Definitely one to consider for the price

I'm adding my review of this projector after consulting the first helpful one in-store, via my iPhone, at a major electronics retailer when my wife and I were looking for a data projector recently. I have university classroom-type uses for one, whereas she gives semi-regular presentations to small audiences in a medical-business environment (5-20 people in small to medium conference room setting). We were looking for a projector that was bright, crisp, good color reproduction, easy to use, lightweight for easy transport on airplanes and (optional but hopefully) was a reasonable price. So far, the Optoma EP721 has delivered solidly on all of those points for both of us. Particularly noteworthy is the price; selling for something in the $600-650 range as I write this, this is a remarkable little projector (just under 4 lbs., with a small footprint) for the money and-- to my way of thinking-- makes it much more valuable and useful than a thousand-dollar-plus machine for anything but perhaps the most HD-video-larger-audience-type applications.

Out of the box, the projector is a snap to set up-- no drivers to install or anything like that; just plug it in, connect the video cable and you're off. A helpful "quick start" card tells you what key combination on your laptop will send video signals to the projector (e.g. for Dells, it's Fn-F8). The computer and projector will do the rest.

IMPORTANT NOTE: at TWO different major electronics retail chains (we'll call them "red" and "yellow," respectively....grin), the salespeople had largely NO IDEA what they were talking about with respect to the specs on these projectors, and while I knew enough about projectors to know when they were blowing smoke out of places from which smoke usually does not come in a healthy adult human, here's the one thing I DIDN'T know until we opened the box on this projector-- they may TELL you that it doesn't come with a case. As such, you'll buy a case along with the projector and spend another $40-150. THIS PROJECTOR COMES WITH A VERY NICE CASE in which the projector is in fact PACKED FROM THE FACTORY IN THE BOX!!! As it turns out, the Optoma case is pretty much as nice if not nicer than many add-ons you could buy in the store-- well padded, extra pocket for cables, etc., velcro strap for holding the projector securely in place. DON'T BUY A CASE until you see what Optoma has given you! Then, I suppose, if you don't like it, you can always shop for another case some other time. :)

Controls on the projector are few, utilitarian, highly functional and basically idiot-proof. Connections on the back will accept video from a range of sources (standard VGA, S-video, etc.) and there's a USB port as well. In addition to the nice case, the projector comes with all of the cables you may need (and some you may not) AND a remote control (including batteries), which is another nice touch for such a modestly-priced machine.

Both of us use the projector primarily for PowerPoint slideshows, web browser-projecting and other general stuff like that in a business presentation setting. The EP721 does an excellent job and produces crisp, clear, color-true images from a range of between 5-20 feet in which we have used it so far. I can't attest to anything larger/farther back, but it's a pretty bright li'l pup at 2200 lumens, so I think it'd have a wide envelope of range before you get into "washed out image" territory. There is both a zoom wheel on the top of the machine AND a fine focus ring on the lens itself; playing with a combination of these easy controls will produce a very clear projection on ordinary uses.

Because of our particular uses for this projector, I don't know how it would handle more critical streaming video or home theatre applications; I suppose there are probably bigger and better projectors out there for those tasks. For what I call "general projection work" with slideshows and such in an environment where the machine has to be able to travel along with a laptop, however, we're very pleased so far with the EP721. The price in particular is a gem. I concur with the earlier opinion that in a sub-thousand-dollar unit, this one's the way to go.