7 Best Portable Projectors [Tested and Reviewed]

The Halo+ is Chinese manufacturer XGIMI's high-end portable projector. It claims to produce 900 ANSI lumens of brightness and comes installed with speakers by audio equipment maker Harman Kardon. The projector's powerful luminance benefits the picture quality and delivers a wide range of color depth. Thanks to its strong brightness level, our monitors praised the contrast and color saturation. As a forerunner in the race to deliver a bright picture, this portable projector makes you feel like you're at the movie theater when used in a dark room and is also perfectly watchable in a light room.

The sound resonated deep in our ears during our evaluation. In addition to being crystal clear, we could hear the delicate nuances in people's voices and intonation. To top it all off, lower frequencies came through with a rich, satisfying vibration. Setting up the Halo+ is also straightforward. It's equipped with autofocus and keystoning to ensure you get an image at the correct ratio. Pulling out the stand stored underneath allows you to adjust the angle by around 15 degrees.

Thanks to being box-shaped, you could technically turn it on its side and watch video on your ceiling, but keep in mind you'll need to have the battery charged first since the ports are all on the back. This projector comes with Android TV 10.0, so you can install your preferred streaming app; it also accepts voice commands. You can even mirror the image on other devices with Chromecast or Apple Airplay. It's a bit pricey, but considering the quality and features included, we think it's worth every penny. For those who demand the best when it comes to both video and sound quality, we can easily recommend this model.

Anker, considered one of the global leaders in portable projectors, makes the Nebula Capsule 3 Laser. It's the first portable model to use a laser for its light source, resulting in clear hues and a bright picture. In this case, we discovered that the laser technology resulted in an even brighter and more focused image than what the maker's official specifications would indicate. It displayed an image with sharpness comparable to full HD monitors while keeping naturally balanced colors. It's unlikely anyone would be unsatisfied with the image the Capsule 3 delivers. The high range of luminance makes even dark scenes in movies and TV shows a joy to watch.

In the sound department, it didn't lose much in terms of impact despite its compact size. Sounds filled the room from all sides, making this an excellent choice to immerse yourself in a movie. This projector doesn't come with a stand to adjust the direction of the lens, but it does have auto keystoning so that you can use it comfortably, even if space is tight. It also has built-in autofocus, so you can take it to any room and keep watching your show. That is, as long as you have a place to plug it in!

Android TV 11.0 is preinstalled and ready to go, so you can download any streaming service and start watching videos immediately. It also works with Chromecast and Apple AirPlay to watch on your smartphone.

The GV30 is by Taiwan-based electronics maker BenQ. It took the Good Design Award in 2021 for its circular shape, which allows the lens to be moved up to 135 degrees. We found the GV30 produces deep, distinct colors across the palette and solid resolution, making for an engulfing viewing experience. The picture isn't as easy to see if you turn the lights on, but it's perfectly sufficient for casual viewing.

During our tests, the sound quality was notable for its clarity and richness. With a reasonable amount of expansiveness and pronounced bass, you'll have no trouble absorbing yourself in a movie. As for features, this projector is equipped with autofocus and vertical keystoning. Of course, the biggest appeal is that you can project the image in any direction by simply turning the wheel-shaped body. We felt it was the easiest to set up and have ready for viewing out of all the products we tested.

With Android TV 9.0 installed out of the box, you can download the app for whichever streaming service you subscribe to and start watching video right away. Other features include compatibility with voice commands and mirroring on other devices using Chromecast or Apple AirPlay. With its unique, playful design, you can watch videos on your ceiling with the simple swipe of a hand. There are other products on the market with better picture and sound quality, but the difference isn't big enough to outweigh the benefits and overall pleasing experience for the viewer.

The MoGo+ is a mid-range portable projector by the maker XGIMI, who dominates the Chinese projector market. It projects an image with 1080p resolution and has a brightness of 300 ANSI lumens. We appreciated that the picture was able to reproduce both colors and motion adequately in dark scenes as well as lighter ones. As for the brightness produced by the projector itself, however, we felt it wouldn't be adequate to watch in a light room in the afternoon. You'll get better results by having blackout curtains or using it at night.

