Vankyo Leisure 430 review: A super affordable portable projector

Projectors have come a long way over the years in quality, performance, price, and value. While some are geared toward home theatre setups, there are others that go the super-affordable and portable route. Of course, there are plenty of these options on the market to choose from.

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Our Vankyo Leisure 430 review takes a look at a portable projector that offers up a pretty decent picture given its size and cost. Read on for our full review.

Specifications

The Vankyo Leisure 430 portable projector has the following features and specifications:

Model	Vankyo Leisure 430 GC333
Display technology	LCD
Light source	LED
Resolution	800 x 480 (native)
Contrast ratio	2000:1 contrast ratio
Input signal	576i, 576P, 720i, 720P, 1080i, 1080P
Installation type	Front/Rear/Ceiling
Aspect ratio	4:3/16:9/Auto
Projection distance	3.9 to 23.6′
Projection size	40 to 236 inches
Lamp life	50000 hrs
Focus	Manual
Keystone	+/- 15°
Speaker	3W/4ohm
Power supply	100V-240V, 50/60Hz
Photo format supported	BMP/JPG/PNG/GIF/JPEG
Audio format supported	ACC/MP2/MP3/PCM/FLAC/WMA
Video format supported	AVI/MP4/MKV/FLV/MOV/RMVB/3GP/MPEG1/MPEG2/H.264/XVID
Ports	HDMI in, USB 2.0, VGA, AV in, Audio out, SD Card slot
Mounting screw	1/4-inch
Dimensions	220 x 170 x 90mm (8.7 x 6.7 x 3.5in)
Weight	1.22kg (2.68lb)

What’s in the box

• Vankyo Leisure 430
• Remote (2x AAA batteries required for remote, not included)
• Carrying bag
• AV cable
• HDMI cable
• Power cable
• User manual
• Quick start guide

Design

Like most projectors, the Vankyo Leisure 430 is rectangular in shape with rounded edges and corners. The lens is located on the front of the projector on the left side. An IR sensor sits in the middle and the Vankyo logo is printed on the right. The entire front face is covered with a clear plastic cap as well, giving it an interesting finish.

The left side of the projector is where you’ll find the power input and air inlet for ventilation. The right side has the air outlet, audio out, AV in, SD card slot, USB port, HDMI port, and VGA port. Another air inlet and IR port are on the back of the projector.

The top of the projector is where you’ll find the focus and keystone correction rings behind the lens. Towards the back of the projector are your five buttons. The first says OK and has a silver d-pad ring around it. To the right of it (when looking at the back of the projector) is your back button, input source, menu button, and power button.

Finally, the bottom of the projector has four padded feet, the speaker grille, and a ceiling mount screw hole that also accommodates the included front height adjustment foot.

The projector isn’t anything out of the ordinary when it comes to looks. It is also nice and compact in size, coming in at about 9-inches wide, 7-inches deep, and 3 1/4-inches in height.

The included remote is pretty small and compact as well. Black in colour, it is roughly 5 1/2-inches by 1 1/2-inches by 1/2-inch thick. There are nine buttons, a directional pad, and a volume toggle on the remote. The buttons from top to bottom allow you to power the unit, mute the volume, fast reverse, play/pause, and fast forward. Below those is the directional pad with an OK button nestled in the middle. Underneath the pad are three more buttons for back, menu, and changing the input source. Finally, the volume down and up button is below that.

Display

I’ve been spoiled by 4K projectors for a couple of years now, including the Samsung LSP9T, so I’m going to try and be as objective as I can with this lower resolution projector. While it accepts 1080p input, its native resolution is only 800×400.

Setup is pretty easy and the Vankyo Leisure 430 comes with both a focus and keystone correction ring. That being said, I found it really hard to focus the projector when it was tilted at most angles. While the keystone made the picture square, I could only get the middle of the picture to focus properly while the edges were blurry. The more keystone correction applied, the blurrier the edges of the projector. The easiest way to focus the projector is to have it sit on something at the appropriate height for a mostly rectangular picture by default.

The Vankyo Leisure 430 isn’t very bright, and works much better in darker rooms without a lot of ambient light. If you’re planning on using this in a living room, you’ll want to close the blinds. If you don’t, the picture quality will be light and looked washed out. Once you are in a darker setting, the picture actually looks pretty decent for a 1080p projector. Colours aren’t too bad, and once you get it focused properly, it is pretty clear, albeit 1080p resolution.

As for picture size, I was easily able to get over 100-inches and still being able to focus. At that size, you’re looking at setting the projector up at about twelve feet from your wall. While the projector can supposedly project up to a 236-inch picture from 28′ away, Vankyo recommends an 80-inch picture (from about 9.84′ away) for the best image quality.

There are a few limited picture options that you can change on the projector as well. These include:

• Picture mode: Vivid, Standard, Soft, User (Contrast, Brightness, Color, Sharpness, Tint)
• Color temperature: Cool, Medium, Warm, User (Red, Green, Blue)
• Aspect Ratio: Auto, 4:3, 16:9, Zoom1, Zoom2, Just Scan, Panorama, Point-to-Point
• Noise Reduction: Off, Low, Middle, High, Default
• Projection Direction
• Reduce Display Size

Overall, for the price point and the fact it’s not even a 1080p projector, the picture quality is pretty decent.

Ease of Use

The Vankyo Leisure 430 projector is pretty easy to use. Simply plug it in, connect the source, SD Card, or USB stick you want to use, and turn it on. Select the proper source and away you go.

Performance

As far as performance is concerned, the Vankyo Leisure 430 portable projector performed just fine. It started up fairly quickly and runs just fine, although the fan is a bit loud if you’re sitting close to it. The longest I ran it for was about four hours and it didn’t feel overly warm or anything. Switching between various inputs worked as one would expect. I was able to stream content from a laptop and console via HDMI, a smartphone via a USB-C HDMI adapter, and a Chromecast with Google TV via HDMI. Playing supported content from a USB drive and SD card worked without issue as well.

Sound Quality

The Vankyo Leisure 430 projector has a single down-firing 3W speaker on board. It does get pretty loud and the sound is crisp at full volume, but don’t expect any bass or surround type sound. For most rooms, 50% volume was plenty for listening to most shows and even music.

There are a few sound option settings you can adjust as well:

• Sound Mode: Standard, Music, Movie, Sports, User (Treble, Bass)
• Balance
• Auto Volume

While the audio could be better, for a projector its not too bad.

Accessories

The Vankyo Leisure 430 also includes a nice little travel bag with a carry handle. Cloth on the outside, the case is mostly black in colour with a grey bottom. The Vankyo logo is printed in white on the front. A double zipper goes up each side and meets at the top. When unzipped, the front of the bag flips open and there are two compartments. The first is for the projector and has two straps to hold it in place while the second is for your cables and other accessories. In addition, the top flap has a pouch in it for storing the user manual and included cleaning supplies.

It’s simple but it works and is nicely padded. While it won’t prevent damage if you toss the bag around, it should protect the projector just fine from minor bumps and the like.

Price/Value

As far as projectors are concerned, the Vankyo Leisure 430 portable projector is very affordable. It is currently selling on Amazon for US$119.85. While I wouldn’t use it for my main projector, it’s great for a kids’ room or watching a movie in a non-typical location like the backyard or camping.

Photo Gallery

Wrap-up

Even though it’s not a 1080p projector, the Vankyo Leisure 430 portable projector offers up a pretty decent picture given its size and price.

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Last Updated on June 6, 2021.