XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K Projector Review

I have previously reviewed the excellent XGIMI Halo+ portable projector and many other portable options from the likes of BenQ and Anker Nebula.

For larger projectors, my experience has been somewhat limited to cheap Chinese brands like Yaber. The best larger projector I have reviewed to date is the Acer H6543BDK, which is an excellent projector due to its massive 4,500 ANSI Lumen rating and relatively affordable £530 price point. However, it uses a bulb with a limited 4000-hour lamp life, making it more costly to run long-term.

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra is a different beast. It is the flagship projector from XGIMI and claims to be the world’s first true 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) long throw projector. It uses a 0.47” DMD display chip using DLP display technology with a lamp life of 25000h (which is over 1000 days of continuous use).

It is capable of 2300 ISO Lumens, which is the equivalent of around 2900 ANSI lumens. It then supports HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision HDR formats.

It even has dual 12W Harmon/Kardon speakers, though this is clearly designed to be wired into a home theatre system, and it has an HDMI eARC port to make the most of advanced audio formats like Dolby Atmos.

As you’d expect, this is not a cheap projector. The RRP is £1750, but it is regularly available for £1650. While that is a lot of money, it seems to be quite reasonable for a 4K laser/LED projector with Dolby Vision.

Specification / Features

Lumens

One of the highlights of this projector is the brightness. At 2300 ISO Lumens, it has the equivalent brightness of 2900 ANSI lumens. This makes it significantly brighter than the popular portable projectors. The Halo+ caps out at 700 ISO Lumens.

While you can get desktop projectors with a high lumen output, these typically use a more traditional lamp with a limited lifespan of around 4,000 hours vs the 25,000 lamp life hours of this projector.

Furthermore, projectors like the Acer H6543BDK are limited to 1080P resolution.

The 2300 lumens brightness is very good for a 4K laser projector. It’s enough to deliver watchable picture quality even in some ambient light. Shadow details and contrast take a hit in brighter rooms. But image quality excels when viewed in darker home theatre spaces.

Design

This is a nicely designed projector with an attractive rectangular shape that blends into modern decor. The ventilation grills have a distinctive scaled pattern. Build quality feels premium, thanks to the aluminium alloy housing.

Wall mounting is possible using the standard screw holes or optional ceiling mount.

The power pack is very large, and with the projector being quite large itself, I think this is a projector that is best suited to be set up in a fixed position. Ceiling mounting would be the ideal option, in my opinion.

Set Up / Android

The Horizon Ultra runs Android TV, giving access to all popular streaming apps. The interface is fast and responsive thanks to the quad-core CPU and powerful IMG GE8300 GPU. Built-in Chromecast allows wireless streaming, which worked flawlessly in my testing.

My review sample loaded into the Android interface without the traditional set up procedure but you can add a Google account easily enough via the settings.

Beyond that, the setup is easy with automatic screen alignment and focus. The lens shift range of +/- 20% vertical and +/- 5% horizontal allows some flexibility in positioning.

Netflix / DRM

A common issue with most projectors that have Android built-in is restricted access to premium streaming services like Netflix.

Unfortunately, the same is true for the XGIMI Horizon Ultra. Currently, only the Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air has built-in Netflix support.

You can sideload the app, but you can not achieve 4K due to the DRM limitations of sideloading apps.

Other apps, such as Disney Plus and HBO Max, work perfectly fine.

Of course, you can easily use a streaming device like a Fire TV Stick 4K Max or Nvidia Shield. While this is not ideal, I feel it is less of an issue with the XGIMI Horizon Ultra as it is more likely this will be fixed in place and wired into an AV system.

Image Quality in a Well-Lit Room

In my home, I don’t have a dedicated wall for a projector, and the wall I project onto is a biscuit brown colour. I attempted to use a cheap projector screen to test this with, but the creased material made it look worse.  The results on the coloured wall ended up being better.

With ambient light present, the Horizon Ultra can still produce a watchable picture, and the performance is significantly better than that of small and more affordable portable projectors.

Of course, image quality is far from perfect. The shadow details and contrast take a noticeable hit. Bright scenes look decent, but darker sequences lose impact. The image also looks a bit washed out.

The projector has a turbo light mode that uses optical zoom to reduce the image size and increase the brightness. This can be effective and is a suitable alternative if you don’t have a TV as an alternative.

