XGIMI Elfin

A little projector that produces a big image

- Cliff Joseph

FEATURES 1080p Full HD resolution, 800 ANSI lumens brightness, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, 1x HDMI 2.0 port, 1x 3.5mm audio output, 50x192x192mm, 0.9kg

We were impressed by the high-quality 4K image of XGIMI’s Horizon Pro projector (see MF370), although its £1,699 price tag put it way out of reach for most people. However, the company recently launched the new Elfin projector, which provides a more affordable 1080p Full HD option, along with a compact and semi-portable design for £649.

The Elfin lives up to its name, standing just 5cm high, and 19.2cm wide and deep. In fact, it looks very much like a white version of the Mac mini, and its 0.9kg weight means that you can easily slip it into a backpack and carry it around to a friend’s place for suitably cinematic movie nights. There’s no internal battery though, so you do still need mains power to use the projector.

Cinematic in this instance means an image size of up to 200 inches (5.08m) – measured diagonally – although you’ll need to place the petite projector about 20ft (6m) from the screen to achieve that. Smaller rooms should be able to get an image of around 100 inches (2.54m) across at a distance of 2.5m, as we did during our own tests.

Getting started is really easy as the Elfin can automatically adjust the focus, size and angle of the image to suit the setup in your room. However, the use of Android TV for the projector’s operating system won’t suit everyone – especially as it asks you to log in with a privacy-pilfering Google account during setup.

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