This projector is notable for its powerful sound quality that really emphasizes impact. We got the impression that the speakers produced a surround sound-like effect that went above and beyond their size. While the maximum volume is not extremely loud, it shouldn't cause any problems if you're using it at home. There's an included stand that allows you to adjust the direction the image is projected at by around 15 degrees. It also has auto keystoning for both horizontal and vertical aspects, making it highly convenient to set up, as it can be placed far away from your field of vision.

The box shape does allow you to place it on its side to watch video on the ceiling, but you won't be able to charge the battery simultaneously due to the port being on the back. The pre-installed OS is Android TV 9.0, and it accepts voice commands, making it compatible with video streaming services without the need to buy an extra peripheral. You can also mirror the screen onto your smartphone with Chromecast or Apple AirPlay.

The GS50 is another portable projector by maker BenQ, who split from their parent company Acer in 2001. It projects a 1080p (full HD) image at 500 lumens and is intended for outdoor use, with IPX-2 level waterproofing. We were impressed with the picture quality, which displayed neutral colors particularly well and was gratifying overall. The image gave a natural feeling of depth that made viewing a joy. The only downside was a lack of brightness, meaning it's not geared toward use in already bright rooms.

The sound quality left us a bit disappointed since it was obviously coming from the direction of the projector and didn't give any impression of a three-dimensional soundscape. On the plus side, the sound itself was incredibly clear, making it easy to catch what people were saying and pick up on nuances. Regarding setup, this projector supports keystoning both vertically and horizontally, although it needs to be handled manually for horizontal adjustments. Some people might feel it troublesome to adjust it on their own, but it does allow for projecting at a diagonal.

As with other box-shaped projectors, you can turn it on its side and project onto the ceiling as long as you don't need to simultaneously use the ports on the back. This projector comes with Android TV 9.0 equipped as its OS so you can use any major video streaming service without additional accessories. It also recognizes voice commands, so there's no need to type out the name of the video you're looking for. And finally, it's compatible with both Chromecast and Apple AirPlay, to easily mirror video onto your smartphone screen.

The Nebula Capsule II is developed by Anker, a company formed by former Google engineers. The size is comparable to that of a water bottle, but still manages to produce a 720p image with 200 ANSI lumens. With a brightness of 200 ANSI lumens, this projector had no problem producing a quality picture in a dark room and handled contrast well, but projecting an 80-inch image lost some sharpness due to the resolution. The brightness level isn't up to the task of playing video in a light room, and the picture ended up looking whitish and washed out.

When we examined sound quality, we could hear that the sound was coming from the direction of the projector if we closed our eyes, so it isn't top of the line in terms of sound projection. Thankfully, the solid lower frequencies made up for this, and we enjoyed the overall presence of sound. It's worth mentioning that vocals and instruments were easy to distinguish when watching concert footage. This model comes with autofocus but only vertical keystoning. You'll need to have space on your wall directly in front of where you set the projector in order to use it effectively. It doesn't come with a stand either, meaning you can't adjust the angle the lens is pointing at, so you'll need a tripod if you want to use it to watch video on the ceiling.

With Android TV 9.0 pre-installed, you can download the app for any streaming service and start watching videos. It also has the convenience of accepting voice commands, as well as mirroring compatibility with either Chromecast or Apple AirDrop.

The Mini Projector F-601 is by maker Fangor, who specializes in projectors. It claims it can produce 7,500 lumens at a 1080 resolution and can project an image of up to 200 inches. However, this projector wasn't able to produce a sufficient amount of brightness in our testing, which resulted in being able to see the texture of the wall behind the image. We couldn't immerse ourselves in the video, even in a dark room.

The visual representation of resolution was also underwhelming, and we could make out individual pixels at times. We noticed the distribution of brightness wasn't even on either side of the picture, possibly due to the curvature of the lens. You definitely wouldn't want to use it to watch a video in the daytime. As for sound quality, the audio was thin and muffled as if it had gone through a megaphone. The fluctuation of voices wasn't balanced, making it difficult to catch what was said at times. Most people would find it unsatisfactory to use without any audio accessories.

This projector is equipped with vertical keystoning, but no autofocus. It can be attached to a tripod for viewing video on the ceiling, but considering its size and weight this wouldn't be an ideal setup. Since it doesn't come with its own OS, you won't be able to stream video unless you have a dedicated streaming device. But it is compatible with Apple AirPlay, so you can mirror the image on your iPhone if you'd like.