XGIMI Horizon Ultra review

Our VerdictXGIMI’s ultra-bright Ultra beamer is one of the best gaming projectors I’ve ever tested, and delivers a level of image quality you’d have been paying through the nose for just a year ago. It’s certainly not cheap, and the built-in streaming experience can be frustrating, but if you’re after 4K HDR visuals this good-looking projector excels.

Our Verdict

XGIMI’s ultra-bright Ultra beamer is one of the best gaming projectors I’ve ever tested, and delivers a level of image quality you’d have been paying through the nose for just a year ago. It’s certainly not cheap, and the built-in streaming experience can be frustrating, but if you’re after 4K HDR visuals this good-looking projector excels.

ForGreat image qualityDevice itself looks goodAuto calibration features are aceImpressive built-in audioNot too loudAgainstAndroid TV 11 is rather limiting in the Horizon UltraIs still a lot of cash

ForGreat image qualityDevice itself looks goodAuto calibration features are aceImpressive built-in audioNot too loud

AgainstAndroid TV 11 is rather limiting in the Horizon UltraIs still a lot of cash

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TheXGIMI Horizon Ultrais one of the best dumb projectors I’ve ever had the good fortune to play with and yet also a familiarly frustrating smart projector. It looks great, both in terms of the device itself and in terms of what it can beam up onto your wall, but there are definite issues with its Android TV and streaming capabilities.

Though it’s the HDR chops of the Ultra that really pushes it out ahead of the Pro and, in all honesty, it’s not that much more expensive, either. I mean, it absolutelyisexpensive. The Horizon Pro is a $1,500 projector, while this Ultra version is $1,700, but this is the sort of projection quality you could only realistically get from a $5,000+ beamer just a short while ago.

Horizon Ultra specs

(Image credit: XGIMI)

XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K HDR projector

It’s also better on the outside, too. In terms of its design, the Ultra embodies a particular modern home aesthetic, with its cream surrounds and material mesh front, which hides the lens from prying eyes (and curious little fingers). And that mesh frontage is also rather satisfying in the way it slowly shifts down when you power up the projector to reveal its powerful beam.

But no matter what XGIMI says about its Android 11 implementation being there “for endless entertainment,” there very much is a finite level of streaming fun you’re going to get out of Google’s consistently inconsistent OS. Honestly, you are going to be better off treating the Horizon Ultra as a dumb projector and plugging a secondary device into it—whether that’s a laptop or another streaming box—because you are 100% going to run into problems with a particular service you subscribe to or when casting to it.

I know I did.

Netflix is the obvious one that XGIMI has never been able to get onside, at least not in my own UK locale, and the same goes for most of the TV services over here, too. No iPlayer, no ITVX, and it’s a regularly frustrating experience trying to use the built-in Chromecast feature. I can get it to accept a BBC stream, but another of the UK’s main channels' apps won’t even recognise its existence as a castable device. While the old Horizon Pro will.

See what I mean about inconsistency?

You might see this a lot when trying to stream.(Image credit: Future)

XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K HDR projector

But there’s nothing inconsistent about the picture quality, it is resolutely stunning. And that’s even when the image has been squished with the optical zoom and keystoned to within an inch of its life to fit over the chimney breast of my front room. It’s still sharp, it’s still bright, and it’s still responsive.

The keystoning is really impressive and so is the auto focusing feature—both of which are equally excellent on the existing Horizon Pro—but the automatic brightness is a new feature and helps dial things up or down depending on the ambient light levels of your room. At its peak brightness, in an otherwise pitch black room, it can be a bit much, so having the beamer automatically adjust can be an eye-saver.

For those of us who don’t want to screw a roll-down beamer screen to our walls, the colour calibration feature of the Horizon Ultra is excellent, too. It takes into account the actual colouring of the surface you’re projecting onto and then calibrates the device’s colour output accordingly. And it makes a real difference. It’s not going to suddenly make a purple wall an ideal projection surface, but a magnolia wall will no longer have an impact on your visual experience.

