Are you looking for the best projector under $300? If yes, you’ve landed on the right page.
Few years ago, finding a projector under $300 was an impossible task.
With modern technology and efficient manufacturing, you can now find a good quality projector for less than $300.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the 7 best projectors under $300.
Are you ready?
Let’s get started!
Top 3 Picks for Projectors under $300
7 Best Projector Under $300
1. Nexigo PJ40
Nexigo is a renowned brand for manufacturing price-effective projectors. Their projector range starts from as low as $49, while the Nexigo PJ40 is the top-of-the-line projector from the brand.
Being the flagship model, it comes with irresistible features like 1920 x 1080p Full HD resolution at 60Hz, ±30° horizontal and vertical keystone correction, 30,000 hours LED lamp life, and max screen of 300-inches.
The Nexigo PJ40 has a premium built quality. It comes in a black casing that’s lightweight and compact enough to carry anywhere.
Since it has a throw ratio of 1.3x, you can get up to 120-inches from a distance of just 10 feet. Thus, this projector will be ideal to use in a small room or your dorm.
On the connectivity front, it comes with all the latest connectivity features like 2x HDMI, 2x USB, AV port, and headphone jack. Additionally, you can also utilize the screen mirroring feature and mirror your phone screen onto the projector.
These connectivity options make it ideal for pairing with PC, laptop, PS4, Xbox, USB sticks, Pen Drives, Android/iOS devices, and streaming media players.
The brand is generous enough to offer 2x 10W stereo speakers in the projector. These speakers are loud enough to fill a big room. However, to extract a better sound quality, it’s better to invest in a dedicated speaker set.
Even though the Nexigo PJ40 is feature-packed to the brim, its brightness value doesn’t even come close to the one found on Epson Epiqvision Flex CO-W01 and Viewsonic PA503X, mentioned later in the article.
Unlike other Full HD projector under $300. The Nexigo PJ40 offers up to 700 ANSI lumens brightness. The brightness is ideal enough to use the projector during evening and night time.
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2. Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-W01
If you’re looking for an extremely bright projector under $300 from a reputed brand, you surely can’t go wrong with Epson CO-W01.
Falling just under the $300 mark, this compact projector from Epson offers an native resolution of 1280 x 800p and produces up to 3000 ANSI lumens brightness.
The high lumen value ensures you can enjoy your movies and web content without having to dim your whole room. Plus, the high brightness also allows for day time usage.
It offers a dynamic contrast ratio of 16,000:1 and weighs just 5.3 pounds, making it portable enough to be stored anywhere.
The Epson CO-W01 uses Epson’s in-house 3LCD projection technology that offers crisp & vibrant image quality. It can display a 100-inch screen from a distance of just 2.5 meters.
Epson has equipped this projector with Eco mode to improve lamp life, extending the lamp life to a whopping 12,000 hours. The Eco mode reduces the lamp’s brightness and prevents it from overheating. This feature, in turn, improves the lamp life multiple folds.
On the connectivity front, the Epson CO-W01 has limited options. It only comes with 1x HDMI port, 1x USB-A port, and 1x USB-B port. The headphone jack’s absence can be a deterrent to some.
Under $300, it’s hard to find a projector as bright as the Epson Epiqvision Flex CO-W01. Thus, if you can compromise on the display resolution and a few features, you have an ideal projector for daytime viewing under $300.
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3. Yaber Pro V9
The Yaber brand stands in toes-to-toes with the previously mentioned Nexigo projector brand. It also specializes in building low-cost projectors for casual use.
The Yaber Pro V9 is one such projector that offers the same features just as the Nexigo PJ40, yet keeping the price down. However, it does one-up because it offers Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity for less than $300.
This one too offers 1920 x 1080p Full HD resolution along with support for 4K content. It also offers improved contrast ratio at 20000:1.
The problem with most budget projectors is that they don’t mention the exact ANSI lumens value. However, very few brands like Yaber do the exactly opposite.
