[REVIEW] Wanbo T6 Max: The best cheap Full HD LED projector you can buy in 2022

The brand Wanbo, which is also part of the Xiaomi ecosystem, has recently introduced a new projector. It’s the model Wanbo T6 Max, which we’ve been testing in detail for the past few weeks. It stands out with brightness of 550 ANSI lumens, an Android TV system, and also an elegant look.

Where to buy Wanbo T6 Max?

You can find the Wanbo T6 Max in the Czech warehouse of the international seller Banggood, which also provided a special discount coupon. The advantage is express delivery within 7 working days, with no additional fees for you to pay.

Current coupons for Wanbo T6 Max

At the time of writing the review, the projector was available for 230 €, which is an extremely affordable price considering the projector’s features and capabilities.

Technical specifications at a glance

Packaging contents & quality

The Wanbo T6 Max projector arrived in a box measuring 25.5 x 24.5 x 24 cm and weighing 3.2 kg. It is packed in two boxes, which we see very positively. The outer cardboard box is sturdier and provides better protection against rough handling during shipping.

Inside its box, the projector is protected by two foam reinforcements—on the top and bottom sides. It’s protected well enough. As for the contents of the package, besides the projector itself, you’ll find a power cable with an adapter, a remote control, and a short user manual.

Design and placement of elements

In terms of design, the Wanbo T6 Max is very similar to the T2 Max model, which we also recently tested. The projector’s construction differs significantly from the classic projectors we all know well. Most of them are flat and wide, while Wanbo opted for a vertical orientation in the T2 and T6 models.

The projector stands on its own. On the bottom side, you’ll find rubberized feet and a mounting thread for a standard tripod. The front is dominated by the lens with a black trim, under which there’s a grille for the warm air outlet from cooling. The back features a port for connecting to the power supply, input ports, a speaker grille, and an intake grille for drawing in cool air.

At the top, there’s only one round button used to turn the projector on or off. The projector also includes another interesting feature—a leather carrying strap that makes it easier to transport and also improves the overall design.

Build quality and connectivity

Like its smaller brother, the T6 Max model, Wanbo T2 Max is made of plastic. The plastics, however, feel premium and the overall impression is very good.

We do have some reservations about the tripod thread, which is not deep enough. We tried mounting the projector on 3 tripods from various brands, but on none of them could it be screwed all the way in, so we had to place several washers under the projector to keep it firmly on the tripod and prevent it from wobbling with every touch.

As for connectivity, the rear side gives us a pair of USB ports, HDMI, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and an AV input.

550 ANSI lumens brightness and image quality

The new product from Wanbo will please you with brightness of up to 550 lumens, which is more than double compared to the T2 Max model. While the mentioned weaker model was usable only in a dimmed room or in complete darkness, the T6 Max is significantly better.

Of course, these are still not top-tier values, but for comparison, the significantly more expensive Xiaomi Mi Smart Projector Mini has a brightness of 500 ANSI lumens. The light source is an LED lamp, so the projector is maintenance-free.

The picture is fairly visible even in daylight, but of course, for the best experience with a great-looking image, you’ll want to dim the room. Colors are vivid, sufficiently rich, and the overall image is excellent.

For this model, the manufacturer doesn’t state the maximum and minimum distance of the projector from the wall or the screen surface, nor the image size at different distances.

For a better idea, if we placed the projector 230 cm from the wall, the image measured 165 x 93 cm in aspect ratio 16:9 mode and with the preset zoom. The shortest distance at which we managed to get a sharp image was 135 cm from the wall, when the projected image measured 92 x 51 cm.

Electronic focus and remote control

If you paid close attention to the section about the layout of the individual elements on the projector, you surely noticed that we didn’t mention any focus wheel. That’s because the Wanbo T6 Max has motorized, electric focusing controlled by two buttons on the remote control.

Unlike typical projectors that have a focus wheel for sharpening the image, in this case you don’t have to get up from the comfort of your couch—you just adjust focus using the remote.

