Anker Nebular X1 Projector Review: The King Of Outdoor Movies, If You Can Afford It

My dream projector delivers nan brightest and sharpest image. But it besides has to beryllium easy to move astir and group up anyplace — particularly outdoors. Anker’s Nebular X1 long-throw projector promises each of that pinch a three-laser motor that beams retired a category-leading 3,500 ANSI lumens astatine 4K resolution. It besides has features ne'er seen earlier connected a location projector, for illustration liquid cooling to trim instrumentality sound and a motorized lens gimbal that automates setup. Plus, it offers bully sound that tin beryllium upgraded pinch optional outer speakers.

The swipe is nan price. At $3,000 ($3,298 pinch nan outer speakers for a constricted time) it’s 1 of nan much costly user projectors, correct up location pinch models for illustration Epson’s LS11000 aliases nan Valerion VisionMaster Pro2. After testing it, I tin opportunity that it offers nan clearest, astir vivid image value I’ve seen and has nan simplest setup to boot. However, nan precocious value puts it acold retired of scope for astir portable projector buyers.

Features and design

The Nebula X1 follows successful nan footsteps of different Anker projectors, for illustration nan original Nebula and Cosmos, pinch a gangly rectangular creation and grip that neatly retracts pinch a press. While that makes it easy to carry, it besides intends nan Nebula X1 hangs down much than astir indoor projectors erstwhile ceiling-mounted.

To destruct nan tedious setup that typically plagues projectors, Anker did a clever thing: it placed nan lens system connected a gimbal that tin tilt up to 25 degrees. When mixed pinch a 1.67x zoom, autofocus, keystone correction and ambient ray detection, nan projector afloat automates setup. First, you person to take a surface aliases wall location and position nan projector astatine a prescribed region betwixt 8 and 35 feet, depending connected nan surface aliases wall size. You should halfway nan projector arsenic good arsenic you tin to debar immoderate integer (keystone) correction that tin adversely impact image quality. Then nan magic happens astatine nan property of a button.

The Nebula X1 uses a usability it calls Spatial Adaptation to scan nan area successful beforehand of it. The lens tilts up and down, earlier displaying a checkerboard shape and past beaming nan last image beautiful overmuch precisely wherever it should be. It’s not perfect, arsenic immoderate obstacles for illustration mini plants aliases good wires tin propulsion it off, but it worked nicely for maine connected some a wall and dedicated screen. The projector tin accommodate to ambient ray and moreover nan wall color, and different usability called Spatial Recall lets you prevention those settings for often utilized locations.

Laser engines get basking and are usually cooled pinch fans that tin make distracting noise. However, nan Nebula X1 is nan first user exemplary pinch liquid cooling which reduces instrumentality sound to a hardly audible 26dB whisper. Thanks to this cooling system, nan projector tin besides person a smaller footprint. That’s a large quality-of-life betterment compared to much of nan competition.

As for inputs, nan X1 comes pinch 2 HDMI 2.1 ports, including 1 pinch Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC) functionality. That modular supports accelerated refresh rates of up to 240Hz astatine 4K, though nan X1 tops retired astatine 4K 60Hz truthful it’s not perfect arsenic a gaming projector. It besides offers USB Type-A and USB Type-C ports, on pinch a S/PDIF optical audio port.

Google TV is built successful for streaming and projector control. It provides a ample room of apps via Google Play on pinch a acquainted interface. You besides get Netflix’s charismatic exertion pinch support for 4K Dolby Vision without nan request to plug successful a streaming device, positive Chromecast support and Google Assistant for sound control. The downside is that it tin occasionally beryllium sluggish, peculiarly pinch paper settings for illustration projector image control.

Image quality

Anker uses what it calls “cinema-grade glass” successful nan Nebula’s 14-element lens to summation brightness, colour accuracy and lens durability. The 4K triple laser motor is rated astatine up to 3,500 ANSI lumens pinch a 5,000:1 opposition ratio. At nan aforesaid time, it offers colour accuracy pinch a Delta E worth of little than 0.8 and an awesome 110 percent of nan Rec.2020 colour spectrum, matching high-end ultra short propulsion (UST) models from Samsung, LG and Formovie. That 4K Dolby Vision support I mentioned is besides uncommon among nan competition.

The consequence is nan sharpest and brightest image I’ve seen connected immoderate projector successful this value range. It was agleam capable for maine to comfortably watch a shot lucifer connected a sunny time without nan shades lowered. And if you move it to Conference mode, you tin ramp nan brightness up further for a viewable image moreover pinch lights on, but there’s nan downside of a flimsy bluish colour cast.

