ViewSonic’s LX700-4K, the laser gaming projector that launched at $1,599.99, is selling new on Amazon for $999.99 this weekend, ten days before Prime Big Deal Days opens on October 6. The same week, Hisense’s PL2 ultra short throw dropped to $1,499 on Amazon, a thousand dollars under its $2,499 list price. We checked both listings directly on September 26 and both prices were live, with the LX700-4K carrying a 4.2-star average across 111 ratings and the PL2 a 4.3 across 145.
The LX700-4K is a 0.65-inch DMD, 4K-by-pixel-shift DLP machine with a laser light source rated at 3,500 ANSI lumens. Projector Reviews measured 3,239 when it tested the unit in June 2024, which is within the usual margin for a projector rated in ANSI rather than ISO. It carries Microsoft’s “Designed for Xbox” badge, and the gaming numbers are the reason: 4.2 milliseconds of input lag at 1080p and 240Hz, 1440p at 120Hz, and 4K at 60Hz with lag closer to 16 milliseconds. The lens has 1.36x optical zoom, the laser is rated for 20,000 hours in normal mode and 30,000 in eco, and the speaker is a single 15-watt driver.
The more interesting number is on ViewSonic’s own store. ViewSonic sells the LX700-4K new for $1,299.99 and a refurbished unit for $974.99. That puts a new, sealed projector with Amazon’s return window just $25 above the manufacturer’s own refurbished price, and $300 below what the manufacturer is charging for the same new box.
That gap is not unusual in this category, and we keep running into it. HAPPRUN’s KC7 was listed at 329.99 on the brand’s site and 139.97 on Amazon when we looked in mid-September, and XGIMI’s HORIZON Ultra is sitting at $999 on XGIMI’s US store today against a crossed-out $1,699.99. The pattern is consistent enough that anyone shopping during Prime Big Deal Days should check the brand store and Amazon side by side before assuming either one is the floor.
What $999.99 does not buy is worth being clear about. The LX700-4K has no smart platform at all: no Google TV, no Android, no built-in Netflix. Projector Reviews notes ViewSonic simply leaves the smart features out, so it needs a streaming stick or a console on one of its HDMI 2.0 ports. For an Xbox owner that is no loss, since the console is the streaming box. For a living room that wants one remote, the LX700-4K is a display rather than a finished product, and reviewers have also flagged a raised black floor as the cost of pushing that much light through a mid-size chip.
That is where the Dangbei MP1 Max becomes the obvious comparison. It sold for $1,299 on Amazon on September 26, $300 more than the ViewSonic, and the money goes to exactly the things the LX700-4K skips: Google TV with officially licensed Netflix, a triple-laser engine rated at 3,100 ISO lumens with 110 percent BT.2020 color coverage, two 12-watt speakers with Dolby Audio and DTS:X, and InstanPro auto focus, keystone and screen fit, all on a built-in stand that swivels 360 degrees. Buyers have it at 4.4 stars across 93 ratings. It will not match the ViewSonic’s 240Hz input lag, but for anyone whose projector is mostly a TV replacement rather than an Xbox monitor, the MP1 Max is the more complete machine, and we laid out how it stacks against XGIMI’s newest mid-range laser in our MP1 Max vs HORIZON 20 Pro comparison.
When we named the Hisense PL2 the value pick of our ultra short throw guide in August it cost $2,499, and we wrote that the four weeks after Labor Day are historically when outgoing models get discounted. Three weeks after Labor Day, it is $1,499.
The PL2 is a single-laser UST rated at 2,700 ANSI lumens and 3,000:1 native contrast, with an 80 to 150-inch image range, Google TV with a licensed Netflix app, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. ProjectorScreen’s bench test found it beats both headline claims, measuring 3,169:1 native contrast and up to 3,500 lumens in its brightest mode, while flagging the weak spots: 86 percent of DCI-P3, some visible rainbow effect from the single-laser color wheel, and a few settings that do not behave. Those are the compromises of a $2,499 UST. At $1,499 they read differently, because the next Hisense step up is not close. The PX3-PRO was listed at $2,997.97 and the PX4 Pro at $3,997.97 when we covered the PX4 Pro firmware update last week, so the PL2 is now half the price of the model above it.
Hisense is also in the middle of rolling out the C3 lifestyle projectors, which pushes its retail attention toward the new line. A PL2 discount of this size during that window looks like clearing shelf space more than a one-day promotion, though Hisense has not said anything about the model being discontinued.
Deal headlines are already running ahead of the event. Kotaku this week described Aurzen’s D1R Air as having just hit its lowest price for early Prime Day. Our own price log for that listing, which records it whenever it is rechecked in Amazon’s projector bestsellers, has it at $149.99 on September 9 and $149.97 on September 17 and September 25, and it was still $149.97 when we checked on Saturday. Setting aside any clip-on coupon that does not show in the list price, that is a two-cent move in two and a half weeks.
The LX700-4K and PL2 cuts are the opposite case: real money, on well-reviewed laser machines, verified against the listings rather than taken from a deal post. It fits what we saw in our pre-Prime price check earlier this month, where the budget end of the bestseller list got more expensive after Labor Day while the discounting happened higher up. Whether either price goes lower on October 6, or whether Amazon has simply moved the event pricing forward by ten days, is the question worth checking again on the morning of the sale.