XGIMIHORIZON Ultra 4K Projector, Dolby Vision, Dual Light, ISA 3.0, 2300 ISO Lumens, 2 x 12W Harman Kardon Speakers, Optical Zoom, Home Theater Projector with WiFi and Bluetooth

I don't write a lot of reviews, but I felt compelled to write one on this product. First off, I have never owned a projector. I've always had a flat panel tv. Some of my friends have projectors set up in their homes, and they swear by it, so I thought it was a cool idea to try one in mine.After researching different brands, I settled on this product because it was loaded with so many features like 4K, Dolby Vision, Android TV, Google Voice, built in Harmon Kardon speakers, high lumens, etc. But the biggest deciding factor is that it was so much cheaper than other brands with similar features. (almost half the price!) I also liked that it was smaller and more sleek looking than other large bulky units I saw, which allows me to take it outside or travel with it, if I wanted.When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at the packaging. It had a very premium, luxury feel to it. The projector feel and look was much more sleek than I expected. A lot of thought and care went into the customer experience. The setup was super easy and literally took less than 5 min. All I had to do was plug it in, connect to wifi, and that was it! I had all the streaming apps at my fingertips. Where I became astonished, was the quality of the picture. I was expecting there to be some loss of definition in the image, but I couldn't believe how unbelievably great the picture was. It was better than my flat panel tv! The definition is so good that I can actually see the individual hair follicles on the actors skin! Are you kidding me??? I'm astonished at how amazing this product is. I'm astonished at how big of a screen I have now with such high definition and picture quality. I'm astonished that I didn't make this switch sooner!

After a somewhat convoluted setup process, and getting used to some system-related integration quirks, I got this rather plain looking box up and running in my home theater, primarily powered by my Apple TV 4K... and was sufficiently blown away. A "DolbyVision" notification flashed on the screen, letting me know that the viewing mode would be modified, and after some time of viewing, I realized I was hopelessly addicted. I was literally not prepared for how good the image was going to look on my 100-inch screen. The last time I remembered seeing a projected image that clear was a special digital screening of "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug" at a movie theater. It was as if I was watching the output of a digitally shot video file directly from the server. I browsed through several other films in my Apple TV library, and I almost broke it with so much jumping around from movie to movie that they wouldn't start up anymore (I must have overloaded the streaming capabilities of my router). Fortunately a quick shut down and restart remedied the issue, and I proceeded with more caution going forward.I will mention (and your mileage may vary, depending on your home setup), that I ran into some glitches in the process of making my upgraded theater system run more smoothly. Since my media sources are channeled through my Onkyo receiver and out to the projector, I had to be mindful of the behavior of my HDMI data integration. When I start up my Apple TV 4K box, it automatically powers up both the receiver and the projector. After a brief appearance of the Google Play interface (the projector's native operating system). HDMI takes over, does a brief search, and switches to Apple TV, which becomes the primary media source. For awhile, my Sony Blu-Ray player also switched on automatically, and the HDMI in turn switched over to the Blu-Ray as media source, which was annoying until I discovered how to disable that function in the player's settings. Suffice to say, this has been a good education for me in HDMI dataflow! I can now watch Blu-Rays by switching it over manually, and they look almost as wonderful as the streamed DolbyVision output from my Apple TV 4K.One of the features that exceeded my expectations (aside from the astounding image quality) is the manual keystone adjustment. Since my setup dictates I keep my projector on a stand, one thing that was problematic with my previous projector was having to leave the stand in the middle of the floor at a fixed distance from the screen, and it was never 100% fit into the viewing area. With the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra's manual keystone capabilities, I can have the projector moved over against the wall, projecting from an angle, and can distort the image to fit perfectly on the screen by dragging the 4 corners of the projected image INDEPENDENTLY up, down, left, and right. You can also zoom in and out to refine the fit, after which the image auto-focuses itself using a projected pattern. No more tripping over the wide-legged projector stand, moving it back and forth into the room, and making endless adjustments that were never perfect. (I would install a ceiling mount, but I don't think my landlady would be thrilled about more holes in the ceiling and walls than I already have).A couple of minor complaints, nothing that would diminish my 5-star rating: I made a point of purchasing a projector that was 3D capable, and this one is, even though it's not overly emphasized in the product description. My complaint is the 3D mode has to be selected manually by opening a menu and choosing the proper method, which is kind of a hassle. I'm hoping a future firmware update from XGIMI will remedy that, since I can't imagine people having any use for multiple 3D modes other than one that utilizes active lenses. Also, you can only use lenses that were designed for this specific projector. I discovered other standard active lenses don't work... but when you get the right ones, it's worth the expense IMO. The other change I'd request would be the ability to deactivate the default Google Play/Android operating system that launches at startup, which (as an Apple user) I would never put to use. I also have Amazon Prime, which runs through my Apple TV 4K. How many operating systems can one need??Aside from these trivial quibbles, I couldn't be happier with this addition to my home theater. I just wish I had more time to spend using it, more people around I could show it off to, and especially wish I didn't share a wall with a neighbor so I can crank up the volume on my Onkyo Dolby Atmos receiver without disrupting his life (he's a really nice guy, already tolerates me enough with my music practice). I honestly wasn't ready for how fantastic this projector would turn out to be, not to mention how smoothly it integrates with the rest of my setup.

