Halo True 1080p Portable Mini Projector, Android TV 9.0 5000+ Native Apps

The media could not be loaded.  Finding good, portable projectors for small-group, outdoor movie nights has been a disappointing quest over the last, two years. From $60 to $300 devices, each had much to like but also left a lot still to be desired. There were the big ones that output excellent, bright images but were more geared towards the home or office with HDMI/VGA connectors, small ones that were very portable but lacked the brightness and sharpness, and more recently, minis that could operate off a battery but also sacrificed image quality, input options, and good sound. I eventually did find one that checked off almost every one of my requirements, and that was the Anker Nebula Mars 2 Pro. Later on, I also purchased the Xgimi Halo because of its native 1080p display resolution. How did it compare to the Anker?This review will also go over some projection basics that helped me decide what was right for our family.MANYBOX PROJECTOR & RAVPOWER 80W AC POWERAmong all the projectors I had tested over the years, last year's ManyBox V501 was our favorite: it was small, decently bright, did not draw too much energy from a portable battery station, but suffered from speakers that were tinny and only adequately loud for a small room setting. Yet, its number of input options, including USB and microSD, won my heart because that meant not having to bring along a laptop to play a movie from. This year's summer had put that to the test: we played a movie off the side of my car while getting ready for backpacking the Kings Canyon National Park wilderness the following day. It was connected to a RAVPower 80W AC Power Bank, lasted nearly two hours, and made for a very, very happy son!XGIMI HALO vs ANKER NEBULA MARS 2 PROThe Xgimi claims to have a native 1080p display resolution which, in theory, should result in crisp text. Indeed it does. I was able to read small fonts in sharp detail as compared to the Anker. I did not find a noticeable difference in brightness between both projectors despite Xgimi having 300 more ANSI lumens than its competitor. What did stand out for me, however, is that despite Xgimi having two 5W Harmon Kardon speakers that gave excellent sound with heart-thumping bass, they did not sound as good and loud as Anker's two 10W ones. Size-wise, both projectors are roughly the same with Xgimi being taller, but more shallow. Autofocus worked identically as well. I was disappointed that the Xgimi does not have a lens cover to protect it against dust and scratches, and its touch controls are more limited than Anker's physical ones that also included a directional pad and Return key. In essence, most of the navigation on the Xgimi is done through its fancier remote (with mouse-like feature), and it does so with good responsiveness as I navigated around its Google Android TV 9.0 interface. Anker's was using an outdated Android 7.1 operating system with very clunky, limited support for Google Play Store apps (if upgraded to a Beta version of Android by contacting their technical support.) Xgimi wins by a mile in this area with its more modern, Google Android TV that has Google's full blessing with access to the 5000+ apps found in the Google Play store. Battery lasted about the same with both products and were able to play a full Pixar movie with power to spare. Both projectors did not support the latest version of Netflix, and you would be forced to use an older version provided by their respective manufacturers instead.Ultimately, it was a big tossup between both projectors. Is the Xgimi's $170 higher price tag worth it? Yes, if you want crisp details with its 1080p display resolution, a modern Android TV interface with Google Play Store app support, better material quality and feel, and a more premium, overall experience. No, if you want louder speakers, hardware controls to navigate the projector without requiring a remote, built-in cover to protect its lens, and don't care about having Google Play Store apps installed. Ultimately, I chose to keep my Anker for traveling, but the Xgimi for business presentations where I wanted to impress my clients.Let's look in more detail what I liked and disliked about the Xgimi Halo.WHAT'S GOOD? WHAT'S BAD?PROS- Design: Unique and premium-looking-- Portable and compact- Built-in battery-- Kept its charge well (stored away at 100% and remained at that after 2 weeks)- DLP technology and LED light source with a rating of up to 30,000 hours-- Color reproduction is very good- 800 ANSI lumens produces enough brightness to cover a large room with low, ambient light-- See TIPS section for details on lumens, lux, and ANSI lumens- Native screen resolution of 1080p for crisp images and text (1920x1080)- Projection size rated for a diagonal 30"-150"-- Found about 90"-100" (at 8′-10′ distance) to be the sweet spot for a fully dark room- Two 5W speakers are decently loud, full, and clear with strong bass-- Not a surprise considering that Harmon Kardon makes excellent speakers-- Projector can be used as a Bluetooth 4.0 speaker (A2DP supported)- Sharp autofocus and keystone for limited skew correction. Triggered by moving the projector- WiFi for direct connection to the Internet, local network, and supported screen mirroring-- Supports 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Former is slower than 5 GHz but has larger signal coverage and better compatibility with older devices- Android TV 9.0 OS with full Google Play Store support-- Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Plex available-- APK files can be sideloaded- Built-in touch controls at top, though only for Volume Up/Down, Start/Pause- Remote control with mouse functionality-- Some apps do not support directional movement and will require the use of the mouse- Minimal fan noise- Projection modes (configured via Settings)-- Front: like in classrooms-- Rear: like rear projection TVs and digital signs-- Front Ceiling / Rear CeilingCONS- Pricey- Autofocus is slow though crisp once locked-- Gets triggered every time you move the projector- Does not recognize FAT-formatted USB flash drives. Re-format to FAT32- No built-in storage card support (microSD or SD), making the most portable way to transport media be a USB thumb drive-- Solution: elago Mobile Nano II- No lens cover- Speakers are not as loud or powerful as the Anker Nebula Mars 2 Pro- No carry handle- Larger than other mini projectors- No physical "Menu", directional, or Return button. Remote control must be used- Home screen cannot be entirely customized- Some apps have limited or no support for the directional pads, though this is not Xgimi's fault-- Mouse function on the remote control can be used instead- WiFi Screen Mirroring with Samsung Galaxy S20+ was unusably unreliable or not functional for video playback. When it did work, it was choppy-- Worked well for photo viewing- Carry bag not includedTIPS- Autofocus: move projector or hold-press Menu button on the remote. A "Xgimi" circle will appear- Some versions of Netflix or YouTube may not support the directional padPROJECTOR BASICSBRIGHTNESS: LUMENS, ANSI LUMENS, AND LUXFor a very long time, the lack of an apple-to-apple comparison between projector brightness had been a source of frustration. Measurements I had commonly seen were in lumens, ANSI lumens, and lux — and even then I found that two projectors with the same rating did not produce the same amount of brightness. Worse yet, a 6,000 lumen unit was dimmer than the 500 ANSI lumens (which generically is about 3,500 lumens) of the Nebula Mars II Pro during one of my tests! So, I did some digging in an attempt to better understand light measurements. You will find that there is no easy way to convert ANSI lumens to generic lumens.Some manufacturers overstate their lumen rating in an attempt to sell more without regard to how the disinformation could hurt their brand — and customer trust — in the long run.TERMINOLOGY- Lumens: Intensity of light (luminous flux) from a given source. This rating does not change regardless of distance from which the source is measured from- Lux: Intensity of light at a specific location away from the source (1 lux = 1 lumen/sq meter). The farther away you travel, the lower the Lux rating, whereas Lumen remains unchanged- ANSI Lumens: Considered to be the most accurate measure of brightness emitted by a projector-- Rating was developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). It is derived from measuring 9 points on a 3×3 grid as follows:--- Projector set 2.4m (7.9 ft) from the screen--- Projection size set to 60" with a 3×3 grid--- Measure the illuminance of each of the 9 points on the grid--- ANSI Lumens = average of the 9 points multiplied by the total surface area of the projected imageCONTRAST RATIOProjectors often include the Contrast Ratio in their list of technical specifications. It is a measurement of how dark and light the respective areas can be rendered, looking for the difference between the brightest and darkest pixels. For example, when watching a movie, you want the black to be as deep/dark as possible without affecting the lighter parts of the scene. This would result in a better experience with sharper, more detailed images and colors.A higher contrast ratio is generally better and can go as high as 10,000:1 (white is 10,000x brighter than black), though the human eye will have difficulty discerning the miniscule difference past a certain point. A good ratio to look for should fall between 1,000:1 and 3,000:1. With all that said...The contrast ratio practically is a meaningless specification. Ambient light and other factors can SIGNIFICANTLY affect the contrast, and as such, one should focus more on darkening the room and using a good projection screen. An optimally low-light room would yield no visible difference between 300:1 and a 50,000:1 contrast ratio.LUMEN-TO-ANSI LUMEN CONVERSIONSome sources use a 7x factor to convert lumen to ANSI lumen. Although this is NOT ACCURATE because of the many factors involved that affect brightness, it provides a generic reference to which to compare products by. Remember, ANSI lumen takes into consideration the projection distance, screen size, and 9 measurement points, whereas lumen only measures a light source's fixed intensity regardless of the aforementioned elements.In the case of the Anker Nebula Mars II Pro, its 500 ANSI lumen rating can be roughly converted to 3,500 lumens (500 x 7). Xgimi Halo's would be roughly 5,600 lumens.PERCEIVED VS MEASURED BRIGHTNESSAccording to Viewsonic, two projectors with the same ANSI lumen rating may appear different in brightness due to the human eye being "more sensitive to certain wavelengths of light". In other words, more color-saturated images appear to be brighter as the result of the HK (Helmholtz-Kohlrausch) Effect.Furthermore, Viewsonic also points out that LED-based projectors produce higher, perceived brightness over older lamp ones despite having the same ANSI lumen rating.DID YOU KNOW? A projection screen with a gain rating of 1.0 preserves the image's brightness, whereas a higher or lower number will respectively increase or decrease it. For instance, the Gain rating of 1.1 with the 100BTF Screen with Stand ensures the image brightness is not hampered by that product's material.ROOM SIZESCommon ANSI lumen ratings recommended for various room sizes are shown below. Keep in mind, however, that image brightness can be affected by ambient light, projection distance, screen size and type, light output technology and age, and other factors.- Small room: 200-300- Large room: 400-600- Large auditorium: 2,000+METAL-HALIDE, LED, DLP, AND LCDPROJECTION SYSTEMS- DLP: Texas Instruments' Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology provided a significant leap in projection through the use of expensive, spinning color wheels that produced sharp images, was 3D capable, and had low response times suitable for video playback- LCD: LCD projectors work great for movies, have no moving parts, are generally less expensive than DLP, but output less contrast and require filter maintenanceThere is almost no visible difference in quality and between DLP and LCD today.LIGHT SOURCES- Metal-Halide Lamp: One of the oldest, but still most commonly-used lamps produces bright images with excellent color rendering-- Get very hot and only last 2,000 – 5,000 hours before needing replacement at an exorbitant cost-- A noisy fan must be left running for a while after power off to ensure adequate cooling before putting the unit away-- Avoid touching the lamp with your naked fingers because the skin oils can degrade the coating and cause the bulb to explode when turned on- LED: With a lifespan of over 20,000 hours, LED projectors generate very little heat and power consumption and require almost no maintenance. Their brightness and image sharpness trail Metal-Halide lamps, though the gap has slowly been closing

