Before, mobile projectors were not of the highest quality so it’s not a device that you would want to use for home movie nights. They were good enough for some presentations if you need something that can be portable and easily accessible. But in terms of video and projection quality, it left a lot to be desired. But lately, LED projector makers have been upping the ante, courting the market that would rather use projectors to watch movies and TV shows rather than using a smart TV or laptop.
ASUS in particular has come up with pretty decent portable projectors with its ZenBeam line. The latest one is the ZenBeam 1080p LED projector which you can use for your TV show marathon sessions or a drive-in movie festival in your background. It can even serve as your own gallery of sorts with a Light Wall feature that lets you project images onto your wall to fit the ambience of your home or of the moment and you can of course change the “painting” as often as you want.
The projector has 400 ANSI lumens which is perfect for night time viewing outdoors. It has a mercury-free RGBB LED light source with a Full HD resolution with a 1:2:1 ratio and can project visuals between 40 and 120 diagonal inches. It comes with Android TV so you can download any app or video streaming service that is compatible with the platform. Sound quality should also be pretty okay since it uses Harman Kardon sound.
The ZenBeam L2 projector looks like it can roam around the moon as the design seems to be that of a small robot or rover. It has a 3.5 hour battery life so it should be enough for a movie or a couple of episodes before you would need to plug it in. I wouldn’t mind having one that I can pull out if I need to project something on a surface. I mean I would still prefer my TV or my tablet but for group viewing somewhere that doesn’t have that, then this would be the next best thing.
Android TV 11 brings a wide range of sources and apps
CONS:
A bit bulky and heavy, but compact compared to most 4K projectors
Requires adequate distance from projection surface
RATINGS:
AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
EDITOR'S QUOTE:
With advanced smart features and Dolby Vision, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra not only pushes the envelope of what long throw projectors can do but also how elegant they can look.
With more and more people banishing TV sets from their homes, home projectors have become more popular and also more varied. There are plenty of designs available, differing in throw ratio and performance, to the point that choosing which one to invest in can become an overwhelming and daunting challenge. While short throw projectors are gaining popularity for their space-saving qualities, they’re hardly the perfect solution for all circumstances, especially considering their cost and noise. Long throw projectors, on the other hand, are powerful and convenient but still have plenty of room for growth. Fortunately, brands like XGIMI are continuously challenging the status quo to address those flaws, so we take the new XGIMI Horizon Ultra long throw projector for a spin to see what new experience it is putting in the middle of your home.
Although home projectors are becoming more common these days, many of them haven’t diverged that much from the designs of earlier models used in business and commercial settings. There are some that are finally trying to adapt to home interior designs, but there are still far and few in between. Right out of the box, you can already tell which category the XGIMI Horizon Ultra belongs to, bearing an exquisite and elegant design that reflects the attention to detail that the company paid in making its newest flagship.
The predominantly white box comes taller than your average projector, but that shape works to give it more presence in a room. Not that it needs to do that, given how its predominantly white body will easily make it stand out anywhere. Misty gold accents help further highlight the XGIMI Horizon Ultra’s luxurious character, making sure everyone understands that this is no mere consumer electronics product. To ensure visual consistency, even the adapter and cord that power the projector come in a white hue, unlike the predominantly black motif of most power bricks.
XGIMI didn’t just stop at painting the Horizon Ultra white, however. Taking a page from smart home speakers, it also layered fabrics on the projector’s sides, further enhancing its elegance and cementing its place in your home. It gives the projector an almost natural vibe despite its purely artificial construction. XGIMI also aimed for simplicity and minimalism, even hiding the projector lens behind an electrical sliding cover, making the Horizon Ultra a viable piece of decoration for any room. Considering how it will most likely stand in the middle of the room anyway, that’s definitely a much-needed feature.
Ergonomics
Unlike a handheld tool or mobile device, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra is not something that will see a lot of manual operation and holding. In fact, given its 11.5lb (5.2kg) weight, it’s not something you will want to hold a lot. It’s still portable in the sense that you can move it around the house and place it in an optimal position, but chances are, once you’ve found the perfect spot for it, it’s staying there for a very long period of time. That perfect spot would be determined not just by the desired distance from a wall or projection screen but, more importantly, by the availability of a wall socket. Thankfully, the projector’s auto keystone correction and other smart features make it possible to set it up at an angle from that projection target.
