XGIMI Halo+ review: a portable projection powerhouse

The XGIMI Halo+ transportable projector is superior. That’s a heavy assertion to make within the first sentence, but it surely deserves that accolade. Transportable projectors have been round for a while, however they’ve been mediocre at greatest.

Sometimes, you get depressing battery life, poor picture high quality, non-existent brightness, and an eye-watering price ticket. Indisputably, they’re designed predominantly to undertaking company spreadsheets and PowerPoint demos, fairly than the most recent blockbuster, AAA Netflix sequence, or the most effective PC video games.

And that’s the place the XGIMI Halo+ is available in. Sliding stealthily underneath the radar, as maybe, one of many greatest gaming projectors on the market for informal customers. I’ve been testing screens for round 9 years or so, and I’ve labored behind the scenes with manufacturers growing some epic gaming merchandise in my time too, and I can say that the Halo+ is the actual deal.

Let’s speak worth first. You’ll be able to choose up the Halo+ within the US for round $850 (it’s usually at $650 on sale), or within the UK for about £750. That doesn’t sound low-cost, but it surely’s a discount in comparison with among the greatest gaming projectors.

Specs

Design

The Halo+ has an extremely small type issue, actually for a projector. Out of the field it measures 172 x 114 x 145mm and is available in at round 1.6kg complete weight. Materials selection is fairly stellar too, the exterior housing is available in a pleasant satin metallic end, full with perforations throughout, serving to with airflow and letting these Harmon Kardon audio system produce top-quality audio. The rear of the Halo+, the place you’ll discover the I/O, equally has some fairly expansive air flow for the rear exhaust fan.

For I/O, there’s not an enormous quantity right here compared to one thing just like the Acer Predator GD711, but it surely’s nonetheless obtained loads, particularly given the distinctive promoting level being portability. You get one HDMI port, one USB 2.0 port, DC energy in, a 3.5mm audio out (primarily for headphone use), and an influence button.

The highest of the unit is completed in black plastic. Right here you’ll discover a energy LED, plus and minus quantity contact controls, and a play/pause contact management. Flip over the Halo+ and also you’re greeted with a reasonably hefty rubberized base, good for muting any undesirable vibrations from the unit, alongside an adjustable bracket/foot that you should utilize to change the angle of the projector manually. There’s a thread to mount it to the ceiling if you happen to want.

XGIMI has additionally included an honest distant with the Halo+ as effectively, with Google good speaker help, together with directional management, settings, supply help, and extra impressively a swap that permits you to use the +/- controls to regulate both quantity or focus relying on what you set it to.

Options

The Halo+’s baseline specs aren’t precisely tremendous thrilling admittedly. The trendy show world is suffering from far superior know-how so far as imagery is anxious. A few of the greatest gaming screens on the market, pack in 4K resolutions, excessive refresh charges, OLED panels, you identify it. The Halo+, nevertheless, is considerably restricted within the truth it may possibly solely handle 1080p at 60 fps.

It’s solely once you dive into the weeds a bit of and begin utilizing this factor that you simply really start to know simply how unbelievable a projector it’s. Even with that considerably limiting 1080p 700 lumens decision. As commonplace it comes with an absolute ton of built-in quality-of-life options that blow away the competitors. Definitely at this worth level. Clever Display screen Alignment and Auto Keystone Correction enable it to routinely alter its lens angle no matter the way you place it, to get a totally sq. show, on no matter floor you level it at.

Clever impediment avoidance, then appears for something on that floor (akin to an image body), after which adjusts the body measurement so your picture isn’t intersecting it, and auto-focus, does, as you’d anticipate, routinely dialing within the lens to make sure focus is crystal clear no matter distance. In case you’re taking this out and about, and need one thing that’ll set itself up lickety-split and look nice when it’s performed the Halo+ can deal with that and extra.

The Halo+ additionally comes with Android TV in-built as commonplace. There are not any bizarre dongles or widgets that want including like with the X3100i, it’s simply built-in, works, and makes the preliminary setup tremendous straightforward. That’s significantly true if you happen to’ve obtained an Android smartphone as you’ll be able to switch all of your settings, together with WiFi passwords straight over.

Efficiency

I spent the final week testing the Halo+ in several environments. I used it in opposition to projection screens, on gray partitions in my dwelling, within the hallway, at work. You identify it, I took it in all places, to place that portability argument to the take a look at. I can safely say that, regardless of its 700 ISO lumens brightness, not as soon as was I significantly disillusioned with its general projection high quality. Sure, you’ll get higher shade accuracy on a white wall, however even on among the darkest surfaces, plugged in, this factor smashes it in the case of simply how shiny and vibrant its colours are.

Picture high quality at 70 inches was crisp and clear, even at 1080p. In fact, darkish colours did undergo, actually in comparison with a extra conventional show, or an OLED system, however there’s solely a lot you will get away with when projecting mild. It’s that adaptability that actually impressed me, nevertheless. I took the Halo+ out into my hallway, positioned it at an Angle to the wall I used to be projecting on, and watched as its instruments routinely calibrated the projection to the marginally off-white painted wall, after getting used on a standard display screen simply moments earlier than.

You’ll be able to after all, manually alter these settings after the actual fact, and I did want to change a few of them relying on the angle (the auto-calibration can solely deal with as much as a 40-degree offset), in any other case it was simply an unbelievable expertise, made all the higher by that crisp shade accuracy and show.

What was much less nice nevertheless was the lag. Though the Android TV apps work flawlessly, operating something over the HDMI was problematic, actually with out recreation mode enabled (which solely activates if it detects the right console, not a laptop computer or a PC). In case you’re used to one thing like Corsair’s Xeneon 27QHD144 OLED it may be an extremely jarring expertise. It felt like there was round a ⅓ of a second delay from transferring the mouse and the cursor transferring on the desktop, or the button press actuating on display screen.

In case you intend to recreation on this, effectively it’s actually value allowing for that you simply’ll must reign in your expectations. Aggressive PvP eSports and issues of that ilk are greatest left to the right screens, whereas a night along with your besties smashing out Mario Kart runs, yeah that’s actually extra possible for the Halo+.

Battery life equally was strong too. XGIMI charges the Halo+ at round 2.5 hours of complete battery life, however I obtained barely extra juice throughout testing. Watching Dune 2, it reduce out simply earlier than the credit started to roll.

Ought to You Purchase It?

• Sure: If you would like an superior, color-accurate, 1080p projector.
• Sure: In case you journey rather a lot, and want one thing straightforward to make use of with apps.
• Sure: In case you’re not seeking to recreation on it.
• No: In case you’re on the lookout for a do-it-all gaming show
• No: If you would like one thing shiny

The XGIMI Halo+ won’t have the crispest decision, and the latency is lackluster when gaming over the HDMI port, however this can be a phenomenal piece of equipment. In case you’re on the transfer, and prefer to take pleasure in your Netflix and YouTube content material on the massive display screen, it’s epic. At $600 it’s a surefire choose, and solely actually overwhelmed by the likes of the BenQ X3100i, a projector greater than three as costly

Alternate options

Verdict

You’ll be able to choose up the XGIMI Halo+ Projector for round $650 at its least expensive. Actually, in accordance with our sources, it’s even been seen as little as $600 across the Black Friday interval. For that worth, it’s an absolute steal, even when it’s solely 1080p. In virtually each different side, it’s near darn-near good. Okay, it has some latency points in the case of gaming, and that may be difficult to take care of significantly if you happen to’re attempting to play competitively or like your RPGs Elden Ring flavored, however in any other case, this can be a phenomenal projector.