The Xgimi Elfin, which costs $599 and weighs 2 pounds, has a lot of features for its size, price, and weight. For example, it has built-in streaming through Android TV 10 and a great picture for watching movies and videos. It doesn’t have a built-in battery like our top pick for a fully portable palmtop or mini projector, the Anker Nebula Solar Portable, which is the same price.
Xgimi Elfin: Description
But since it doesn’t use batteries, it doesn’t have to be designed to save power, so it can offer a brightness rating of 800 ANSI lumens. That makes it twice as bright as the Nebula Solar and one of the brightest projectors for its size. It’s our new top pick for a mini projector that doesn’t need batteries. The Elfin has a red-green-blue-blue (RGBB) LED light source and a 1080p DLP chip.
More specifically, and this is very important, the projector uses one of TI’s Manhattan chips, which has a rectangular array instead of the usual diamond array found in small projectors. Diamond arrays use little power, but they make some images look strange. The rating for the light source is 25,000 hours.
As with the Nebula Solar Portable and some other 1080p projectors that can accept 4K input and support HDR, the Elfin acts a lot like a 4K projector with soft focus. It sets up a 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) HDR connection by default and only switches to 4K SDR or 1080p SDR if neither 4K nor HDR are available. It supports both HDR10 and HLG HDR when it comes to HDR.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Very small
- Smart auto setup
- HDR support
- Good image quality
Cons
- No built-in battery
- Netflix is no longer supported
- Turns off when it gets hot
- Average speakers
Xgimi Elfin: Specifications
| Engine Type | DLP |
| Rated Brightness | 800 ANSI lumens |
| Native Resolution | 1920 by 1080 |
| Dimensions | 2 by 7.6 by 7.6 inches |
| Weight | 2 lbs |
| Warranty | 1 year |
Xgimi Elfin: Design
All of the hardware was put into a plastic case that was 192.1 x 194.19 x 48.31 mm. The Elfin looks more like a stylish streaming box than a projector because it is white and has rounded corners. The lens is also hidden on the edge. If you put the projector next to a DIN A4 sheet, it fits in without any trouble. The height of less than 5 cm is also unusual because most small projectors build the speakers, projection hardware, and cooling systems on top.
The projector is easy to store in bags and backpacks because it has a flat shape and weighs only 900g. The XGIMI Elfin is also important because it is portable and can be used for a lot of different things besides just home theatre projection. You can take the projector to friends’ houses to play games or watch movies, give a presentation at university, school, or work, or watch a movie in the garden on a warm summer night. These are just some of the things you can do with the projector’s small size.
The connections are easy to use, but they do what they need to do for a portable mini projector. There is an HDMI 2.0 input, a USB-A connection for USB input devices or storage media, a 3.5 mm headphone output, and a DC input for the power supply.
On the bottom of the XGIMI Elfin, there is a thread for a tripod. This is very useful because the projector can be hung upside down on the right bracket or put on a tripod for perfect alignment and balance. But you don’t need a tripod or a bracket. You can also just set the Elfin down somewhere flat. Rubber feet keep you from slipping. The Elfin can master focus and keystone correction without any action from the user. More to come on that.
Xgimi Elfin: Setup
The Elfin is different from other pico projectors in that it only has one threaded hole for mounting to a tripod or the ceiling. It can sit on its own, but the legs don’t move. I used a few old DVDs to level and tilt it so that it would fit on the screen.
Like most picos and portables, this one doesn’t have a zoom lens, so the best way to frame the screen is to move the projector towards or away from the screen. This keeps the image quality at its best and avoids processing. XGIMI does offer digital zoom, though, through its ability to avoid obstacles. Also, the Elfin’s vertical and horizontal keystone correction can handle a tilt of up to 40 degrees in either direction, and it can frame a perfect rectangle even if the projector is tilted 40 degrees off center.
The best part is that you can change the shape of an image by pulling or pushing corners out or in. On the other hand, correcting for a 15-degree tilt up meant losing 25% of the light. This is a lot compared to the AAXA M7, which loses about 10% of its light when it is tilted up.
