{"id":6317,"date":"2024-09-12T12:30:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T16:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesmarthomehookup.com\/test_install\/?p=6317"},"modified":"2025-04-26T11:06:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T15:06:25","slug":"ultimate-portable-projector-comparison-2024-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesmarthomehookup.com\/test_install\/ultimate-portable-projector-comparison-2024-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultimate Portable Projector Comparison – 2024 Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Mounting a TV on the ceiling or bringing one with you when traveling isn\u2019t practical. In those cases, a portable projector might be the solution. The question is, is a $400 projector just as good as a $1000 one and is bright 1080p better than dim 4K? Let\u2019s find out.<\/p>

In the first test we\u2019ll see which projector has the brightest picture and best contrast. We\u2019ll do head-to-head picture quality testing on 100\u201d screens. Then we\u2019ll see which projector has the loudest and highest quality speakers. Then we\u2019ll test their battery life. We\u2019ll test their automatic focus, keystone, and built in aiming solutions. For gamers, we\u2019ll test input lag. And last, we\u2019ll look at built-in app compatibility and SmartOS performance.<\/p>

Brightness, Contrast, and Fan Noise<\/h3>

With a street price of $429, the least expensive projector we\u2019ll be testing today is the Nebula Capsule 3<\/a>. The Capsule 3 has 1080p resolution and an LED light source. The Capsule 3 is extremely small and weighs just 1.8 pounds despite sturdy construction and a built in battery that Nebula says will last 2.5 hours. For connectivity, the Capsule 3 has a 3.5mm audio jack, full size HDMI, USB-A, and it\u2019s powered by USB-C.\u00a0Using the ANSI lumen standard taking nine separate brightness readings while projecting an all-white screen, I measured the Capsule 3 at 161 ANSI lumens while plugged in, which is only 80% of Nebula\u2019s claimed brightness, and it dropped to just 112 lumens on battery saving Eco mode.\u00a0Comparing the all-white screen to an all-black screen, the Capsule 3 had a contrast ratio of 357:1, and measuring fan noise from a distance of 18\u201d on full brightness, the Capsule 3\u2019s fan was noticeable but not distracting at 38.3 decibels.<\/p>

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Next for $449 is the brand new 1080p XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro<\/a>, which has been completely redesigned to not only include a built-in aiming solution but also to be compact and easy to carry. The MoGo 3 Pro weighs in at 2.5 pounds and for connectivity it has a single USB-C input on its base for power and a hidden USB-A and HDMI Micro port on the side of the main unit.\u00a0XGIMI claims the MoGo 3 Pro has 450 peak lumens, but I measured about 12% less than that at 394 ANSI lumens on full brightness, and unlike the Capsule 3, the MoGo 3 Pro doesn\u2019t have a built in battery. But it can be powered via USB-C using a PD compatible power bank where it automatically reduces its max brightness to 235 ANSI lumens.\u00a0The MoGo 3 Pro\u2019s max brightness was two and a half times brighter than the Capsule 3, but it also had a much higher black floor resulting in a lower contrast ratio of 287:1, and it also had a louder fan at 44.4 decibels.<\/p>

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Next for $469 is the 1080p Nebula Mars 3 Air<\/a>, which has a very similar form factor to one of my previous favorite portable projectors, the Nebula Mars 2 Pro. The Mars 3 Air weighs in at 3.7 pounds and has a built in battery that Nebula claims will last 2.5 hours. For connectivity, the Mars 3 Air has a 3.5mm audio jack, a full size HDMI port, USB-A, and a barrel jack that uses 19V DC for power.\u00a0Nebula claims the Mars 3 Air has a brightness of 400 lumens and I measured 12% higher than that at 450 ANSI lumens on full brightness and 203 ANSI lumens on battery saver Eco mode. The black floor of the Mars 3 Air was slightly lower than the XGIMI resulting in a contrast ratio of 373:1, and the fan noise was also slightly lower at 42.4 decibels.<\/p>

