Two of the small LCD projectors on Amazon’s best-seller list this week are separated by $16. They’re built on different ideas of what a cheap projector should do. The AKIYO O1 Pro sold for $43.99 on October 29 and has no apps at all. It’s a screen you cast to or plug into. The ClokoWe X1AQ sold for $59.99 the same day and runs Android 14 with YouTube and Prime Video already installed.
Both are rated 4.2 or better: 4.2 stars from 5,705 ratings for the AKIYO and 4.3 from 1,189 for the ClokoWe. Both claim more than the spec tables back up, which is normal at this price. The real question is whether $16 buys anything you’ll use every night.
The AKIYO has been on the list for as long as we’ve been logging it, and its price hardly moves. Our daily snapshots since July 28 put it between $41.92 and $47.99. Most weeks it’s $41.92, it was $43.99 on October 27 and again this week, and it has ranked between ninth and eighteenth in the category.
The ClokoWe is a newer arrival. It first showed up in our log on August 30 at $119.99, ranked 24th. By September 7 it was $59.99, and it has stayed within a cent of that since. A listing that halves its price in its first week on the chart is telling you the first number was an anchor. Treat $59.99 as the real price and ignore any “deal” pegged to the old one.
On Amazon’s structured fields, the two are further apart than their prices suggest. The AKIYO lists a native resolution of 1280 x 720, 200 ANSI lumens and a 2,000:1 contrast ratio. The ClokoWe lists 1920 x 1080 native, 300 ANSI lumens and 10,000:1. If the ClokoWe’s resolution field is accurate, it’s the more interesting projector here, because native 1080p at $60 is still uncommon. Its bullet text and spec table at least agree on that, which isn’t true of every listing at this price.
The 10,000:1 figure deserves less trust. Single-panel LCD projectors at this price usually measure in the hundreds to low thousands to one, and the AKIYO’s 2,000:1 is the more typical claim. The ClokoWe’s spec table also lists the throw distance as 0.8 feet when the bullets mean a 0.8:1 throw ratio, and its voltage as 220 volts. Those look like data-entry slips rather than design choices, but they’re a reason to read every number on the page with some caution.
If the 0.8:1 ratio holds, the ClokoWe needs about 5.8 feet to fill a 100-inch screen, which suits small bedrooms and dorms. The AKIYO doesn’t give a throw ratio. Its listing advertises a “50% zoom” that is digital: it shrinks the picture rather than moving the lens, so it fixes placement without adding any detail.
This is where the two really differ. The ClokoWe boots into Android 14 with YouTube and Prime Video. Its gallery images also show Hulu and an app store logo, plus nine “starry sky” projection modes for the ceiling that the bullet text never mentions. It supports AirPlay from an iPhone, iPad or Mac and Miracast from Android and Windows. Amazon’s summary of owner reviews singles out easy setup, clear picture and good results with iPhones and iPads, and calls the sound a mixed bag.
The AKIYO has none of that. It connects to a phone directly over its own Wi-Fi, so casting works on a camping trip or in a hotel room with no router, and it has HDMI for a stick or a laptop. Its Bluetooth 5.2 sends audio out to speakers or headphones and, as the listing says, won’t pair with a phone. The listing is also unusually frank about streaming: it warns that copyrighted content from Netflix, Prime Video and Disney may not play when cast from a phone, because those apps block screen mirroring. To watch those services, you’ll need a streaming stick. Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Plus was $69.99 on October 29, which takes the AKIYO setup to $113.98, almost double the ClokoWe, still driving a 720p panel. Owners in Amazon’s review summary like the size, the value and the manual, and mention mixed connection reliability, units that stop working and a loud fan.
Netflix is the gap neither one fills. The ClokoWe’s own text never mentions it, and the AKIYO warns you off it. That’s the norm on the budget list. Netflix licenses its app only to devices that pass its certification and hardware DRM requirements, and no-name projectors don’t get through. We ran into the same split two weeks ago between the Yoton Y3 and Magcubic HY300Pro.
For the full side-by-side spec table, see our AKIYO O1 Pro vs ClokoWe X1AQ comparison, and our LCD projector guide for brighter single-panel and 3LCD options.
If you already own a streaming stick, a game console or a laptop and just want the cheapest big picture for a dark room, the AKIYO O1 Pro at $43.99 does the job. Its two-year warranty matches the ClokoWe’s, and its price has been steady for three months. If you’re starting from nothing, the ClokoWe X1AQ is the better $60. It has the apps, the AirPlay, the brighter rating and a native resolution claim that’s consistent across its listing. Neither is a living-room projector. At 200 to 300 ANSI lumens, both want the lights off and an image well under 100 inches.
Buyers who want Netflix without a dongle need to spend more. Dangbei’s N2 mini was $199 on Amazon on October 29, 13 percent off its $229 list price, and is officially licensed for Netflix, with Prime Video and YouTube, plus automatic focus, keystone correction and obstacle avoidance. It costs more than both of these projectors combined, but it’s one of the cheapest ways to get licensed Netflix on a projector that sets itself up.