Big screen event in your own garden
Ideal projector for films, sports …and whatever else you fancy!
From €529 See seenebula.com
★★★★★
Super-size video screens are tempting, especially for movie or sports fans. However, furniture moving, finicky installation and even domestic arrangements are hurdles that would have to be cleared for most of us.
If you don’t have a room that works as a permanent cinema or sportsden, a solution to consider is a portable projector that’s easy to pull out and power up for movie or match night.
The Nebula Mars II Pro projector is made by well-known gadget maker Anker. This is one of its mid-range projectors.
In the box is the projector, a remote control and charger. It comes with a standard three-pin plug, so I didn’t need an adapter for my house sockets, as can often be the case these days.
It’s portable but it’s not a microprojector, measuring 178mm x 122mm and weighing in at 1.76Kg. That’s too big to pick up with one hand, but Anker has added a convenient carry strap, so it’s easy to move it to wherever you want to set up.
You’ll need a pure white wall or a white projector screen for best effect. The projection size is 40” to 100” – the range of screen sizes for average-to-large TV sizes.
To get a 40” screen size you only need to place the projector slightly more than a meter from the screen. To get the maximum of 100” it needs to be just 2.65m away – so you can get a huge projection area with ease.
It’s well built, feels sturdy and has two 10 watt speakers built in. You can use the 3.5mm audio-out port, though there’s no digital audio output.
There’s a HDMI port for connecting the source video, which can include plug-in devices such as a Firestick.
There’s also a USB port that can be used to access downloaded video. Connectivity is excellent in general as it also has Bluetooth and wifi capability, and can even handle screen mirroring from your Android phone.
I identified a white wall, downloaded the free Nebula Connect app for Android and iOS and powered it up.
The 500 ANSI lumens lamp burst into life and it’s really bright in a dark room. I did experiment with the lights on, and the picture fades, but in a dark room the 1280x720p HD projection is crisp and true to life. I placed the projector slightly less than the recommended maximum distance and had a bright and colour-laden picture immediately.
There’s a nice easy-to-navigate menu to choose which sources or services you want to access, or any source video on a USB stick.
There’s also a really clever feature built in that focuses the projected picture almost immediately. You could add a mounting tripod that projects the picture at eye level, but I opted instead to place the projector on a table, propped up at an angle.
The projector understands this, and adjusts the picture so it’s all in focus, rather than blurring at the bottom.
I watched football, movies and music on YouTube and all worked well.
Also, the sound from the built-in speakers was more than decent.
POWER IT UP AND INVITE YOUR FAMILY OVER
However, I connected the Mars to a Bluetooth transmitter, and used a headphone set-up for pumped up, personal volume.
This is a mains- or battery-powered projector and the battery power of three hours or so will allow you to put it in the garden on (hopefully) warm summer evenings.
Whether that’s a match or a movie it works well, and while not waterproof, on a nice evening it could be ideal for a big-screen family or friendly get-together.
There are a few negatives: the Nebula app is a little sticky to use, the remote isn’t backlit, and the depth of brightness means this is never going to replace your modern TV. However, outdoors or indoors, it works really well for both gaming and for sports – that don’t lag – or just for movies.
If we ever qualify for anything again, be it the Euros or Eurovision, I’ll power it up outside, fill the fridge, and invite some friends round.