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After that for $599 is the brand new 1080p BENQ GV50<\/a> which, like the GV30 and GV31 before it, has a circular design with a magnetic base to be able to easily aim anywhere you want. The GV50 has all plastic construction, weighs in at a hefty 4.6 pounds, and has a built in battery that BENQ says will last up to 2 and a half hours. For connectivity, the BENQ has a 3.5mm audio jack, USB-A, a full size HDMI, USB-C with PD, and a Barrel jack for 19V DC charging.\u00a0The GV50 has massively upgraded brightness from previous models at a claimed 500 lumens, and I measured 498 ANSI lumens when plugged in and 369 ANSI lumens in battery saver Eco mode. The GV50 also had a low black floor giving it a respectable contrast ratio of 685:1 and the fan noise was the same as the Mars 3 Air at 42.4 decibels.<\/p>

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Next for $649 is the overall pick from last year\u2019s portable projector video, the JMGO N1<\/a>, a 1080p triple laser projector with a built-in gimble stand for easy aiming in any direction. The N1 weighs in at 4.2 pounds and for connectivity it has a USB-A port, a full size HDMI, a 3.5mm audio jack on the back of the unit, and a 19V DC barrel jack for power located on the gimble base.\u00a0JMGO claims the N1 has 800 lumens peak brightness and in my testing, I was able to measure considerably more than that at 870 ANSI lumens on laser power 10, and on laser power 1 the N1 can go all the way down to 140 ANSI lumens to conserve battery. The N1\u2019s black floor was only slightly higher than the GV50, so combined with its high brightness the N1\u2019s contrast ratio was the best yet at an impressive 1047:1. The N1\u2019s fan is also completely silent at 33.9 decibels, and the only noise coming from the projector is a faint whine from the projector\u2019s laser light source.<\/p>

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After that for $699 is the 1080p Dangbei Atom<\/a> weighing in at just 2.8 pounds which when combined with its thin sleek profile would be perfect for sticking in a laptop bag or backpack, but I\u2019ll also be testing it with the optional gimble stand that you can usually find bundled for around $50 extra. For connectivity, the Atom has a full size HDMI, a USB-A, a 19V DC barrel jack, and a 3.5mm audio jack.\u00a0Dangbei claims the Atom can put out 1200 ISO lumens, and I was able to slightly exceed that at 1215 ANSI lumens on High Performance mode, but with extremely poor color accuracy and ridiculous fan noise. Realistically, you can expect around 1021 ANSI lumens on Standard Picture mode and laser power 10, which is still good, and on laser power zero, the power draw drops considerably while still maintaining 297 ANSI lumens. The Atom had the highest black floor yet, but due to its high brightness still produced a decent contrast of 590:1. The Atom\u2019s fan noise on laser power 7 was very quiet at 39.9 decibels, but it occasionally ramped up when using laser power 10, and as I said was unreasonably loud in High Performance mode.<\/p>

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Next for $849 is the other top pick from last year\u2019s video, the rugged 1080p Nebula Mars 3<\/a>. Weighing in at 10.2 pounds, the Mars 3 isn\u2019t exactly portable, but it\u2019s made to be the ultimate camping and backyard projector with a huge 185 watt hour battery and dust, water, and drop resistance.\u00a0Nebula claims the Mars 3 can output 1000 lumens, and my one year old unit still got very close to that at 969 ANSI lumens on standard brightness, and 344 lumens on battery saving Eco mode, but the Mars 3\u2019s black floor is unfortunately the highest yet, leading to a contrast ratio of just 315:1, and the fan noise is around 42.4 decibels.<\/p>

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Then for $979 we\u2019ve got the highly anticipated 4K, triple laser LG Cinebeam Q<\/a> that was announced at CES 2024. The Cinebeam Q has a minimalist, mostly metal design and weighs in at 3.3 pounds. For connectivity, the Cinebeam has a 19V DC barrel jack, a USB-C supporting power delivery, and a full size HDMI port.\u00a0LG claims the Cinebeam can put out 500 lumens, and in my testing, it was slightly higher than that at 535 ANSI lumens when plugged into AC power. When running off a USB-C power bank there was no change, and I couldn\u2019t find a way to reduce the brightness to conserve power. The Cinebeam had an impressively low black floor giving it an excellent contrast ratio of 1115:1, putting it in first place for contrast, but the fan noise was very noticeable at 44.4 decibels.<\/p>

