Recommended High Mid-Priced Projectors ($900-$1500)

There has never been a higher value projector than the XGIMI Horizon 20, period. It’s not even close. It had the highest usable brightness, finished first in the side-by-side testing, has the lowest input lag, excellent 3D, excellent 24p motion handling, the best speakers, a built-in gimbal stand, and optical zoom with vertical and horizontal lens shift. Tallying up the points, it was in first place by 9 points over the also excellent Valerion Plus, and that included giving the XGIMI a 1 for dynamic contrast since its DBLE option is basically unusable at this point. But XGIMI has promised a fix by Thanksgiving that could potentially make the Horizon 20 substantially better if it could actually utilize its over 15,000:1 dynamic contrast without color shifts or artifacts.

If you’re looking for a projector for a light controlled theater room and your budget is $1500 or less, the Valerion StreamMaster Plus delivers the best image in terms of contrast and black level, While XGIMI’s DBLE system has the potential to match Valerion’s EBL, there isn’t currently any evidence that they’ve been able to do that, and EBL is still the best dynamic contrast system on the market by a significant margin. So, if you can position your projector properly to not need lens shift or zoom and you’d prefer extra contrast over extra brightness then the Valerion Plus should be your choice.

If you’re looking for a bedside projector to sit on a nightstand and project onto the wall or ceiling, the three obvious contenders are the JMGO N1S 4K, Hisense M2 Pro, and Epson LifeStudio Flex Plus. Of those three, the Hisense M2 Pro was by far the best, though the JMGO N1S 4K also did well, cost $400 less, and has slightly smaller overall dimensions but compared to the Hisense is lacking in terms of picture settings and speaker quality. It also doesn’t have optical zoom, which means it won’t be as flexible in placement as the Hisense, but both are excellent options, especially when compared to the Epson LifeStudio Flex Plus.

If you’re looking for a bedside projector to sit on a nightstand and project onto the wall or ceiling, the three obvious contenders are the JMGO N1S 4K, Hisense M2 Pro, and Epson LifeStudio Flex Plus. Of those three, the Hisense M2 Pro was by far the best, though the JMGO N1S 4K also did well, cost $400 less, and has slightly smaller overall dimensions but compared to the Hisense is lacking in terms of picture settings and speaker quality. It also doesn’t have optical zoom, which means it won’t be as flexible in placement as the Hisense, but both are excellent options, especially when compared to the Epson LifeStudio Flex Plus.