The Philips PicoPix Max One is a small form factor battery-powered projector that is easy to use and gives a sharp, bright, native 1080p picture. It lacks the features of some other small projectors but makes up for it with a no-nonsense easy to use menu system and is perfect for watching films on the go or giving presentations.
- Brand: Philips
- Native Resolution: 1080p
- ANSI Lumens: 800
- Projection Technology: DLP
- Connectivity: HDMI, USB Type-C
- Throw Ratio: 1,2:1
- Audio: 2 x 4 Watt internal speakers, 3.5mm Jack
- OS: N.A
- Lamp Life: Up to 30,000h
- Small enough to easily travel with
- No-nonsense, easy to use menus
- Enough battery life for films and presentations
- Small enough to easily travel with
- Lack of Android OS could be a turn off for some
- USB Type-C not readily supported
Want a big bright video the size of a wall? You need a projector. Unfortunately, your options are limited. You could get a super crisp and bright image using a commercial-grade cinema projector which will put dents in your wallet, ceiling, and electricity bill. Alternatively, you could get a miniature "pico" sized projector, which has all the benefits of being cheap and small but gives a smaller, low-quality picture as a trade-off.
The Philips PicoPix Max One promises to deliver a large, crisp 1080p picture while being small enough to fit in a rucksack. Not only that, it's battery-powered and supports USB Type-C. Could this be the perfect compromise?
Nearly. It's not without issues, but there is a lot to like here.
Pico in Size, Max in Picture
The Picopix max one is a small form factor full HD projector, capable of projecting native 1080p video at up to 120" in size. The onboard 3000 mAh battery promises up to three hours of view time, and the onboard USB-A port can be used to power a casting device like a Chromecast or Fire TV stick, making it pretty convenient as a portable media device for watching TV or giving presentations.
The main video input is HDMI, but there is also a USB Type-C port that can be used as a video input or a power output provided both functions work with your device.
Power comes via a DC barrel jack and included 65w power plug, and there is an optional 3.5mm audio output if you don't want to use the onboard dual 4 watt speakers, which are nothing to write home about - more or less as good as laptop speakers, but to be fair no projector gives all that good audio especially at this price range.
The projector comes with an infrared remote and has capacitive touch buttons on the projector body for menu hopping without it.
In terms of mounting it has a single-threaded socket on the bottom compatible with all tripods, and most mounting boards for projectors, though its small size and light weight make it much easier to mount than most others.
Unlike its big brother the PicoPix Max (not that they differ in size) this projector has no onboard wireless connectivity, or operating system capable of playing and storing media. You'll need to connect it to a laptop, smartphone, or casting device. That said, the PixoPix Max One costs almost half the price of the PicoPix Max making it a good budget alternative.
The contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and throw ratio of 1.2:1(D:W) allow it to work in a variety of settings, and whether you are projecting it large on your living room wall, or going for a smaller image closer to a screen it gives a crisp picture without needing to fiddle with many settings.
The video can go up to 120" and remain sharp, provided you are in a dark room with a decent, non-reflective flat surface to project onto.
Out of the Box Experience
First time setup of the Max One is very simple, just plug it in and turn it on. The auto keystone correction is fairly decent when projecting on a flat plane but anything beyond that is going to require some manual keystoning.
This is made pretty easy with the remote, which is also where you focus the lens. Oddly I couldn't find a menu setting on the projector itself for this, so you really don't want to lose that remote!
One of the benefits of not having an Android operating system is that it really is as simple as plug it in and go. No menu hopping, connecting to Wi-Fi, or setting up user accounts.
The PicoPix Max One in General Use
For testing, we mainly used a Chromecast and had no issues. As for battery, we managed to watch a whole film on the medium brightness setting (while also powering the Chromecast).
Before getting started I'd fully charged it, so we were able to more or less watch a film on it straight out of the box. The battery lasted the whole way through and by the time I turned it off the battery was still showing some charge - you'll have to have a long business meeting to outlast it.
In fact, all HDMI use was without issue. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for USB Type-C.
USB Type-C Woes
Before going on it's important to give a little context to what USB Type-C video is, as many issues here may not be the fault of the projector and more an issue with USB Type-C adoption and regulation.
Video over USB Type-C (using a regular USB Type-C cable with no converters), uses DisplayPort Alt Mode. Not all devices support it, and it can be hard to find solid information on which devices do. In the case of my Google Pixel 4a smartphone, Alt Mode is turned off in software at the kernel level. I'm not sure why that's the case, but luckily I own that Chromecast that Google also conveniently sells.
In my experience, I never got direct USB Type-C video input working, even after trying on multiple devices. Your experience may differ, and it'd be unfair of me to mark this against the projector when this is still an issue found across a large range of consumer devices. This might change in time, but without a firmware update, it seems likely the Max One will always have these issues.
More importantly, if you use a USB Type-C adapter dongle you won't have this issue. These dongles come with HDMI conversion built-in and are widely supported. If you are already using a dongle like this to attach your laptop to an external monitor, you won't have any issues.
Charging? Well… Not so Much
One of the interesting qualities of this projector is its ability to charge USB devices, and the prospect of using the projector's internal 3000 mAh battery as a power bank seemed like a great bonus feature.
Unfortunately, the USB Type-C charging just wouldn't work regardless of what I tried. Turning USB Type-C charging on in the menu wouldn't charge a dead device. When the device was turned on it didn't work either. A little USB snooping showed that the projector was controlling the power delivery negotiation but bizarrely was trying to charge from the device rather than actually charge it, and changing settings on the smartphone didn't do anything to remedy it.
By contrast, USB Type-A charging works just fine, but only when the projector is on. Unfortunately, whenever the projector is on the fan and projection LED are also on. This means charging is only available while actively using the projector.
This is still fine, and it's a handy feature, but it does mean you can't use this as you would a regular power bank, which would be handy for use on the go.
It's also worth noting that no onboard media player means that you cannot use a thumb drive to play videos. The USB Type-A port only provides power, and the projector itself has no onboard decoding for video files.
It is a shame as it would have been a convenient addition, but it would step up the complexity of the operating system. As previously mentioned, the more expensive PicoPix Max has these features built-in, and when you consider that the price of the Max One plus a casting device is still hundreds of dollars cheaper, it's a fair trade-off.
Should You Buy the Philips PicoPix Max One?
So, to the big question. Is this projector worth buying given the issues I had? I'd argue yes, as the majority of these issues cannot be leveled at the projector.
At its core, this is a powerful mini projector that is incredibly portable and simple to use. The padded carry bag easily carries the projector, Chromecast, and an HDMI cable. It's not going to replace a proper home cinema projector any time soon, but it's not meant to either. It worked perfectly well for movie night when plugged into a decent speaker, and unless you live in an aircraft hanger you likely don't need a bigger picture than the 120" it offers.
When compared to other small form factor projectors at this price, the big draw here is the native 1080p resolution, something many others lack. Sure it's missing the onboard Android TV operating system or built-in Bluetooth speaker, but in terms of picture quality, you are hard pushed to find a pico projector at this price range that performs this well.
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