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And last, the most expensive projector we\u2019re testing today is the $999 1080p JMGO N1S<\/a>, which is the updated version of the JMGO N1 with a slightly redesigned gimble for better aiming, and the N1S comes in slightly heavier at 4.45 pounds but with the same connectivity with USB-A, a full size HDMI, 3.5mm audio, and a 19V DC barrel connector for power.\u00a0The N1S also has upgraded brightness at a claimed 900 lumens, and in my testing, it slightly exceeded that at 936 ANSI lumens on laser power 10, but unlike the N1, the N1S can\u2019t lower its brightness quite as much and still output 488 ANSI lumens on laser power 1. The N1S\u2019s black floor was slightly higher than the N1, but that gets offset by the higher brightness to produce a nearly identical contrast ratio of 1038:1.<\/p>

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Brightness and Contrast Summary<\/h3>

So that means that overall, the brightest projectors were the Dangbei Atom, Nebula Mars 3, JMGO N1S and JMGO N1. The projectors with the best contrast were the LG Cinebeam Q, JMGO N1, JMGO N1S, and the BENQ GV50, and the quietest projectors were the JMGO N1S, JMGO N1, Nebula Capsule 3, and Dangbei Atom.<\/p>

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Side-by-Side Testing<\/h3>

Brightness and contrast are major factors in determining picture quality, but tone mapping and color accuracy are also very important, so to judge overall picture quality I put each projector head-to-head on 100\u201d 1.1 gain white screens in a light controlled room and filmed them using manual settings on my Sony A7 IV camera.<\/p>

Starting with the two least expensive projectors, the Nebula Capsule 3 on the left and the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro on the right, and to be perfectly honest, the 161 lumen max brightness on the Capsule 3 is not even close to enough for a 100\u201d screen no matter how dark the room is. Bright scenes lacked enough overhead to properly show highlights and colors looked flat and lacked any vibrancy. In dark scenes, the raised black floor of the MoGo 3 Pro was evident but at least you could see what was happening, which couldn\u2019t be said for the Capsule 3, which as I said is really only suitable for a 40-50\u201d screen.<\/p>

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So round 2 put the Nebula Mars 3 Air on the left and the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro on the right, and despite the Mars 3 Air having higher peak brightness in my testing, in actual content the MoGo 3 Pro looked brighter and more vibrant. The Mars 3 Air\u2019s black floor and contrast were noticeably better in dark scenes, but the tone mapping on the XGIMI was slightly better and avoided crushing shadow detail despite the muddy black levels. This round was mostly a toss-up, but I ultimately decided to move the XGIMI on based on watching some golf where the XGIMI not only had more vibrant colors, but also looked sharper and had better motion handling.<\/p>

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So round 3 had the BENQ GV50 on the left and the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro on the right, and to say that I was impressed with the GV50\u2019s picture would be a huge understatement. During bright scenes, the difference in detail in Henry\u2019s face and shirt are what I would expect to see when comparing a 4K projector to 1080p, but both of these projectors have the same resolution. In dark scenes the BENQ\u2019s tone mapping was just as good as the XGIMI, but with a two times lower black floor, meaning the same amount of shadow detail was visible on both projectors, but the BENQ avoided the muddy gray black levels you can see on the XGIMI, so this was an easy win for the BENQ.<\/p>

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Round 4 then put the 500 lumen BENQ GV50 versus the over 800 lumen JMGO N1. The N1\u2019s triple laser light source was noticeably brighter, and in bright and moderately lit scenes both projectors looked really good. However, in dark scenes the JMGO\u2019s tone mapping absolutely crushed shadow details which is sometimes hard to show on camera, so here I\u2019ve boosted the exposure to show just how much more detail I could see on the BENQ during my in-person testing, so while I do appreciate the extra brightness of the JMGO N1, I can\u2019t look past these shadow detail issues, so the BENQ GV50 moves on again.<\/p>

