I recently purchased 23 projectors priced at 1000 or less. Including projectors such as the Dangbee Atom, Nebula Mars 3 and Mars 3 Air, Epson EF12 and EF11, BenQ GS50, AAXA SCL450, LG PF610P, and XGIMI MoGo 2.
If a battery powered projector is what you're looking for, then this is the one to go with. The XGIMI MoGo 2 Pro follows the same patterns as the Halo+, except it has no battery and is not as bright.
Prices as of this review:
Nebula Mars 3 - $879
BenQ GS50 - $700
Nebula Capsule 3 Laser - $680
Halo+ - $650
Nebula Mars 3 Air - $460
Nebula Capsule 3 - $450
Brightness-
First off let's look at the brightness. I'll argue that this is the most important stat, as these are on the go portable projectors, so you're likely not going to have it set up in a proper projector room. The Halo+ was only beat out in the battery powered category by the Nebula Mars 3, which at the time of this review is retailing for 900 vs the Halo+ at 650. The Halo+ EASILY bested the BenQ GS50 and Nebula Capsule 3 and 3 Laser in it's brightness. The images produced by the Capsule 3 and the BenQ GS50 were so dim that a 60in screen in the dark was almost unwatchable except for cartoons with smooth bright colors. The Halo+ was close with the Mars 3 Air in image brightness, but did have the upper hand in all scenarios. Keep in mind that battery powered projectors typically dim their light automatically when removed from AC power, so the stated ANSI figures are going to be while plugged in, rather than what they would be on battery power alone. In terms of brightness in real world usage, I'd rank them:
1. Nebula Mars 3
2. Halo +
3. Nebula Mars 3 Air
4. BIG GAP
5. BenQ GS50
6. Nebula Capsule 3
Color/Sharpness-
I regard this as the second most important stat, beating out sound because you can always add a speaker, but you can't add color or light. I changed the image modes for all the projectors, Movie, Sports, Vivid, etc. But did not mess with the color settings. The Halo+ had a slight pinkish tinge to red and orange scenes, like in the opening to Thor Ragnarok. Changing between modes didn't seem to affect this much. The Nebula series had better color overall, and a more natural look. The BenQ had decent color as well, but was so disappointingly dim for a high end manufacture 900 dollar projector that it was hard to tell. Interestingly the Halo+ had the worst image as far as sharpness goes, looking overly sharp in many scenes, while the slightly softer images on the Nebula series looked more realistic. It wasn't terrible, and may be easily corrected by messing around with the color settings and sharpness, but it was noticeable side by side. I'd rank them as follows:
1. Nebula Mars 3
2. Nebula Mars 3 Air
3. Halo+
4. BenQ GS50
5. Nebula Capsule series (They fall below just because they were not bright enough to really make their colors stand out against the Halo+
Sound-
The sound at the top of the spectrum was a mixed bag, depending on what I was listening to. At the top the Halo+, BenQ, and Mars 3 all did a reasonably good job making movies and music enjoyable. The sound adjustments on these three made a big difference when switching from movies, to more dialogue heavy tv shows, and then dynamic music. None of them are going to end up in your home theater, all pretty much sound like a $100 JBL speaker such as the Flip 6. Honestly, I was happy with all 3, the sound performed better than the image itself, and so did not leave me feeling like the experience was lacking. The Mars 3 Air was close to the top 3, but felt smaller and less full. The Capsules were easily the worst, they got loud enough for a small area to hear the movie, but were tinny, and left out a lot of background sounds. They also were lacking any lows, leaving explosions and heavy music to the imagination. Ranking:
1. Mars 3
2. Halo+
3. BenQ GS50
4. Nebula Mars 3 Air
5. Capsules
Portability-
If you're really carrying these things around outside to campsites, and not just setting them up on your porch then the Nebula Mars 3 Air is at the top. The Halo+ is a solid machine that looks and feels great, even more so than the Mars 3 Air, but it doesn't feel like something you want to take into the woods, or anywhere there is dirt and dust! The Mars 3 Air was one of the few with a handle, and the ergonomics were fantastic, it feels like it WANTS to be carried around. The larger variant, the Mars 3, doesn't have the same feel to it, and it's extra weight and bulk makes it feel unwieldy. The Nebula Capsules are more in the realm of the Halo+, well built aluminum bodies that seem like they'd be more at home in modern office than the great outdoors. They are certainly easy to carry around, but the light weight and handle of the Mars 3 Air trumps the smaller size of the Capsules. As far as the BenQ... it's handle is on the side, towards the front, and needs to be pulled open to get your fingers through it. It's awkwardly balanced, and larger by comparison to the rest. It's water resistant and rubberized drop resistant body feel sturdy, but the compartment lid for the required streaming stick and it's drop down leveling foot feel cheap and flimsy. Ranking:
1. Mars 3 Air
2. Mars 3
3. BenQ GS50
4. Halo+, and Nebula Capsules.
Setup-
The Capsules, with their USB C power and lack of power brick made things nice and easy. The rest had two piece cables with power bricks, making setup with power less convenient.
