Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 Review

If you're looking for an entry into home cinema-style projectors without draining your bank account, the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 is a viable option. It brings smart features and a great contrast ratio at a reasonable price.

Performance Comparison

Entertainment

After spending some time with it, we feel that the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 is aimed at the entry-level home cinema use case. So, it positioned itself pretty well in our testing for entertainment, but it didn't knock it out of the park compared to the premium cinema projectors.

We found its colors to be generally good if not a little washed out compared to the top performers. It has a very good contrast ratio and decent clarity. We appreciated the built-in smart features, like native streaming apps, Android TV, and Chromecast. However, we found it kind of strange that we needed to hook up an included dongle and take up one of the few ports to access those smart features.

Business

Thanks to its portable size and decent brightness, the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 also holds its own in the Business metric. There are certainly more business-optimized projectors around, but this one isn't too shabby. It has good edge-to-edge clarity and decent color accuracy on spreadsheets and presentations. We just wish it had more port selection and controls positioned on top of the actual unit instead of just having them on the remote control, which can be lost or left behind ahead of an important presentation. Port selection is limited to 1x HDMI, 1x USB-B, and 1x USB-A.

Contrast Ratio

When it comes to contrast ratio the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 scored very well. Although Epson didn't provide a contrast ratio claim, we measured it at 619:20 in our ANSI Contrast Ratio testing, giving the CO-FHO2 one of the highest overall contrast ratio scores of the bunch. Subjective tests back this up. We noted dark blacks and white whites on screen.

Brightness

Epson claims 3,000 lumens for the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02, and our light meter clocked it at 2,003 lumens in our ANSI Lumens test. We found this projector suitably bright for home cinema and business environments.

Setup & Use

Projectors that excel in this area offer handy features such as adjustable legs for uneven surfaces, backlit remotes for easy button finding in the dark, voice command recognition, and decent built-in speakers. We also award points for advanced keystone and focus options, zoom capability, and compatibility with ceiling and tripod mounts.

The Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 ticks a few boxes here, with auto and manual keystoning, manual focus, screen zoom, an adjustable front post, and a 5-watt speaker. It's missing a lot of the nice-to-haves, like rear leveling legs, a backlit remote, voice commands, and autofocus.

Input Lag

There's probably not much concern about input lag on a projector unless you intend to use it for competitive gaming. If you fall into that category, skip the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02. We measured an average 80 millisecond response time with our video input lag testing device. That probably won't be fast enough to stay competitive online, and there are far faster projectors in our review class.

Should You Buy the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02?

If you're looking for an entry-level home cinema projector for entertainment, the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 could be the way to go. It has a good picture and a few smart feature options and comes in at a fraction of the cost of some premium units.

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