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And now in Round 5 the BENQ GV50 is on the left and the brightest projector in this video, the Dangbei Atom is on the right. The story was very similar to the previous round with the Dangbei looking bright and vibrant in brighter scenes, but even with lower overall brightness, the BENQ seemed to be sharper and had more detail in darker areas like Henry\u2019s shirt and Danny\u2019s hair, and I\u2019m specifically not judging these portable projectors based on cinematic D65 white point color accuracy, but the BENQ did a much better job reproducing different skin tones, and in dark scenes the Atom did a better job than the JMGO when it came to reproducing shadow detail, but at the cost of muddy and gray blacks. The final nail in the coffin for the Atom was the motion handling in 1080p60Hz content where I felt like fast motion was ever so slightly choppy compared to the BENQ.<\/p>

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So round 6 puts the BENQ GV50 on the left and last year\u2019s overall picture quality winner, the Nebula Mars 3 on the right, and what it boils down to is that these projectors are not made for the same purpose. The brightness and tone mapping on the Mars 3 make it absolutely ideal for projecting onto imperfect surfaces, and while the black levels are kind of terrible and the image isn\u2019t necessarily true to what the director intended, it\u2019s just generally easy to watch and it\u2019s almost like extra lighting gets added to every scene, which again is something you\u2019ll appreciate if you\u2019re projecting onto imperfect surfaces with imperfect lighting control. That said, for this test in a dark room, the BENQ was still just about as good as I could ask for with great tone mapping, sharpness, and shadow detail without muddy gray black levels.<\/p>

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In round 7 the $500 1080p BENQ GV50 on the left goes up against the $950 4K LG Cinebeam Q on the right, which in this pure picture quality test, I expected to be no contest. But even though in my tests the Cinebeam had higher tested brightness, a lower black floor, and excellent contrast, none of that showed up in the side-by-side testing, and about the only good thing I can say is that the color accuracy was much better on the LG than it was on the BENQ. While the shadow detail was still there, visible by cranking up the exposure, in person it was so dark that I couldn\u2019t make out nearly as much detail as I could on the BENQ, and on a 100\u201d screen from a 15 feet viewing distance, there was absolutely no difference in clarity between the 1080p and 4K displays. Again, looking at areas like Henry\u2019s shirt and beard and the detail in Danny\u2019s hair, the GV50 was a pretty easy pick for me in this round too.<\/p>

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In the last round the BENQ GV50 is on the left and the new JMGO N1S is on the right, and the N1S was absolutely awesome and was basically the perfect combination of increased shadow detail like the Nebula Mars 3 combined with twice the brightness and a better contrast ratio than the GV50. Although the JMGO N1S is almost twice the price of the GV50, it might be nearly twice as good when it comes to picture quality, and it was an absolute pleasure to watch with one exception: if you get really close to the screen during dark scenes you can see individual flashes of the red laser that look like tiny ants crawling on the screen, which you can kind of see when I crank the exposure, but from a normal viewing distance these weren\u2019t noticeable to me at all and didn\u2019t take away from the overall picture quality.<\/p>

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After all that testing here are the final rankings for picture quality, with the JMGO N1S in first, BENQ GV50 in second, and Dangbei Atom in third, though I still think that the Nebula Mars 3 is probably the best for viewing in an area with some ambient light.<\/p>

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Speaker Quality Testing<\/h3>

Because these projectors are meant to be portable it\u2019s also important that they have built in speakers that are not only loud enough, but also high enough quality that you\u2019d want to use them. To test sound quality, I played the same clip from Star Wars Episode 9<\/em> on max volume and measured the peak audio level in decibels and have also overlayed a frequency response graph divided into three sections for bass, midrange, and treble.<\/p>

Starting with the only one I wouldn\u2019t even consider using, the LG Cinebeam Q\u2019s speaker sounds like the ones that used to come in computer towers and was mostly responsible for making error beeps. It seriously sounds worse than a cell phone and I think LG should be ashamed of including it in an almost $1000 portable projector.<\/p>