Using the XGIMI Horizon Ultra itself is as simple as its appearance would imply. The absence of physical buttons on the device itself presents a streamlined and unbroken appearance, but it also means you will be controlling the projector using a remote. The remote looks as luxurious as the projector, though we would have preferred if it followed the same white color scheme rather than a combination of black and sandblasted gray, almost like some brand’s minimalist remote control. The complete reliance on a remote control also means you have to be careful not to lose the accessory, which is often what happens with this kind of device. But since it does run Android TV 11 and uses Bluetooth, there might also be an option to use other wireless methods of controlling it, not plugging in a mouse and keyboard.
As for plugging in things, all the Horizon Ultra’s ports are at the back, making cable management a lot easier, depending on your setup. You only have one place to go to for connecting external devices, and only one side of the projector to hide from plain sight. All-in-all, XGIMI aimed for a simple and minimalist design that is both easy on the eyes as well as easy to use.
Performance
Of course, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra is more than just a piece of home decoration, and its real test is in its output. Compared to their short throw cousins, long throw projectors are often criticized for being easily affected by ambient light and obscured by objects and people nearby. XGIMI manages to address practically all these flaws, delivering a long throw projector that can deliver bright, color-accurate, and high-quality images under any condition.
The Horizon Ultra’s primary selling point is being the industry’s first 4K long throw projector that proudly bears Dolby Vision support, a feat that’s difficult to achieve on traditional display panels, let alone a long-throw projector. What this means in practice is that the XGIMI Horizon Ultra guarantees ultra-high brightness, an ultra-wide color gamut, ultra-high color accuracy, and ultra-high viewing comfort, in any setting, without compromise.
On a technological level, this is made possible by an innovative Dual Light engine that combines the best of both worlds of Laser and LED sources. Laser light is known for its brightness and color range but is criticized for tiring the eyes. LED, in contrast, is comfortable and power efficient but often lacks the brightness needed by long throw projectors. In the XGIMI Horizon Ultra, these two technologies complement each other and make up for the other’s weaknesses using a novel five-channel laser LED hybrid optical path to seamlessly combine these two sources into one breathtaking image that can reach up to 2300 ISO lumens of brightness, without color fringing, speckles, and other artifacts that ruin the visual immersion.
Image quality, however, won’t matter much if the projected image is distorted, misaligned, washed out by ambient light, or blocked. In the old days, it was up to the operator to make all the adjustments on the projector to have a straight rectangle on a wall or screen. Fortunately, those old days are long gone, and the Horizon Ultra offers the most intelligent automatic adjustment capabilities that let you just sit back and relax while the projector does the precision work. This Intelligent Screen Adaptation or ISA 3.0 can adjust almost all aspects of the projector to deliver the correct image, no matter the external environment.
It can, for example, adjust the brightness depending on the time of day or ambient light by adjusting the Iris and the optical zoom. The Horizon Ultra can even automatically adjust the colors so that your wall’s color doesn’t affect the image quality. Automatic keystone is no sweat either, so you can practically place the projector anywhere that’s convenient. And when it detects someone or something in front of it, Eye Protection kicks in to stop direct light beams from blinding your loved ones. You almost don’t even have to lift a finger except to select the videos you want, truly making it an effortless and enjoyable experience.
Sustainability
Like many consumer electronics, home projectors are filled with a combination of materials ranging from metal to glass to plastic. The XGIMI Horizon Ultra is not that different from the rest of the herd, but, to its credit, it does do a few things differently that deserve some applause, both in terms of aesthetics as well as sustainability.
While it doesn’t exactly exclude the use of plastics, using fabric masks at least reduced the reliance on synthetic materials to give the product a sense of style. More importantly, using eco-friendly PU leather gives the projector a sustainability angle that few of its peers can boast of. It doesn’t hurt that it also delivers a pleasant tactile experience by putting something that feels organic and soft to the touch on the surface of the projector, almost making you want to caress the device as often as you can.
