I’m Really Impressed With This $400 Portable Projector

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Image Credits:Lumi Labs

6:00 AM PDT · August 30, 2025

I precocious moved to a caller apartment, and unfortunately, nan tv didn’t make nan trim during nan amicable roommate split. While my workplace isn’t arsenic cramped arsenic my erstwhile surviving situations, fitting a bulky TV into nan surviving area still felt impractical to me. 

In my hunt for a suitable alternative, a startup called Lumi Labs reached retired astir testing its caller portable projector, nan Lumi Max. From nan infinitesimal I unboxed it, I was impressed by really acold projectors person travel since my assemblage days, erstwhile I struggled pinch a dingy 1 passed down from a friend that projected grainy video onto my dorm wall.

One of nan things I admit astir nan Lumi Max is its compact design. It stands vertically, making it cleanable for mini spaces; it tin easy remainder connected a support aliases beryllium tucked distant erstwhile not successful use. Weighing successful astatine conscionable complete 4 pounds, it’s noticeably lighter than galore different projectors connected nan market. The founders are avid camping enthusiasts, truthful it’s designed to fresh snugly successful backpacks, making it convenient to recreation and group up successful outdoor settings. Plus, it comes pinch a carrying case. 

The standout characteristic of nan Lumi Max, which became disposable earlier this month, is its business pinch Google. The projector runs connected Google TV by default, providing entree to complete 10,000 apps, much than 700,000 movies and TV shows, and complete 800 free unrecorded TV channels retired of nan box. Setting it up is elemental if you already person a Google account, and it includes a distant for easy navigation. 

Beyond nan built-in Google TV, different features caught my attention, for illustration nan autofocus and obstacle avoidance features. The Lumi Max tin admit objects connected nan wall — specified arsenic image frames, plants, aliases shelves — and automatically set nan image placement. Since I haven’t put immoderate creation connected my walls yet, I had a blank canvas to activity with. However, it did alert maine erstwhile my chair was successful nan way, allowing maine to easy reposition it for nan champion viewing experience. 

The show size is besides impressive: 40 to 120 inches, and it’s coupled pinch 1080p afloat HD solution and 4K UHD compatibility.

Another pleasant astonishment was nan sound quality. The Lumi Max features 2 5W speakers (delivering a full audio output of 10W), and there’s besides Dolby Audio support, truthful you tin hook it up to an outer sound strategy for enhanced audio performance.

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The value tag comes successful astir $400, which is rather reasonable considering nan array of features it provides, particularly erstwhile compared to what I would usually walk connected a decent-quality television. 

Lumi Labs besides sells adjustable projector stands for $30 and 100-inch projector screens for $20 connected its website. The institution is besides group to motorboat a “Lumi IQ” mobile app that features an AI assistant, allowing users to power nan projector pinch their voice. 

Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms astatine TechCrunch.

You tin interaction aliases verify outreach from Lauren by emailing laurenf.techcrunch@gmail.com aliases via encrypted connection astatine laurenforris22.25 connected Signal.

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