The Best Outdoor Projector Roundup for 2022: Movie Theater in Your Backyard

BenQ’s TH685 is a great entry point for most newcomers to outdoor watching, as it combines an impressive number of mid- to high-range capabilities in one device.

First, the TH685 is a 1080p projector, but it can accept 4K inputs via HDR. While you won’t be getting a 4K image this way, as it’ll still effectively be 1080p, it will retain HDR crispness.

Secondly, this outdoor projector comes with built-in audio. This saves you the effort (and money) from setting up speakers in your garden and also reduces the number of peripherals you have to handle and protect from hazards. While the sound quality coming from built-in speakers is usually subpar, the TH685’s chamber speaker provides more than decent audio.

When it comes to brightness, the TH685 comes with 3,500 lumens - enough for daylight viewings. The projector’s throw distance goes from 3.2 feet to slightly over 24 feet, making it best suited for spacious gardens and backyards.

BenQ’s TH685 is marketed as a gaming projector. Extremely low input lag, as well as the inclusion of Game Mode and Game Sound Mode, make gaming with this projector an enjoyable experience.

The projector also comes equipped with a six-color wheel, letting you fine-tune coloring and get more image quality out of it. The TH685 weighs 6.2 pounds, which makes it quite portable. This projector is ready to use pretty much out of the box, as you’ll get great image quality without tinkering with any settings.

The TH685’s pricing is currently about $950 on Amazon. In case you’d like to get Android TV support, you can get the somewhat pricier TH685i. The regular TH685 does come with HDMI plugs, meaning you can connect it to another device and project streamed content.

The Epson EF-12 is a compact, lightweight, portable projector ideal for outdoor film sessions. With 14‎ x 18 x 18 cm dimensions and weighing only 4.62 pounds, this projector can be carried around with ease. It even looks like a small square-shaped leather suitcase - but without a carrying handle.

However, the EF-12 does lack a built-in battery, which prevents it from becoming truly and fully portable. You’ll have to stick it into an outdoor outlet, so using it in the wild is not an option. Another gripe we had with the EF-12 is that it has a fixed lens, meaning you can’t adjust image size except by moving the projector itself. The throw distance ranges from 2.2 feet to 10.9 feet, placing it among standard-throw projectors.

The lack of a battery is made up for by the juiced-up sound system inside. It’s a 2 x 5 W Yamaha-tuned setup that guarantees superb audio quality no matter the volume.

The EF-12 only comes with 1,000 ANSI lumens, meaning you can practically use it only in dark rooms or during the night. However, this is not surprising for portable models, as they tend to be weaker in that compartment compared to their sturdier and less mobile brethren.

Android TV support is there, letting you use Google Play to download and use Amazon Prime, Disney+, or Spotify. On the flip side, you can’t use Netflix or BBC iPlayer. But you can use the HDMI cables to connect to another device and stream that way, although that does defeat the purpose of portability a bit.

The image quality plainly blows other portable projectors out of the water. Contrast and shading are top-notch, and the EF-12 handles motion very well, too.

Currently, this projector is in the $800-$900 range. At this price, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better portable projector. Sure, it has some faults - such as the lack of built-in batteries or Netflix - but it makes up for it with compatibility and sound and video quality.

Now we’re moving onto a high-end powerhouse projector - the ViewSonic X10-4KE. As can be gleaned from its name, this is a UHD 4K projector, meaning you’ll get to enjoy superb image quality on the level of actual cinema screenings. 

If you thought this projector has got to be heavy as a result, you thought wrong. The ViewSonic X10-4KE weighs only 9 pounds and measures 6.5 x 10.3 x 10.7 inches. It even features a carrying handle, making it extremely easy to carry around.

Like other projectors of its kind, the ViewSonic X10-4KE uses an XPR pixel-shifting DLP chip to support the 4K resolution. Additionally, the inclusion of an RGBB LED bulb provides more brightness and color precision.

The projector’s brightness rating sits at 1,000 LED lumens. According to ViewSonic’s specifications, this translates into 2,400 ANSI lumens (the rating most commonly used to determine brightness) due to the fact that LEDs provide a more saturated image that appears brighter. 

It’s important to note that this is a short-throw projector, meaning it’s best used in tighter spaces where standard- or long-throw projectors would produce a minuscule projection on the screen.

The X10-4KE has four viewing modes: TV, Gaming, Brightest, and Movie. The purpose of these modes is pretty self-explanatory, as each is ideal for a certain activity. The Brightest mode, as the name implies, gives you maximum brightness without ruining image quality, which is particularly handy when there’s a lot of light pollution around.