Value
There are plenty of home projectors popping left and right these days, and even XGIMI has a roster of choices from both sides of the throw ratio fence. Choosing the right combination of performance and price is already difficult, but if you add requirements for aesthetics and convenience, the choice becomes even more difficult to make. Fortunately, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra seems to check all the right boxes, at least for people who don’t mind having a projector take up space somewhere in the room away from a wall. For those who prefer a tighter placement and can live with the cost and generated heat, a short throw projector might still be a better solution.
Compared to other long throw projectors, the Horizon Ultra manages to address some of the biggest complaints, particularly with how environmental factors can affect performance. Bearing the Dolby Vision badge is no small feat, and it brings with it the promise of excellent picture quality, no matter the lighting situation. The projector looks incredible as well, clearly fitting the home rather than standing out like a sore thumb. It also comes with optical zoom for lossless scaling and sensory brightness enhancement, a feature that is usually only found in projectors costing $2,000 or more. But with a price tag of $1,699, it significantly undercuts other brands that promise the same performance with a higher figure and wrapped in a lackluster design.
Verdict
People’s lifestyles have changed drastically in the past several years alone. The Internet and streaming have replaced traditional cable subscriptions, and people have become more glued to their mobile devices to the point that large TVs have become less used and less practical to own. At the same time, however, people are also rediscovering the lost art of enjoying content together, whether it’s a film or a video game, gathering in a single physical location to share the energy and as well as the feels.
Home projectors try to bring the best of both worlds, providing freedom without completely locking people out from those social activities. As they become more common in homes, these entertainment devices also start to take on smarter designs that blend better with their surroundings. With its latest long throw projector, XGIMI is raising the bar not just in performance but also in design, acknowledging that projectors are no longer just a machine just for tech-savvy users but also for homeowners with aesthetic tastes and requirements. With Dolby Vision image quality, super-intelligent features that remove the grunt work from setting up the projector, and a wide variety of content sources from devices and the Internet, the XGIMI Horizon Ultra takes long throw projectors to the next level in providing an immersive entertainment experience, without the cord or even a TV.
Projector technology continues to improve, and we believe there will be no end to it. Even if display technology advances, people will still want projectors, whether for home or business use.
Some households are even switching to getting home projectors. Instead of getting more giant TVs, they prefer projectors to achieve that cozy, home movie theater feel. We have seen and tried several projectors already. Most of them are just concept designs, but there are a few we really want to turn into reality, like the PANO.
Designer: BK Hwang
The PANO Beam Projector is a portable version that is great for the home and for outdoor adventures. For example, if you’re into camping and are looking for evening entertainment, you can quickly bring your Pano projector and be ready to play your favorite movie or TV show. This portable beam projector doesn’t look complicated to operate. The design is a simple rectangular prism inspired by an SUV. On one side is the projecting lens and what appears to be a fabric speaker grille. On the top surface is a button and what we’re assuming is a zoom ring.
On the rear are some more buttons and ports like the power button, Bluetooth connectivity button, DC IN, AUX, USB 2.0, and an HDMI port. There is some vent for heat to go out. We’re assuming this thing is lightweight compared to older projector models.
The name Pano is from the word “panorama.” The designer BK Hwang meant the projector to be used in storytelling, allowing you and me to go an emotional trip down memory lane. You can use the projector to watch movies and view your videos or photos.
This PANO Beam Projector joins our list of exciting concept projects. We remember that Video Bubble Projector that uniquely shows images. Then, there is the Togic One home projector designed for Gen Z TikTokers. The swivel projector brings function and elegance together.
We also can’t forget that Smart Minion Projector that looks like a yellow minion. Of course, that Projectable is still making us wish it would turn into reality. But if you really need to buy a home projector, you may want to consider The Freestyle from Samsung. It’s the tech giant’s first entry into the smart projector game as an easy-to-use projector you can use on its own or with a phone. It’s remarkable as it can replace your lamp, speaker, and TV—all at the same time.
Say goodbye to those hulking boxes in your living room with a single projector that might actually be doing too much.
