Projector for less than £100 --- is it possible

[albie999]

I have created my SkyTrak Sim in garage, on an extreme low budget, and to be honest it looks like it as well ;-) ... but it does the job. The next thing I would like is a projector (currently just have a monitor setup), but .. just like the rest of my build, would like to do it on a budget ... so, wondering if can get a projector for less than £100 which will do the job.

Have taken a look around Amazon etc, and found a couple at a price, but seeing as don;t know much about projectors, don;t know if they will do

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELEPHAS-Pro...5620022&sr=8-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Projector-P...5620022&sr=8-6

So the question is, is it possible?

I have attached a pic of my well cheap garage setup

 

[howbow88]

I love that you have the kids bikes next to your mat

Best of luck with it mate

 

[albie999]

I love that you have the kids bikes next to your mat

Best of luck with it mate

Limited amount of space to play with .... but they don't really get in the way

 

[Jensen]

That set up looks better than I've seen in some stores ?

 

[albie999]

Well, it cost me a total of, £1000 for the skytrak, £100 for the archery netting, £20 for the hitting matt (including the fibrebuilt), so a bargain I reckon .... so you can see why I don't want to spend loads on a projector

I already had an old laptop, that was easily capable of running the SkyTrak software

 

[harpo_72]

How high is it ?
Do you have a limit to the club you can use?
Seriously interested in this as it’s one of my ideas - just have to slide it past our SWMBO

 

[albie999]

How high is it ?
Do you have a limit to the club you can use?
Seriously interested in this as it’s one of my ideas - just have to slide it past our SWMBO

The height is 8.5 ft (2 mertres) and width is 10.5ft (3.2 metres) .... and I am able to swing my driver with no problems .. I am just over 5ft 7in

Here you can see the swing... excuse the dodgy swing, just getting back into golf after dislocated knee and broken ankle ....

 

[harpo_72]

The height is 8.5 ft (2 mertres) and width is 10.5ft (3.2 metres) .... and I am able to swing my driver with no problems .. I am just over 5ft 7in

Here you can see the swing... excuse the dodgy swing, just getting back into golf after dislocated knee and broken ankle ....

Cheers, I was thinking I needed to dig down another 0.5m to get the height .. only 5’10 though.
How far away are you from the netting?

 

[USER1999]

I have a hitting net in my garage, but I haven't tried anything longer than a 6i. I would need a lot of space to feel confident of hitting a driver.

 

[robinthehood]

That looks excellent, I plan a similar thing myself. Was thinking of by an cheap large display and putting that on the wall . Projectors start at about the 150 mark but I've know idea how good they are

 

[albie999]

Cheers, I was thinking I needed to dig down another 0.5m to get the height .. only 5’10 though.
How far away are you from the netting?

I am about 6ft from the net

 

[albie999]

That looks excellent, I plan a similar thing myself. Was thinking of by an cheap large display and putting that on the wall . Projectors start at about the 150 mark but I've know idea how good they are

I have found projectors for around the £60-70 mark (am in the UK), but these are not short throw, so don't know if my head would get in the way. Plus, for the size of my net (which measures around 8ft x 8ft) ,, how far would i need the projector to be set back (although my garage does go back another 15ft so not a problem there)

 

[bobmac]

The height is 8.5 ft (2 mertres) and width is 10.5ft (3.2 metres) .... and I am able to swing my driver with no problems .. I am just over 5ft 7in

Here you can see the swing... excuse the dodgy swing, just getting back into golf after dislocated knee and broken ankle ....

Was it your right leg you had problems with?

 

[albie999]

Was it your right leg you had problems with?

No, it was my left leg ... dislocated knee and on the way down broke my ankle

 

[bobmac]

No, it was my left leg ... dislocated knee and on the way down broke my ankle

Interesting, it looks like you're protecting your right leg.
Can you put your weight on your left side at the end of your swing?

 

[albie999]

Interesting, it looks like you're protecting your right leg.
Can you put your weight on your left side at the end of your swing?

I think that is part of my issue at the moment, I am not feeling confident about putting my weight onto my left leg, although this video was a couple of weeks ago now, my left leg has got stronger, so am now able to start moving weight better. Think it is a bit of a re-education for me at the mo though, so am crimbo thinking of grabbing some lessons

 

[GreiginFife]

I have created my SkyTrak Sim in garage, on an extreme low budget, and to be honest it looks like it as well ;-) ... but it does the job. The next thing I would like is a projector (currently just have a monitor setup), but .. just like the rest of my build, would like to do it on a budget ... so, wondering if can get a projector for less than £100 which will do the job.

Have taken a look around Amazon etc, and found a couple at a price, but seeing as don;t know much about projectors, don;t know if they will do

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELEPHAS-Pro...5620022&sr=8-4

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Projector-P...5620022&sr=8-6

So the question is, is it possible?

I have attached a pic of my well cheap garage setup

View attachment 28696

So to answer the projector question, it is possible with either of those projectors. BUT, they are both low lumens at a "claimed" 4500. You will need a relatively dark space all of the time and a bright surface to project to. That beige coloured netting at the back won't give you good results with either of those projectors. My colleague has the Apeman that he uses at work for presentations and swears by it but only if the room is dark enough.
I have a LG PH550 mini projector for work and even with 550 lumens its still not brilliant unless it's dull and it seems a lot brighter than the Apeman. So I would guess that the 4500 claim is possibly a bit wide of the mark, I mean after all, who has a light meter to actually test the claim?

 

[Twire]

Few things to consider, where are you mounting the projector, floor or ceiling? How far from the impact net? You can get short or long throw projectors and where you are going to mount it will determine which one you'll need. I project onto a 3 metre net so needed my projector around 5 metres away to fill the net, this meant I had to have a long throw projector. If using in natural light it's best to get something over 2000 lumens, and even that will struggle under natural light from distance. I ended up getting an Optoma HD27e and that does a great job.

 

[Jigger]

Go for at least 2000 lumens and ideally short throw otherwise it will be small on the screen. I got a fantastic BENQ short throw one for projector point for £500 if you ever upgrade.

 

[brendy]

The projectors you listed are cheap chinese rubbish with 800x480 resolution so will look awful and claims of high lumen is a lie also.
It is possible to buy second hand Epson and other reputable brands for 100-150 with plenty of hours remaining on the bulbs. I'd sooner go branded for this, I did buy an Epson myself for watching movies with the family.