Xgimi H3 Is the Best HD Projector Of 2020

After a blockbuster H2 last year, the Xgimi H3 offers an upgrade in specs that give it a slight edge on the H2.

Xgimi H2 vs H3

You’re likely to hold onto a projector for a few years at least and Xgimi H2 is less than 2 years old and all the praises we made for the H2 are still valid. The H3 brings some welcomed tweaks, here are the key upgrades when compared to the H2.

Brighter

This is the primary upgrade and you get about 40 percent more brightness. This gives you a more acceptable curtains-open performance for screens up to 120 inches.

Rapid focussing

With 2 IR and one CMOS camera, you get lighting fast 3D focussing, just point it at any angle towards a wall and it will bring a square image. If video quality is paramount you will still want to align it as best as you can to the middle of the screen as the keystone correction is not optical, it is digital so the images lose resolution the greater the angle of the projector from the screen.

Advanced cooling

The “sand snake” described cooling system uses small nodes to distribute heat quickly away from the LED light source. It’s with this design the projector can boost the brightness while keeping the same amount of fan noise and operating temperature as the H2.

A different lens system

With 10 glass lenses, you get a crisp focus across all parts of the screen and the all sealed design means no dust can get in between the lenses. Is it not clearly stated, but this also likely ads to the boost in brightness and instant focusing speed.

What you loose

Interestingly if you dig into the specs, there are a few H3 specs that are not as good as the H2.

• Xgimi removed the USB3 port and include only two USB 2.0 ports.
• It is larger/heavier – if the size is an issue the H3 is noticeably larger in comparison, this is due to the new cooling, lens, and speaker placement.

Given these are smart projectors and send data back to Xgimi, these changes are likely based on user data of the function people actually use.

Conclusion

Although we were expecting a 4k from the H3, it still brings a step up in brightness as it’s the primary point of difference. The faster focusing is a technological upgrade but last year’s H2 has a smart focus, which is slightly slower but still fairly quick.

The H3 is better on paper but is it better for you?

At about $150 more then the H22, you’re paying for the higher H3 performance, but do you need to?

H2 – If you want lights off/dim home cinema projector

H2 still offers more value in low light. For recommended theater brightness levels, even the H2’s 1300lm is more than enough for a massive 300-inch screen and needs to be dimmed to be comfortable on screens under that size. So if you’re not going over 300 inches and building lights off home cinema, the H3 extra lumens are not needed, and you could spend the difference on audio or seating.

H3 -If you want improved daylight performance

With an extra 500lm of brightness, you get a noticeably better daylight performance, but in direct daylight or a room with a lot of windows, you’ll still need to close some curtains. Again this depends on screen size, at 300 inches both H2 and H3 will not do well with ambient light. At 120 inches or lower, you should be able to comfortably use the H3. For real daylight performance, you need something much brighter (and more expensive) or use a special projection screen.

If you’re looking for 4K it’s still over $1000 for something good, Xgimi has a much brighter and 4k Aurora RS (Twice the price). Fingers crossed the Xgimi H4 will bring 4K for under $1k.

The H3 brings an upgrade to Xgimi’s H range and still offers great value for what you get, the quality of the picture, brightness, and price makes it a worthy successor to the H2.