Long-term review of the XGimi Halo+ portable battery-powered projector for RVers
Today’s RV gadget is the XGimi Halo+ projector that we’ve had now for a couple of years. This is a small, portable battery-powered projector that has all sorts of connected technologies in it that you might expect to find in a smart TV.
What is the XGimi Halo+ projector?
The XGimi Halo+ projector is a compact, portable projector that can use internet connectivity to access various services such as Youtube, Hulu, and all the other various content platforms out there.
Since this is an AndroidTV-based device you can download apps to be able to enjoy your various shows and the software is pretty seamless in how it all works.
This projector features a built-in battery (more on that later) and has a remote that can also work to utilize your voice to access various features.
We’ve been using this now for two years both at home and on the road and have really become accustomed this little thing.
XGimi who?
XGimi is a company I hadn’t heard of until they reached out and asked if I wanted to try out the Halo+ projector. What got me is that this projector can be operated on either typical household outlet but also on its own internal battery. Sure, I’d love to try one!
Apparently XGimi is making quite a name for itself in the projector market. Admittedly the old projector that I have I have had for quite some time and I thought I was happy with it. Until I plugged this in.
Enjoying a live performance on the big screen at our campsite.
Picture quality
The way I tested this is with a screen from a company called DJ Screens which harkens back to the days when I owned a DJ company in LA that also did things like press conferences, weddings, corporate events and that sort of thing. As such I kept one of these DJ Screens because essentially it’s a giant piece of stretchy fabric sort of like Spandex which travels very, very well and can be projected upon from front or rear.
I hang the screen on the side of our Rockwood Mini Lite 2205s with four suction cups that have integrated hooks that I bought at the hardware store.
So when I kicked this thing on even before I went through the menus to set it up my wife and I looked at each other and almost immediately knew the old projector had shown its last movie with us.
The new XGimi was incredibly bright with vivid color and great detail. The difference really was night and day. We were hooked.
Nerdy stuff
While the old projector was just a projector, this new one is a whole smart thingamajig. Like many things this works with an Internet connection and, as such, can take advantage of any subscriptions you have to things like Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime and many other services. In fact, almost all of them except Netflix.
If you’re using an Android phone you can actually set everything up very easily, apparently, since it’s the same operating system but we’re on iPhones so there was a bit more work, but not much.
Once we signed-in to our Google account it seemed the rest was pretty easy.
This projector incorporates the Google Home Assistant so you can just ask for things such as “play The Long, Long Trailer” and, next thing you know, you’re entertaining your campsite.
On the back is an HDMI port so you could use it with your confuser or a portable DVD player but, even better, there’s a USB 2.0 port so you could just load up movies on a memory stick and go that route.
Which is what we did. In that circumstance there’s no Internet required and you still have your movies plus use the battery that’s built into the projector. Now we’ve hooked the projector to our Starlink service so Internet is not an issue no matter where we go.
Batteries included
Yep, there’s a battery built into this thing. Very specifically it’s a 59 watt battery that is intended to operate the projector for about two hours. Other than that, you can also power it with shore power (you know, a regular household outlet) and I’ve also used my BougeRV JuiceGo.
Sounds of the underground
There are also two Harmon Kardon speakers built into this device. My old projector, too, had two speakers built in but these were as effective as most political promises so we also brought a JBL Bluetooth speaker to provide sound.
The speakers on the XGimi actually provide decent sound, and certainly good enough for camping. While I love the rich sound I have at home in our Apple HomePod speakers, for speakers at a campground, these are certainly good enough and provide enough audio so you’re not rewinding the movies over and over just to catch a piece of dialog.
But the speakers are also not powerful enough to annoy people a few sites over, either. I think it’s a good balance.
Further, you can use this device as a Bluetooth speaker as well so I’m considering no longer bringing my JBL Flip speaker with me. I like it when one device does multiple things.
The XGimi Halo+ portable battery-powered projector for RVing hooked to our AppleTV
Really cool features
Once you’ve got the projector set-up there are some features that boggled my mind. One of those was the automatic keystone and focus.
Every time you power up the projector it goes through a sequence to automatically focus and keystone the image. Keystone is adjusting for the angle of the projector so the image doesn’t look skewed.
Essentially it projects a pattern that reminds me of those old test patterns when you’d watched all the TV you were going to watch and the station was done for the night. There’s a camera on the front of the project that sees this pattern and adjusts accordingly.
If you’re not pleased with the projector’s intelligence, you can also do manual adjustments using the remote that comes with the device.
The remote control for the XGimi Halo+ portable projector for RVing
Other observations
Overall I think you can tell I’m rather thrilled with this device. But there were other things to know.
For example, the projector has a standard tripod screw mount in the bottom so if you bring your camera tripod, and I always do, you can just mount the projector to the tripod and not have to worry about finding the ideal place.
It also has a little flip-out foot on the underside that can be used to lift the projector a the front and adjust the image.
Technically the projector is a 1080p FHD with 900 ANSI lumens so that means it’s bright enough for most campgrounds, except those that want to hang those horrible sodium lights and make the campground seem like a crime scene.
While I originally thought this was an odd shape for a projector it actually works out pretty well with the speakers on the side and the actual projecting lens up at the top. There are pause and play buttons on the projector itself and the remote that comes with it allows you to activate more features including a Google voice assistant.
The major downside is that there’s only about two hours of battery life and you know you’ll be watching something that’s like two hours and seven minutes long and the party will end right as the movie comes to a crashing climax.
I’m also sure that there’s a lot to the Google software that I’m not using as I’ve been a die-hard IOS user since my former employer announced the first iPhone. But, rest assured, I’m going to continue to use this thing quite regularly.
Oh, and if you see us at a campground, please come over and share the movie night with us.