This is a very good projectorIt is truly portable and not that heavy it is bright and has a true 1080p picture. The sound is impressive and loud enough forPeople to hear . I wish you could get Netflix on it you have to useA firestick or roku ect . Overall this really good projector it is well built perfect for movie nights .

The media could not be loaded.  If you're like me and are looking to buy a projector to do movies occasionally on the weekends both outside and inside. The main criteria was portability for me and form factor. This projector checked off both of those boxes with the small size and portability. And this projector gets a bonus for it's internal battery which can last up to two hours on a full charge. The ability to project to a 100-in screen with a nice picture was also one of the requirements that I had. I paired this projector with a TaoTronics portable projector screen which comes with a built-in tripod. I couldn't wait to test this projector and had it shipped to my job. We have a conference room with a pure white wall that we used for our 720p projector. I was very impressed after setting it up and seeing the picture quality. It has built-in Chromecast and YouTube. Once I paired it with my Android, Google made my apps on my phone available to the projector. I have dish Network at home and use the dish anywhere app. This app installed very easily and I was able to view all of my recordings and live TV on this projector while at work. I was so impressed that I was able to do this and was equally impressed once I saw the picture quality. A picture quality is very good and my video you can see that it projects a very bright colorful video quality. Before purchasing this I read some of the reviews knocking the built-in Harman kardon speakers. The speaker volume played fine for me and was plenty loud for me and I've gone slightly deaf in my old age. The projector has built-in focus and built-in keystone adjustment. Both did a very good job making the best picture available based on the distance from the projection screen. I played with multiple distances. But at 100 in, this is where the projector really shines. Well there may be other projectors in the same price range that produce an equal slightly better picture, you don't get the portability or internal battery that this projector includes. I do recommend loading Amazon prime and Vudu on your phone before you connect it so that those apps will be picked up and loaded for you. But it has a lot of built-in apps by default. I connected a hard drive to it with a lot of video on it and was able to access the hard drive with the remote and play all of the videos and music on the hard drive. I also connected my laptop and played a 1080p video I had recorded from my laptop. The projector has built-in video apps to play the movies that I had on my hard drive. This projector passed all of my tests and I'm very happy that I took a chance on this projector. The projector was bright enough to be detected on the projector screen when I turn the lights on in the room. You can see another video review of the projection screen I bought by searching for TaoTronics projection screens on Amazon. This is a great projector to use for night time outdoor movies or to watch a movie indoors. It is very easy to pack up and store and I've already found a pelican case on Amazon with the pluckout foam to store it in. I definitely recommend this projector if one of your requirements is a small form factor and portability.

love it on a 150 inch white screen .lots of color . once set up to hot spot /or wifi hooks up every time .apps work great! blue tooth love it . could be a little brighter .needs to be preet dark out .wish id got the next leave one , (brighter)but was on back order.

La calidad de imagen no le pide nada a una televisión y lo mejor es que es portátil, no trae Netflix pero sí se puede descargar, nos encantó! Vale la pena la compra

Vale lo que cuesta muy versátil,practico,su portabilidad y su batería sonido más que suficiente