Note: This would be a solid 5 stars if not for ONE issue, which I hope is rectified by firmware-- or a replacement.TLDR: The Xgimi Horizon Ultra is... here comes that overused descriptor (I'm so sorry)... a GAME CHANGER. Regardless of if it works for your particular use case or not, I think you'll come away very impressed with what Xgimi has accomplished with this projector.While I've had several projectors over the past 16 or so years, from dedicated home theater models to a few of the now ubiquitous "lifestyle" projectors, my main viewing these days has been centered on 4K and an LG Oled flat panel, which I love. BUT...I've missed the big screen experience and the look of light beaming through the room, so I started looking. This would not be easy-- I have downsized tremendously, cannot black-out the room, and I have a WAF that is through the roof. Also, my audio is now all Sonos based instead of the traditional receiver and speaker set-up.So, my list of requirements was:Must be 4k (or whatever voodoo is done to "make" the image 4K), must have a fairly high lumen output to deal with ambient light, must have ARC/eARC (to connect to Sonos Beam without additional components), must be small and attractive. Nice to haves would be zoom and lens shift, as well as decent onboard audio and an internal streaming OS.Since 2023 qualifies as "what a time to be alive," there are a few small, lifestyle projectors (I hate that term) that do some of that, though fewer still can achieve most of it. The Xgimi Horizon Ultra clicked every single box except for lens shift. And AFAIK, none of the lifestyle projectors have true lens shift. I *think* the Xgimi is the only one that offers true optical zoom of any kind.I tried the Formovie X5, and it almost passed the test. Very bright, great sound. In the end, I had to return it. The image degradation when employing the required keystoning, while not horrible, was too noticeable to ignore (though I am working to have exact placement and not use keystoning at all. Still...) The Chinese OS was not great and there was no optical zoom. As for looks, it was... fine.I was very interested in the MGO N1 Ultra, but once I saw the propensity for the sparklies, it was a "no." Plus, the look of it wasn't really going to work for us.Enter the Xgimi. SOOO much hype and early buzz on this thing. It sounded too good to be true. As I was about to abandon my whole small scale home theater project, I figured, what the heck. I mean, it has an optical zoom, fer cryin' out loud!Suffice it to say, the reviews are factual. First off, it's beautiful and unassuming in a way I have never seen a projector pull off. Turn it on and it's super bright, has great color, and very good black levels. Is it as inky black as my Oled? No. Do I pay any attention to that when watching the projector? Also, no.The Xgimi has DolbyVision, which I tested with the latest Indiana Jones movie.; it made the movie LOOK great! However, it could not make the movie any good, so I only watched about 1/3 of it. The Harmon Kardon sound will make a lot of people happy-- clear, crisp, and plenty loud without distorting. I'll still hook up to my Sonos system, but it isn't bad as is.I've watched in ambient light and in darkness-- it does very well with the former and it excels at the latter. I'll be getting an alr screen shortly and will report back how much difference that makes. Also, I could detect no degradation of the image after keystoning, which blew my mind.It has AndroidTV 11 (no Netflix without a workaround at present-- that may be a dealbreaker for some) and is *mostly" snappy. And there's the issue that costs a star: at times, it goes full Mitch McConnell and just freezes until the 3 or 4 clicks you've made all kick-in in rapid succession, making it seem possessed.Related to this is the fact that I have experienced some pauses and stutters on almost all the content I've streamed via the onboard Android system. Everything from Plex and Apple TV to Amazon and Tablo. Oddly, Youtube has not exhibited this. Using the projector with a Firestick doesn't have these issues, so it's something in the projector itself.I'm going to contact Xgimi and see what's what. I'll report back once I hear something. I really want to give this 5 stars-- and I REALLY want to keep it, so... fingers crossed!