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Next are the projectors that have decent overall sound if placed close to your viewing position but won\u2019t fill an entire room with sound.<\/p>

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Then you\u2019ve got the projectors that would be good for group viewing in a small to medium sized room.<\/p>

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And last, the Mars 3\u2019s speakers are extremely loud and sound great and would be perfect for an outdoor movie night without the need for any extra speakers.<\/p>

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Battery Testing<\/h3>

And speaking of an outdoor movie night, all the projectors in this video are able to be battery powered for complete portability, but since their brightness levels are so different it\u2019s hard to directly compare them, so first I\u2019ll divide them up into 3 groups based on their battery type.<\/p>

And the first are the projectors with built-in batteries which are the Nebula Capsule 3, Nebula Mars 3 Air, BENQ GV50, and Nebula Mars 3. I found that on battery mode, the BENQ had the shortest battery life outputting 369 lumens for 1 hour and 57 minutes. The Nebula Capsule 3 output 112 lumens for 2 hours and 53 minutes. The Nebula Mars 3 Air output 128 lumens for 3 hours and 23 minutes, and the Nebula Mars 3 put out a respectable 344 lumens for an impressive 5 hours and 4 minutes, and even on max brightness outputting close to 1000 lumens, the Mars 3\u2019s battery lasts 1 hour and 58 minutes.<\/p>

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The second group of projectors have USB-C input and are specifically designed to run off of a power bank. Those are the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro and LG Cinebeam Q, which don\u2019t have internal batteries, and the BENQ GV50 and Nebula Capsule 3, which can use USB-C to extend their internal battery.\u00a0<\/p>

And then the third group of projectors use barrel connectors for power and can easily be powered using a 100W PD capable power bank when combined with a 20V USB-C to barrel adapter available on Amazon for around $10. Those are the JMGO N1, JMGO N1S, and Dangbei Atom, which don\u2019t have batteries of their own, and the Nebula Mars 3 Air, which can use a battery bank and barrel adapter to extend its built in battery even further.<\/p>

And when you combine the built-in batteries with a 20,000mAh battery bank you can see all three Nebula projectors end up on top with the Capsule 3 chugging along at 112 lumens for 7 hours and 14 minutes, the Mars 3 Air puts out 128 lumens for 7 hours and 5 minutes, and the Mars 3 puts out three times that brightness for 5 hours and 4 minutes using just its internal battery.<\/p>

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And last, to try and standardize battery life I adjusted brightness to get as close as possible to 400 lumens then divided the brightness by the power draw to determine the efficiency in lumens per watt. In this test the JMGO N1S was the most efficient with a brightness of 488 lumens drawing 33 watts, the Dangbei Atom was second with 451 lumens drawing 31.3 watts, and the BENQ GV50 was third with a brightness of 369 lumens drawing 27.4 watts.<\/p>

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Aiming and Keystone Testing<\/h3>

A surprisingly common use of these small portable projectors is as a bedroom screen projected onto the ceiling from a nightstand, and in those instances built-in aiming solutions, automatic keystone, and motorized focus come in very handy. Of the projectors in this video, the Nebula Capsule 3, Nebula Mars 3, Nebula Mars 3 Air, and Dangbei Atom are the only ones that don\u2019t have a built in aiming solution. However, as I mentioned earlier, the Dangbei does have a purpose-built gimble stand that you can usually find bundled with the Atom for about $50 extra, the Capsule 3 is light enough that you can use it with a small plastic tripod for ceiling aiming, and the Nebula\u2019s keystone options do work well on the ceiling, though I still don\u2019t think that 150 lumens is bright enough for a room with any ambient light.<\/p>

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Of the built-in aiming options, the LG\u2019s is the most rudimentary with a metal handle that rotates around to allow you to tilt the entire projector up towards a wall, or towards the ceiling if you spin it around to the back, but since all the ventilation comes out of the back of the LG I\u2019d be worried about overheating if you project at an angle that\u2019s too steep.\u00a0The keystone process on the LG was also the worst of all the projectors in this video, and when using 4 point corner correction, the Cinebeam Q quickly reaches the end of its adjustment range. I can\u2019t comprehend why a digital correction has an end to its adjustment range, but that\u2019s what they\u2019ve decided to do.<\/p>