Image1of5(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

Image1of5

(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future)

XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K HDR projector

(Image credit: Future)

XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K HDR projector

(Image credit: Future)

XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K HDR projector

(Image credit: Future)

XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K HDR projector

(Image credit: Future)

XGIMI Horizon Ultra 4K HDR projector

Gaming on a projector has always been a pretty special experience, and when the image quality is this good it’s not just the sheer scale which delivers that spectacle.

It is only capable of running its 4K output at 60Hz, however, which might seem a bit of a dampener when it comes to its gaming chops. But its standard game mode (only available via a HDMI connection) is no slouch, only adding the same ~17ms of latency as the Horizon Pro.

When I first tried the Ultra, however, that was not the case. I could only run the game mode in its fully boosted level and that meant I had to be running without any keystoning at all; and that would mean taking it down from its mounting point on my wall and trying to position it near enough to a wall that I could get an acceptable sized picture.

Buy if…✅You want a blazing bright, big screen gaming display:The Ultra delivers a stunning 4K HDR image, and even when heavily keystoned is able to offer up a low latency gaming experience, too.✅You want a compact home theatre:With a wide variety of inputs and some genuinely impressive speakers, the beamer itself is practically all you need for a simple home theatre.

Buy if…

✅You want a blazing bright, big screen gaming display:The Ultra delivers a stunning 4K HDR image, and even when heavily keystoned is able to offer up a low latency gaming experience, too.✅You want a compact home theatre:With a wide variety of inputs and some genuinely impressive speakers, the beamer itself is practically all you need for a simple home theatre.

Don’t buy if…

An update or two later and I’ve got a standard game mode whichwillwork with keystoning and delivers an outstanding experience. And an even more outstanding HDR one. I’ve been blitzing through Baldur’s Gate 3, plumbed into the Horizon Ultra via GeForce Now (finally supporting HDR on BG3) and a Shield device, and it looks amazing.

As an ultra big screen gaming display I can absolutely forgive its relatively low refresh rate considering how sharp, vibrant, and bright those visuals are. Gaming on a projector has always been a pretty special experience, and when the image quality is this good it’s not just the sheer scale which delivers that spectacle.

XGIMI Horizon Ultra: Price Comparison

$1,699.99$1,499.99View

XGIMI HORIZON Ultra 4K…

Amazon

$1,699.99$1,499.99View

$1,699.99$1,499.99

$1,499.99

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The Verdict88Read our review policyXGIMI Horizon UltraXGIMI’s ultra-bright Ultra beamer is one of the best gaming projectors I’ve ever tested, and delivers a level of image quality you’d have been paying through the nose for just a year ago. It’s certainly not cheap, and the built-in streaming experience can be frustrating, but if you’re after 4K HDR visuals this good-looking projector excels.

The Verdict

88Read our review policyXGIMI Horizon UltraXGIMI’s ultra-bright Ultra beamer is one of the best gaming projectors I’ve ever tested, and delivers a level of image quality you’d have been paying through the nose for just a year ago. It’s certainly not cheap, and the built-in streaming experience can be frustrating, but if you’re after 4K HDR visuals this good-looking projector excels.

88Read our review policy

XGIMI Horizon UltraXGIMI’s ultra-bright Ultra beamer is one of the best gaming projectors I’ve ever tested, and delivers a level of image quality you’d have been paying through the nose for just a year ago. It’s certainly not cheap, and the built-in streaming experience can be frustrating, but if you’re after 4K HDR visuals this good-looking projector excels.

XGIMI Horizon Ultra

LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilWorld of Warcraft’s most recent patch soars with fun additions that last just long enoughSee more latest►

Latest

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilWorld of Warcraft’s most recent patch soars with fun additions that last just long enough

Wordle answers

Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11

the last of us season 2 trailer

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

Image for World of Warcraft’s most recent patch soars with fun additions that last just long enough

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Our Verdict#

Our Verdict