This projector is also equipped with built-in Bluetooth-ready speakers. This allows you to connect your smartphone or tablet to the projector and use it as a portable speaker too, letting you save on bag space if you’re traveling. 

ViewSonic’s device has both Wi-Fi connectivity and USB-C support. That means you can either use Wi-Fi to connect to a video source or plug in your phone or tablet via USB and stream from Netflix or Amazon Prime that way. Naturally, you can plug in an Amazon Fire TV Stick for streaming as well.

The X10-4KE is on the pricier side. It currently goes for $1,499 on Amazon. Still, the projector more than makes up for this price tag with its powerful 4K and streaming capabilities.

If you’re looking for a compact, portable outdoor device that’s not only functional but sleek and modern-looking, look no further than the Anker Nebula Solar Portable. This Nebula model features a shiny silver coat, with the projector as a whole giving off Macbook vibes.

Not only is the Solar Portable fancy-looking, but it’s tiny and very easy to carry around. It weighs just over 3 pounds, and its dimensions are 7.55 x 7.56 x 2.14 inches. You can practically fit it into a handbag or a backpack, making it well-suited for camping trips and the like.

As a portable model, the Nebula Solar comes with a built-in battery. Battery life is about three hours, which should be more than enough for a lengthy movie. When the battery runs out, you can either connect it to an outlet somewhere or charge it with a power bank via the projector’s USB-C port.

Yet another feature that makes the Anker Nebula Solar Portable great for the outdoors is its capability to serve as a Bluetooth speaker. Just put the projector in your bag along with a power bank for reserve power, and you’re sorted for both music and movies during your camping trip.

Image quality is more than decent, especially for a portable projector, with a native ​​1920 x 1080 resolution. However, the one area where the Nebula Solar Portable is lacking is brightness. With only 400 lumens, even a moonlit night could be too bright. Hence, you should try to use it primarily in dark ambients or use some sort of cover to offset light sources.

Another casualty of the Nebula Solar Portable’s small size is audio quality. The projector has built-in 2 x 3 W speakers, which is definitely on the weaker side. The good news is that Android TV support is there, bringing a 5,000-strong library of apps to use, including YouTube and Hulu. You can also watch Netflix, but you have to download it through the Nebula Manager app.

The Anker Nebula Solar Portable will set you back somewhere between $520 and $600 on Amazon, which is a pretty standard price given this projector’s capabilities.

In case you want to get the most powerful outdoor projector possible and you’ve got money to boot, you should definitely check out the LG CineBeam HU80KSW. This beast of a projector is a true one-box system that contains everything you might need to get an outdoor movie night going, minus popcorn and a patio heater. 

Let’s start with the packaging itself. This laser projector is packed in a tight, tall case that can easily be stashed in any corner of the room when not used. Compared with getting all of the HU80KSW’s capabilities - and it has a lot of them - in separate devices, this is far, far more manageable in terms of storage space. 

When you open up the lid, you’ll be greeted with a mirror under it. Use the reflection of that mirror to project on any clean surface and at any angle, with unprecedented flexibility of use. At the bottom of the case, there’s a power cord reel, meaning you can pull in the cord completely when not in use.

The projector has a ​​3840 x 2160 resolution with 8.3 million pixels and XPR-processing, giving you the best 4K experience possible. Additionally, the top-class picture quality is guaranteed by HDR 10 technology, resulting in better image tone and more vibrant colors. 

Brightness won’t be an issue either. With 2,500 lumens, you’ll have image quality wherever you place your projection screen - be it inside your tent or out in your backyard during a sunny summer day.

You’ve got a wide selection of sources available as well. First, since this is a smart projector (with the great webOS), you can stream from whichever video app you have using Wi-Fi, including TV apps. You can also use the Miracast feature to project content straight from your smart devices onto the projector screen. Additionally, there are two HDMI ports and two USB ones, letting you connect tablets, phones, streaming sticks, or USB drives as video sources as well.

The built-in 7-W speakers are decent but not really cutting-edge. However, you do have Bluetooth, AUX, and optical connections as well at your disposal, so it’s really up to you how you’ll handle audio sources. Laser life is 20,000 hours, which is more than enough even for power users.

Now for the painful part - the price. This powerhouse can certainly break the bank, currently sitting at $2,400 on Amazon. While this is certainly a substantial amount of money, we can say with certainty that the LG CineBeam HU80KSW is worth every cent.