Do not buy the Sxhlseller Mini Projector expecting it to function in any kind of good way. Sure, it’s cheap. It’s also pure, garbage with no redeeming features. No, not even its shockingly low price.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cheaper than a takeaway burger meal | Cheaply and badly designed |
| HDMI and Composite inputs | Video output is eye-wateringly bad in every context |
| Works from USB or Wall Socket power | It’s micro-USB, and the power adaptor loves falling out of wall sockets. |
Score: -1/5
 |
Do NOT buy Sxhlseller Mini Projector! | Buy On Amazon |
If you buy a product using the link above, ART may earn a small commission. Honestly, if you do use that link, you should instead consider making a donation to ART, because you won’t be ending up with an interesting or useful projector in ANY way. Are you sensing a theme in this review already? Good.
In this review
Sxhlseller Mini Projector Specifications
Sxhlseller Mini Projector Design
Sxhlseller Mini Projector Performance
Sxhlseller Mini Projector Verdict (Spoiler: GUILTY)
Ethical disclaimer: The Sxhlseller Mini Projector used in this projector was paid for, and this is (and nobody still reading is surprised, right?) not as a result of any collaboration or approach from such a (cough) fine and established company such as “Sxhlseller”. Ahem.
In any case, even for situations like this, I do feel that proper ethical disclosure is important, and if it’s meant to go ahead of any review, it has to go ahead of ALL of them.
For more on ART’s Ethics position, see here.
Alex’s Note: I’ve put “claimed” in here more often than I usually would. This is not accidental, as you’ll see if you continue reading. Please do so.
Also, a tiny bit of context here. The other week, I reviewed the rather inexpensive Bauhn 1080p Home Theatre Projector, a cheap and cheerful home projector sold by ALDI.
In doing so, I did a little research into just how cheaply one could buy an Australian-delivered projector, and was surprised to find Amazon selling one for $11.16.
That’s… cheap. Very, very cheap. Suspiciously cheap.
I challenged my readership that if they wanted me to suffer, they could pay for the privilege… and somebody known to me did.
I’m not going to name names (they know who they are!) – but this is why I’m reviewing the Sxhlseller Mini Projector in the first place. Sometimes you have to suffer for the ART.
Design
How much of a properly designed projector can you get for $11.16?
Not very much at all.
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector is at least compact, measuring in at just 126.4×85.8×47.7mm and weighing around 157 grams, so it’s theoretically portable. The challenge here is that it’s built out of very cheap ABS plastic that feels brittle to the touch; I strongly suspect that if you did drop it onto any kind of hard surface, it would shatter like porcelain.
Now, admittedly, we do have to come back to that $11.16 figure, because what can you expect out of tech that cheap? While I can put up with ugly design, I’d rather like it to be functional, and the Sxhlseller Mini Projector fails this at just about every turn.
It has controls on the top of the projector, but they’re white buttons on a white background, which means that they’re essentially impossible to see when you’re using them.
The focus slider on the side is laughably weak, and I’m certain over time it’ll simply collapse, taking all pretence of focus with it. More on that later.
On the right hand side, Sxhlseller crams in an AC power jack too closely above a tiny power switch, next to HDMI and USB-A inputs. The power switch is so close to the power plug that it’s near impossible to use when you’re powering the projector this way.
All of the controls on this side are crammed in together uncomfortably close, which does create some heat dissipation issues when the Sxhlseller Mini Projector is being used. Over time, I could totally see it affecting the plastic wrap around any connected HDMI cable, for example.
Flipping to the back, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack and AV input sitting side by side. Sxhlseller does include a simple AV to composite output cable, which does please my inner retro nerd, or at least would if this was a good projector in the first place, but I think I’ve spoiled the fact that it isn’t already. It also features a microSD card slot and 5V USB power socket, which means you’ve got a choice when it comes to powering it up.
You can power the Sxhlseller Mini Projector from USB, but you’ll need both a 5V power supply and in a truly retro step, a microUSB cable to power it up. Again, sigh, $11.16 doesn’t get you much.
It does get you a wall plug for direct power, but again here the curse of that $11.16 price point comes into play. The Sxhlseller Mini Projector did come with an Australian plug, but it’s one that so curiously and badly made that it doesn’t fit snugly into Australian plug sockets on walls.
If you’re plugging it into a vertical wall socket, it’s highly likely to fall out, which is comical, but not endearing. For direct power, grab a power board and place it horizontally… and maybe cross your fingers as you do.
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector does come with a very light, very cheaply built remote control, and once again I am drawn back to that $11.16 price point, because it’s only fair to judge products based on their value.
There isn’t much in the remote control for sure, with a battery compartment (batteries not included, of course) that doesn’t fit well and squishy rubber buttons that often fail to register with the projector itself.
In terms of style, the deep yellow on the Sxhlseller Mini Projector does rather make it look like it could be a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy, at least in part. It looks cheap and tacky, and honestly, I suspect the only reason it’s not a Happy Meal toy is that even Maccas has standards…
According to the side of the box, it also comes in either black or blue colours, though this doesn’t seem to be an option being sold in Australia… or at least by not such a prestigious brand as Sxhlseller.