I’d recommend limiting ambient light as much as possible. Light from windows can be challenging for any projector. But the Horizon Ultra is still watchable in moderate ambient light, which is impressive given the high resolution and brightness.

Image Quality in a Dimly Lit Room

In a dim room with little ambient light, the Horizon Ultra delivers excellent 4K image quality with good sharpness, accurate colours, and nice contrast. HDR content looks great, with vibrant highlights in supported content. Shadow details could be better, but the picture has good depth overall.

The fan noise is well-controlled, and the light output is very uniform with no signs of laser speckle, which can affect some laser projectors.

Overall, the Horizon produces a clean and detailed 4K image in dimmer home theatre spaces, and I think this is where it really excels. I’d say the image quality isn’t that far off what you achieve in a dark room. All you need to do is close your blinds/curtains, and you can achieve excellent results that make it a viable option over a TV.  You can do the same with portable projectors, but if there is any ambient light at all, the image quickly washes out.

Image Quality in a Dark Room

In a completely dark room, the Horizon Ultra reveals its full potential with superb 4K clarity and high-quality HDR. Colours are vibrant and accurate when using the Cinema or HDR picture modes. Contrast looks excellent with deep blacks, although shadow details are still a bit lacking compared to premium 4K TVs.

The Horizon Ultra delivers a cinematic projection experience in a dark theatre room. It’s still limited compared to self-emissive OLED TVs, but this is one of the best 4K laser projectors I’ve seen in terms of sharpness, colour accuracy and contrast.

Sound Quality & Fan Noise

The built-in dual 12W Harmon Kardon speakers sound decent but lack bass, which is typical for projectors.

Due to the size and price of this projector, I am not sure why you would want to use the built-in speakers on a regular basis, but it can be handy for occasional use.

One thing that stood out to me was the fan noise. This is considerably quieter than portable projectors and cheap desktop projectors. While you can normally drown out the noise with speakers, I find any sort of fan noise quite distracting when trying to watch TV, and therefore, the experience with this projector is much better.

Price and Alternative Options

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra has an RRP of £1,749, and you can normally get it for £1,649.

Alternative options from XGIMI include:

• XGIMI Aura 4K UHD Ultra Short Throw for around £1870. This is 1800 ISO Lumens, but it benefits from being an ultra-short throw, allowing you to place it just 30cm/11.7” away from any wall.
• XGIMI Horizon Pro 4K is more affordable at just £1130 but 1500 ISO Lumens.

For alternative brands, it is difficult to find a like-for-like alternative.

The Hisense PX1 Pro appears to be a good option, as it is another ultra-short through projector. This is 4K with 2200 lumens brightness, Dolby Vision support and a reasonable price of £1800.

For the ultra-short throw options, you will be limited to around 130-inch screens, whereas long throw can go up to 200-inches.

Most 4K long throw projectors cost well over £2000. The Epson EH-TW7000 is around £1400, but it uses a lamp with a short 3500-hour life. Similarly, the BenQ TK860 and W2710 both have a short 4000-hour life.

The Epson EH-LS11000W uses a laser, but even that has a limited lamp life of just 5,000 hours and costs over £3000.

The Dangbei Mars Pro 4K Projector is the best alternative I can find. It has the same size DMD chip, 30,000 hours light source lifespan, and 4K with a claimed 3200 ANSI lumens. The downside is that it lacks optical zoom and has a fixed offset. It is also limited to HDR10, HLG and uses Dangbei Smart OS rather than Android. However, it is attractively priced at around £1500 RRP, but at the time of writing, there was a £300 voucher available.

Overall

The XGIMI Horizon Ultra is an impressive all-in-one 4K laser projector that excels in home theatre use. It delivers superb picture quality in darker rooms, along with smart TV features and flexible placement. HDR content looks excellent, and it can even produce watchable images in moderate ambient light.

Short-throw projectors are perhaps the most appealing alternative as you can get them for a similar price point, and they can be placed close to your wall.

You can also pick up 85-inch 4K HDR TVs for a similar price point. The 86-inch LG 86QNED816RE is just £1800, though it lacks Dolby Vision. The 75-inch full array Sony KD75X85LU is £1500 and features DV.

However, if you are looking for a screen size above 100-inches, then a projector is your only option.

Ultimately, the Horizon Ultra stands out as one of the best options in this category thanks to its sharp 4K quality and bright, colourful performance that can fill a large screen in style while also having a very long lamp time.

James Smythe( Editor-in-chief )

I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.

As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.

In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.

I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.