When utilized successful a darkened room aliases extracurricular astatine night, nan Nebula’s image value is nan champion of immoderate projector I’ve tested. Even though it uses nan aforesaid Texas Instruments 0.47-inch DMD (digital reflector device) arsenic galore different 4K models, nan image is clearer and sharper acknowledgment to nan solid constituent lens. Contrast and achromatic levels are besides tops successful this value scope and not acold disconnected high-end projectors from JVC and Sony that costs doubly arsenic much. Once again, that’s owed to nan optics on pinch Anker’s 6-blade move iris — different characteristic usually only recovered connected high-end projectors — and nan company’s “NebulaMaster 2.0” image value algorithm.

Color accuracy is outstanding retired of nan container successful some HDR and non-HDR modes acknowledgment to nan ISF (Image Science Foundation) certification usually reserved for much costly projectors. In fact, I recovered nan colour calibration astir cleanable connected my portion successful “ISF Night” mode. That meant images were adjacent to really they were calibrated by nan filmmakers for TV bid and movies for illustration Once Upon a Time successful Hollywood, Andor, Dune 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home. If nan colors aren’t rather to your liking, you tin make good adjustments manually. Like galore different 4K projectors of this type, nan X1 has a flimsy magnitude of ray spill astir nan separator of nan image. However, it’s well-controlled and only noticeable erstwhile nan projected image is peculiarly dark.

Sound

Anker put immoderate other activity into nan sound arsenic well. Audio value is coagulated acknowledgment to nan 4 built-in speakers pinch 40 watts full output. The deficiency of instrumentality sound is simply a large thief here. By itself, nan X1 offers decent high-end and bass, but much importantly, dialog is easy to perceive and understand.

For a large sonic upgrade, you tin adhd a brace of Anker’s optional Nebula-branded outer speakers that link to nan projector automatically via Wi-Fi. Each 1 has a brace of 40-watt beforehand drivers, a 20-watt upward-firing driver and a 20-watt side-firing driver that harvester to create a situation effect. Together pinch nan projector, they present an awesome 200 watts of sound pinch Dolby Audio support (though not Dolby Atmos unfortunately). They’re besides battery-powered pinch up to 8 hours of use, which is particularly useful for outdoor viewing. However, that besides intends you request to support them charged.

To trial these speakers, I selected respective music-oriented movies including A Complete Unknown, Maestro and Rocketman, on pinch an action movie that has an awesome people and sound effects, Dune 2. In spite of their mini size, nan outer speakers kept elements for illustration music, dialog and sound effects crisp, clear and evenly balanced pinch powerful move bass. You could surely do amended pinch a dedicated 5.1 aliases 7.1 situation sound system, but these speakers connection very respectable audio quality, are easy to group up and automatically sync pinch nan picture. The X1 besides supports different outer Bluetooth speakers, but you whitethorn person to set nan timing successful nan menus to guarantee cleanable sync for image and sound.

Anker besides offers a $4,000 package that includes a brace of its Soundcore microphones on pinch nan speakers. Those besides link to nan X1 automatically and fto you usage it arsenic a very costly karaoke machine. They supply clear sound but you don’t get nan accustomed benefits of a karaoke setup for illustration AI vocal removal and vocal enhancement.

Wrap-up

The Nebula X1 is an overseas proposition. It’s marketed arsenic a portable outdoor projector, but it besides happens to beryllium nan champion indoor projector I’ve ever tested. With an impeccably sharp, high-contrast and color-accurate image, nan video value is irreproachable. The easiness of setup and wide size besides makes it an outstanding prime if you want to move nan X1 around. With nan optional outer speakers, it’s nan champion portable projector you tin get, hands down.

The Nebula X1 doesn’t person a batch of title successful nan portable category, isolated from Valerion’s $3,000 VisionMaster Pro 2, which besides has a 4K triple laser engine. However, nan X1 thumps that exemplary connected image quality, portability and easiness of setup.

The point is, astir group looking for a portable projector won’t walk much than $500, fto unsocial $3,000. So who is this for? I deliberation it’s perfect for buyers looking astatine a UST aliases high-end long-throw projector who want a spot much versatility. Some whitethorn moreover usage it arsenic a standalone indoor projector arsenic it tin beryllium mounted connected nan ceiling aliases connected a stand. In different words, if you person nan means, usage it immoderate measurement you want — it’s that versatile.