Xgimi Horizon Ultra Review: Stylish, Bright, Powerful

The Xgimi Horizon Ultra is a 4K projector powered by LEDs and lasers, all wrapped in a small, stylish box. With Google TV and audio designed with help from Harman Kardon, it's clear Xgimi intends this to be a one-stop-shop TV replacement. With a claimed 2,300 lumens, it should be bright enough to do so in most rooms. 

The result is less impressive than the packaging and specs. While bright, the contrast was a mediocre 316:1. There were also some strange design decisions and software quirks that held it back overall. However, the projector was exceptionally bright with excellent colors.

8.0

Xgimi Horizon Ultra

Like

• Great design
• Quiet
• Bright

Don't like

• Contrast ratio is poor
• Random bugs
• No input button on the remote

With an suggested retail price of $1,699, the Horizon Ultra is on the expensive side compared to other projectors with similar performance. But it does a lot of things right that those other projectors don't, so our overall impressions are more nuanced. Here's why.

What's in the light box

• Resolution: 3,840x2,160 pixels
• HDR-compatible: Yes
• 4K-compatible: Yes
• 3D-compatible: Yes
• Lumens spec: 2,300
• Zoom: Yes
• Lens shift: No
• Lamp life: 25,000

The Horizon Ultra is an HDR-compatible 4K projector. The claimed lumen rating of 2,300 is actually spot on, sort of. I measured 2,339 in the projector's High Power mode. It's unsustainable to use the projector this way, though, as the unit's fan noise becomes exceptionally loud and it displays on-screen warnings about potential heat build-up. In its most accurate, normal setting, I measured it at 1,333 lumens, which still puts it among the brighter projectors we've reviewed. 

The native contrast ratio was fairly poor, at an average of 316:1. As bad as that is, with its iris set to the normal lumen setting, it's only around 222:1. This is low for a home projector, especially in the Horizon Ultra's $2,000 price range. We'll talk about what this looks like in the comparison section below.

Surprisingly for such a small projector, there's both optical zoom and lens shift. The throw ratio of 1.2 to 1.5:1 is normal for a home projector, and similar to what Optoma and BenQ offer. The LED/laser light source is rated for 25,000 hours, which is essentially the lifespan of a projector without replaceable lamps.

Perhaps most impressive, considering its size and light output, is how quiet it is. You can barely hear it operating, even when sitting close. Bigger projector manufacturers should take note of this, as some of them sound like leaf blowers, all while putting out half the light of the Xgimi.

Connections, streaming and more

• HDMI inputs: 2 (1 eARC)
• USB port: 2
• Audio output: Optical and headphone
• Internet: 2.4GHz/5GHz, Ethernet
• Remote: Not backlit, Bluetooth

You get the usual inputs for a projector in this price range, including two HDMIs, one of which has eARC, USB ports in case you want to power a streaming stick without running extra cables and so on. It's worth noting that unlike most traditional home projectors, though similar to many of this new generation, there's a separate power brick. It's large and hefty. I don't think Xgimi intends for anyone to ceiling mount this projector, but if you wanted to try you'd need to figure out a way to secure the power brick as well.

There are two 12-watt speakers designed with help from Harman Kardon. They sound good, with more bass than I was expecting from such a small cabinet. A soundbar, or especially a full speaker system, will absolutely sound better and is a worthwhile investment if you're spending this much on a projector. 

The device's built-in streaming interface is Google TV. The implementation here has some issues including a sluggishness when responding to inputs. Worse, there are some serious bugs. Watching Max, for instance, causes the image to break up and segment, like scrambling puzzle pieces around the screen with snow at the bottom. It's a mess and unwatchable. This was with the latest firmware, so hopefully this is something addressed in a future update. That said, there are a plethora of image settings, which not all projectors running Google TV have, so that's a bonus. 

The thin remote is standard fare for a projector, but there's one notable, remarkable omission: There's no input button. I don't think I've ever reviewed a projector without an input button. If you're only using the internal streaming interface, this isn't a big deal. If you're typically using a separate streaming device, a game console, a 4K Blu-ray player, and so on, you have to remember to turn the sources on first. Usually the Horizon Ultra will automatically switch to the active HDMI source. If not, it takes multiple, sluggish button pushes in the main menu to select HDMI. 