Now for positioning the unit.. The Halo+ comes out on top here. Their custom stand works incredibly well, and makes the footprint of the unit only slightly larger. With the stand you can easily project onto any wall or ceiling with easy, it's stable, fits well, and makes small adjustments a breeze. The BenQ, and Mars 3 series all have cords coming out of the back, and the stands available to them are not nearly as fluid, meaning it would be much harder to project onto the ceiling or quickly adjust the angle. Without stands, things level out a bit, with the Halo+, BenQ, and Nebula sporting squarish designs that can be easily tipped, propped up, or adjusted with the small feet located on the bottom. Of the group, the Halo+ has the sturdiest feeling prop. Then there are the Capsules. Their advantage is that they are tiny and so can fit on top of almost anything, but.. they are round, so it's much more difficult to place them correctly without stacking items underneath them. Ranking
1. Halo +
2. Mars 3 Air
3. Mars 3
4. BenQ GS50
5. Capsules
Remote-
I loved the remote on the Dangbei Atom, something about the heft and the extra buttons on the side made operation seamless, while the LG remote was like using a calculator watch from the 90's, but that's not part of this. The Halo+ takes it here, the remote is clean, intuitively laid out, and some (Not all!) of the buttons light up. It's easy to find the buttons in the dark, and the UI is responsive, allowing quick volume adjustments. Next up is the BenQ remote, fairly well laid out, you can easily find the volume in the dark. The Nebula remotes though... not a fan. In daytime, no issues, except that the volume is slow to turn up and down, obnoxiously so. At night? It was easy to lose track of where you were on the remote, making simple adjustments difficult. Ranking:
1. Halo+
2. BenQ GS50
3. Nebula series
Interface-
They all had their quirks, each one lagged for a second here or there. For the most part I adjust my colors, then watch shows and TV out one of 3 apps. Disney+, Amazon Prime, Plex. They all allowed that, so I didn't really find myself caring what version of Android I was using, or how easy it was to cast. If these things are important to you (which they very well may be) you'll need to do some further digging. Ranking:
1. Tie
Conclusion-
1. Halo+
The value of the Halo+ was closely tied with the Nebula Mars Air 3. The Mars 3 Air offered a similar picture, and easier portability, but the Halo+ comes out on top with a clearly brighter image, much better sound, an easy to use stand that allows ceiling viewing and fluid adjustments, and a much better remote.
2. Mars 3 Air
The Mars 3 Air is $200 cheaper than the Halo+, so that could make a big difference if this isn't something that you'll want to use at home as well. If you do plan to use it indoors, then stick with the Halo+, it's brightness, sound, and flexibility will make movie nights a lot more fun. Otherwise the Mars 3 Air is a easy going contender that has good all around attributes
3. Nebula Mars 3
The price is just so high on this, nearly $1000 after tax. It's brighter, sure but the divide between what it can provide and what the Halo+ can provide is pretty slim. And it's way less portable. At this price point there are a lot of projectors that give WAY better images, and even better sound, such as the Epson EF12 which is almost $100 cheaper at $799. The Epson is also smaller and lighter, but without the battery. If money is no object, and you won't really be carting this thing around much or using it at home, then go with the Nebula Mars 3
4. Nebula Capsules
The price is just way to high for what you're getting. They aren't that much smaller than the Mars 3 Air, and they are either the same price, or $200 more! They aren't more portable, and are also much more likely to tip over and fall. They don't really stand up to the Mars 3 Air in any capacity. Buy these if you're really just stuck on the cool form factor
5. BenQ GS50
I mean come on. It's big, it's bulky, it's layout sucks, it looks terrible, and it's almost the most expensive projector on this list. Aside from the colorful aesthetics the BenQ can't match the cheaper Halo+ or Mars 3 Air in any capacity. Buy this if you want the brand name of BenQ and the look. Don't buy it though if you intend to use it.