The Best Portable Projectors for Indoors and Outdoors in 2024

If your priority is the overall simplicity and “plug-and-play” value of a portable projector, then Nebula’s latest Mars 3 Air is the way to go. We view it as a close rival to the XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro, with both models offering comparable specs with 1080p HD quality, around the same brightness and a similar form factor.

Both are worthy picks for their image and sound quality, as well as reliable autofocus and auto-keystone correction to adapt to your environment. However, the Nebula comes with a handful of extra benefits, specifically its built-in battery, a carry handle and native Netflix compatibility without fussy workarounds.

This little unit has several ports on the back so you can connect wired headphones, a USB flash drive or a streaming stick in the HDMI port, but we like how we didn’t need to use these because its system comes with all the apps we’d need.

The XGIMI may be the better option if you need a sleek look, and we like how it can run off a USB-C battery pack or draw power from a USB-C wall plug. The wall plug for the Nebula is chunky and we’ve got to say the initial setup took longer than expected, but it does beat the XGIMI by delivering an onboard battery that’ll last for two-and-a-half hours. We threw on the Pixar classic Monsters, Inc. to test this one out, and loved the brightness levels, vibrant colours and quick obstacle avoidance and autofocusing abilities.

So if you’re after a smart projector for cinematic quality and would prefer one where you don’t need to connect a streaming stick just to get Netflix, we’d recommend this. It’s bright, detailed, lightweight, offers a great sound from its speakers, has a long battery life and a useful carry handle. For the price, it’s excellent value.

The XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro is a top-notch portable projector with impressive visuals and smart features, available for a sensible price. We're impressed by its vivid image quality and onboard self-adjusting tech for quick autofocus and keystone correction. We got this set up and streaming in mere minutes.

Weighing just 2.11kg, this is a decent companion for on-the-go entertainment, and its Android TV system is versatile with a large supply of apps, albeit with the usual disclaimer that Netflix doesn't really work here. It is a bit of a shame that it doesn't have a built-in battery but it's also not hard to power, running off USB-C power banks or a USB-C wall adapter.

The integrated pair of 8W speakers produces surprisingly rich audio, although when we tested it while watching episodes of Star Wars: Visions, we found that connecting it to an external Bluetooth speaker enhances the experience further.

Its autofocus can sometimes be a bit of a pain, even if it doesn't take too much tweaking to sort out. Also, the brightness level – while an improvement from its predecessor – is not enough for indoor use without the curtains drawn. Because it lacks that onboard battery, though, we do think it's well-suited for at-home movie nights. The similar Nebula Mars 3 Air is better to use on the go and XGIMI's own Halo+ also bests this as that has an onboard battery and more brightness for a few hundred quid more.

When it comes to using a portable projector outdoors, even in the evening light, you’ll want a bit more brightness than many of the models on our list can deliver. When on mains power, the Halo+ delivers an impressive 900 lumens, 600 when it runs on its battery (which will go for a solid two hours, FYI). That should be more than enough for a viewing party on a summer night. We used it to watch movies both with the curtains drawn and not, and can attest that it gets bright enough to deal with a lot of ambient light.

It’s also a top pick for outdoor use because it has a handy kickstand and a tripod mount, it can project a bigger Full HD picture than most portable models, and it has some impressive 5W internal speakers that’ll help immerse you in whatever film or show you’re watching.

It’s a shame that you can’t get Netflix on the otherwise capable Android TV interface, and the audio via Bluetooth doesn’t get all that loud. But this is great as an option for external connectivity with its HDMI and USB ports (add a streaming device to sort the Netflix issue), and we love its reliable autofocus and auto-keystone. It’s a bit more expensive than our top pick, but the extra features make it worth it.

We reckon this is a sleek, albeit chunky option, for those with durability and battery life as the main priority. There’s nothing else on our list offering such a huge battery, and the Nebula Mars 3 can get you up to five hours of playback time. There are some caveats, though, because you’ll only get this monster battery life when you’re in the “eco” mode, which scales down the brightness severely and limits the volume. In the standard mode, you’re getting 1000 lumens of brightness but this goes down to 300 when saving battery. It’s enough, but you had better be watching in dark conditions.

