3M CP45B Camcorder Projector

The basics

The 3M CP45B Camcorder Projector does exactly what it says on the tin, offering a compact package that's capable of recording video clips, and playing them back on the wall or other blank areas thanks to an integrated pico projector. Join us after the break to find out if it's any good.

The good

The 3M CP45B Camcorder Projector is relatively bulky for a pocket projector. It's also slightly heavy, but some of that's because of the integrated pico projector. Build quality is good, and the touch button interface works well.

The most impressive part of the 3M CP45B Camcorder Projector is the projector, which turned out to be a lot better than we anticipated. With a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, it's not the sharpest projector we've seen, but it's reasonable in quality and provides a bright and easy to view image.

It's also a versatile choice – and you can plug other devices – such as your smartphone – into the 3M CP45B Camcorder Projector to use it purely for the projector.

Along with HD video recording, you'll be able to take still photographs at up to 5 megapixels, and there's 2GB of storage on board. This can be expanded via microSD card, with up to 32GB supported.

The bad

Unfortunately, video quality didn't live up to our expectations, with the 3M CP45B Camcorder Projector lagging behind other pocket camcorders such as the Flip HD when it comes to detail and colour reproduction. It's also slow to turn on, and there's no integrated USB plug.

The bottom line

As a pico projector, the 3M CP45B Camcorder Projector works well. You can plug other devices into it, or you can simply play back video from the integrated storage or microSD cards. As an all-round package, it's not quite so good, being let down by the camcorder.