Connections, finally, include two HDMI ports, a powered USB, 3.5mm audio input and outputs, a D-Sub PC input, a monitor output, and an RS-232 control port.

Projectors typically struggle with HDR (a technology designed with TVs in mind), but the TH685’s high brightness and claimed coverage of 95% of the Rec 709 colour palette give it a chance of getting some value from HDR’s expanded light range. The BenQ TH685’s control buttons And yet while it certainly works as advertised in the responsiveness department, it’s not the all around champion in other important metrics like contrast ratio (10,000:1) or, most notably, resolution (1080p). Shows and movies watched on the projector mostly looked desaturated in a room with any bit of ambient light and while the lower resolution worked for some content, the extra pixels would’ve made everything much, much sharper.For a small and relatively inexpensive 1080p projector, the TH685 produces impressive color accuracy. Also impressive is how well the TH685 holds on to its colours when playing HDR content. Extreme brightness can cause colours to wash out on displays that don’t support a wide enough colour range, but there’s nothing bleached about the TH685’s palette. In fact, with so much brightness feeding into them, its colours actually look engagingly vibrant and rich. Especially, again, with gaming sources. The BenQ TH685 Despite the projector’s evident gaming focus, though, the TH685 also typically delivers very credible, natural and consistent colours when watching HDR or SDR video from 4K/HD Blu-rays and streaming services.

The zoom and focus adjustments are easy to access and reasonably responsive, and the 1.3x optical zoom is pretty expansive for such a cheap projector, making it easier to adapt it to different room sizes (which could be important if you want to take it around to friends’ houses for group game nights). Voices are delivered particularly well, always sounding clear and pronounced, and there’s lots of audio detail, too. A bit more maximum volume and deeper bass would have been appreciated, and a stereo rather than mono speaker output would likely have given the sound even more largesse. But the TH685 is certainly more satisfying – if, inevitably, no replacement at all for a half-decent soundbar or external sound system – than most budget projector sound systems are. averages over 2,000:1. This improves a bit in the Bright mode, thanks to the far greater light output. SmartEco, which varies lamp output depending on video content, has a dynamic contrast ratio of 2,844:1. This mode keeps the light output of the Normal lamp mode. The LampSave mode does the same, but uses the max light output of the Eco lamp mode. This mode has a dynamic contrast ratio of 2,208:1. The TH685 does what it sets out to do pretty well, serving up an enjoyable gaming performance that’s particularly at home in rooms with a little ambient light in them.

Basic specs

There are movie and TV-related picture presets, too, making the point that on paper, at least, the TH685 is not JUST a gaming projector. Switch to the Bright mode and things change quite a bit. Color temperature accuracy goes out the window, everything looks quite green, but there's a nearly 70% increase in light output, approximately 309 nits, or 2,782 lumens. In a dark room this is incredibly bright. So bright, I doubt most people would use it in this mode to watch a movie. Movie theaters, for comparison, are a faction of this.