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The other absolutely mind boggling decision was that instead of using a Bluetooth remote like every other portable projector on the market, LG stuck with 40 year old infrared technology, and they put a single infrared receiver on the back of the projector, meaning if the projector is behind you, you can\u2019t control it, and if you point the Cinebeam towards the ceiling, then the receiver is aimed at the table and again you literally can\u2019t control the projector.<\/p>

XGIMI also seems to have been worried about the possibility of the ventilation system getting blocked and as a result they designed the MoGo 3 Pro with a rubber bumper on the side of the projector that prevents you from choosing an angle that would block the fans on the back of the unit.<\/p>

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Even still, I was able to get the MoGo 3 Pro more or less projected directly above my head, and the auto keystone did work, though it didn\u2019t position the screen where I would have chosen it, so I adjusted the corners using the manual keystone option which worked great. However, you can see that because of the XGIMI\u2019s raised black floor you can still see the outline of the non-keystoned image projected on the ceiling which may or may not bother you.<\/p>

When aiming the JMGO N1 and N1S they have the same range of motion and are easy to position by rotating and tilting the projector using the gimble, and as I mentioned earlier, the N1S does seem to have a slightly redesigned gimble that\u2019s easier to aim and keep in the right position without having to mess with the side tension screws like the old N1.<\/p>

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Neither the N1 or N1S was able to nail the auto keystone in this position, but manual keystone was fast and easy to use, and I like that the N1 has an option to save screen positions, but it looks like that option didn\u2019t make it into GoogleTV on the N1S.<\/p>

In my opinion the BENQ GV50 has the best built in aiming system and is the most suited for ceiling projection not only because it has all its ventilation and connectivity on the side of the projector rather than the back, but also because in addition to panning and tilting you can get a small amount of roll by flipping out the extra feet on the base, which lets you set the projector off to the side, like on a nightstand and project directly overhead with less distortion.<\/p>

And you can see that even though the auto keystone was a miss, after manual setup, the extra roll from the GV50\u2019s base let me project a slightly larger screen from the exact same location on the nightstand even though all these projectors have the same throw ratio, and the higher contrast and lower black floor also meant that the non-keystoned projected border was less visible than it was with the XGIMI.<\/p>

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However, the Dangbei Atom\u2019s optional gimble is technically the most flexible because it has pan and tilt on the top of the gimble itself, so you can not only rotate the whole base, but also change the pan of the projector which then changes the roll, but it\u2019s not the most intuitive system and the BENQ GV50\u2019s system is definitely easier and faster.<\/p>

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The Dangbei was also the closest to nailing the automatic keystone, and only needed some very minor adjustments using the manual system, and although the black floor of the Dangbei made the non-keystoned border more visible, the overall image was extremely clear and bright and would be very usable even in a room with some ambient light.<\/p>

However, there are two things to keep in mind when using any keystone. First, the more keystone you use, the less resolution your final image will have because all the areas outside of your keystoned screen are just wasted pixels.<\/p>

Input Lag Testing<\/h3>

And second, doing huge geometric corrections takes processing power and time. So, if you want to play video games while using keystone, your input lag will be really high, and measuring using the industry standard Leo Bodnar lag tester only the Nebula Capsule 3 and Nebula Mars 3 Air had even remotely acceptable input lag while using keystone, at around 61ms but generally that\u2019s still too high for most video games.<\/p>

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Thankfully, putting the projectors in gaming mode without keystone leads to significantly lower input lag with the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro leading the way with 22.2ms, but all the projectors except for the LG Cinebeam Q were under 35ms and would be fine for casual gaming, and yes, I did turn on low latency gaming optimization on the LG, and tried three different resolutions and refresh rates, and the best it could do was 64.4ms, which is generally not going to be good for gaming.<\/p>

