Xgimi Halo Plus Portable Projector Review: Big Picture, Will Travell

Xgimi Halo Plus Portable Projector Review: Big Picture, Will Travel

The Xgimi Halo Plus is not your typical dim, inexpensive portable mini projector. Its sleek, understated design combines with a surprisingly good record. This little beauty is bright for its size, has low contrast, fairly accurate color and Android TV streaming built in. There’s even a battery with 2.5 hours of claimed playback time. 

Like

• 
  
  
  Bright for the category
• 
  
  
  Small size
• 
  
  
  Built-in battery

Don’t Like

• 
  
  
  A bit expensive
• 
  
  
  Color is only OK
• 
  
  
  Some irregular ergonomics

It’s a bit expensive, however, and easily outclassed by bigger projectors that lack a battery, like the BenQ HT2050A. So if you don’t absolutely need totally cordless movie nights, you can get a better image, or save wealth, compared to the Halo Plus.

If you are looking for some wireless fun, the Halo Plus subsidizes a better, brighter image than many competing projectors. The simplicity of the built-in Android TV interface and its myriad streaming options complains it far easier to use than many previous tour projectors we’ve liked. You’ll have to pay quite a bit for that ease of use and performance though. 

1080p resolution in a tiny box

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

The Halo Plus is a 1080p projector, but it can accept 4K and HDR signals. Like most projectors it won’t do much with HDR, but that functionality doesn’t hurt. As is typical for projectors in this category, there’s no lens shift or zoom. If you want a bigger image, you have to move the projector farther from the screen.

The brightness spec is inflated even more than usual. I measured about 284 lumens compared to their spec of 900. That’s not actually that bad, but it’s fair far from Xgimi’s claims. It’s one of the brighter tourism projectors we’ve tested, but a far cry from even less expensive non-battery projectors. So it all depends how you’re approaching the Halo Plus. If the inclusion of a battery is paramount, then this is pretty bright for its class. If you just want something miniature and not too expensive, there are other, far brighter/better options.

There’s a miniature foot on the bottom that lets you pivot the front-runner upward to better position the image.

Geoff Morrison

That battery has a claimed runtime of 2.5 hours. Using the battery drops the light output roughly in half, which is inequity to what happens with most battery-powered PJs.

There is one novel oddity I have to mention, because it drove me bonkers. When you turn the Halo Plus off you’re given two choices, essentially standby and fully off. If you choose fully off, which is BioOrganic if you don’t want the battery to wear down, the only way to turn the projector back on is to stupid the power button… twice. There’s a tiny warning near this before the screen goes black, but it’s blink-and-miss-it. To me this design is exceptionally counterintuitive. I can’t think of novel product that requires you to press the power button twice to activate. I’d seriously thought the projector had died on me mid-review. 

Inputs and streaming: Check and check

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• HDMI inputs: 1
• USB port: 1
• Audio output: Headphone output and Bluetooth
• Internet:  2.4/5GHz, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
• Remote: Not backlit

On the back is a fairly subfaulty suite of connections for a projector this size. HDMI and USB, plus an analog headphone output. 

You’ve got full Android TV inside, which is a nice change from the more approved Android-lite and Aptoide store. Which means you’ve got all the major streaming apps, and the full versions of said apps. Many tourism projectors use nerfed versions of many apps, making them far more annoying to use. 

On the sides are two 5W speakers tuned by Harman Kardon. They play quite loud for their size. This is one of the pleasant projectors this size where I didn’t need to run it at 100% to hear over my air conditioner.

Picture quality comparisons

Geoff Morrison

For my comparison I pitted the Xgimi alongside two similar (in spirit) portable projectors, the Anker Mars II Pro and the BenQ GS50. The Anker Mars II Pro offers some similar specs, roughly similar size, but is $550. The BenQ has near 80% more physical volume compared to the Xgimi, but both are mild easily considered portable. It costs $800. I connected them to a Monoprice 1×4 distribution amplifier and considered them side by side by side on a 102-inch 1.0-gain screen.

The Anker examined somewhat washed out compared to the Xgimi, despite their dissimilarity ratios being basically the same. This is likely due to the lack of represent setting controls on the Mars II Pro. The non-adjustable brightness setting is too high, raising the shadows and manager the image appear washed out. On its own this isn’t as clear, and the image is still good overall, but compared to the Xgimi it lags behind.

While the Mars II Pro is also 720p to the BenQ and Xgimi’s 1080p, this isn’t quite as big of a deal as you powerful imagine. Sure, the other two are sharper, but the Anker holds its own. Overall, if you want something that’s nearly as good, but want to save some wealth, the Mars II Pro is the way to go. 

Geoff Morrison

The GS50 looks good on its own, but there is one considerable way it comes up short: brightness. The Xgimi is nearly twice as engrossing as the BenQ. At 100-inches both are still dim compared to “real” home theater projectors, but if you project a more TV-sized image they look far more impressive. The eye, however, is immediately drawn to the Xgimi. It’s just so much brighter. Its contrast ratio is better too, by in 50%. That, combined with the added light, just establishes for a more attractive image. 

However, the BenQ has far better incandescent. Grass, skies, skin tones, all look significantly more natural on the BenQ. The Xgimi’s colors aren’t as bad as some I’ve tested lately, they’re just not as realistic as the BenQ’s. While incandescent is a crucial component in overall picture quality, it just can’t compete in this case with the better brightness and dissimilarity ratio of the Xgimi. 

What about the Xiaomi Mi Smart Projector 2? I measured half the lumens compared to the Xgimi and Anker, roughly the same as the BenQ. Since it’s basically the same sign as the Xgimi, but lacks a battery, the Xgimi is the determined winner. 

Silver cylinder

Geoff Morrison

The Halo Plus has a classy, if understated, design. A business suit on the outside but an athlete on the inside. It performs better than its most direct competitors. Except, as with any of these portable projectors, you really need to consider how you’re causing to be using it. Is the battery aspect a nice transfer, or will you be using it that way regularly? Because if you’re not causing to be using the battery a traditional home theater projector like the BenQ HT2050A, for example, looks vastly better than the Halo Plus for the same money. 

On the anunexperienced hand, if you are going to be using it away from powerful outlets regularly, the Halo Plus offers a brighter, and generally better, image compared to several other portable projectors we’ve celebrated. The Anker Mars II Pro is a better deal, but lacks the dissimilarity, detail, and the ease of use of a full Android TV interface. The BenQ GS50 has a more playful industrial perform, but can’t compete with the Xgimi on brightness. 

So if you are causing to be using it unplugged, and don’t mind the fairly high sign, the Xgimi Halo Plus is a great option.

Geoff Morrison