Projectors Under $1,000

Under a thousand dollars the market splits three ways: bright lamp projectors with short light-source lives, dim laser and LED boxes with streaming built in, and budget LCD units whose marketing numbers need checking against a standard. The order here puts standardized brightness first and pushes anything unlabelled to the bottom rather than mixing them.

How this list is ordered: Ordered by published brightness; figures not on the ISO/ANSI scale are listed last. 17 of the catalog’s projectors qualify. 1 of them is under a manufacturer safety recall — BenQ GV31 — and is marked in the list rather than removed from it, because the specification that put it here is still true. 7 of them are no longer sold by their makers — XGIMI Horizon S Pro, Epson EpiqVision Mini EF22, Optoma ML1080, XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro, BenQ GV31, Samsung The Freestyle 2nd Gen, Anker Nebula Capsule Air — and are listed after the models still on sale, kept for comparison.

1Optoma
~$999
Optoma UHD35x
The cheapest way to get 4.2 ms of input lag and 3,600 ANSI lumens into a room.
Brightness
3,600lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
83–92 in
Input lag
8 ms
Light source
Lamp
2Anker Nebula
~$950
Anker Nebula Cosmos 4K SE
The cheapest 4K Dolby Vision projector with licensed Google TV in this catalog.
Brightness
1,800lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
Hybrid
Check price on Amazon
3Dangbei
~$899
Dangbei Atom
A 2.8 lb slab barely thicker than a paperback, with a laser engine putting out 1,200 ISO lumens — nearly three times what the LED portables of the same weight manage.
Brightness
1,200lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
Laser-phosphor
Check price on Amazon
4Yaber
~$400
Yaber K3
A budget LCD projector with 30 W of JBL-tuned audio and a Google TV dongle, and the clearest example in this catalog of why the brightness standard on the box matters.
Brightness
990lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED
Check price on Amazon
5BenQ
~$799
BenQ GV50
A 4.6 lb laser portable on a tilting cradle that swings through 135 degrees, with Google TV and a 2.1 speaker system with its own bass driver.
Brightness
500lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
Laser-phosphor
Check price on Amazon
6Dangbei
~$439
Dangbei Freedo
Dangbei's first battery projector with licensed Google TV: 3.1 lb, two hours of runtime, a rotating handle stand, and 24 dB operation that makes it the quietest battery projector in this catalog..
Brightness
450lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED
Check price on Amazon
7XGIMI
~$399
XGIMI Elfin Flip
A flat slab with a hinged lens housing that flips up to aim at a wall or a ceiling, then folds shut to travel.
Brightness
400lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED
8Anker Nebula
~$420
Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air
A battery projector with a proper carry handle and 16 W of stereo audio, aimed squarely at back yards and camping.
Brightness
400lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED
Check price on Amazon
9Yaber
~$349
Yaber T2 Plus
A budget LCD projector with a carry handle, JBL-tuned speakers, a 2.5-hour battery and Wi-Fi 6, sold largely on its automatic setup features.
Brightness
350lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
110 in
Light source
LED
Check price on Amazon
10Anker Nebula
~$570
Anker Nebula Capsule 3 Laser
The laser version of Anker's can-shaped projector: 1080p, 300 ANSI lumens, two hours of battery and licensed Google TV.
Brightness
300lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
Laser-phosphor
Check price on Amazon
11XGIMI
~$949
XGIMI Horizon S ProNo longer sold by XGIMI
The Horizon S Max with the light engine turned down and the price cut by a third.
Brightness
1,800lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
Hybrid
12Epson
~$999
Epson EpiqVision Mini EF22No longer sold by Epson
A 1080p laser 3LCD cube on a rotating stand that swivels 150 degrees, so it can throw at a wall or straight up at the ceiling.
Brightness
1,000lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
134 in
Light source
Laser-phosphor
13Optoma
~$899
Optoma ML1080No longer sold by Optoma
A 2.2 lb RGB tri-laser projector the size of a hardback book, covering 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut — colour coverage normally found in projectors ten times the size.
Brightness
550lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
Tri-laser
14XGIMI
~$319
XGIMI MoGo 3 ProNo longer sold by XGIMI
A 2.4 lb cylinder with an integrated tilting stand, Google TV and Harman Kardon speakers, at a price where most rivals ship an unlicensed launcher.
Brightness
450lumensISO 21118
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED
15BenQ
~$599
BenQ GV31Safety recallNo longer sold by BenQ
A battery projector built around its speaker: a 2.1 system with an 8 W woofer in a 3.7 lb cylinder that runs three hours off the internal cell.
Brightness
300lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED
16Samsung
~$498
Samsung The Freestyle 2nd GenNo longer sold by Samsung
A 1.8 lb cylinder on a cradle that rotates through 180 degrees, running the same Tizen platform as Samsung's televisions including the Gaming Hub.
Brightness
230lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED
17Anker Nebula
~$250
Anker Nebula Capsule AirNo longer sold by Anker Nebula
A soda-can projector that runs two hours off its own battery and weighs 1.4 lb.
Brightness
150lumensANSI
Screen at 10 ft
115 in
Light source
LED