Yaber clearly mentions in its product page that the Yaber Pro V9 produces up to 500 ANSI lumens brightness. The brightness is sufficient to use this projector during night-time usage.
Also Read: Yaber Ace K1 Review – Smart Budget Projector
For a low price you also get features like automatic horizontal and vertical keystone correction, 50% digital zoom and autofocusing.
Like most Yaber projectors, the Yaber Pro V9 also comes with a backpack-style carrying case.
Connectivity-wise, the Yaber Pro V9 offers a 2x HDMI port, 2x USB port, 1x AV port, and 1x headphone jack. Alongside, the Yaber Pro V9 will wirelessly connect to your Android phone, iPhone, Macbook, and laptop through the miracast feature for easy screen mirroring.
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4. Viewsonic PA503X
The Viewsonic PA503X isn’t as featured loaded like the other projectors in this list. Yet, it gets the basics right and offers extremely bright image output.
With a rated brightness value of 3800 lumens, the Viewsonic PA503X is an ideal pick for daytime viewing. The high brightness output makes it an ideal choice in classrooms, conference rooms and office environments.
It offers a 22,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio with XGA resolution (1024 x 768p), which is close to HD resolution. Even though the native resolution has a 4:3 aspect ratio, the projector supports 16:9 aspect ratio, making it ideal for numerous situations.
Viewsonic has also equipped this projector with an Infographic Mode that accentuates text and graphics displayed through the projector. Thus the high brightness coupled with Infographic mode makes it ideal in a work or study environment.
The Viewsonic PA503X has a plethora of connectivity options that include:
- 1x HDMI port
- 2x VGA port
- 1x RS232
- 1x USB mini Type-B
- 1x Audio In
- 1x Audio Out
- 1x RCA
It comes with a 210W lamp that offers a maximum of 15,000 hours of usage in the SuperEco mode. The provided lens has a zoom factor of 1.1x. Thus you can generate a large picture even in a small room.
This projector is easy to set up out of the box and offers fast image alignment, thus reducing manual work.
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5. Wimius P64
At first look, the Wimius might look like a high-cost projector from a reputable brand due to its premium design. However, it sits at a lower price than our $300 benchmark.
Just like the Nexigo PJ40 and Yaber Pro V9, the Wimius P64 has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080p and supports 4K video.
It comes in a compact casing that’s approx. 9-inches wide and 8-inches deep, and weighs around 4 pounds. This makes it ideal for carrying around at your friend’s house for a movie night.
For the price, Wimius has equipped this projector with a high contrast range of 20,000:1 that gets the job done without you asking for more.
Along with a premium design, the Wimius P64 has capacitive touch buttons to control various functions of this projector.
The Wimius P64 has improved wireless connectivity like Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. In addition, it offers plenty of wired connectivity options like 2x HDMI, 2x USB, and a headphone jack. Besides that, the projector also supports screen mirroring. Thus, you can wirelessly mirror your Android phone, iPhone, and Macbook.
What adds to the excitement is the 1-year money back, 2-year repair and 1-year extended warranty provided by the brand. It creates an additional incentive to get the Wimius P64 over other projectors.
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6. Xgimi Mogo 2
Suppose you want a portable projector from a reputed brand with native Neflix support. In that case, you’ll surely love the Xgimi Mogo 2.
Personally, I love Xgimi projectors and it’s mainly due to their projectors’ design. Hence the Xgimi Mogo 2 is no expectation here. The projector looks like a work of art, right when you get it out of the box.
For starters, it’s the only projector on our list that comes with built-in Android TV 11. It natively supports Netflix with the ability to access 5000+ apps from the Google Play Store.
Being a small projector, it comes with DLP display technology that offers a crisp and bright viewing experience. It has 1280 x 720p native resolution and supports up to 1080p resolution. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support 4K resolution, which can be a bummer for few.
