BenQ LH820st Review – Best Golf Simulator Projector?

In this BenQ LH820st review, I’ll explain why it is the best 1080p golf simulator projector on the market. While it cannot reach the sharpness of a 4K Projector, it comes in at a third of the price. Unlike other projectors the BenQ LH820st was designed specifically to be used with a golf simulator, making it a great choice for your home setup.

If you are looking for a high-quality projector, but want to avoid paying the price for a 4K projector, then the BenQ LH820st is your best option. Let’s look at why it is considered the best 1080p golf simulator projector.

BenQ LH820ST Projector Features

The BenQ LH820ST projector offers several features that make it perfect as a projector for your home golf simulator. The key features are:

• High Brightness and Full HD Resolution: The BenQ LH820ST provides 3600 lumens of brightness and native 1080p full HD resolution, ensuring clear and detailed images, which is perfect for golf simulation, even with strong ambient lighting.
• Exclusive Golf Mode: This projector includes an exclusive Golf Mode that optimizes the blue sky and green grass colors, providing a vivid and immersive experience specifically for golf simulation.
• Short Throw Ratio: With a 0.5 throw ratio, the projector can display a large image from a short distance, making it suitable for small spaces and floor-mounted setups often used in golf simulators. Its short throw capability allows it to fill a 100-inch screen from just three and a half feet away. A short-throw projector places the projector where it is needed to fill the screen while being mounted safely outside the hitting area and without casting a shadow.
• 2D Keystone Correction: The BenQ LH820ST projector features a 2D keystone correction, which allows you to counteract the trapezoid effect that can occur when a projector is installed or placed off-center. It offers a keystone correction range of up to ±30° on both the horizontal and vertical axes, allowing you to adjust the projected image to achieve ideal projection alignment. This feature is particularly useful when the projector needs to be mounted off-center, as it helps correct any misalignment and ensures a properly proportioned image
• Screen Fill and Corner Fit: Screen Fill allows the projector to easily switch native resolution to best match your desired aspect ratio with maximized pixel counts while avoiding image distortion, making it look great no matter the size of your impact screen. Corner Fit control adjusts each corner for a perfectly aligned image.
• Laser Technology and Maintenance-Free Operation: The BenQ LH820ST features a long-lasting 30,000-hour laser light source, eliminating the need for lamp replacements. It also has an IP5X-rated, dustproof sealed laser engine, making it suitable for environments such as garages or basements.
• Color Accuracy: The projector offers a cinema-level color gamut with 90% REC709 coverage.

BenQ LH820ST Performance and Setup

This BenQ LH820st review is based on my own personal experience of upgrading to this projector, it was a complete game-changer.

The 3600 lumens really help combat any ambient lighting you have. My setup is in my garage which doesn’t have a lot of ambient lighting, but I moved the projector to test in the living room which has a lot more natural light flooding in, and the picture was still very vibrant. If you have concerns your golf simulator room may be a little too bright, this projector will make a difference.

I thought the Golf Mode feature really does help. When you switch to this mode you can see the pop the greens and blues have. The colors are more rich, and they pop off. I compare it to golfing on a beautiful sunny day, when the colors of the sky and green just seem to look more lush. If you are planning to play any virtual courses this is a great feature to enhance the realism of the course.

The actual setup of the projector is a breeze. I choose to ceiling mount my projector. The BenQ LH820st has a nine percent offset, which requires minimal adjustments when trying to project to the bottom of my screen while avoiding enclosures. The 2D Keystone correction, corner fit, and screen fill technology all made projecting the image really simple in achieving a crisp image that filled the impact screen. The projector connects to your computer through a simple HDMI cable, and that aspect of the setup couldn’t be any easier.

There is also a 10-watt mono speaker, that offers decent sound quality, although I would recommend an external audio speaker if you are looking to get the best sound quality from the golf simulator software.

