Rarely does a projector simultaneously push the envelope at both ends with extreme economy and the latest technological advances, but Epson's PowerLite L890E does exactly that with impressive results. It should fit right into large conference rooms, lecture halls, or medium-sized houses of worship with its laser-lit trio of LCD panels and the ability to put more than 8,000 lumens on the screen. Its native WUXGA resolution can be boosted to UHD levels with pixel shifting for impressively sharp imaging.

Thoughtful design touches abound, from the one-two punch of wired networking and Wi-Fi to the cable cover, innovative NFC sensor for sharing device configurations and optional PixAlign camera. Yet, the L890E does without audio-in jacks (for perhaps connecting a microphone) and lacks the luxury of swappable lenses.

The PowerLite L's family of 12 different models delivers between 6,000 and 8,000 lumens with long- and short-throw options to fit just about any mid-sized room, while the flagship L890E's $5,033 price tag undercuts at least one competitor's similar model by a couple thousand dollars - yet is brighter. The only question that remains is whether to think of it as a bright large conference room projector or a small venue one. It just might be both.

Features

While economy is paramount for the Epson PowerLite L890E, its affordability did not come at the expense of features and performance. Rated at 8,000 lumens, the projector's laser lighting and three LCD panels with 4K Enhancement can boost its WUXGA imaging to 4K levels with spectacular results. In other words, it can light up a large conference room, lecture hall, small house of worship, or a specialty museum exhibit and is a bargain compared to other brands on the market.

If that's too much brightness for the current budget, the PowerLite L family has 12 members that are rated at 6,000 and 8,000 lumens with three different lenses. While the L890E model I looked at uses standard throw optics with a ratio of between 1.35 and 2.2:1 and a 1.6X zoom lens, there are two different short throw versions with 0.5 to 0.7 as well as 0.79 to 1.36 throw ratios. Undiscounted pricing ranges from $3,166 to $5,033.

Available in white or black, the projector under review is all muscle at 17.3 x 4.8 x 12.0 inches (WHD) and 19 pounds. Still, figure on having two people on hand to install it. The L890E's eight attachment points underneath provide mounting flexibility, regardless of whether you're using the company's $170 ELPMBPJG hardware or a generic projector mount. It has three adjustable feet.

Inside, the L890E's optical path starts with blue laser light that's divided into two beams, one of which is converted to yellow light with a phosphor disc and then split into its red and green components with dichroic mirrors. Before the primary color beams go to individual 0.67-inch LCD panels, a diffuser and other techniques "despeckle" the image.

With a trio of WUXGA (1920 x 1200) LCD panels, the L890E can deliver impressively sharp and solid UHD imaging using pixel shifting. The three LCD imaging targets move diagonally in unison back and forth 60 times a second, yielding a final 3840 x 2400 resolution. It lacks the ability to process 120 Hz video.

Rated at 20,000 hours, or 30,000 hours in its low-power Extended mode, the L890E projector needs four inches of clearance in the back and eight inches on the left side, while the front and right sides require 16 inches to keep it from overheating. It can be aimed in any direction, including straight up, down or used in portrait mode and during my two-week evaluation, the L890E never got above 104.1 degrees Fahrenheit.

Unlike DLP projectors, the 3LCD-based L890E has an air filter to keep its optics clean. Designed to last for the life of the projector, if the filter gets clogged or you demand a clean machine, replacements cost $49. It takes a few minutes to replace.

Able to project 4:3, 16:6, 16:9, and 16:10 video, the projector can use Microsoft's Front Row 21:9 aspect ratio for squeezing more faces onto a screen. Like many in its class, the L890E lacks the ability to change lenses to suit the room at hand. Its 1.6X zoom lens helps frame the screen from a variety of distances and can project a 40-foot image (measured diagonally); it's best to keep it at 25 feet, where the image starts to wash out. Check out Projector Central's Throw Distance Calculator to see if it fits your requirements.

While the L890E has a single focus ring, the short-throw models have something generally reserved for more expensive designs: dual-purpose focus rings. The two adjustable optical elements allow for independent focusing of the image's center and corners for getting pinpoint sharpness from edge to edge.

