Xgimi Vibe One review: my favourite portable projector boiled down to the essentials

Introduction

It might look like a Xgimi Mogo 4 with the crusts cut off, but the portable projection specialist’s latest effort is a different sandwich entirely. Maybe a rainbow bagel, what with those bright colours and funky stickers? The Vibe One is aimed at the younger crowd, who put value and fun factor ahead of lumen ratings and contrast ratios.

You give up fancier features like mood-setting ambient projection filters and brightness takes a back seat, but Xgimi hasn’t stripped this thing out entirely. The LED LCD light source chucks out a Full HD image up to 150in across and it still has a built-in battery for on-the-go entertaining. Yet while the Mogo 4 would’ve set you back $499/£509 at launch, the Vibe One costs just $269/£209.

Do the decal sheets aim to disguise an entry-grade projector, or is the Vibe One really as fun as it looks?

Design & build: what a vibe

A bright yellow handle and blue base helped my Vibe One review unit fit right in with my toddler’s Fisher Price toys, even before I got creative with the bundled stickers. The cloud ash (grey) version is a more subtle alternative, based on the pictures I’ve seen, but where’s the fun in that?

It’s noticeably bigger than the Mogo 4 but a fair bit lighter, and the integrated handle makes it a breeze to carry around. Rubber feet on the base keep it in place when on a coffee table or desk, so walking nearby won’t knock the focus out of whack, and there’s a tripod thread for mounting it to a wall or ceiling bracket.

I appreciate the wide 160-degree range of tilt provided by the stand, letting you plop the projector down almost anywhere and still be able to angle it for a decently-sized picture. Auto keystone solves most off-axis positioning, at the expense of picture quality.

The Vibe One has a proprietary power connector, rather than match the Mogo 4’s more flexible USB-C, and the cable’s not especially long, so you’ll need to stay fairly close to a mains socket for movie marathons. A single HDMI lets you hook up a games console or other gadget, and there’s a USB-A port for plugging in external storage, but there’s no dedicated audio output.

Features & battery life: how illuminating

There’s only one bundled remote control here, meaning you miss out on the key fob-style mini remote you got with the Mogo 4. The layout is identical, with dedicated YouTube, Prime Video and Netflix shortcuts, a forth customisable one, and a built-in microphone to issue voice commands to Google Assistant. None of the keys are backlit here, though. The volume and navigation controls are also made from cheaper rubber rather than metal. That should mean the AAA batteries last a bit longer, at least.

I rarely reached for the remote’s picture adjustment button, because the Vibe One performs automatic focus and keystone correction as soon as you power it on. By the time it reaches the Google TV homescreen you’re good to go.

Turn the projector on while the lamp is facing downwards and it’ll boot into Bluetooth speaker mode, letting you pair a smartphone or other gadget and use it for music playback. This is when the base illuminates in its ambient mode, with eight customisable colours to toggle through using the remote control.

The lighting can’t set the mood like the Mogo 4’s distinctive ambient projection filters can, and because it uses the projection lamp for illumination, the internal fan never switches off. I didn’t really notice it after pressing play on my tunes, though, and the light source is rated for tens of thousands of hours of use.

I’d only plan on using the ambient mode when connected to mains power, as battery life isn’t the Vibe One’s strongest suit. Used solely as a Bluetooth speaker it’ll manage about four hours of music playback, but once the lamp is called into action, you’ll be out of juice in about an hour and ten minutes of streaming. That’s not even enough to sit through a full feature film, so al fresco movie nights are off the cards unless you have a long extension cord or beefy enough power bank.

Interface: no shortcuts

A lot of projectors in the Vibe One’s price range use own-brand software that might come with a few streaming heavyweights like Netflix, but are otherwise pretty barren – and not always a joy to navigate. I was very happy to see Xgimi stick with the same Google TV software that it used on the Mogo 4, bringing a familiar layout and full access to the Play Store for adding as many third-party apps as you like.

Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ are all installed from the off, while Apple TV can be downloaded with a few taps of the remote. TV catchup services will vary depending on where you are in the world: on my review unit I just got ITVX and 5, so had to cast from another device for BBC iPlayer or Channel 4. The built-in Wi-Fi proved fast enough to stream at the projector’s native 1080p resolution without any buffering.

The settings screens are also largely Google’s own, with a few Xgimi specifics for things like picture quality and ambient lighting. I did think some menus could be a little sluggish to show up, with animations that weren’t always the smoothest, but only while streaming content. It all felt responsive enough once the video had paused and the menu went full-screen.

Performance: pretty as a picture

Switching on the Vibe One for the first time, I had realistic expectations. A sub-$300 LED projector was never going to dethrone pricer rivals meant solely for home cinema setups, and the official brightness rating – 250 lumens – is much less than the Mogo 4’s 450. And yet it put in a solid performance, with punchy colours and a nice amount of resolved detail.

A 1500:1 contrast ratio is OK for an LCD projector, with dark scenes in movies and games leaning grey rather than black but still being possible to make out. It looks best in dark or dimly lit rooms, naturally, but wasn’t entirely washed out during daylight hours – though the British winter isn’t exactly a tough test. Outdoors, you’ll definitely need to wait until sunset to get a decently viewable picture.

The Standard brightness setting was enough for daytime viewing with the blinds in my home office partly drawn, at which point the fan was noticeable from a few feet away but not enough to disturb. Eco mode is quieter still, but really only usable in dark rooms. I largely stayed away from the Performance mode, which is only slightly brighter than Standard but forces the fan to run at very distracting levels. You don’t get HDR support here in any picture mode.

Images were a little soft at the far edges, even with the unit aligned perfectly straight to the projection surface, but not distractingly so. The centre of the image looked perfectly crisp.

Sound is similarly sufficient for the price, with the pair of 3W JBL-approved speakers able to deliver clear vocals and a decent amount of volume. There’s basically nothing in the way of sub-bass, but I detected just enough low-mids that songs and movie explosions didn’t come across as entirely hollow. Audio always sounds like it’s coming directly from the speaker, too; if you want a more convincing home cinema sound, you’ll need to hook up an external speaker over Bluetooth.

Xgimi Vibe One verdict

If the toy-like colour scheme wasn’t enough of a clue, the Xgimi Vibe One isn’t trying to be your next home cinema upgrade – it’s more about effortless entertainment, at a very tempting price. Setup is simple, streaming service support is great, and picture quality isn’t to be sniffed at either.

While it can’t last long enough for a full feature film, having a built-in battery of any kind is a rarity at this money. The ambient light and Bluetooth speaker modes are fun inclusions, too. While I’d personally save up for the smaller, brighter and longer-lasting Mogo 4, this gets most of the way there for half as much.

Xgimi Vibe One technical specifications