Along with the rise of cord-cutters, there has been an increase in the number of people eschewing traditional TV sets. Some have become accustomed to watching everything from their smartphones or tablets, while others have opted to use less permanent fixtures to replace those large slabs of plastic and glass. Home projectors, both the short and long throw kind, have become more en vogue these days, and Samsung is jumping on the scene with a surprisingly fresh take on the product.
Projectors come in different sizes and designs, but almost all of them have one thing in common. Those come in a box shape and are often quite bulky, mostly to accommodate the equally bulky hardware inside. That’s what makes the new Samsung Freestyle a bit of a pleasant surprise because it throws all conventions out the window.
In stark contrast to most projectors, the Freestyle comes in a sleek cylindrical form that looks like a mix of a spotlight and a smart speaker. In reality, that is almost exactly what it is, though it substitutes the spotlight for an LED projector. The Freestyle’s body can swing 180 degrees, making it trivial to place the projector anywhere and still get a good view. The projected image can go from 30 to up to 100 inches with a Full HD resolution.
Despite the more compact size, the Samsung Freestyle is actually packed with features you’d see in bigger projectors. Those include autofocus and automatic keystone correction, both of which give the projector its advertised freedom. It even runs Samsung’s Smart TV software, so you’re getting the same apps and features you would see on the brand’s latest Internet-connected TVs. But wait, there’s more! The Freestyle also functions as a smart speaker and an ambient lighting device when not in use for watching videos.
There are, of course, some drawbacks to a projector this small, like the 500 nits of brightness that sounds too low for use in bright rooms. Its micro HDMI slot will also have some scampering for adapters, and there’s no built-in battery for wireless use. Then again, you can easily use a power bank when you carry it around, which could be music to the ears of Gen Z and millennials that this product was made for.
The design creatively transforms a mundane projector into a character loved by people of all ages from all over the world. The projector’s lens is perfect for Stuart’s monocle and the geometric cylinder combines the characteristic elements of IP with the core functions of the product. The upper and lower ends are sprayed with plastic material and metal aluminum mesh. The black silicone headwear is matched with the plastic metal paint effect of the optical machine lens. Yellow brings the bright pop needed to projects in true minion fashion complete with a yellow dust-proof that is added between the hardware aluminum net and the shell. The smart projector is a compact and cute upgrade from the otherwise dull black box!
The projector’s single camera, TOF feature face recognition, and an automatic focusing motor keep the picture clear at all times. Relying on the current hardware solutions for autofocus, the smart eye protection function has been added. “The internal use of independent BOX design uses a four-point cantilever to make the sound effect more perfect. 5020 blower, heat conduction system, intelligent control of fan speed, effective control of wind noise and internal temperature,” elaborates the team. An Instagram follower also pointed out that the perforations make it seem like Stuart has a beard…I guess we are all growing up! The design and emotion are also very well translated from the product to the packaging, it is equally playful, bright, and compact as the projector itself.
Are you a minion fan or do you have another character in mind that can be turned into a cool projector? Either way, it is only fair to quote Agnes herself to describe the collective emotion we felt when we saw the minion projects – “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!”
Here are some specs to give you an idea of exactly how remarkable the ilumee projector is. The short-throw projector is capable of casting a massive 150-inch 4K display on your wall, while being just 4.3 inches away from it. The projector even packs a hi-fi stereo sound system that mimics the quality you’d get from a 5.1 surround sound setup. Combine the two and you’ve got yourself a truly cinematic experience.
Short-throw projectors have been creating quite a wave in the market, with companies like Sony, LG, and even smaller brands like Vava creating pretty interesting products. The advantage of having this over a conventional projector is that the device sits right near the wall almost the way a television does, so you’re not interrupted by a shadow being cast every time you get up to fetch popcorn or a can of beer. ilumee boasts of the shortest throw-rate of just 0.2:1, letting you place the projector right near the wall to create a screen anywhere between 70 to 150 inches, with as many as 8.3 million pixels. HDR quality pixels ensure stunning clarity, as well as great color light output, giving you much better contrast and brightness than most projectors in its category, while the LED projector gives you a wider color gamut, better reproduction, and an incredible lifespan of over 20 years.
