This 4K projector is bright, pricey, and (kind of) portable
The Anker Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K is a room-to-room portable projector that looks like a tall car battery with a handle on top. It’s big, heavy, and bright for a portable projector, and it offers 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) resolution. But in keeping with the heft, it costs a weighty $2,199.99. If you’re looking for a lighter weight and a lower price, the Epson EpiqVision Mini EF-12 is our current top choice for a room-to-room portable home entertainment projector. But know that it’s a different animal: It offers 1080p rather than 4K resolution, and it isn’t as bright. The Cosmos Laser 4K’s higher resolution and higher brightness makes it very much worth a look if you can budget for it. (And its handle makes it easier to carry.) The Design: More Luggable Than Portable
Good-quality audio is an essential feature for a well-designed room-to-room portable projector. With it, you won’t feel the need to lug an external sound system with the projector every time you move to another room or to the backyard for a movie night. Most models in the category, including the 4K Xgimi Horizon Pro and the 1080p BenQ X1300i, make space for a proper audio solution by designing the case as a near cube. One exception is Anker’s 4K Nebula Cosmos Max, which uses a flat oval shape instead to add extra width. The Cosmos Laser 4K is another exception. It offers a distinctly rectangular, rather than squarish, footprint, while adding extra height to accommodate the audio. At 10.7 pounds and 8.7 by 6.5 by 10.4 inches (HWD), the projector is more luggable than portable, but it’s easy to carry, thanks in large part to the handle, which is responsible for a little more than an inch of the height. Beyond that, the auto-focus, auto-keystone, and auto-screen-fit features, all of which can be set to run automatically when you turn the projector on or move it, can help speed up ad hoc setup. Note, though, that the keystone and screen fit (which is effectively an automated digital zoom) are both better avoided, since they lower image brightness and can introduce artifacts. Also, the screen-fit feature didn’t work reliably in my tests, and Anker confirmed that how well it works depends on what’s in its field of view. However, the auto-focus worked well, delivering sharp focus and suitably fine detail. As with most DLP 4K projectors, the 3,840 by 2,160 pixels the Cosmos Laser 4K shoots on the screen are produced by a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel DLP chip using TI’s XPR fast-switch pixel shifting. The chip is paired with a laser-phosphor light source designed to last the life of the projector, and rated at 25,000 hours. (Anker doesn’t specify a power level for the rating, so the life may be somewhat shorter if you use full power.) The brightness rating is 2,400 ISO lumens (equivalent to ANSI lumens). A major plus for Netflix users is that the projector offers a Netflix app that both works well for streaming and will take commands from the remote. Most competing Android TV-based models require extra steps to download a Netflix app, which typically requires control from your mobile device using a separate app. In many cases they also drop frames or have other issues for viewing. Unlike most streaming room-to-room portables, the Cosmos Laser 4K comes with a separate Android TV dongle, which you have to insert in a hidden compartment.