Everything on the L890E is manual, including its knobs for shifting the image up and down by as much as 50 percent as well as right and left by up to 20 percent. There aren't locks to prevent image drifting, though. The projector's conventional keystone correction works up to 30 degrees vertically and horizontally, and Epson's Quick Corner interface let me pull and push the image square to fit a screen. The projector can perform point, curved screen and corner wall corrections.

The projector's connections are extensive, and Epson provides a screw-on cable cover to conceal that area. Older schools and businesses take notice, the L890E lacks legacy video connections. Instead, it is fully up to date with a pair of HDMI 2.0 inputs and a connection for HDBase-T uncompressed networked video. There's an HDMI-out port for sending a cloned video signal to a secondary display or projector for an overflow room (for parent's night at school or crowded church) or a projection booth (at a business).

In addition to a 10-watt speaker that's good for mid-sized rooms, the projector's 3.5 millimeter headphone jack can send audio to an external sound system. Unlike other PowerLite projectors, the L890E lacks an audio-in jack or one for using a microphone.

The RS-232 serial port is augmented by two Type A USB ports (for power or lifting images from a flash drive) and a Type B outlet (for diagnostic purposes). It unfortunately doesn't work with a mouse for flying through the menu choices during set up.

With 100Base-T wired Ethernet and 802.11ax Wi-Fi, its networking is light years ahead of others in its class. After typing the projector's IP address into a browser, I needed to add a password. The projector's interface has functional categories, starting with the Basic Control page with everything from the input source to volume to displaying the 18 test patterns.

The Advanced section takes this a couple steps further with adjustments for Brightness, Contrast, Tint, and Dynamic Contrast Enhancement, while offering 13 levels of white balance. As good and configurable as the L890E is, the projector lacks high dynamic range (HDR) decoding for extra highlights and color saturation in encoded material.

Meanwhile, the Status page not only shows how many hours the projector's been used, but the current temperature and laser status. Compatible with Epson's Projector Management software, a fleet of Epson projectors can be monitored, regardless of whether they are down the hall, across campus, or in another state. There's the choice between the Windows program and a web-based interface.

A big bonus of its Wi-Fi networking is that the L890E can receive and project Miracast screen mirroring so that anyone in the room can share screens. It works with Epson's iProjection app to deliver a system's PDF documents, websites, camera, and images but doesn't show videos. The built-in moderator function allows the meeting leader or teacher to pick whose screen is projected.

Able to show two screens horizontally next to each other, it's a good way to project a video call next to the meeting agenda or class lesson. You need to be careful with the pairing because if you stream the HDMI 2 port on the left, you can't use HDBaseT video or a Wi-Fi-connected screen on the right.

A recent firmware update adds Apple's AirPlay2. I used the European spec update because the U.S. version wasn't ready, and it worked well mirroring the screen of my iPad, allowing me to send images to the screen. Epson plans to incorporate it into the projector's software.

The L890E is the rare projector with a near-field communications (NFC) sensor that, along with the Epson app, allows the reading of a projector's configuration file and writing it to another projector. This is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to get multiple Epson projectors within an organization working off the same page.

Small and light, the L890E's remote control uses a pair of AA batteries. It had a 30-foot range and can trigger each of the projector's major actions, from turning it on or off to selecting the source. It can project from a USB source at the tap of a key as well as open and manipulate the projector's menu structure. While the projector cannot extend its remote control's range with direct wiring, the app can serve as a secondary remote control.

Like most commercial projectors the L890E includes a three-year warranty with next-day exchange. Schools that participate in the company's Brighter Futures program get an extension to five years of coverage and a nine percent price break.

As expected, Epson has a well-stocked group of support pages for the projector and its L Series siblings. In addition to start-up help and troubleshooting, it has instructions for using its screen casting. On the other hand, the HTML manual resists printing a full reference copy.

Performance

The Epson PowerLite PL890E was quick on the draw with a start-up time of 12.0 seconds and can be used for on-and-off use during the day without frustrating users. It took 3.6 seconds for it to shut down and turn off its fan.

