Xgimi MoGo 2 Pro

In many ways, the Xgimi MoGo 2 Pro is a slightly smaller, noticeably lighter, and less expensive version of the Xgimi Halo+, one of our current top choices for a 1080p mini projector with a built-in battery. In addition to offering the same native 1080p resolutions, both share a tower shape, a maximum 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) input resolution, built-in Android TV for streaming, and more. However, the MoGo 2 Pro's lower $599 price is tied to a lower brightness and the lack of a battery. If you want to use it as a go-anywhere portable, Xgimi's website suggests buying a power pack to go with it, which can eat up much or all of the savings compared with the Halo+. If you don't mind being tied to a wall socket, however, it's worth a look.

The MoGo 2 Pro is designed around a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel DLP imaging chip paired with a four-element LED light source, which gives the projector its 400 ISO lumen rating. (ISO brightness is equivalent to ANSI brightness, and is gradually becoming more common a measurement.) Xgimi rates the lifetime for the LEDs at 25,000 hours.

For input, the Halo+ can accept up to 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) resolution and down-convert the image to 1080p. Although it claims support for HDR10 as well, it supports HDR for 1080p input only, which means that if you feed it a 4K HDR signal, it will negotiate a 4K SDR connection instead. Another complication is that the projector will report an HDR connection as SDR, according to Xgimi, so you can't confirm it's actually negotiated a 1080p HDR connection even when it has. The company says this is a software problem that doesn't affect the decoding. However, it left me without any way to confirm whether I was seeing an HDR image at any point in my testing, and no way to know how well the projector handles HDR.

The MoGo 2 Pro weighs just 2.4 pounds, not including its external AC adapter, and it measures 6.3 by 4.7 by 4.25 inches (HWD), which is a comfortable fit for carrying in one hand, at least for my large hands. Physical setup is both straightforward and easy. It requires little more than connecting to a video source if you want to (there's one HDMI port if you're not using the built-in streaming features), and pointing it at a screen or whatever you're using for one. The projector takes care of everything else automatically, thanks to Auto Focus, Auto Vertical and Horizontal Keystone, and Auto Obstacle Avoidance.

These automatic features worked together flawlessly in my tests to focus the image, square it off, and shrink the image from its unadjusted size to keep it from going past the top, bottom, or sides of my screen. If you're using a wall for a screen, the Auto Obstacle Avoidance is designed to avoid projecting part of the image on a light switch or framed picture.

I am not generally a fan of digital zoom (which the Screen Fit and Obstacle Avoidance features depend on) or digital keystone controls, because they can lower brightness and introduce artifacts in some images. But for casual viewing, or for those who are more willing to accept the artifacts, the MoGo 2 Pro automatic features are a big plus, particularly since they did the job impressively well in my tests, letting me set up the projector in seconds. If you don't like the picture size you end up with, you can move the projector as needed, and the image will adjust in just a few more seconds, which can be a boon for casual, ad hoc use.

The Android TV 11 setup is mostly standard, and limited to Wi-Fi as the only choice for connecting to the internet. An extra for Netflix subscribers is a hard-to-miss foldout pamphlet in the box giving clear instructions for easily downloading a Netflix app. Even better, unlike many of the Netflix workarounds for Android TV-based models, the app worked well in my tests.

Using my preferred settings for image quality, the MoGo 2 Pro's brightness was closer to what I expect from a little less than 300 lumens than from its 400-lumen rating. (The projector has a Performance setting that boosts brightness, but it adds a green bias, and it raises the fan noise considerably.) When comparing with other projectors, however, keep in mind that this comment refers to ISO lumens, which is equivalent to ANSI lumens, and shouldn't be compared with projectors that claim brightness in LED lumens, which is not a standard measurement.

For a projector in this size and weight class, the audio system is surprisingly robust. The dual 8-watt speakers offer Dolby Audio, Dolby Digital, and Dolby Digital Plus. They deliver enough volume and quality for a large family room. You can also connect an external sound system for still-higher quality and volume using the 3.5mm stereo output, the HDMI port's ARC support, or Bluetooth, and you can connect other audio sources to the projector to use it as a Bluetooth speaker.

The MoGo 2 Pro offers four predefined image modes, one of which had an obvious yellow bias that ruled it out for my viewing tests. The other three were essentially identical for image quality. After some preliminary testing, I picked Custom mode for viewing video and movies. It was the only one that let me tweak the image, which was slightly over-sharpened with the default settings.

In 1080p and 4K SDR testing, some colors, particularly reds, were oversaturated, and some shades of orange were a little too red, but most people will consider the color accuracy more than acceptable for watching movies or video straight out of the box. Contrast in brighter scenes was below top tier, but good enough. Shadow detail was more of a problem, with enough lost to be noticeable even in shadowed areas in bright scenes. In dark scenes, it held well enough that I could make out what was going on when viewing in a dark room. That said, even someone who wasn't familiar with our test clips would suspect there should be more detail in the dark areas of the image. As already mentioned, the MoGo 2 Pro does not confirm when it's connected in HDR mode, so I was unable to test it with HDR material.

The bad news for those who worry about seeing rainbow artifacts (red/green/blue flashes that single-chip projectors tend to show), is that I saw them fairly often. The good news is that they were so fleeting that if you're not sensitive to them you may not see them at all. As always, however, our advice is to buy from a dealer that allows easy returns without a restocking fee, so you can test it out for yourself.

The 3D support is limited to top-bottom and side-by-side formats using DLP-Link glasses, plus options to convert 3D input in those two formats to 2D. I didn't see any crosstalk in my 3D viewing tests, and saw just a hint of 3D-related motion artifacts, which is typical for current projectors.

Serious gamers won't be happy with the input lag, which I measured in Game mode using a Bodnar meter at 40.5 milliseconds (ms) for both 1080p/60Hz and 4K/60Hz inputs. However, casual users should find it acceptable. The MoGo 2 Pro can also accept 1080p 120Hz input, but the lag at 120Hz was actually longer (47.3ms), not shorter.

According to the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) standards, the rating of 400 lumens would be bright enough to light up a 78-to-105-inch, 16:9, 1.0-gain screen in a dark room. In my tests, it was barely bright enough for a 90-inch screen. If you prefer the higher image brightness that goes hand-in-hand with the low end of the screen-size range, plan to use a roughly 65-inch size. With daytime light streaming through the windows, the image was usable at 80 inches, but notably washed out.

The MoGo 2 Pro offers enough to make it well worth considering, particularly if you're not sure you need a battery-powered projector. But it's up against some stiff competition. If you're leaning toward following Xgimi's advice to add a power pack to go with it, be sure to look at both the Xgimi Halo+ and the Anker Nebula Capsule 3 Laser. Both cost more than the MoGo Pro 2, but both have built-in batteries, and they are two of our top picks for mini projectors. Between them, the Halo+ offers higher brightness, while the Capsule 3 Laser offers better image quality.

If you prefer an oversize palmtop to the MoGo 2 Pro's tower shape, also consider the Anker Nebula Solar Portable, which has an onboard battery, and the Xgimi Elfin, which doesn't have one but is brighter than either the Solar Portable or the MoGo 2. Both are also among our top picks for oversize palmtops. Overall, though, if you like the tower shape and don't need a built-in battery, the MoGo 2 Pro may be exactly the right choice.