In recent years, projectors have become an ideal home entertainment option for those who don’t have plenty of space for a TV setup. It’s also a good choice if you prefer watching a large image and just generally adore the cozy vibes.

But here’s the hard truth: if you want a high-quality and durable home projector, you’ll likely need to shell out a lot of money. Projectors can be costly very quickly as you hunt for better specs.

Enter budget projectors — the economical and more accessible counterparts. There are lots of these out there. The problem is, it can be difficult to track down the ideal affordable projector with some acceptable measure of quality and reliability.

Fortunately, the new XGODY Gimbal5 Full HD projector seems to fit the bill. 

XGODY Gimbal5 specs

The Gimbal5 is priced at USD 119/ PhP 4,260 depending on where you’re purchasing from. More on that later. Its basic specs include:

• Display image resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Display type: LCD
• Brightness: 250-300 ANSI lumens
• Short-throw projector with a minimum throw distance of 1.5 meters
• Manual and auto-keystone capabilities
• Up to 50% display image zoom
• Up to 150 inches screen display
• USB playback and online playback support of up to 4K
• Equipped with AndroidTV 11.0 operating system
• Dual-band wifi and Bluetooth 5.4
• Built-in 3W speakers
• One USB port
• One HDMI port
• Pre-installed apps such as Google Store and Netflix

Image projection quality and brightness

MCU Fan?

The biggest selling point of this budget projector is its image display image resolution. That’s the end resolution of the picture projected on your wall or screen. 

It’s not easy to find a budget projector that displays your favorite K-dramas at native 1080p resolution. Typically, more affordable projectors have a 720p display image resolution.

As a fair warning if you’re on the projector hunt: make sure to double-check the actual display image resolution in the specs. Brands like to highlight a projector’s capacity to support files and images at 4K resolution in their marketing. This can easily confuse first-time buyers to think that the projected image will be in 4K.

To be clear, a projector that supports 4K resolution means it can play, say, a Marvel film from Disney+ with 4K resolution. But it will still come out as 1080p on your wall or screen if 1080p is the display image resolution of the projector.

Display image resolution isn’t the only thing that contributes to a projector’s image quality. The other key factor is brightness.

You’ll find that brands like to shout about the lumens of their projectors. Essentially, lumens refers to the amount of light a projector emits. The brighter the light, the better the image — and the more expensive the projector.

You’ll likely see lumens numbers in the tens of thousands, and it’s very hard to know what would be considered a good number of lumens. This is where the concept of ANSI lumens comes in. 

ANSI lumens

ANSI lumens is a standardized measurement of the amount of light coming out of a projector. This makes it harder to blow up the number to indicate brightness. (Naturally, another top tip if you’re buying a projector is to look for ANSI lumens rather than just lumens.)

Here, it’s a matter of preference. Upwards of 300 ANSI lumens is quite solid, especially for watching in the dark. But some people expect their projectors to display images just like a TV, and that means much higher ANSI lumens. 

With projectors, you won’t get the same clear image as you would on a TV during the day or if the lights are switched on in the room at night. But daytime watching should be fine if you’ve got blackout curtains or blinds.

When I first put on Avengers: Endgame on the XGODY Gimbal5 with its 250-300 ANSI lumens, I was satisfied with how it looked in the dark. However, I can’t say I’m able to comfortably watch a film on the Gimbal5 during the day without pulling down my blackout blinds. The brightness simply couldn’t cut it.

This doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker though. If you’re not too fussed about watching during the day and would expect to watch at night, then the Gimbal5 is worth the trade-off in less brightness for affordability. 

Sound quality

While the image quality of the XGODY Gimbal5 is pretty solid for a budget projector, I will say that the speakers aren’t anything to write home about.

The Gimbal5’s speakers are basic and, at maximum volume, can slightly distort if a scene you’re watching suddenly increases its volume. For example, when there are explosions or a fight scene. Similarly, this doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker unless you’re someone who is a stickler for quality audio.

When watching with the Gimbal5, I generally stayed within the 60-80% volume range without background noise, or up to 100% otherwise. This was also dependent on whether I was watching something quieter like arthouse films or loud ones like superhero films. This is for a room of roughly 10 square meters or about 108 square feet in size. Ultimately, I’d say this projector could do with more powerful speakers.

One of the major drawbacks of projectors versus TVs is the fan noise the former inevitably comes with. The Gimbal5 fairs marginally better on this front as the fan isn’t as loud — at least compared to my old projector, which sounded like it was about to take off.

When watching something with lots of quiet scenes, the Gimbal5’s fan noise wasn’t too disruptive for me. I could pretty much tune it out. But there is still some noise — especially if you’re not used to it — so keep that in mind.

Flexibility for your space

Flexibility with space is the biggest advantage of projectors. And the Gimbal5 checks this box nicely, albeit with a point for improvement. 

It has a small enough body that I could plop it on my windowsill, which I would say is about the width of a standard hardback book. It’s also possible to do 180-degree rotations with it, so you’ve got some options for positioning.

My one gripe about its rotating body is I wish it didn’t snap into a specific position as it rotated. It would be nice if it tilted smoothly without snapping (but also without slipping). The snapping upon rotation meant I couldn’t get the precise angle I needed for my wall. I’ve had to make do with inserting a folded piece of paper underneath the stand to tilt it just right.

The manual and automatic keystone correction plus the zoom feature did come in very handy. These let you better adjust the display image according to the space you’re using.

As mentioned earlier, my XGODY Gimbal5 sits on the windowsill. As such, it projects across the room to the opposite wall. It’s thanks to the zoom feature that I’m able to adjust the display image to a reasonable size, rather than settle for a blown-up image that bleeds onto my ceiling because of the throw distance from projector to wall.

Gaming capacity

Legend of Zelda

I tried gaming with this projector using my Nintendo Switch and I didn’t experience any noticeable lag while using the controller.

Pokemon

The only bit of hassle is the single HDMI port, which means I have to unplug my Google TV and then plug the Switch so I can game with a hundred-inch image.

Built-in software

XGODY’s Gimbal5 comes with an Android operating system, including a pre-installed Netflix app. That’s something you might not always find in other projectors.

As a budget projector, I didn’t expect much from its operating system. And I was right for it. The built-in system is very laggy and you could easily lose patience fiddling with it. Even the volume adjustment using the remote can get a bit unresponsive.

I’ve completely bypassed the built-in system and only ever use my Google TV plugged into the HDMI port to navigate smoothly and watch. I highly recommend doing the same.

A budget projector that punches above its weight

Despite its shortcomings, the XGODY Gimbal5 is overall a solid projector to have if you’re on a budget and not very particular with your specs. You may need a bit of patience here and there with its kinks. But, for the price, I think it’s worth it.

It’s a Full HD display image, it’s small, lightweight, flexible, and punches just above its weight as a budget projector. If nothing else, it’s an ideal entry-level kit for those wanting to dip their toes in the world of home projectors.

There’s a chance you probably won’t be able to put it — much like any other budget projector — through the wringer of all-day watching for many years. But take care of it and it should last you a good enough time to get your money’s worth.

Where to buy

USA: Buy from Amazon
50% discount code: 32XGODYG5K9

Philippines: Buy from Shopee
Latest discount code: XSST25698
Use the discount code and store coupons to save PhP 1,090.