The best outdoor projectors are an easy way to make your backyard into your very own garden movie theater, taking in some entertainment with friends during a cookout or under the stars. And they're versatile, lending themselves to use on warm summer nights and cozy fall evenings with a mountain of blankets and a steady supply of hot chocolate.
When shopping for the best outdoor projectors, you need to keep an eye out for brightness (measured in ANSI lumens), resolution, and the minimum/maximum screen size. The higher the lumens, the better, and a brighter picture will be more visible in daylight. If you plan to use your projector only at night, you can get away with lower brightness.
But whether you've bought a dedicated screen or improvised with an old bedsheet, we've pulled together a list of the best outdoor projectors around right now - all tried and tested by us. The selection includes easily portable projectors and options with built-in speakers and streaming, such as Android TV.
You can see our chosen products below, or if you're more interested in options that can be used to create a home cinema indoors, take a look at our guide to the best projectors. Then, keep reading for our top picks and more buying advice.
Best outdoor projectors: Quick list
When testing the XGIMI Halo+ projector, we were impressed by its video and audio quality, easy setup, and sleek design. It's lightweight and has a 200" screen size with good contrast and brightness.
The Nebula Cosmos 4K is a great all-in-one portable projector with 4K resolution and automatic adjustments for easy set-up. It has superb image quality and brightness, making it perfect for a cinema experience at home or on the go.
The BenQ GS50 is a top-performing, user-friendly projector with excellent image quality, 2.1-channel sound, and ample streaming options. It's stylishly designed, albeit less portable, and comes with a fabric carry case, streaming stick, charging cables, remote control, and quick start guide.
The XGIMI MoGo 2 is a sleek, affordable projector with solid performance and easy setup. No built-in battery, but it can be used with a portable charger. Access Android TV streaming through a Google account and physical connections for laptops, consoles, and Blu-ray players.
The Nebula Solar is a reliable, user-friendly portable projector with excellent resolution, decent brightness, and above-average audio. It has auto-focus, keystone correction, Android TV, and up to 3 hours of wireless playtime. Lightweight, compact, and easy to forgive its minor flaws.
Samsung's Freestyle projector is a portable Smart TV with Full HD resolution and Auto Focus. It's sleek, doubles as ambient light, and offers clear sound quality. Invest in an external battery pack for true portability.
ViewSonic M1+ is a portable projector with good brightness and contrast, but its interface is complicated and requires an external device to view content. Short battery life and in-built speakers also have limitations.
The Nebula Capsule II is a lightweight and easy-to-use outdoor projector but falls short in brightness compared to rivals. Motion in fast-paced scenes is not as smooth, despite adequate brightness.
The best outdoor projectors in 2023
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Best outdoor projector overall
The XGIMI Halo+ is an excellent portable outdoor projector with good video and audio specs and limited but decent battery life. It has a perforated grill casing and is light enough to carry around and small enough to fit into a suitcase or backpack without taking up too much space.
Setting up the XGIMI Halo+ was incredibly simple and took less than an hour. It has a screen size of 200", and a distance of 0.79-5.2m is recommended for the ultimate experience. Using the projector was a really smooth experience, with everything done for you without any manual fiddling from us required.
The Halo+ also offers an above-average contrast ratio and 900 ANSI lumens, which is helpful for watching with ambient light.
Livingetc rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars | read our full XGIMI Halo+ review
Best 4K outdoor projector
The Nebula Cosmos 4K is a great all-in-one portable projector with superb screen size, image quality, and sound. It has 4K Ultra High-Definition resolution and 2,400-lumens brightness. It is worth the price if you want a great cinema experience with go-anywhere flexibility without needing a complex home cinema setup.
Anker Nebula projectors are simple to set up and use, and the Cosmos Laser 4K is no different. It took us less than five minutes to watch a movie on a massive screen. The projector has auto-focus and automatic keystone correction, so you don't need to have it facing directly onto a wall to create a square image. However, the more the projector adjusts the angle, the more it will degrade the image quality.