The durability specs here are impressive too, with it offering dust, drop and water resistance that we don’t tend to see on portable projectors. If you’re insistent on watching a movie outdoors as the rain starts to pour, well, this is the one for you. Like all the Nebula models we’ve tried, it’s painless to set up and offers a useful built-in Android TV interface, ideal for finding and downloading your apps. The exception? You guessed it. Netflix requires a fussy workaround where you’ll have to use a cursor onscreen – it’s not ideal.

On test, we watched rugby matches and Extraction 2, and found the picture quality bright and crisp in the right conditions. When we watched El Conde on Netflix in the “eco” mode, though, we started to notice it struggling with the deep shadow details, even when we used it in a dark room. While the built-in 40W speakers are great, too, we did notice they have a couple of distortion issues at higher volume.

Overall, though, this is a brilliant projector for the outdoors – perfect if you want something where you won’t have to worry about it getting too wet or dusty. Its size makes it better suited to going with you in the car and carrying it around from room to room, though, as if it weren’t for the handle we’d be questioning how portable a 4.5kg projector is.

Look, if you’re after one super tiny device to do it all, you can’t go wrong with the Anker Nebula Capsule II, which is a lot more affordable and petite than anything else on our list. It includes Android TV for access to thousands of apps including YouTube, Prime Video and Disney+, as well as Chromecast and wired HDMI and USB-C connections.

It’s small enough to grab one-handed, roughly the size of a large can of beer (so, literally pint-sized) and about as light as a packet of pasta. We found it surprisingly rugged too, meaning it can sit in your backpack as you hike to your outdoor theatre.

The main compromises? The resolution is lower than HD which is disappointing by today’s standards, and the battery life won’t stretch much past longer films like The Irishman. Still, if it’s portability you’re after, this one is among the best.

The key selling points for the Nebula Capsule 3 Laser are how powerful, long-lasting and compact it is – qualities that make it an exceptional projector for travel.

It delivers 300 lumens of brightness in 1080p HD quality, which impressed us upon testing it with a screening of Mad Max: Fury Road. We were dazzled by the vibrant colours, not to mention the sound from the built-in 8W speaker setup.

The Capsule 3 Laser is quick to set up, taking around five minutes to configure the Android TV platform that offers plenty of app options. It works well with Chromecast for easy streaming, and while it played videos from YouTube and shows on Disney+ smoothly, we had more trouble getting files to play from a connected USB flash drive. Also, as with many portable projectors, it struggles with Netflix. There’s a suggested workaround, but it’s clunky and, honestly, not worth it.

Portability is the primary advantage here, especially compared to the better but bigger and heavier rival that is the XGIMI Halo+. The Capsule 3 Laser only weighs 900g, and it fits in your hand, making it ideal for outdoor adventures and impromptu movie nights.

The built-in battery lasts a solid two and a half hours (that's enough juice for an uninterrupted viewing of The Shawshank Redemption), but daylight visibility was a letdown – 300 lumens is no good for bright conditions, even indoors. You’ll need to draw the curtains or wait until it’s dark out.

It’s got a handle, so it counts as “portable”, right? While this technically fits the bill, we know you aren’t exactly going to be straining with this on a camping trip (especially as it lacks a built-in battery and costs about two grand) and the almost 5kg weight makes it far heftier than any other model on our list. However, if you’re moving it around from room to room or bringing it in the car to a mate’s place, you won’t struggle with its chunkiness quite as much and there are massive image quality benefits.

This Anker delivers an all-in-one package with built-in Android TV and a working Netflix app (unlike some of the rivals on the list), ports for connecting streaming sticks, USB flash drives or headphones, and seamless autofocus and keystone correction that makes setup as painless as it gets.

We’ve used it to set up a cinema in the bedroom before moving it to our blank living room wall to get the same big-screen experience from the sofa, and found it easy to either use the loud built-in speakers or connect our Bluetooth speakers for better audio.

Much like the Anker Capsule, this versatile mini projector is shaped just like a large soft drink can. It delivers more when it comes to image quality, though, with Full HD resolution that outperforms the entry-level Capsule model. You can also lay it down flat or stand it up on its end, and it’ll automatically rotate the projection.

It’s decent value for money and claims to run on its own battery for a whopping five hours (you may end up with less based on brightness and the volume of the built-in speaker, though).

It’s not quite as much of an all-in-one package as some other projectors on our list, given that it doesn’t have a built-in operating system for quick app access, but it has a lot of ports for connectivity and you can mirror the screen of your phone.