The LED projector comes with a wide slew of ports, allowing you to plug and play media or even connect it directly to your phone/tablet or the internet via WiFi or even through an ethernet port. ilumee runs on an Android TV operating system, giving you access to all your multimedia and streaming apps, while its 4K technology means you can watch all your favorite movies and shows in the crispest of resolutions. Plus, ilumee’s LED projection technology cuts down on the amount of harmful blue-light that reaches your eyes, giving you what’s essentially comparable to having a massive 150-inch smart 4K cinema setup, complete with a capable stereo sound system in your house. Not bad, eh?
ilumee: 4K LED Projector with Ultimate Short Throw Rate
ilumee Ultra Short-Throw LED Projector has the world’s shortest throw rate, giving you 4K ultra high definition image up to mind-blowing 150″ huge display. Get a 100″ screen from only 4.3 inches away.
4K Projector with Shortest Throw Rate 0.2:1
ILUMEE has the ultimate wide-angle lens, letting you place it just 4.3 inches from the wall and filling a screen as large as 100″. Projecting a movie or giving a presentation, no one will ever need to stand in the beam of projected light and create shadows on the image.
Easy to install and saves the cost and hassle of a ceiling mount.
It takes the lead in the industry by boosting the shortest throw rate of 0.2:1, while the standard among competitors ranges from 1.5~1.9:1. It can fill a stunning 70 – 150 inches screen from a distance of only 1.2″ – 15″. It can project a screen size up to max of 150 inches.
High Color Light Output (CLO)
Brightness or lumen of white light has been overstated in projectors because it alone cannot deliver bright, lifelike colors. CLO is equally important since a comparably low CLO can render the images dull and lifeless with the details hard to see. ilumee brings the vivid, true colors you see everyday to life by ensuring that the color brightness matches the white light brightness in lumens.
With a brighter image, you can easily see the detail even in well-lit rooms without the need to spend loads on a projector with really high lumens.
4K Ultra HD Resolution
8.3 million pixels deliver awe-inspiring image quality with crisply defined details and incredible clarity.
Ultra Long Lamp Life
ilumee can give you up to 20-years-worth of entertainment thanks to a bulb life of more than 30,000 hours.
Why LED Projector
– Long Lifespan – Stable performance with easy maintenance – Wide color gamut coverage – High power efficiency – Affordable
With the help of High Dynamic Range Imaging Technology, ilumee gives you improved contrast ratio, brightness, and color depth with rich details in highlights and shadows.
Improved HDR Quality Pixels
With the help of High Dynamic Range Imaging Technology, ILUMEE gives you improved contrast ratio, brightness, and color depth with rich details in highlights and shadows.
Advanced Color Processing Technology
Denoising, gamma correction, color calibration, and enhanced color gamut coverage, dozens of cutting-edge color processing technologies have been applied in ilumee to emit a picture that’s bright, detailed, and color accurate.
Build-in HiFi Stereos
A projector with incredible immersive sound. ilumee creates Hi-Fi stereo audio which is as good as 5.1 Surround Sound System, giving you an immersive experience when you enjoy films, games and sporting events.
Akin-to-Nature Reflected Images Protect Your Eyes
Better than the blue light exposure from traditional LCD screen which could hurt your eyes, you receive soft, natural and healthy reflected light from ILUMEE which won’t strain your eyes even when binge-watching.
Full Connectivity & Responsive Touch Panel
ilumee is universally compatible with flash drive, hard drive, DVD player, video recorder, Chromebox, game station, etc. In addition to the remote control, ilumee can also be manipulated through a built-in touch panel which comes handy in cases when you couldn’t find the remote or it doesn’t work properly.
Android System
ilumee features the Android TV operating system to stream services like Netflix, Hulu or your favorite sites.
Acer usually graces our pages for its pico projector range, but the company's taken a leaf out of the high-end book for its latest non-portable model, the K750 LED-laser hybrid. The world's first combo projector spits out 1080p, just as you would expect, at a contrast ratio of up to 100,000:1. Acer claims the color brightness, saturation and fidelity are significantly better than mercury lamps, and appears to be leaning towards the business and education markets, citing the K750's instant on / off capability to sway the productive types. If you fancy one of these in your house, however, better start saving your cash -- AVForums claims it'll be available in the UK later this month bearing a price tag of around £1,700 (approximately $2,650).