The remote control mentioned above is white and very compact. It has buttons for power on/off, voice control, enabling pointer control, focus, volume control, a back button and a home button. You also get the classic round dial in the middle with four directional buttons and a confirm button in the center.

Power requires a pair of AAA batteries, which are not included in the package. Overall, the remote works very well and you don’t need to aim it at the projector.

Android TV interface

The Wanbo T6 Max projector has a built-in Android TV system version 9.0. Unlike the T2 Max model, the interface on this model is much nicer.

Design-wise, it’s the interface we know from Xiaomi’s Mi TV 4S television, which we own. The home screen consists of several elements. The presets include displaying selected apps, a YouTube channel of your favorite videos, and YouTube Music. You can also add other YouTube channels here (Recommended and Trending), as well as movies from Google Play Movies.

At the top, you’ll find a bar for quick search, notifications, settings, and the current time.

Pre-installed apps

You’ll find quite a lot of preinstalled apps here. On the home screen you’ll see Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Store, MX Player, File Browser, and a “+” button to add more.

Other preinstalled apps include: Disney+, Google Play Movies, Google Play Games, Hulu, iMirror, KODI, LenKey Keyboard, Live TV, Media Center, MoviePlayer, Tubi, Chrome, and EShareServer. iMiror is used for sharing content via AirPlay, but the projector doesn’t have Chromecast—and even after installing the Chromecast built-in app, this feature didn’t work for us.

You can download other apps from the Google Play store. For example, you’ll find TV streaming apps like Skylink, HBO GO, Orange TV, SWAN GO, and many others. However, the selection is limited, and compared with the Android TV system in the Xiaomi Mi TV 4S television, the Google Play store on the projector offers fewer apps. You can also download an .apk file through the browser and install apps that way.

Performance and settings

The projector is powered by an Amlogic 972 processor, supported by 2 GB of DDR4 RAM. Internal storage in this case has a capacity of 16 GB. The Android TV environment is extremely smooth, and during the entire testing period we didn’t notice any freezes or sluggish responses.

Enjoy support for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi. The system settings are tailored for the projector. You’ll find remote control and accessory settings where you can pair a Bluetooth device, since the included remote also works with Bluetooth technology.

Projector-specific settings let you rotate the image depending on the projector’s placement, so you can mount it even on the ceiling. You also get adjustments for each corner, the so-called keystone, with support for automatic or manual setup. You can zoom in or out using the Zoom function, and you can set the aspect ratio 4:3 or 16: 9.

You can check the settings—and the entire Android TV interface—in the video below:

In the settings, you can also change the keyboard, the order of apps in the menu, customize channels on the home screen, or change the language. Since this is a global version, Slovak and Czech are available.

Noise level and sound quality

The fan noise coming from the projector’s cooling is slightly higher than we would expect. Right in front of the projector, we measured about 54 dB using a digital sound level meter. At a distance of one meter in front of the projector, it was 45 dB.

When watching videos or movies, you need to set the volume to a fairly high level so that this noise is drowned out. It’s a shame the manufacturer didn’t address cooling with more noticeable noise reduction.

As for the speakers, there are two. Each has 5 W and they’re located at the back of the projector. The sound quality is quite good, but there aren’t really noticeable basses. We recommend connecting external speakers or a soundbar, which will significantly improve your movie-watching experience.

Wanbo T6 Max: Final evaluation

Wanbo T6 Max is an LED projector with an interesting design and an attractive price. For less than 300 EUR, it delivers solid brightness of 550 ANSI lumens, outperforming even some much more expensive projectors. Thanks to this brightness, it’s usable even with daylight, but for the best experience you should at least slightly dim the room.

You’ll like the Android TV system with a clear, modern interface that you may know from TVs from Xiaomi, for example. The interface is extremely smooth, and the remote control works very well with it.

Current coupons for Wanbo T6 Max

On the downside, we’d point out the higher noise level, average speakers, and the tripod mount thread, which doesn’t have enough depth for a stable attachment without modifications.