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App Compatibility<\/h3>

Last, one huge step forward that almost all smart projectors have made this year is to move from Android 11 like the Nebula Mars 3 and JMGO N1 over to GoogleTV which not only increases the compatibility with apps like Netflix and Disney Plus, but also helps ensure that those apps will continue to receive updates and be supported.<\/p>

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To test compatibility, I logged in and streamed from the four apps that usually cause the most issues: Netflix, Disney Plus, YouTubeTV, and Hulu. I also tested iOS mirroring, Android mirroring, and casting, and what I found was that all the GoogleTV projectors supported Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and YouTubeTV as well as Android mirroring and casting from any device, but they relied on vendor installed apps for iOS mirroring. So, on the BENQ GV50 you need to download BENQ\u2019s Screensharing for iOS app, and the Nebula Capsule 3 and Nebula Mars 3 Air have their Nebula specific iOS screensharing app preinstalled, while the JMGO N1S, XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro, and Dangbei Atom don\u2019t have any native iOS screensharing abilities.<\/p>

The Nebula Mars 3 also enables iOS screen sharing, but Android 11 doesn\u2019t support Netflix, so neither the Mars 3 nor the JMGO N1 have a native Netflix app, though Nebula does offer a workaround using the mobile version of the app and the mouse feature of the remote, but it\u2019s not ideal.<\/p>

However, the worst compatibility by a significant margin was from WebOS on the LG Cinebeam which doesn\u2019t have Android mirroring which is mildly forgivable, but it also doesn\u2019t have YouTubeTV or Hulu which are two of the top ten most popular streaming services in the world, and overall the WebOS app store is just miles behind the Android app store in every way and as a general rule it probably isn\u2019t going to have the apps that you want.<\/p>

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Conclusions<\/h3>

All things considered, which portable projectors are the best?<\/p>

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If I had to pick one projector to do it all, the BENQ GV50<\/a> is an easy pick. It\u2019s got great picture quality, 500 lumens of usable brightness, a 685:1 contrast ratio, a built in battery with nearly 2 hours of unplugged playback, plus the ability to extend that using a power bank via USB-C. It\u2019s got great speakers, low input lag, an awesome built in aiming system, good keystone, low power draw, low fan noise, and great app compatibility, and at $599 it doesn\u2019t completely break the bank, and I honestly don\u2019t have anything bad to say about it, other than I guess it could be brighter.<\/p>

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And on that note, if you do need something brighter to contend with ambient light, I think both the JMGO N1S<\/a> and Dangbei Atom<\/a> are pretty good picks, but the JMGO has nearly twice the contrast and slightly better speakers, albeit for $300 more. When you compare all the stats, there\u2019s no question that the JMGO is better, but I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s $300 better or even $250 if you also get the Dangbei Gimble stand, which is another plus for the Dangbei since you can remove that stand and make it the perfect slim travel projector to throw in a backpack or laptop bag for presentations or just movies on the go.<\/p>

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And my last recommendation is the Nebula Mars 3<\/a> which has a completely different use case than every other projector in this video. As I said before, the Mars 3 is the ultimate outdoor camping or backyard projector. Its 185 watt hour battery can project 1000 ANSI lumens with screaming loud audio for 2 hours, 400 ANSI lumens for over 5 hours, or it can be your Bluetooth speaker for an entire weekend without even challenging its battery life, so you can feel free to use the USB-A and USB-C charging outlets, and the convenient LED light whenever you want. On top of that it\u2019s water, dust, and drop resistant, but keep in mind that it is pretty giant and weighs over 10 pounds.<\/p>

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As always there are no sponsored reviews on this channel, but I\u2019ve got links for all the projectors below and if you decide to buy one of them, I always appreciate when you use those links since as an Amazon affiliate I do earn a small commission on the sale at no cost to you.<\/p>

Thank you so much to my awesome patrons over at Patreon<\/a> for your continued support of my channel, and if you\u2019re interested in supporting my channel, please check out the links below. If you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel<\/a> and as always, thanks for watching The Hook Up.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Best Overall: BENQ GV50<\/h4>