction are so far superb.

I can't wait to break out some PC games; was going to pickup a GTX 1080 for 4K gaming but decided I wanted cinema sound, a massive image, movies, and a full HD graphics card instead (RX 480 Nitro 8GB) all for around the price of a single GTX 1080. I'll jump to 4K in a couple of years.

Got the last one earlier today from the Birmingham store. Took the 6 year guarantee since it seems pretty reasonable to me. It was noted that there are none showing on the system to be stocked going forwards from Benq as they ceased production but there are 1700+ In Richer stock so I'd expect these to be around this price again not long after the sale as a clearance deal.

Ever since nearly biting on the Costco deal on the optoma 141hdx a few months ago I've dived head first into projector research, comparing to an old 720p optoma I've been using, and after many many hours reading up and seeing demos, I've come to the following conclusion:

This is the best entry level (sub £500) projector out there. Fans of the 141x (and there are many, none of which I'm trying to provoke) generally have never owned a projector before and are quite rightly impressed with having an affordable big picture experience. Il sort of quote what the manager at richer sounds told me during a demo season:

In reality, all entry levels projectors compromise on quality in areas that the £2000+ Sonys excel in. So when you compromise a little to make a £1000 projector and more at £500 you can see when demoing what your getting (or not getting) for your money. Brightness, contrast ratio, fan noise, shadow detail, colour depth...it goes on and on, just like with tellys. The 141x however, compromises too much in all areas in the sub £500 market and isn't justifiable when compared in a demo to the w1070, or a optoma hd26, viewsonic 7827 and so on.

Benq are pretty much the only honest manufacturer when it comes to real world ANSI-measured specs, such as lumens and contracts ratio. Take the optoma and epson specs with a pinch of salt - when measured in real home environments with calibrated tools by 3rd parties they are nowhere what they have in controlled labs. If you suffer badly from the rainbow effect, perhaps go for a 3lcd projector such as the epson tw5300 but read reviews on that to fully understand it's pros and cons. If you occasionally see the rainbow effect but doesn't really affect you, this handles it well and keeps it to a minimal. If you don't know what RBE is, go see a demo and move your eyes around the picture and see if it's bothersome to you.

Read the reviews posted here, particularly by John Archer. He's clued up, honest and leaves detailed reviews focusing on pros and cons. Very good at comparing models that are similarly specced too.

Seriously consider using a screen. The difference was massive using a £20 100" screen from Amazon compared to a magnolia wall on my aging optoma dw318. Colours popped more, and ambient light was nowhere nearly as much of an issue as before for daytime viewing with curtains open. If ambient light is of no concern, then you probably needn't consider it as much but for me was worth it.

If you have multiple hdmi devices such as consoles, set top boxes, streamers etc then use an amp. They vary wildly in price depending on what you need, but for most folk a standard 5.1 receiver with 4 hdmis would be fine. And you needn't suffer the tinny, bass-less sound that comes from the majority of projector speakers.

I nearly paid the full £500 for it a couple months back, and again nearly bit at £449 over Black Friday but was holding out for a reduction on the 1070+ or 1080st as both offer a shorter throw and would be more versatile for use in smaller rooms should I move house soon but at £650-£750 are a significant jump up. At £399, this was a no-brainer.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I've imparted some useful information to someone.

Brick your windows in!

I used a motorised screen that I got from Amazon for £120, it seems you can get them for between £80-£100 now.

I've posted these pics a few times, but....

Excellent projector.
Heat added

Please excuse my ignorance, but how 'may' it come with a longer warranty if signing up to their vip newsletter? Thx.

This is a great PJ, I owned one for almost 2 years, superb image for this price!

I was waiting for this or Optoma hd141x to come down in price. Now that it has come down in price there Optoma hd142x for £449. Can someone advise how benq compares with hd142x please. I dont have room size or walk size issue but I do want wireless connectivity. Thanks

http://m.richersounds.com/#!/product/opto-hd142x

Same here. Had this a couple of years now and I absolutely love this projector. Every time I watch a film on it I can't help smiling. Looks stunning at 120 inches.

Not sure whether to get this or the TH670? Seems like the extra £50 might be worth it?

I am a VIP member already but there is a charge for the 6 yr warantee. has anyone ordered one of these?

Is this projector watchable during day time?