What to look for in a portable projector

There's nothing quite like the large screen for watching TVs and movies, only that experience doesn't have to be bars to a home picture palace room.

With a portable projector, yous can accept your big screen with you everywhere, from hotel rooms to camping. Or, yous can just move your screen around your house every bit you see fit.

The experience tin exist great but simply if you cull the right type of projector for your needs. Ultimately, choosing a portable projector is nearly compromise – it's making the correct ones that'due south the trick. Here, we'll go through the options to help you find the right projector for you.

Size and weight

Size and weight are ii of the almost important factors when choosing a portable projector. There can exist big differences, as well. With the XGIMI Mogo Pro+, the unit measures 146 10 106 10 94mm and weighs 0.9kg; the XGIMI Halo+ measures 172 x 114 x 145mm and weighs a heftier 1.6kg.

This comparison shows that the Mogo Pro+ is lighter and smaller, and then easier to carry around. It may make more sense if your programme is to travel a lot with a projector. The larger Halo+, on the other hand, makes more sense if y'all're largely going by car or desire a projector that you lot tin employ around the home.

As the lens on a portable projector is sensitive, look for a bear case or pouch for protection.

Resolution

A lot of the early portable projectors had a low resolution, sometimes even less than standard 720p HD. Today, there'south very little reason to opt for anything other than Full HD (1920 x 1080).

With a full HD resolution, you'll discover that there'south plenty of detail in what you lot spotter, even when watching on the largest screen possible.

Effulgence

A projector'due south brightness defines where and when you can use it. Simply put, the brighter the projector, the brighter the room y'all tin utilize it in, and the larger the image yous can become.

For example, the Mogo Pro+ has a brightness of 300 Lumens, compared to the 900 Lumens of the Halo+. With its higher effulgence, the Halo+ works well in a room with the curtains airtight, whereas y'all'll need a darker area for the Mogo Pro+ to work.

More brightness on the Halo+ as well ways that y'all can accept it exterior during the warmer weather and lookout man from around dusk. Equally y'all can see, there's a trade-off between size and effulgence, then yous demand to residue which factor is most of import to y'all.

Bombardment life

Portable projectors typically have batteries in them, then they can run when you're not near a power socket. Ignore the stated capacity of a battery, equally that doesn't tell y'all much: a smaller bombardment in a lower-brightness projector may terminal longer than a bigger battery in a brilliant projector.

Instead, look at the quoted runtime. Typically, portable projectors will concluding somewhere between two and four hours on a unmarried accuse. That means a regular motion picture (non an epic) or a few episodes of a Tv set evidence.

When using your projector on battery power, make certain that you cull your content advisedly. And, regardless of the battery life, you lot will need to accept an internet connection or offline content in order to watch anything.

If you won't use your projector on bombardment power, you lot tin wait at smaller projectors. For instance, the XGIMI Elfin is similar in specs to the Halo+, but ditches the battery to get its weight downward to just 900g.

Sound quality

Born speakers hateful that y'all don't have to carry additional speakers around with you lot, but not all portable projectors are built equally. With its dual 5W speakers, our review institute that the Halo+ was loud and articulate enough to use, fifty-fifty outside.

With 3W speakers, the Mogo Pro+ volition exist a lilliputian quieter, so may not work so well with more ambient noise in the background.

Await for a model that has Bluetooth congenital-in, and you can hook up an external Bluetooth speaker instead.

Setup features

All projectors need to be configured properly to get the best picture. The two main settings that have to be adapted are focus and keystone. The focus needs adjusting based on how far from the screen the projector is.

Keystone correction is at that place to correct problems with the projector image shape. If a projector is not straight-on to the display surface (angled up or down), and then the image will have a trapezium shape, smaller at the height than the bottom. Keystone correction adjusts for this issue, although it's a digital correction, so yous lose some detail in the picture; it's worth getting the projector equally foursquare-on as you tin.

Projectors with auto keystone and autofocus (the Halo+ and Mogo Pro+) will adjust these settings for you on the fly: plonk the projectors down and they set themselves upward.

They also have intelligent obstacle avoidance, giving you a motion picture as large as possible while avoiding things placed in front end of the projector.

And, both projectors can sense the sides of a projector screen and make the image fit automatically.

The Halo and Mogo Pro both have autofocus, but yous'll need to adjust the keystone manually. As piece of cake as XGIMI makes keystone correction, it's non quite as quick to become a projector up and running.

Information technology'south worth looking for a model that has a standard tripod mountain underneath, as this makes it piece of cake to position the projector apartment and square on to the screen.

Apps and interface

Many portable projectors run a version of Android or Android Television set. That means that you tin can have apps without having to plough to an external streaming stick.

See what support is available, every bit Netflix often doesn't work natively, as this app has to be approved to run by the company. Where Netflix doesn't piece of work, such equally on XGIMI projectors, a streaming stick is a good thought, powered by the USB port on the rear.

Some portable projectors use the mobile Android versions of apps, which means you can download content to lookout man; if your projector doesn't offering this feature, y'all'll need to accept an internet connectedness to stream content or provide it on a USB drive to watch offline.