5 of the best projectors for a bright room

The brightness of a projector becomes a deciding factor if you want to use it in a room exposed to direct sunlight. Choosing one with lower brightness can seriously harm your overall viewing experience. A brightness of 2,500 to 3,000 ISO lumens is generally considered a good baseline for a bright room, with higher brightness generally being better.

Remember that ISO, ANSI and LED lumens are all different and brands often try to deceive customers by using misleading brightness numbers. ISO lumens are an internationally recognized measurement that uses rigorous testing, while ANSI lumens are more common in the United States, Japan and Korea. That said, ISO numbers are generally more conservative due to their stricter environmental constraints. Fortunately, there are several excellent projectors on the market that not only offer high brightness, but also come with plenty of features to provide a good overall experience.

The JMGO N3 Ultimate is a great projector for rooms with ambient lighting, thanks to its claimed brightness of 5,800 ISO lumens. It uses a laser light source and supports 4K resolution. Although the JMGO N3 Ultimate has a list price of $3,000, it is often marked down to $2,400, which can be a good deal considering its features. Speaking of features, the company claims 110% coverage of the BT.2020 color space, which means you should get realistic colors. It’s also a good projector for gaming, as it supports variable refresh rate (VRR), 240Hz at 1080p, and has low latency. More importantly, its relatively shorter reach makes it a good choice for small spaces.

The N3 Ultimate runs on the Google TV operating system, giving you easy access to top streaming services, cloud gaming providers, and apps like Plex and Jellyfin to access your local media server collection. Other features include support for Dolby Vision to enjoy compatible content in all its beauty. The company has also included four-way lens shift, automatic keystone correction, and an AI Gimbal feature that makes it easy to get the right image on the screen, no matter where your projector is located. Connectivity options include two HDMI ports, including one for eARC, and a single USB port.

Aside from its higher price, the projector also suffers from some stuttering when processing 24p and 25p content, which includes most movies on physical media, and its contrast can be a little disappointing in dark scenes. Finally, being an RGB laser DLP projector, it suffers from the rainbow effect; however, this is typical of this type of projector.

The Xgimi Titan is another high-brightness projector and a solid choice if you have a high budget but don’t want to worry too much about ambient light in your home theater room. This is a long-throw 4K projector that uses a dual-laser light source to deliver a claimed brightness of 5,000 ISO lumens, which should be enough to handle ambient lighting. As for its features, the projector supports HDR 10+, a Filmmaker mode, and a solid selection of ports, including two HDMI ports. Most importantly, the Titan offers good image quality, thanks to its wide color gamut and decent contrast ratio.

This is a physically large projector that weighs over 25 pounds, making it especially useful for a setup that doesn’t move around a lot. However, with built-in support for autofocus, auto keystone, smart screen alignment, and optical zoom, it’s relatively easy to adjust once installed. One downside of the Titan is the lack of a built-in Smart TV operating system. This means you’ll need to hook up your own streaming device or Blu-ray player if you want to enjoy your favorite content despite paying $4,000 for the projector.

The N1S Ultimate is another capable projector from JMGO aimed at people who don’t quite have the budget for the company’s more expensive offering. It is also one of the best home theater projectors, according to movie buffs. Although the N1S Ultimate was introduced at $2,800, its price has since apparently dropped and frequently sells for around $1,499. At this price, there’s a lot to like about the JMGO offering, from its 3,300 ISO lumen brightness to the built-in Google TV platform. It also houses a good selection of ports, including two HDMI 2.1 ports, a USB Type-A port, and an audio jack. You can connect your audio equipment to the projector’s second HDMI port, which supports eARC functionality. Speaking of audio, there is a 20W built-in subwoofer setup.

The projector also boasts an impressive color gamut with almost full coverage of the BT.2020 color space, delivering lifelike colors. Setup is relatively simple, thanks to the built-in gimbal mount, autofocus support, auto keystone, and auto screen adjustment features. However, there are some compromises when it comes to the N1S Ultimate. For example, the projector does not support Dolby Vision or HDR10+, optical zoom and lens shift. It’s also limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and suffers from laser spots and a rainbow effect.

Xgimi’s Horizon 20 is a long-throw 4K projector that uses a laser light source to deliver a claimed brightness of 3,200 ISO lumens. The projector is also quite feature-rich, with support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ dynamic HDR formats, and it includes a Cinematographer mode. It comes with Google TV, giving you access to a ton of streaming apps, cloud gaming services, and other apps. The projector is known for its good contrast ratio and vibrant image.

Among other highlights, the Xgimi offering features lens shift, optical zoom, autofocus, auto keystone correction, and smart screen alignment for easy setup. You also get two HDMI inputs, one of which supports eARC for connecting a soundbar, a few USB ports for connecting storage drives, and Wi-Fi 6 for fast wireless connectivity. Additionally, the company has included a dual 12W speaker system. The projector has a list price of $1,700; however, it is often discounted to around $1,400.

While there’s a lot to like about the Horizon 20, its brightness is only sufficient for a room with some ambient light and you may notice some laser spots and a rainbow effect. Besides the Horizon 20, the company also offers the Horizon 20 Pro and Horizon 20 Max models as part of the Horizon 20 series, which have many of the same features but can achieve significantly higher brightness. You might consider these if you think your projection room gets a ton of ambient light or if you want to project a larger image. Keep in mind that these models are also more expensive.

If you’re on a tighter budget but still want a reasonably bright projector, Epson’s EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 is a good option to consider. Its list price is $600; However, you can find it for just $450. It’s obviously not as bright as some of our other recommendations, but it can handle some ambient lighting. It’s also only a 1080p projector, uses one light source, and has a single 5W mono speaker. Epson claims the projector has an ISO-rated white brightness of 3,000 lumens.

It comes with an Android TV dongle in the box, which you can plug into the projector’s single HDMI port. This gives you access to streaming services, YouTube and more to enjoy your favorite content. There is automatic vertical keystone correction, but you will need to manually adjust the focus and height. Unfortunately, there’s no zoom, which means you’ll have to physically move the projector to adjust the image size. Although the projector offers good color accuracy, its contrast ratio is poor. Additionally, it lacks HDR support and gaming features.