Two projectors on Amazon’s current best-seller list sit three dollars apart. The TCL C1 is listed at $199.99, the WiMiUS P62 Pro at $196.94. Both are single-panel LCD machines built around a native 1920×1080 panel, both do automatic focus and keystone correction, and both boot into an app platform without a stick plugged in. The place they stop resembling each other is the first line of the spec sheet. TCL puts 230 ISO lumens on the box. WiMiUS puts 600 ANSI.
Two spec sheets, read side by side
The C1 is TCL’s first serious push into the projector aisle under its own television branding. It uses a 3.0-inch single TFT LCD panel behind an LED source rated at 30,000 hours, throws at 1.25:1, and covers a range that TCL lists as 40 to 120 inches and that ProjectorCentral’s database records as 44.9 to 120.4 inches. There is one HDMI 2.1 input, one USB port and a 3.5mm output, Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 for wireless sources, and a single 8W speaker carrying Dolby Audio. The whole thing weighs 3.9 pounds and sits in a 285-degree gimbal with a handle moulded into it. The operating system is Google TV, and the unit is Netflix certified.
The P62 Pro takes the opposite approach to the same budget. WiMiUS states 600 ANSI lumens and a 20,000:1 contrast ratio, both as brand figures, on a native 1080p panel that decodes 4K sources. Connectivity is where the money visibly went: two HDMI inputs rather than one, with the second carrying ARC so it can feed a soundbar, plus two USB ports, Wi-Fi 6, two-way Bluetooth 5.2, and AirPlay and Miracast mirroring. Audio is a pair of 10W drivers instead of a single 8W unit. Apps are handled by WiMiUS’s own store, which the listing describes as carrying Prime Video and YouTube; Netflix licensing is not among the claims.
The two brightness numbers are not the same kind of number
ISO 21118 and the older ANSI lumen procedure both describe a nine-point measurement of a white field, so on paper the units are close to interchangeable. The difference that matters here is who did the measuring. TCL states that the C1’s 230 ISO lumens was certified by SGS, an outside test house, and ProjectorCentral’s independently maintained spec database carries the same 230 figure. The WiMiUS 600 is the manufacturer’s own declaration, published on its own listing, with no third-party mark attached to it.
That is not an accusation, but it is a reason to weight the two figures differently. When ProjectorCentral assembled its fall list of nine dorm projectors selling for $500 or less this week, the brightest model on it was rated 900 lumens at $449, and the C1 sat at the bottom of the range on 230. Independently rated LED projectors in the $200 bracket land in the low hundreds, not near 600. A self-declared figure at more than double the certified norm for the price class is a number to verify against a wall in your own room, not one to plan a room layout around.
What each platform actually unlocks
The C1’s Google TV build matters more than it sounds. Netflix has spent years blocking playback on Android devices that have not been through its certification process, which is why so many cheap projectors either send you to a sideloaded app that tops out at 480p or route you to a Fire Stick. TCL went through the certification. The C1 is one of very few projectors at this price where Netflix is licensed on the machine itself, alongside Google Cast and hands-free Assistant.
WiMiUS answers with hardware. A second HDMI port with ARC is the single most useful thing on either spec sheet for anyone who already owns a console or a soundbar, and 20W of built-in audio does change what the projector sounds like at the far end of a living room. It is a more flexible box wired into more things. It is also the one that will have you managing app installs yourself.
What owners say
The two review bases are not comparable in size. The C1 carries a 4.4 average across 318 ratings, a number that reflects how recently it arrived. Buyers describe it as a clear step up from the no-name unit they owned before, single out the colour and the fact that every streaming app is simply there, and almost all of them add the same qualifier without being asked: it wants the lights off. Several mention getting it below list price.
The P62 Pro’s 4.6 average sits on 5,886 ratings accumulated across the P62 line, so some of that history belongs to the previous model. The recurring themes are the ones the spec sheet predicts. Owners who replaced an older projector talk about the size of the image the unit will hold, and the built-in sound comes up repeatedly as louder and fuller than expected for the money, to the point that several say they never added a speaker. Setup speed, driven by the automatic focus and keystone, is the other note that keeps appearing.
Where each of them belongs
If the room can be made dark and the requirement is that Netflix and YouTube work the moment the projector is switched on, the C1 is the more honest purchase, and the certified brightness figure is part of why. Its 1.25:1 throw puts a 60-inch image at about five and a half feet from the wall, which is a desk-to-wall distance in a small bedroom, and a 100-inch image at roughly nine feet, which is not. Plan for the smaller number.
If the projector is going to live in a living room with a console on one input and a soundbar on the other, the P62 Pro is the better-connected machine and the audio alone justifies the three dollars it saves. Treat its brightness rating as a ceiling rather than a specification and it holds up well.
Both prices are current as of 12 August. The C1 at $199.99 is running below the $250 street price ProjectorCentral lists for it, which is worth knowing if you were waiting for a back-to-school discount that has, quietly, already happened. The more interesting development is not either machine. It is that a television manufacturer looked at the $200 projector aisle, decided it was worth entering under its own name, and brought a certified brightness figure with it. That is a harder standard for the rest of the shelf to answer than any spec on the box. Our full side-by-side sheet is on the TCL C1 vs WiMiUS P62 Pro comparison page, and the P62 Pro also turns up in our best projector under $500 for 2026 roundup.