The Anker Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K has the best picture quality we've seen from a portable all-in-one projector, and its 2,400 Lumens brightness means you can start your backyard movie night before dusk and still actually see the screen. However, it struggles a bit with fast action, and some people might find the color contrast quite bold, but there are various adjustments you can make.
Livingetc rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Most stylish portable projector
The BenQ GS50 is less portable than its competitors, but its performance during testing pushes it to the top for user-friendly set-up and operation, image quality despite challenges, and better audio than portable projectors usually offer.
The projector offers 1080p Full HD resolution, 2.1-channel sound built-in, and enough streaming options to please anyone. It is a stylish portable projector on the larger side for what it aims to do but features a brown leather strap on its side and an adjustable stand that can be accessed via a button on the front.
It also comes with a fabric carry case, a streaming stick, charging cables, a remote control, and a quick start guide. Everything is amazingly user-friendly, and the auto-focus and auto-keystone correction work brilliantly. The audio is also above average.
Livingetc rating: 4 out of 5 stars | read our full BenQ GS50 review
A solid update for XGIMI's affordable range
The MoGo 2 from XGIMI is a great projector option if you're looking for a balance between performance and convenience. Without a built-in battery (you can use it with a portable charger), it's more of a household projector, and its solid but sleek design comes at a lower price tag than many comparable models. Its rose gold tint to an otherwise dark gray body gives it visual appeal, and it's easy to set up.
You can access Android TV streaming through your Google account, and there are also physical connections for laptops, consoles, and Blu-ray players. With 500 ISO lumens of brightness, 1080p Full HD resolution, HDR10 support, and Intelligent Screen Adaptation 2.0 - which cleverly adjusts the image to the size and shape of your screen - it's a solid option at a reasonable price.
Livingetc rating: 4 out of 5 stars | read our full XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro review
Best outdoor projector for screen size (runner up)
The Nebula Solar is a solid portable option with decent brightness, excellent resolution, and above-average audio. The device is user-friendly and reliable, with auto-focus, keystone correction, Android TV, and up to three hours of wireless playtime. We were also impressed with the battery life, which stands at 3 hours on a single charge.
It's a slightly more squat, puck-shaped projector with a small 13-degree kickstand that can be used to prop it up. It's lightweight and small enough to be packed up and taken camping or on vacation. With a resolution of 1080p Full HD and other features such as auto-focus and keystone correction, it's easy to forgive some flaws.
The auto-focus works brilliantly, but getting the image to straighten out was more challenging. The TV has HDMI, USB, AUX, Chromecast, and Bluetooth connectivity options, but the 3W speakers are only up to so much.
Livingetc rating: 4 out of 5 stars | read our full Nebula Solar Portable review
Best lightweight outdoor projector
If you are looking for a smart projector to use regularly indoors for a home cinema experience and also want to be able to use it outdoors, The Samsung Freestyle is a great investment.
Samsung's The Freestyle projector is a Smart TV in a portable projector, so I tested it out on our patio over several evenings at the height of summer. The Freestyle projector is a sleek cylindrical white box that looks more like a smart speaker. It also doubles up as an ambient light.
The projector offers Full HD resolution for a sharp image and up to 550 lumens. Its Auto Focus feature ensures a sharp, clear image on the screen, and the flexible stand makes it easy to point it wherever you want. The Auto Keystone function will automatically adjust to project a straight image, delivering clear, crisp sound quality in every direction.
To make a Samsung The Freestyle projector genuinely portable, you need to invest in an external battery pack. This would allow you to use the projector away from home or on camping trips.
Livingetc rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best outdoor projector for offline viewing
The ViewSonic M1+ is a portable projector that lets you view DVDs, Blu-rays, and digital files on a super-big screen. It also makes summer evenings in the backyard into movie nights. It is a good choice for those who want a portable projector to plug their existing devices into, but its shortcomings may put it behind competitors.
The projector has a more complicated interface, and you must connect an external device to watch content or cast video from your mobile device. Keystone correction is automatic and works well, but you have to turn the wheel to get the picture in focus manually.
