Whether you’re in sales and need a mini projector for laptop presentations or just want the best mini projector for iPhone for home use, here are the best mini projectors on the market.
Mini Projector Review Criteria
For this article, we compared brightness, resolution, ports, size and weight, projection distance, sound, Amazon user ratings, wireless connectivity, and price.
Vamvo L4200 Portable Video Projector
The Vamvo L4200 mini projector ($130) is a great high-quality portable projector for business, vacation or even home use. It’s roughly the size of a small box of cereal and weighs less than most laptops.
The combination of the Vamvo L4200’s portability, price, brightness, quality and a max screen size of 200″ earns it the #1 position on this list. It’s ideal for hooking up to a laptop for sales presentations, gaming or even a family movie night. The L4200 is a great affordable portable projector for home or work.
- Brightness: 3,800 lux
- Resolution: 1080p
- Projection Size: 200″ inches
- Projection Distance: 5-15 feet
- Size & Weight: 9.64 x 6.53 x 3.2 inches; 2.75 lbs
- Ports: HDMI, USB, VGA, audio and AV interfaces
- Wireless Connectivity: AirPlay, DLNA, and Miracast
- Sound: Built-in dual stereo speakers with SRS
- Rechargeable: No
- Amazon User Review: 4.7 out of 5
- Price: Vamvo L4200 ($130)
Apeman M7 Mini Projector
The Apeman M7 ($200+) is on the brightest portable projectors on the market. It’s both sleekly designed and rechargeable, making it easy to fit into any home environment.
Another thing to note with the M7 is its sound. The sound quality of this “projector” is good enough to stand on its own as a portable speaker. It’s great for both parties and gaming. If sound quality and brightness are extremely important, then this might be the perfect mini projector for you.
- Brightness: 4,000 lumens
- Resolution: 1080p
- Projection Size: 30-100″ max
- Projection Distance: 2.5 – 8.5 feet; 0.8-2.6 meters
- Size & Weight: 4.02 x 3.98 x 3.98 inches
- Ports: HDMI, USB (device charging only, not a video input)
- Wireless Connectivity: Bluetooth (audio only)
- Sound: Dual 3W acoustic output
- Rechargeable: Yes; 2.5 hours playtime
- Amazon User Review: 4.7 out of 5
- Price: Apeman M7 ($200+)
Vamvo Ultra Mini S1
The Vamvo Ultra Mini S1 ($200) is small enough to fit in your back pocket and weighs less than a can of soda. Its small size makes the S1 is perfect for business travelers who need a small projector that fits in their laptop bag.
The S1 also supports wireless screen share technologies like AirPlay, DLNA, and Miracast, so you don’t even need to worry about packing bulky long HDMI cables. You actually don’t even need a power cord. The S1 is rechargeable. A single charge will last up to 2 hours and should last through the end of your presentation.
And if you don’t have a bare wall to project on, just use the ceiling. The Vamvo Ultra Mini S1 conveniently has its connector ports on the side and comes with a tripod enabling you to project in any position.
The Vamvo Ultra Mini S1 is our top pick for business travelers or people who want a good balance between quality and portability. The native AirPlay connectivity makes the S1 a great mini projector for iPhone and iPad. And its small size and lack of wires make it ideal for business travelers.
- Brightness: 1,800 lumens
- Resolution: 1080p
- Projection Size: 15-130″ max, 80″ ideal
- Projection Distance: 1.6-10 feet
- Size & Weight: 5.7 x 3.2 x 0.9 inches, 0.6 lbs.
- Ports: HDMI, USB, audio, SD card
- Wireless Connectivity: AirPlay, DLNA, and Miracast
- Sound: Built-in stereo speaker, with SRS
- Rechargeable: 2 hours, fast charging capable
- Amazon User Review: 4.2 out of 5
- Price: Vamvo Ultra Mini S1 ($200)
Nebula Capsule & Nebula Capsule II
A soda can with great audio, that’s how’d we’d describe the Nebula Capsule mini projectors. The Nebula Capsule ($300) isn’t as bright as the Nebula Capsule II ($600), but both of these portable projectors have fantastic audio.
Unlike most boxy projectors, the Nebula Capsules are cylinder-shaped. They are almost exactly the same size as a can of soda. This circular shape also helps give them their incredible 360º sound projection.
The main downside to the Nebula Capsules projectors is their brightness, or lack of brightness to be more specific. These projectors work best in low-light environments or situations where you have full control over the ambient light in the area. It’s because of this that we don’t recommend these projectors for business use. But they are great for home use.
- Brightness: 100 ANSI (NC) 200 ANSI (NC II)
- Resolution: 720p
- Projection Size: 20-100″ inches
- Projection Distance: Unknown
- Size & Weight: 2.68 x 2.68 x 4.72 in; 1.6 lbs (NC); 1.04 lbs (NC II)
- Ports: HDMI, USB, audio, SD card
- Wireless Connectivity: AirPlay, DLNA, and Miracast
- Sound: Immersive audio with Scan-Speak transducers
- Rechargeable: 4-hours (NC); 2.5-hours (NC II)
- Amazon User Review: 4.4 (NC); 4.1 (NC II)
- Price: Nebula Capsule ($300); Nebula Capsule II ($600)
AODIN Fusion 2500
Last on our list is the AODIN Fusion 2500 ($269). Although this tiny cube projector is extremely portable and bright, personally I think it’s an expensive trade-off for its size vs features. I love the cube shape, small size, and brightness of the AODIN Fusion 2500. But for the price, you will probably be better off with the S1 unless you really like the cube-shaped design. The AODIN Fusion 2500 also has the lowest Amazon user rating on our list, but most criticisms are software related, not hardware.
Overall its a good small and very bright projector, just a little pricey.
- Brightness: 2,500 lumens
- Resolution: 480p
- Projection Size: 120″ max
- Projection Distance: Unknown
- Size & Weight: 2.36 x 2.36 x 2.28 inches
- Ports: USB 2.0, HDMI, AV
- Wireless Connectivity: Bluetooth audio
- Sound: Stereo sound
- Rechargeable: 2.5 hours playtime
- Amazon User Review: 3.9 out of 5
- Price: AODIN Fusion 2500 ($269)
Projector Adapter Converters For Wired Connections
Several of the projectors in this review have wireless screen share capabilities. But if you prefer to have a wired connection to your projector and don’t have an HDMI port, then you’ll need one of these projector adapters.
- Lightning to HDMI connector ($10): iPhone, iPad
- USB-C to HDMI ($12+): Apple laptops, PC Laptops, Android phones
- USB 3.0 to HDMI Projector Adapter ($17+): PCs, misc devices
Lux vs Lumens vs ANSI
In this article, we referenced several measurements of brightness including lux, lumens, and ANSI, that were provided by the manufactures. Unfortunately, every manufacturer uses different measurements to describe the brightness of their products. To calculate the exact brightness of each projector, you will need to pick a projection size, resolution and distance, and then manually calculate lumens for each projector using a formula. Here’s an online lumens calculator that can help.
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Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
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