Being a portable projector, the Xgimi Mogo 2 is twice the Anker Nebula Capsule’s size and weight (mentioned below). The projector has a height of 6.33 inches with a depth of just under 4.8 inches. Thanks to its smaller dimension, the Xgimi Mogo 2 weighs just 2.42 pounds.
For its size, the Xgimi Mogo 2 produces 400 ISO lumens brightness with a long lamp life of 25,000 hours.
It also comes equipped with 2x 8W built-in speakers. While these aren’t Harman Kardon speakers that you’d see in costlier Xgimi projectors; however, these speakers are no slouch either.
On top of that, it does boasts smart features from its big brothers like 8-point autofocusing, Obstacle Avoidance, auto keystone correction and screen adaption.
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7. Anker Nebula Capsule
Even wanted a projector that you could fit in your pocket and take it wherever you go? If that’s what you’re dreaming of, the Anker Nebula Capsule will be your ideal companion.
With its design and size resembling a coke can, the Anker Nebula Capsule is a battery-powered projector that can act as a standalone projector without any wires.
It includes with a 5200mAh battery that offers upto 4 hours of viewing time. This makes it ideal for watching 2 entire movies before the Nebula Capsule runs out of juice.
Being a nano-size projector, it can offer up to a 100-inch screen from a distance of 3 meters. In comparison, you can expect an ideal image quality from the 60-inch screen that can be availed from a distance of just 1.73 meters.
On the resolution front, the Anker Nebula Capsule comes with a modest resolution of 854 x 480p and a brightness of 100 ANSI lumens. The lower brightness value makes it unusable during the daytime. However, to squeeze more out of this projector, it is recommended to get a dedicated projector screen for better viewing experience.
The Nebula Capsule has a height of 4.72 inches and a diameter of 2.67 inches on the physical front. At the same time, it weighs just over 1 pound.
When not in use to watch movies, you can also use it as a Bluetooth speaker with the provided 5W speaker that offers much better sound quality than we’ve seen in other projectors in this list. In the Bluetooth speaker mode, the battery life extends to a whopping 30 hours.
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Things to consider while buying Best Projectors under $300
As seen above, you get a wide range of projectors under $300 with varying sizes and different features. However, before zeroing on a projector, there are certain things you should consider.
Here they are:
Projector’s Display Technology: Like a television, there are multiple display technologies available for a projector. Under $300, the most common display technology used is an LED display offers a lifespan of over 20,000 hours but lacks brightness. Thus, do consider going for a DLP projector if you’re main focus is display quality. DLP projector has a typical lifespan of 5,000-15,000 hours, depending on the model used.
Native Resolution: Native resolution is the true resolution that a projector can display on the screen. Having said that, a DLP projector, even with a lower native resolution, will offer a better viewing experience due to its excellent display quality.
Projector’s Weight: Just like our smartphones, projectors too are getting slimmer day-by-day. Thus, under $300, you’ll easily find projectors that weigh less than 7 pounds and are easy to carry wherever you go. The Anker Nebula Capsule and Crenova HDP300 are compact projectors and weigh 1 pound and 2.2 pounds.
Connectivity Options: Modern projectors get a plethora of connectivity options, but most of them are wired at this price. Few projectors mentioned above come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. Thus, if you don’t want to struggle with wires, projectors like Nexigo PJ40, Yaber Pro V9, Xgimi Mogo 2, Wimius P64 and Anker Nebula Capsule offers Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity for easy pairing and mirroring your smartphone or laptop screen.
Conclusion
I hope this article helped you choose the best projector under $300.
If you ask me, I’d personally pick the Nexigo PJ40 because it offers the right balance between brightness, native resolution, and features. Thus, it’s the most value for money projector under $300.
However, if you want higher brightness, you should consider options like Epson Epiqvision Flex CO-W01 or the Viewsonic PA503X. Both these projectors offer over 3000 lumens brightness, but you’ll have to make few compromises.
Have any questions or suggestions? Please don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below.
Thank You!