The M1+ offers good brightness and contrast, even with its 480p resolution, but has a shorter battery life. The stand also protects the lens when it's not in use. The M1+ comes with in-built speakers, but we found ourselves reaching for a Bluetooth speaker before long.
Livingetc rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars | read our full ViewSonic M1+ review
Best budget smart outdoor projector
We were pleasantly surprised by the results and ease of use when testing the Nebula Capsule II, but it doesn't measure up well on paper against rival outdoor projectors when it comes to elements like brightness.
The Nebula Capsule II is a small, lightweight cylinder that can be carried around by hand or packed into a handbag. Controls are unfussy, with four arrow keys surrounding an enter/ATV/HDMI control. There are also plus and minus buttons for volume control and a back button, but you will likely use the remote control supplied for these functions.
The Nebula Capsule II's 200 ANSI lumens brightness rating is more than enough for bright scenes, but darker scenes also look fine. Unfortunately, motion isn't as smooth in fast-paced scenes as we would like, though the 720p resolution won't make Full HD or 4K content look its best.
Livingetc rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars | read our full Nebula Capsule II review
How to choose the best outdoor projector
There are a few features to look out for if you want the perfect projector that’ll be bright enough and fill your screen with a crisp image.
- Screen size - your projector will have a maximum screen size, so if you’ve already got the best outdoor projector screen, buy a projector that’ll project an image large enough to fill it.
- Throw distance - this tells you the distance the projector needs to be from the screen – check this against the size of your backyard or the spot you intend to set up your outdoor movie theater.
- Brightness and resolution - to ensure you buy a projector that’ll be bright enough, check the lumens or ANSI lumens - this is a measurement of the intensity of light projected. If your projector will be close to the screen or you’ll be using it in total darkness, you can get away with lower lumen ratings, but the further away from the projector or if you want to use it during daylight, you’ll need a higher lumen rating.
- Resolution - measured in pixels, and the minimum resolution you should look for is 720p, but the higher the number – the better the resolution, so ideally, look for 1080p. The best for projectors is 4K which will deliver top-notch UHD picture quality.
- Audio - consider how you want to listen to the movie - some projectors have built-in speakers. You might want to use a portable wireless speaker for those that don't, so look for Bluetooth connectivity.
- Keystone correction - also known as keystoning, this feature means that if your image shape is distorted due to the projector position being much higher or lower than the screen or set off to the side, you can use keystone correction to switch it back to a rectangular image.
How many lumens is best for an outdoor projector?
The brightness required to get the best experience with your outdoor projector will depend on a few factors. While portable models do tend to offer lower lumen counts than their more expensive home theater counterparts, you can control the time of day you're watching, the quality of the input (e.g., HD, 4K), and your screen.
In general, 50 ANSI lumens would only be good for pitch-black nighttime viewing, while 200 ANSI Lumens is probably the minimum you should consider for general use. For more on this, take a look at our guide to how many lumens would be best for your outdoor projector.
What screen should you use with an outdoor projector?
You can always go for the old bed sheet option, but we would recommend purchasing a dedicated outdoor movie screen if you want the best experience. Some materials are better than others, though, so you should ensure that the surface is flat, and black cloth will absorb ambient light rather than reflect it. Read more in our guide to the best outdoor projector screens.
How we test the best outdoor projectors
Our list comprises models that have been tried and tested, with reviews from independent sources and personal experiences. We also leverage team Livingetc's extensive knowledge to scrutinize the specs and design features of the most popular models across varying price points.
To test outdoor projectors, we assess how simple they are to get set up, the quality of the image and audio output, and how well their battery can last against a standard viewing length.
We will regularly update this guide with new releases, changes in the industry, and our hands-on testing of the best outdoor projectors available. We will indicate the models we have tested within the article, ensuring transparency in our selection process. You can visit our dedicated page to learn more about our review process.
Caroline is an ecommerce editor for Livingetc who has a passion for all things tech related to smart homes. She is also interested in outdoor projectors and their potential to enhance our outdoor living spaces. She reviewed the XGIMI Halo+, BenQ GS50, XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro, Nebular Solar Portable Projector, ViewSonic M1+, and the Nebula Capsule II for this guide.
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