WIRED’s BenQ TK705STi review lands in a familiar place for midrange projectors: good enough to justify attention, picky enough to punish the wrong buyer. Reviewer John Brandon rated the short-throw 4K projector 6/10, saying its best case is gaming, where low latency and a very large image matter more than cinema-grade contrast.
The TK705STi was listed at $1,615 at Amazon and $1,599 at BenQ, according to WIRED’s published buying links. Brandon framed it as a middle option between sub-$1,000 projectors that can compromise on image quality and high-end home-cinema models that can run above $6,000.
Is the BenQ TK705STi good for gaming?
According to WIRED, yes, with caveats. Brandon said the projector’s low-latency gaming mode made Xbox Series X and gaming laptop sessions feel responsive, including play in Forza Horizon 6 at a 10-foot image size.
The mechanism is straightforward: BenQ’s Auto Low Latency Mode cuts extra image processing that can add delay between a controller input and the frame appearing on screen. That does not make the TK705STi a high-refresh gaming display. WIRED noted that the projector does not support 120 Hz refresh or variable refresh rate.
Brandon also reported strong HDR gaming color, though he said contrast lagged behind more expensive cinema projectors. Built-in audio was a weaker point. In Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, he described rain effects and background music as unimpressive enough that he used an AV receiver and floor-standing speakers instead.
What the short-throw design changes
The TK705STi uses a 0.8:1 throw ratio, meaning it can create a wide picture from a relatively short distance. WIRED said an approximately 10-foot-wide image required placing the projector about 8 feet from the wall, while a 12-foot-wide setup came from about 10 feet away in a brighter room.
That flexibility is the point of a short-throw projector: it can work in rooms where a conventional long-throw unit would need to sit much farther back. Brandon liked the easy access to the power button, the digital zoom controls and the cube-like silver design with a fabric front.
Setup was less tidy. WIRED said the unit’s legs felt less stable than expected, and bumps could trigger auto-keystone correction again. Brandon found that feature unreliable, though BenQ representatives told WIRED the behavior was not normal and could have been related to the review screen.
Movies and daytime viewing were the weak spots
WIRED’s main criticism was image quality outside games. Brandon said movies and TV often looked flat, with duller reds and weaker contrast than higher-priced projectors such as Leica’s Cine Play 1 and Hisense’s XR10.
Dark-scene testing exposed the problem. WIRED reported that Awake, The Creator and Tron: Ares appeared too dark, while raising brightness washed the picture out rather than revealing more detail. Daytime viewing in a bright family room also suffered, with some scenes becoming difficult to read.
The TK705STi includes two HDMI ports, USB 2.0, USB-C, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and Wi-Fi 6, according to WIRED. It lacks Ethernet and digital optical audio. The projector runs Google TV, which Brandon found easy to set up after manually entering login details because of a known QR-code glitch.
WIRED’s bottom line is narrow rather than damning: the TK705STi is a midrange projector that makes the most sense for players who want a large, responsive 4K image and can live without premium movie performance. Anyone buying it for daylight TV or shadow-heavy films should read the fine print, because the pixels apparently did.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
