Casiris Tech Omnistar L80 hands-on review: 1080p projector stumbles across the finish line

The Casiris OmniStar L80 is a simple, traditional projector that tries to be a smart device and ultimately stumbles its way through to mediocrity. It works fine as an office projector for presentations or a home projector for a dedicated streaming stick or device. Its image is bright, but it isn’t quite as crisp as other projects in the US$500 price range. Its speakers get very loud, but audio distorts past 50% and the case rattles noisily. 

On the plus side, its color reproduction is fairly good; colors pop (though bright colors tend to blow out) and contrast is acceptable. Additionally, it’s a simple projector to use, which may make it appealing for a meeting room or for public use. 

There are major negatives. For one, the streaming features are, frankly, pathetic. The projector cannot stream FHD content smoothly and regularly drops frames. About half the time, the streaming content crashes or fails to load at all. The speakers are poorly tuned and sound like they may blow themselves out. The projector itself is chunky for what it offers and may be difficult to slot into a theater setup.

The biggest draw to the OmniStar L80 is its price. The projector has an MSRP of US$499, although it is currently up for pre-order on Kickstarter for $239. At that price, the L80 is a steal. It’s hard to find a decent projector under $250, let alone one that projects a 1080p image this bright with usable speakers and the input support the L80 has. 

At its MSRP of $499, the market becomes much more competitive. An alternative to the OmniStar L80 is Xgimi’s Elfin, which is a very compact and light FHD projector. The Elfin only gets up to 800 ANSI lumens (roughly half that of the L80’s 1,500), but the image is clear and vibrant without the color bleed issues of the L80. The Elfin’s speakers are smaller (two 3 Watt stereo speakers), but considering the L80’s speakers distort so badly, the Elfin’s can produce a clearer sound that gets about as loud as 50% volume on the L80. The Elfin is also a competent smart projector, and using it is smooth.

Other companies, such as BenQ and Anker, offer great projectors at this price range as well that don’t have has many stumbling blocks as the OmniStar L80. While the Casiris OmniStar L80 shows a lot of promise on paper, it is ultimately disappointing. I’d recommend passing on this one unless you can get it on sale.