Sxhlseller isn’t, of course, an actual brand; it’s yet another company trying to find a “unique” brand name to sell relabelled goods on Amazon without the risk of being pulled for copyright infringement.
There, I think you’re safe, Sxhlseller. While your brand might score very well in Scrabble, it’s near impossible to say, let alone be worth bothering faking.
Performance
The product description of the Sxhlseller Mini Projector lists it – and I quote – as a “1920×1080 Resolution Mini Projector”.
It says “1080p HD” RIGHT THERE. Also “Outdoor Play” and “Quality is good”, and like those statements, it’s not true.
This is at best obfuscation, and certainly arguably what most folks would call a lie.
It’s not a 1920×1080 (AKA 1080p) projector at all. Its true native resolution is quite a bit lower, clocking in (as per its flimsy product manual) at just 320×240, or QVGA if you like your old school terminology.
Also from the specifications listed on Amazon, it’s further claiming 1920×1080 display resolution (a lie) and Bluetooth connectivity (another lie).
To give that a little context, QVGA is the resolution of the screen on the iPod Classic, a model which first emerged in 2005 with a 2.5 inch screen. At 2.5 inches, you could hide a lot of video flaws 20 years ago.
At the 17 inches or more projection size of the Sxhlseller Mini Projector, it’s all just ugly.
So what gives with the “1080p” claim, precisely?
This is a bit of an established gotcha in the projector trade, because there’s plenty of units out there that can handle 1080p content, but having actual 1080p-capable output is a different matter.
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector takes in video signals at up to 1080p, but all it can do is downscale them to a far more miserable QVGA rate. I did initially type “QVGA quality” there, but there’s nothing quality about how the Sxhlseller Mini Projector works.
Images end up being presented with a blocky look that makes them appear as thought they’re being shown through a fly screen, because this is absolutely what happens when you blow up a 320×240 image to projection sizes. It astonishingly gets worse from there, however.
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector has a side mounted focus wheel that simply adjusts the extrusion of the lens to modify focus, but you won’t need it much, because getting proper focus out of it almost always equates to jamming it up into its topmost position. Anything else blurs the image incredibly quickly, and while that does mean you avoid the flyscreen effect, it’s only because you can’t make out what’s on screen anyway.
But wait, there’s more – or, more accurately, less, because who actually wants to be able to see something from a projector anyway?
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector has a contrast ratio of just 800:1, which means that in anything other than a fully darkened room, you’re going to struggle to make anything out at all. Forget using this as a cheap portable way to project PowerPoint presentations, unless you really don’t want your clients to see what it is you’re showing them anyway. The claim here is that it’s suitable for outdoor use, and that’s just plain ridiculous.
This claim might not be a lie. They can believe that everyone should indeed have access to quality goods.
It’s just that they’re not personally selling them.
The only upside here is that if you do accidentally look into the lens, it doesn’t hurt anywhere near as much as it does with a properly powered projector that can throw out serious light.
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector does have integrated speakers, and by now, you can probably guess how bad they are. Even “bad” is being somewhat generous, because it presents tinny audio at pathetic volumes that would put an old school AM radio to shame, made even worse by the fan that tries (and mostly fails) to keep the unit cool blowing out whatever audio presentation it has.
There’s no integrated Bluetooth for audio – and there, to be fair, at $11.16, I think it might be pushing matters – but if you did have to endure the Sxhlseller Mini Projector, hooking up a set of wired speakers would be very wise indeed.
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector’s menus are simple, and do I really have to tell you that they’re poor?
You can technically adjust sound profiles, image settings for colour temperature or image flipping or even (theoretically) update the firmware. I can’t see how I’d do that or where I’d get the files from, though I do note that the unit I’ve got says it’s running on version 24.10.6 of the platform. Which suggests that there are 23 prior versions of this wretched thing out there that are even worse.
I’m not sure I want to contemplate the prospect of projectors worse than this one any longer.
Sxhlseller Mini Projector: Alex’s Verdict
Don’t.
Just… don’t.
I’ve been reviewing tech gear over four different decades now (yikes!) and in that time I’ve tested many fine products, more than a few mediocre ones and intermittently, some clunkers.
Classics like the Fish PC (which was shaped like, well, you can work it out) got low scores, though the editor of the publication where that landed wouldn’t let me give it zero. I was the editor at GameSpot AU when Backyard Wrestling: Don’t Try This At Home came out, and I very accurately gave that zero, because that game was terrible.
The Sxhlseller Mini Projector is in a class all of its own, so particularly bad even bringing that $11.16 price into focus – something I struggle to do with the projector itself – and so it gathers my very first negative score rating.
Not only should you not buy it, you should actively not buy it.
If you’ve got $11.16 burning a hole in your pocket right now, spend it on something else.
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