Xgimi Halo Plus Portable Projector Review: Big Picture, Travel

Xgimi Halo Plus is not your typical dull, cheap one. Portable mini projector. Its efficiency combines a minimal design with a surprisingly good image. This little beauty is bright and elegant Comparisonperfectly accurate color and Android TV Streaming Built in. There’s even a battery with a claimed 2.5 hours of playback.

It is a little expensive, however, and simply outclassed. Large projectors Batteryless ones like the BenQ HT2050A. So if you don’t want it completely Wireless movie nightsYou can get a better picture or save money compared to Halo Plus.

If you’re looking for some wireless entertainment, the Halo Plus offers a better, brighter image than many competing projectors. The simplicity of the built-in Android TV interface and its myriad of streaming options make it easy to use with many of our favorite portable projectors. But you have to pay a bit more for that ease of use and performance.

1080p resolution in a small box

• Native resolution: 1,920×1,080 pixels
• Compatible with HDR: Yes
• 4K-Compatible: Yes
• 3D-Compatible: Yes
• Lumens specification: 900
• Zoom: No
• Lens shift: no
• LED life: 25,000 hours

Halo Plus a 1080p projectorBut it can accept 4K HDR Signs. Like most projectors It doesn’t do much with HDRBut this action does not hurt. Nothing out of the ordinary for projectors in this category. Change the lens or zoom. If you want a bigger picture, you have to move the projector away from the screen.

The brightness spectrum is even more exaggerated than usual. measure At roughly 284 lumens compared to their 900 spec, that’s not really that bad, but it’s a far cry from Xgimi’s claims. It’s one of the brightest portable projectors we’ve tested, but it’s far from the most expensive battery-free projectors. So it all depends on how you approach Halo Plus. If battery inclusion is the main thing, this is very bright for the class. If you just want something small and it’s not too expensive, there are other, much brighter/better options.

That battery has a claimed runtime of 2.5 hours. Using the battery will reduce the light output by about half, similar to what happens with most battery-powered PJs.

There is one other strange thing I should mention, because it made a strong impression on me. When you turn off Halo Plus you are given two choices, basically standby and completely turned off. If you choose to turn it off completely, that makes sense if you don’t want to drain the battery. Only The only way to turn the projector back on is to press the power button… twice. There’s a little warning about this before the screen goes black, but it’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. To me, this design is distinctly counterintuitive. I can’t think of another product that requires you to press the power button twice to activate. I seriously thought the projector died on me halfway through the review.

Inputs and streams: check and verify

• HDMI inputs: 1
• USB port: 1
• Audio output: Headphone output and Bluetooth
• Internet: 2.4/5GHz, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
• Remote: No backlight.

On the back is a fairly standard set of connections for a projector of this size. HDMI and USB, as well as analog headphone output.

You have full Android TV inside, which is a nice change from the usual Android-lite and Aptoide storage. Which means you have everything. Main stream applications, and full versions of the specified applications. Many portable projectors use nerfed versions of several apps, making them even more frustrating to use.

On the side are two 5W speakers tuned by Harman Kardon. They play very loud for their size. This size is one of the first projectors I use if I don’t have to run my air conditioner at 100% to hear it.

Image quality comparisons

For my comparison, I paired the Xgimi with two similar (in spirit) portable projectors, the Anchor Mars II Pro and the BenQ GS50. The Anker Mars II Pro offers some of the same specs, is the same size, but costs $550. The BenQ is about 80% the physical size of the Xgimi, but both are still considered portable. It costs $800. I connected them to a Monoprice 1×4 distribution amplifier and viewed them side-by-side on a 102-inch 1.0-gain screen.

The Anker looks a bit washed out compared to the Xgimi, although their comparative comfort is essentially the same. This is due to the lack of picture setting controls on the Mars II Pro. The adjustable brightness setting is too high, raising the shadows and making the image appear washed out. In itself, this is not clear, and the image is still generally good, but it lags behind compared to Xgimi.

While the Mars II Pro is also 720p to the BenQ and Xgimi’s 1080p, this isn’t as big of an issue as you might think. Sure, the other two are sharper, but Anker holds its own. Overall, if you want something good, but want to save some money, the Mars II Pro is your go-to.

The GS50 looks great on its own, but there’s one critical way it falls short: brightness. Xgimi can be twice as big as BenQ. At 100 inches, both still pale in comparison to “real” home theater projectors, but look even more impressive if you project a more TV-sized image. The eye is immediately drawn to Xgimi. It’s just too bright. Its contrast ratio is also better, at about 50%. That, combined with the added light, results in a more attractive image.

However, the bench has much better color. The grass, the sky, the skin tone, all look more natural on the bench. The Xgimi colors aren’t as bad as some I’ve tried recently, just not as realistic as the BenQ. While color is an important part of overall image quality, it can’t compete with the Xgimi’s superior brightness and contrast ratio in this case.

In Care Of Xiaomi Mi Smart Projector 2? I measured half the lumens compared to the Xgimi and Anker, same as the bench. Basically the same price as the Xgimi but without the battery, the Xgimi is the clear winner.

Silver cylinder

Halo Plus has an understated design. Business suit but athlete on the inside. It performs better than its more straightforward competitors. However, like any of these portable projectors you It really needs to be considered How to use it. Is the battery feature a nice addition or are you using it regularly? Because if you don’t use the battery, a traditional home theater projector like the BenQ HT2050A looks a lot better than the Halo Plus for the same money.

On the other hand, if you regularly use it away from power outlets, the Halo Plus offers a brighter and overall better image than other portable projectors we’ve liked. The Anker Mars II Pro is a better deal, but lacks the contrast, detail and ease of use of the full Android TV interface. The BenQ GS50 has a more playful industrial design, but it can’t compete with the Xgimi in terms of brightness.

So if you’re going to use it unplugged and it’s a great alternative to the more expensive Xgimi Halo Plus.