A big image from twenty centimetres, and a screen that must match · review

Acer H6518STi short throw Full HD projector review

A short-throw 1080p projector at the accessible end of a family that is usually expensive — it sits close to the screen without needing the rigid, matched surface an ultra short throw machine demands.

By Jean-Benoit Buisson

The bottom line The practical short throw: close enough to solve the cable run and the shadows, far enough not to demand a specialist screen.

What short throw solves

Distance. A projector at 1.5 times the image width has to sit at the back of the room, which means a long cable run and a beam that people walk through. A short throw machine sits much closer, and in a small room that is often the difference between a projector being possible and not.

What it asks in return

Flatness, though far less insistently than an ultra short throw projector does. Light arriving at an angle exaggerates any imperfection in the surface, so a fixed frame or a tab-tensioned roller screen is a better partner than a plain pull-down.

The brightness, in context

3 500 ANSI lumens, stated. Short throw is usually bought for smaller rooms and smaller images, where that figure goes a long way. It is a measured unit, so it can be compared directly with any other machine on this shelf that publishes one.

The resolution trade

1080p, at a price where long-throw 4K machines exist. What you are buying with the money is the geometry, and if the room requires it, no amount of resolution on a machine that cannot sit anywhere is worth more.

Before ordering

Confirm the throw ratio in the full specification and multiply it by the image width you want. Short throw narrows the distance a great deal; it does not remove the arithmetic.

Availability

On sale from 610 € to 902 € on the German, British, French, Italian and Spanish Amazon stores at the time of checking.

Not found on the American Amazon store, where the buy link falls back to a local search rather than to a page that does not exist.

Prices and availability are what Keepa reported on the date this page was updated; both move.

Prices quoted in this text were read on 4 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

What we like, and what we don't

Strengths

Short throw geometry without the price or the screen requirement of an ultra short throw machine
3 500 ANSI lumens stated, which suits the smaller rooms short throw is bought for
Fewer shadows and a shorter cable run than a projector at the back of the room

Compromises

Short throw exaggerates any ripple in a hanging screen, though far less than ultra short throw does
1080p rather than 4K at a price where 4K exists in long-throw form
The contrast figure is unqualified, as across this whole shelf

Specifications

Throw	Short throw — stated
Resolution	Full HD, 1 920 × 1 080 — stated
Brightness	3 500 ANSI lumens — stated in a measured unit
Contrast	10 000:1 — stated; not qualified as native or dynamic
3D	3D Ready — stated
Connections	HDMI with HDCP, audio, keystone — stated
Amazon reference	B08C9RWPBF (same reference on 5 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN	4710180941937

Questions people actually ask

How is short throw different from ultra short throw?

By ratio. A short throw projector sits at roughly half to one times the image width; an ultra short throw sits below 0.4, close enough to be on the furniture beneath the screen. The second imposes a rigid, light-rejecting screen; the first does not.

Will it work on a pull-down screen?

Better than an ultra short throw machine would, and it still benefits from flatness. Light arriving at an angle exaggerates ripples, so leave a new roller screen down for a week before judging it, and prefer a tab-tensioned model if the room means a roller.