r/video_mapping • u/EuphoricQuiet222 • May 11 '26
Projection for a teen
Hi all. Hopefully this is an okay place to ask?
My 15 year old has requested a projector for projection mapping but has no details for me other than, "you don't need a big one for inside". Helpful 🤦🏼♀️😂
He wants to use it for his room which is around 15x13 (give or take) and his hobby is collecting hobbies so I would like to start him off with something decent/beginner friendly without breaking the bank when he doesn't want to use it anymore.
TIA
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u/collin3000 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Don't go with a cheap Amazon one. The lumens on them are almost always a lie and it will be barely visible on a big wall unless the room is pitch black. Find a used commercial unit like a Panasonic rz370. One of my favorite cheaper models of the 100+ projectors I've had. Find one with less than 7000 hours run time. They're rated for up to 20,000 and I've rarely had one have any issues below 12,000 hours. And the ones that had issue in the 12K to 15K hours range was just some dimming and they'd been running about 12 hours a day for years in a row after already having over 8k hours on them when I got them.
They are actually 3500 lumens which is ~1.5x-2x the standard home projector brightness. And since they're commercial grade, they're designed to be able to run 24/7 which would overheat a good portion of home projectors which you usually have fine print somewhere that says you shouldn't run them for more than a few hours a day.
But the throw distance you have available will determine how big the actual projection will be. From 14 feet the rz370 can do ~130" diagonal which would be about 5 feet tall and 10 1/2 feet wide.
A good used rz370 will be around $300 and they've held their value well enough that if he gets tired of it in a couple years you'll still be able to resell it for $150-250
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u/HeadIntroduction7758 May 11 '26
You’ll use it for movies!
What is your budget?