Features and performance
The Elfin weighs a little more than two pounds and is only 7.5 inches square and 1.8 inches tall. It would fit easily into a suitcase or briefcase if you were going on a trip. But unlike some other mini projectors, this one doesn’t have a battery. AC power is needed to make it work.
If you leave it plugged in after the first setup, the Elfin can be used again in about five seconds after being in standby mode. We have tested a lot of projectors, and many of them take anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute to turn on. Even though 1080p is not even close to 4K, a native 4K projector would cost a lot more. So, you won’t get the super-sharp resolution of, say, your living room TV, but I found the Elfin’s image quality to be quite good overall: sharp, colourful, and more than enough for family movie night.
As for brightness, a mini projector with 800 ANSI lumens is way above average. (If you look at cheaper models, you’ll probably see between 200 and 400 ANSI lumens, which is the only measurement that matters. Anyone can say “8,000 lumens!” and it won’t mean anything. You want the ANSI rating.) Even so, you probably won’t like watching in broad daylight, when the wall isn’t as clear. But the Elfin does very well in a room with a lamp on and completely beats it when it’s dark. It also runs very quietly.
Xgimi Elfin: Picture quality
The XGIMI Elfin doesn’t have the best picture quality, but for a small projector, it puts on a good show. The XGIMI Elfin is able to project an image at up to 800 ANSI Lumens, even though it makes almost no noise. Even with our ceiling lights on, the picture can get bright enough to see clearly, so it might be good for sports or cartoons for kids.
The Elfin is still only a 1080p projector, though, so it isn’t quite as good as it could be when it comes to huge projections. Text and simple geometric shapes with jagged edges are very noticeable at large sizes. Sometimes, these jagged edges can even be seen on images that are straight up and down or left to right because of keystone correction.
But the images are clear enough to see what’s going on. The Elfin also makes a picture with bright colours that really stand out. This might be because it’s a little too saturated, especially in scenes with a lot of yellow, but the picture never looked garish.
But when it comes to darker content, the Elfin has the same problems as the XGIMI Halo. It’s hard to see in the dark because it doesn’t show a lot of detail. And for still areas in the dark, it has the same dithering problem we’ve seen before, where a color quickly changes between shades to make it look like another color, but it doesn’t change fast enough to be unnoticeable.
Price and availability
The XGIMI Elfin can be bought from Xgimi and Amazon for $649, or from Xgimi in the UK for £649. At that price, the Elfin can be a good alternative to mid-range 4K TVs because it has a much bigger picture and is easier to move from room to room or even take on vacation you can buy this product directly from XGIMI’s official website.
The Anker Nebula Solar Portable is a close competitor that adds a battery for more functionality. However, the Elfin is brighter and therefore better for use in a home theatre. But if portability isn’t a big deal, the Optoma HD39HDR and BenQ TH585 offer brighter pictures, louder speakers, and better gaming experiences for about the same price as the Elfin. The XGIMI Halo is an upgrade for both sound and battery, and it only costs $150 more.
Final Words
The XGIMI Elfin is better than most portable projectors, which are usually dim and can only be used in a few places. It’s bright enough that you don’t have to black out the room to get a big picture, it makes a great picture, and its built-in speakers are good enough to fill a room, even if they’re not very exciting.
This projector is a good deal, and its small size makes it easy to take with you or move from room to room at home. But if it might be hard to get to a power outlet, the XGIM Halo might be a better choice.
FAQs
Is XGIMI a good brand?
The Xgimi Horizon is a good deal for the price, whether you use it to move from room to room or as a 1080p TV replacement. It has enough brightness and image quality for a family room, and it can be used to stream with Android TV.
Is XGIMI Elfin Wireless?
XGIMI Elfin Mini Projector Ultra Compact 1080P Portable, 4K Input Supported 800 ANSI Lumens, Harman Kardon Speaker, Auto Focus ISA Technology Android TV 10.0, Wireless Casting WiFi Bluetooth, and Harman Kardon Speaker.