BenQ LH820st Price

The BenQ LH820st is on the higher end of the spectrum for 1080p golf simulator projectors, but in comparison to a 4K Projector, it comes in much cheaper. The BenQ LH820st will cost you under 2,000 dollars, whereas a top of the line 4K projector will be well above 5,000 dollars.

There are cheaper short-throw projectors on the market, but I believe you get the quality you pay for. I completely understand if you don’t want to pay the premium, but for about 500 dollars more, I think it is a worthy price to pay to get the best 1080p projector for a golf simulator.

I would shop around for the best price. I have seen up to a 20% discount on Amazon, but you need to catch it when there is a deal or promo. You can quickly check the price here, to see if there are any discounts. If there is not keep an eye on it, you might get lucky.

BenQ LH820ST vs. Optoma ZH450ST

When it comes to setting up a golf simulator with a smaller screen size like I have a short throw projector was a must. The top two options I was considering were the BenQ LH820st and the Optoma ZH450st.

The two short throw projectors were similar in a lot of areas. Both were laser-based projectors with short throw lenses. Each of them had features like offset adjustment, digital shift, and keystone corrections.

What set the BenQ LH820st apart was that it was designed specifically for golf simulators. A couple key features that had golf simulators in mind made the difference.

Offset

The first key difference was the offset. Offset uses a percentage of tilt to make it easier to fill the screen with your golf simulator projector from a short distance. The amount of offset you need depends on the ceiling height and the size of your screen. The bigger the offset, the taller your ceiling needs to be. I was working with a slightly taller than 9 feet ceiling, and you will see in the diagram below, how the image projects with different offsets.

The BenQ LH820st has a 109% offset, while the Optoma ZH450st has a 116% offset. The BenQ LH820ST was designed specifically for golf simulators and chose a smaller offset so that the projector didn’t need to be tilted as much to fill the top and bottom of the impact screen.  This amount of offset makes it easier to install.

With 109% offset, the projector fit perfectly on my screen. With 116% of offset, the projector would have had to be mounted closer to the ceiling which can be difficult, as it does not leave enough space for the projector. The solution would have been to mount it lower and tilt the projector back up. For ease of setup, having the correct offset was a small but important feature.

Color Accuracy: Golf Mode

The BenQ LH820st excels in colors, and picture quality for a 1080p projector. The BenQ LH820st features Rec 709 Color Accuracy the industry standard for TV color reference. It also uses Delta E which is a measurement used to check secondary colors. The lower the number the more accurately it can produce secondary shades of colors. The BenQ LH820st has a Delta E rating of under 2, whereas the Optoma ZH450st does not state the use of Delta E.

The biggest factor in terms of picture quality, and color was the unique feature on BenQ LH820st called “Golf Mode”. This setting adds color, and vibrancy to the greens, and blues on the courses. It adds the picture quality and realism of the images produced on these highly detailed golf courses. When two products are running neck, and neck with each other these unique features directly built for simulators make a big difference.

Brightness

The Optoma ZH450 does possess a higher brightness at 4500 lumens, in comparison to 3600 for the BenQ LH820st, but I found that the 3600 lumens were more than enough for my setup. Even when I projected in areas with high ambient lighting, I felt the picture was still bright. If you are suffering from extreme ambient lighting maybe the 4500 lumens is appealing, but for me, it just wasn’t a big enough factor in my decision.

In the above YouTube video, Carl’s Place also does a brightness test, which shows you can push the BenQ LH820st to a lux rating of 200 in the bright mode if you need that extra push of brightness.

Conclusion: BenQ LH820st Review

To conclude my BenQ LH820ST review my experience with this projector has been exceptional. From the features designed specifically for golf simulators to its unparalleled performance, this projector has elevated my home indoor golf setup. It has exceeded my expectations and set a new standard for 1080p golf simulator projectors. I highly recommend considering the BenQ LH820ST to elevate your gaming experience and enjoy the thrill of lifelike gameplay from the comfort of your own home.

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