BenQ W2720i: problems, parts and running costs

Checked: 2026-10-21

Summary

The W2720i is a 4K XPR DLP home-cinema projector with a 4LED light source and a QS02 Android TV dongle in the box, so there is no lamp, no filter and no subscription, and the yearly running cost is electricity alone. The complaints that recur are all about the gap between the spec sheet and the measured picture: 1,595 ANSI lumens in the accurate picture modes against a 2,500 rating, 604:1 contrast in Normal mode against a 2,000,000:1 FOFO claim, a wide-colour filter that cannot be switched in SDR and costs 14.6% of the light, and a dongle that stays in HDR mode for SDR content. Around the $1,966 street price ProjectorCentral listed in October 2026 it is a good buy for a dark room and for low-latency gaming; past roughly $2,200 the same money buys better contrast elsewhere.

Common problems and fixes

Brightness falls well short of the 2,500 ANSI claim in the modes you actually watch — ProjectorCentral measured 2,704 ANSI only in the green-biased Bright mode; User and Filmmaker gave 1,595 ANSI, Cinema 1,406, and AI Cinema and every HDR mode 1,379, while CNET measured roughly 1,003 lumens in Filmmaker by a different method. Workaround: pick the mode for the room and treat the Bright figure as a green-cast maximum; ECO gives 2,163 ANSI in Bright and 1,276 in the accurate modes. Nothing has failed, so the warranty does not apply. [2][4][5]
The wide-colour (cinema) filter is locked by picture mode in SDR and costs 14.6% of the light — ProjectorCentral found the filter cannot be switched inside the SDR picture modes, and that DCI-P3 coverage drops from 92.9% xy and 95.2% uv with the filter engaged to 72.6% xy and 71.88% uv with it off. Workaround: leave it off in the brighter modes and engage it only when colour accuracy matters more than light output; not a warranty item. [2][4]
The QS02 dongle stays in HDR mode for SDR content — the bundled Android TV 11 dongle defaults to HDR and does not detect SDR sources, so SDR pictures come out wrong until the setting is changed. BenQ’s own answer is Settings > Device Preferences > Display & Sound > Screen Resolution > Color Space Settings > YCbCr444 8bit, which is a workaround and not a fix, and the dongle keeps a second, separate menu that PCMag called confusing until you learn which menu does what. [2][4][6]
AI Cinema Mode over-processes the image — CNET found it switches on every enhancement setting at once and produces an over-sharpened picture, while ProjectorCentral saw no significant picture change under different room lighting and judged it mostly sets a few options to defaults; PCMag preferred Cinema AI in both dark and lit rooms. Workaround: use Filmmaker or Cinema instead and keep AI Cinema off for film. [4][5][6]
Rainbow artifacts, and 4K/120 is downscaled — PCMag saw occasional, more-than-usual-obvious rainbow artifacts while ProjectorCentral saw none in its sample; the third HDMI port takes 4K/120 and downscales to 1080p/120, so the 240 Hz gaming figure is only available at 1080p. BenQ allows free returns within 30 days of the shipping date, which is the practical way to test your own sensitivity; the 3-year parts-and-labour warranty covers defects, not rainbow effects. [2][3][6]
Brightness steps up at random during HDR playback — ProjectorCentral noticed random brightness step-ups during HDR playback on one film, so the HDR picture is not perfectly steady. No owner report describes the same effect and no published setting suppresses it; the 3-year warranty would cover a defect, not this behaviour. [3][4]
Fan noise and screen uniformity are worse than the sheet — BenQ quotes 28 dBA typical and 26 dBA Eco, but ProjectorCentral measured 36.5-37.6 dBA in Normal and 34.7-36.5 dBA in ECO in a room with a 33.3 dBA noise floor, plus 76% uniformity on a 100-inch image and 15% light loss from the widest to the longest zoom position. Workaround: run ECO and keep the unit out of the seating area; no consumable filter and no dust-cleaning interval are published. [2][4]

Parts and consumables

No replaceable parts or consumables reported. The light source is a 4LED solid-state engine rated 20,000 hours in Dynamic and Normal and 30,000 hours in ECO, so there is no lamp to buy, and no consumable filter or bulb spare appears in the accessories list. [1][2]

Yearly running cost

There is nothing to buy year by year: the 4LED engine is rated 20,000 hours in Dynamic and Normal and 30,000 hours in ECO, there is no lamp, bulb or filter in the parts list, and the QS02 Android TV dongle in the box carries no subscription. Electricity is the only recurring line, at up to 241 W maximum, 183 W in Normal and 133 W in Eco at 220 V, with standby under 0.5 W. Not enough data for a dollar figure, because no source gives an electricity price or a typical number of viewing hours. The money that does show up is one-off: the projector itself, plus a screen, speakers or 3D glasses if the room needs them. [2][4]

When it is a good buy

ProjectorCentral listed a street price of $1,966 against a $1,999 MSRP in its October 2026 check, and PCMag, at its March 2025 update, priced the projector at $1,999 and noted it was slated to rise to $2,199 because of recently imposed tariffs. [4][6]

At or below $1,966 — the defensible zone: a 4K LED projector with factory-calibrated Rec.709 accuracy, 6.5 ms lag at 1080p/240 and no lamp to replace. [4][6]
Above roughly $2,200 — weak value, because the same money buys better contrast elsewhere. [5][6]

Placement needs planning rather than correcting afterwards: keystoning costs brightness and adds artifacts, a 100-inch 16:9 image wants the lens 87.2 to 113.3 inches from the screen, and BenQ quotes a 120-inch image from 2.7 meters, with ±5% vertical lens shift and 1.3x manual zoom to help. [1][2][4][5] If rainbow artifacts would bother you, the 30-day return window is the way to test the unit at home. [1][6]

Named alternatives:

BenQ X3100i — the step-up in the same BenQ line; the better choice when the budget stretches further and you want more headroom on contrast and brightness.
Epson LS11000 and LS12000 — better contrast and no rainbow artifacts, which PCMag named as the reasons to step up; the better choice when deep blacks matter more than the LED engine.