Portable projectors offer lots of entertainment options for the great outdoors in every season. They add much to summer gatherings in the backyard, create cozy movie nights outside when the weather’s good, and bring big screen variety to campsites and RVs even in the cold of winter. Kids love portable projectors with their attention-grabbing big picture format, providing the little ones hours of entertainment and giving parents a chance to relax in the meantime. Think of that as “babysitter mode”.

So, we’ve established portable projectors have lots going for them, and that the ones designed for outdoors use are very versatile, because they withstand rigorous travel but still work great at home. When looking for your very own portable projector, you’ll likely discover there are many options out there, but only a few are very popular due to features and quality. To help you choose, we’ll compare three of the top sellers. They are the Samsung Freestyle, Anker Nebula Mars 2 Pro, and BenQ GS50. 

Projectors work quite differently indoors and outdoors, and to perform well in the latter, a lot of optimization and care have to go into making the product. Often overlooked in low cost models, durability features are essential in a good outdoors portable projector because of exposure to the elements. Products that are susceptible to water or shock damage do not do well when you’re on the road or when around kids.

That’s why your choice should have water resistance, to withstand potential damage when you’re outside and the weather suddenly becomes a little on the wet side. Drop and shock resistance are also necessary. When traveling, things move around and may take the occasional tumble. You want a projector that shrugs that off and makes sure the show goes on.

The BenQ GS50 does best in shock, drop, and water resistance. In fact, it’s been tested by dropping it from as high as 1.6 meters onto hard surfaces multiple times in factory survivability trials. For sheer durability the GS50 takes the lead.

For convenience when outdoors, look for projectors that have built-in rechargeable batteries. That way you’re free and independent of external power sources and outlets. The Samsung Freestyle lacks a battery, making the “free” part of its name a little confusing. The Anker and BenQ projectors have internal batteries and work for up to three hours in full blast to give you the freedom of extended viewing sessions without having to recharge. 

While none of the currently available portable projectors offer the same image quality of their home cinema counterparts, there’s a lot of variance between different models in the segment. The cheap ones almost always cut corners and offer basic display capabilities, while better models come quite close to home projector picture quality.

Brightness and resolution stand as the two most important specifications with regards to image quality. Brightness determines how distinct the visuals appear, even in relatively bright times of the day or in brighter rooms. Low brightness means the image will become washed out if ambient light increases. Resolution of course refers to how many pixels you get on the screen, and the more the merrier. Cheap projectors often go with low res 480p or even lower than that, and that’s no longer viable, so steer clear.

The BenQ GS50 and Samsung Freestyle both offer full HD 1080p, which is ideal for outdoors projection. The Anker Nebula Mars 2 Pro settles for HD 720p. That’s not too bad, but significantly lower than 1080p and you will notice the difference, especially when sitting closer to the projection surface.

It’s not always just about pixels, but about better pixels, as the experts say. HDR or high dynamic range used to be a big deal on TVs and home projectors, but now it’s standard. And good portable projectors have joined in on this, while basic ones have not. HDR produces brighter and more vibrant displays while improving dark and bright areas of the image with more detail. The Samsung Freestyle and BenQ GS50 support HDR10 and HLG, while Anker’s entry lacks HDR support. Something to keep in mind.

As we said, brightness is of utmost importance. For projectors, brightness is measured in ANSI lumens, which aren’t the same as nits or candelas on TVs and monitors. If you’re interested, you can learn how to convert LED lumen and light source lumen to ANSI lumen. As for the three models we’re looking at, the BenQ GS50 comes in as the brightest with ANSI 500 lumens. That’s very bright for nighttime projection and not bad for dusk and dawn. It may not be enough for midday viewing. That time of day remains a challenge for portable projectors, as to remain compact they have to use smaller light sources and don’t have the beam power of larger, home use projectors.

Overall, we’d say a minimum of 300 lumens should be your goal when shopping around, but 500 or more is definitely better. Also, maybe learn more about projectors for daytime use.

Yes, with good portable projectors you bring your favorite streaming and cloud content services on the road with you, assuming you can get Wi-Fi. Also, Bluetooth is essential. So remember, check that the model you’re getting has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Preferably, you want a projector that’s pre-loaded with apps and an intuitive interface out of the box, just like any modern smart TV, smartphone, or tablet. That way, you’re getting an all in one solution and save yourself annoying set up hassles and cumbersome add-on parts. Samsung’s Freestyle unsurprisingly uses the company’s Tizen OS, known to some from Samsung TVs. Meanwhile, Anker goes with a basic and older version of Android that is quite barebones. This operating system has a third party app downloader, and therefore less apps available, not to mention it’s not the most user friendly in presentation and features. The BenQ GS50 uses an official, fully fledged, and very recent Android TV 10 operating system that includes the Google Play Store and therefore is nearly identical to the Android you know from smartphones and tablets. That’s the most recent Android TV build available on portable projectors, and provides a smooth, fast, and intuitive user experience.

Based on all available market data, potential portable projector buyers often ask about Android and list it as a priority. That’s not surprising, as Android TV is very familiar, it’s intuitive, easy to use, and very quick when it comes to navigating menus and launching apps.

Most of those really tiny and cheap portable projectors you see advertised lack speakers or have sound that feels like it’s coming from a box of matches. Good portable projectors have compact design done right, still managing to pack speakers that are enough to cover a pretty big space with impressive audio. A good built-in speaker array means you don’t need to bring an external sound source, and that helps to pack light.

In our comparison we’re looking at three very good outdoors portable projectors, so all three have their own sound, and all three sound at the very least okay. However, there are differences. Samsung’s Freestyle has just one 5W speaker. Not bad, but doesn’t quite generate very spacious or cinematic sound because it’s only one channel and doesn’t have enough power for large outdoors spaces. The Anker improves on that with two powerful 10W speakers. That’s an impressive total output power and more than enough for gathering in the backyard for a movie, but the audio is a little flat due to the lack of good bass.

The BenQ GS50 remedies this problem by adding a rather beastly 10W subwoofer to dual 5W speakers. That’s proper 2.1-channel audio, lending spaciousness, depth, and character to sound. Of all three, the GS50 is very much the most cinematic, and arrives with several dedicated sound modes to cater to different content types. 

You don’t need to give up gaming when on the road or out in nature. Just hook up your Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or PlayStation consoles to the portable projector via HDMI. Thing is, most portable projectors aren’t tested for gaming, nor optimized for it. That results in very apparent input lag or delay, which could ruin your gaming experiences. Kids especially don’t have much patience for bad input lag, or the time it takes the screen to reflect your controller input.

BenQ designed and tested the GS50 with casual gaming in mind. Sure, you don’t want to go for a new PUBG or Call of Duty: Warzone record on the GS50, but with 22.7ms of total input lag, it’s very respectable. Most people don’t notice lag below 40ms in normal, non-competitive gaming. But only the GS50 achieves this, with the other two contesters offering much worse latency that’s not suitable for even casual gaming. 

While all three models offer very good portable projector experiences, the BenQ GS50 takes an objective lead in durability, powerful and immersive sound, Android performance, and also ease of setup because of its newer operating system and very ergonomic design. We hope this article has helped you in some way, and the main thing is stay safe while outdoors! Take a look at this quick comparison table to get an overall look at the three projectors and their main features.