Like all laser-based projectors, there's "eye detection" which cuts the power to the lasers if the projector senses eyes in the light path. This safety measure is important as lasers can cause eye irritation at best, and more serious issues at worst. However, the Xgimi's is so good it's bad. It seems like it detects the eyes of people on screen so it will occasionally just blank out the image. If you or your family members aren't regularly walking between the screen and the projector, this isn't an issue. If you have little ones who like staring, moth-like, into bright lights, a non-laser projector is probably better.

Picture quality comparisons

I compared the Xgimi with the BenQ HT2060 and BenQ TK860i projectors. Three projectors enter, one projector… is 1080p. 

The BenQ HT2060 is much cheaper than the Xgimi, but it's one of the best projectors we've reviewed, and a benchmark for price and performance. Its bigger brother, the TK860i is closer to the Xgimi in terms of price and, most notably, resolution. I connected each of them to a Monoprice 1x4 distribution amplifier and viewed them side by side by side on a 102-inch 1.0-gain screen.

It was immediately apparent that the Xgimi was the brightest, while both BenQs are about average brightness. The Xgimi is over 30% brighter. And that's with the BenQs in their most accurate modes. On bright scenes, the Xgimi draws the eye and it's still colorful at that brightness. 

Color accuracy was a tie between the Xgimi and the HT2060. They're both able to produce lifelike, accurate colors. Grass looks like grass, and there are subtle but natural variations in skin tones. With HDR content, the Xgimi seems better able to produce wider, richer colors, giving it an edge over the HT2060. The TK860i didn't do as well here. It looked less natural, and a little more cartoonish. Not enough that I'd consider it "bad," in this regard, but compared to the excellent color reproductions of the other two, it stood out and not in a good way. 

The HT2060 was the clear winner when it came to contrast. Letterbox bars were far darker, the image had greater apparent depth, and the image was just more pleasing to watch. The TK860i was worse, with a flatter image overall. Below average, though still in the ballpark for most projectors. The Xgimi was worse still: It was noticeably flat and washed out. Blacks were grays, and the image lacked depth. It measured poorer than some recent portable projectors. There are some processing tricks in the menus that aim to combat this dreary native performance, but they ended up causing the image to look artificially "contrasty" and like all such processing, are unable to truly improve the contrast ratio. Reducing the iris setting improved the contrast somewhat, though you lose overall brightness, not an ideal tradeoff. Even at the lowest iris setting, looking its best, the contrast ratio was only 441:1. This is still below the TK860i and only 1/3 of the HT2060. 

Detail was another standout, not surprising given that it's 4K. It looked similar to the 4K TK860i. While there were some scenes, like closeups of faces, textures in clothes or buildings, where you could see a difference between the Xgimi and the HT2060, the latter's contrast ratio made it seem like it was far closer than the actual resolution implied.

Laserin'

With bright and colorful scenes the Xgimi just steals the show. It's stunning. Add in any areas of black, anything that requires contrast, or its absolute nemesis, dark scenes, and it falls apart and looks flat, boring, and lifeless. While much of this can be blamed on the failings of DLP, it's still a product that has to be judged by its own performance, especially against its competitors. 

The question becomes, would I buy it? A qualified "yes." First, and as always, if the jump from $1,000 to $1,700 is a lot to you, don't consider it. There are better things to spend money on and the Xgimi is not 70% better than the HT2060. The Horizon Ultra looks so good on bright scenes, and is so bright, it's worth it for those moments when you say "wow." The cost, besides the literal one, is that on the scenes where it doesn't look good, you'll be questioning your purchase. The cherry on top is its exceptionally quiet operation and compact, stylish design. 

So overall the Horizon Ultra is good, but also expensive, and it's not without some important flaws.

As well as covering audio and display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more.

Also check out Budget Travel for Dummies, his travel book, and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.