Color Modes. There are six main color modes to choose from, based on how much brightness is needed and the material being projected. The high-output Dynamic and Presentation modes are for when brightness counts for everything, but they can distort the projected color balance. The Natural and BT.709 (the same as Rec. 709) modes are more neutral.

No surprise, the Cinema mode is for showing movies in a darkened room while the Dicom Sim is for showing high-contrast material, like medical scans. There's also a Multi-Projection set up for combining the output of several projectors. A huge bonus here is that the L890E can work with Epson's $509 PixAlign camera to create wide panoramas with well-matched edges and colors.

Presentation Viewing. The projector's Dynamic mode is the one to use for maximum brightness at an output of 8,721 ANSI lumens. That's nine percent over its 8,000-lumen spec and enough light to have a lesson or meeting with the lights on and the shades up. The L890E's output was cold looking with too much blue but is not as objectionable as other projectors that include lots of green to boost output.

That said, the Presentation setting visibly adds some pink tones to the color balance. This makes it feel warmer and better able to show flesh tones. It's still off a bit, but at 7,293 ANSI lumens it's an equitable compromise between output and color fidelity.

The Natural (6,693 ANSI lumens) and BT.709 (6,749 ANSI lumens) are the best at showing skin tones, nature scenes, and paintings. The BT.709 has a little more punch but both should be good for showing a web campaign at work or a photo contest at school. By contrast, at 6,560 ANSI lumens, the Dicom Sim setting is for showing high contrast images, like medical scans.

Video Viewing. The 6,505 ANSI lumens that the PowerLite L890E put out in Cinema mode should be plenty for a darkened lecture hall or auditorium for showing a movie or student video night. Its 4K imaging was excellent with no freezes, stutters, or dropped frames. It's not aimed at home or professional theater use, but it does a surprisingly good job.

Using the Cinema mode to view the BBC's A Perfect Planet Blu-ray DVD in UHD, the effect was quite pleasing. It may lack HDR image processing, but its output is more neutral and a good compromise between color balance and on-screen brightness. This was especially the case during the Galapagos Finch sequence where the birds' orange beaks contrasted with the deep blue sky and gray rocks. It all came together when the birds were shown with brilliant white caps breaking in the background.

At 382 watts in its Dynamic mode, the L890E has a power rating of 21.7 lumens per watt—25 percent higher than others in its class. Factoring in its 12.4-watt consumption while idle, the projector should cost about $112 a year in electricity bills if it's used for eight hours a day for 200 days out of the year, and your organization pays the national average of 16 cents per kilowatt hour. It might cost an extra $49 to change the dust filter, but Epson rates it to last for the life of the projector.

The L890E has two Eco modes, starting with Quiet, which lowered the output by 27 percent and the power use by 34 percent, while the noise level fell from 42.1dBA to 41.1dBA. That said, the Extended feature can make the projector's laser elements last longer by lowering output and keeping them cool. The brightness dropped by 30 percent while the fan ran at full blast and the projector's power use dropped by 36 percent; the noise level rose from 42.1dBA to 42.9dBA.

Conclusion

Just as good for filling a large screen in a church or lecture hall as for a small auditorium or large conference room, Epson's PowerLite L890E is a breakthrough projector that leaves the competition in the digital dust. It not only pumps out nearly 9,000 ANSI lumens in UHD resolution but includes wired networking, Wi-Fi and has the bones to have participants share their screens with the group. It takes large steps forward with NFC configuration transfers and an add-on imaging camera but lacks an audio-in or microphone jack and can't swap lenses, although there are similar short-throw PowerLite models.

The L890E is a bargain compared to the Sharp XP-P721Q-W, yet is brighter, offering better networking and has a multitude of business-friendly amenities. In other words, the PowerLite L890E could be the best $5,000 you can spend on a projector at the moment.

For more detailed specifications and connections, check out our Epson PowerLite L890E projector page.

To buy this projector, use Where to Buy online, or get a price quote by email direct from Projector Central authorized dealers using our E-Z Quote tool.