Mars II Pro

We bought this to do backyard movies and television. We live in a garden home neighborhood, which means we're close to our neighbors and their lights and have plenty of streetlights and other light pollution. Even with all that, once the sun sets, this projector does a fabulous job. We often have the fire pit going or the lights on in the gazebo, and there's still a great clear picture. The only time you really need a truly dark environment is with shows or movies that have a very dark ambience-- for some episodes of the Mandalorian, for example, we needed to kill the gazebo lights to see it well. Finding Nemo did not need such considerations. We do typically run the projector in the brighter mode since we have the ability to run power to it in our backyard. We have tested it on battery power and got about 2 hours of viewing. Even on battery power, there's plenty of brightness in the picture if you're using it after dark.

I highly recommend setting up all your accounts in the projector ahead of time. It makes it SO much easier to deal with logging into all the accounts and typing in your passwords if you're just shining it on the wall in your living room the night before movie night instead of trying to set everything up while everyone stares at you! Some of those apps are a pain to navigate, and there's a bit of a learning curve to using the remote and/or phone app. You get used to it, but it takes a minute.

Our setup:

We project onto a projector screen (just the 100" Amazon Basic one)-- we attached projector screen mounting brackets with to our house under the eaves and attached a set of carabiners rated for 75 pounds (extreme overkill) on each end of the projector screen. My husband can pull the screen out from the storage closet and clip the it onto the hooks in the mounting brackets in less than a minute. We have a set of ground anchors near the wall, and we use two bungee cords (I used a pair of pliers to widen the hooks a bit) so that they loop around the bottom ends of the projector screen and then connect to the anchors. They're long enough that they only have a tiny bit of tension on the screen-- just enough to keep the screen from blowing, twisting, and kinking if there's a breeze.

When we're not using the screen, we disconnect the bungees and roll it up, where it's safely tucked away under the eaves. We leave it up during good weather but can easily unhook it and put it away if rain threatens.

We paired our projector with a cheap tripod from Walmart and a couple orange traffic cones from Home Depot so that the kids don't run into the tripod in the dark. Like some others have commented, the tripod mounting hole is a little shallow, so it can make the projector feel unstable on a tripod mount. Thanks to those commenters, I anticipated having the same problem and was armed with supplies to solve it. We bought a couple neoprene washers from Home Depot and placed them between the projector and the tripod mount. That made it a snug fit and eliminated any wobble. We leave the tripod mount attached all the time and just store the whole unit in its bag. (It does NOT come with any kind of storage bag, by the way-- we ordered the Anker one off Amazon because I disliked having to put it back in the cardboard box each time we used it.)

We often sit back a good ways from the projector, and while the built-in sound is fine for me, my husband is kind of hard of hearing. We pair the projector via Bluetooth with an Anker Soundcore Flare 2 speaker we already owned and sit the speaker right next to us. They play together fabulously. There's no sound lag at all, at least none I can discern. We did discover that it helps to turn the speaker on a few seconds before turning the projector on. They pair quicker and more easily when the speaker is turned on first. And as we already have an actual bluetooth speaker, we've never really tried to use our projector as a bluetooth speaker. The Soundcore Flare 2 is a lot cheaper and more durable if my kids get a little too crazy with their elementary dance parties.

We've had this thing for going on three months and love it. I did a lot of research and agonized over which portable projector to buy, and I'm really happy with the choice I made for my family. If that changes, I'll update this review, but I don't suspect I'll need to.

I love the Mars II Pro. I researched projectors for a while before I went ahead and bought this one. We don't have a TV at home, so we use this as a substitute for a TV. It's true that it needs to be fairly dark to get a good picture with this projector (so, I only use it at night), but I only really watch shows at night anyways. I've been able to watch Netflix, Disney+, Hbomax, Amazon Prime, and Youtube with no problems. The sound is quite good I'd say as well. My partner loves it too. We had been watching movies on our laptop for years, so this is a major upgrade for us, haha, and it makes for such a fun experience. Some day I'd love to have outdoor movie night with this lil projector. Also, I sometimes do murals and other large-scale, illustrated window displays, and I will be using this projector to help with those as well. I keep it plugged in most of the time, so haven't tested out the battery life. I love the size of it though - it fits easily on my nightstand, and we do movie night in bed, on a big projected screen. 10/10 would recommend!

Before the Nebula Mars II Pro, I bought and returned these other projectors: Nebula Capsule Max, BenQ GV30, Vankyo E30T (530W), and XGIMI Elfin. The Mars II Pro is the easy keeper, at least so far after a week of use. It hasn’t exhibited some of the weird issues I saw with other projectors that made me return them quickly. The fan noise is audible, but at a frequency and volume that isn’t annoying - sort of like a low whoosh - definitely tolerable, even with using just the built-in speaker at a low volume. Out of said projectors, this one has the best mix overall: solid software stability (retains my keystone and projector placement settings between reboots unlike the XGIMI and doesn’t turn on by itself like the Capsule Max). Audio quality and speaker loudness is just under the BenQ but isn’t polluted by the loud fan noise of the BenQ. Brightness is more than I need for bedroom ceiling viewing (Capsule Max is dimmer and was only good for night viewing - daytime light pollution even with curtains closed made for a washed out image). Handy carrying handle and built-in lens cap cover - and very cool that when you slide open the cover, the projector turns on. With all these projectors, I used a Roku Express 4K (great device by the way) and didn’t rely on the built-in apps. You would think 720p might not be enough, but though I can tell the difference between the 1080p of the Elfin and the 720p of this unit, it doesn’t bother me. This unit is not perfect - could use a bit more treble from the built-in speaker and I wish the fan noise were as low as the nearly silent Elfin or the slightly louder than that Capsule Max. Also, the keystone correction on the Mars II Pro is limited to 40 degrees vertical and horizontal, which from where my projector is pointing this results in a bit of a trapezoidal shape on the ceiling even with the keystone correction at maximum levels. If it were capable of 45 or 50 degrees of correction, that would be resolved. But even with that aspect (pun intended), I forget I’m using a projector rather than a TV and just enjoy watching. Especially if you get it when it’s on sale (I bought it here on Amazon for $348), this is the easy winner of what ended up being a projector contest.

I purchased this great little projector mostly for use outdoors for summer movies with my grandkids. We’ve used it inside and out and had a great time with it, mostly streaming kids’ Netflix movies. The picture and brightness are great at night, I have not used it when there has been significant ambient light. The speaker quality is OK for such a small package. After just over a year old we did have a battery failure. I dreaded making a claim, as I expected to have an uphill battle to get help. Upon calling Anker Direct, I experienced quite the contrary and was cordially welcomed by a helpful lady named Amanda. She assessed the problem quickly with a few questions, offered a warranty replacement, and sent a return authorization. We had a replacement projector on our doorstep in just a few days! I’ve regained my faith that customer support still exists in America…thank you Amanda and Anker for the excellent, professional support; you have gained a loyal customer and advocate of your products and company!

I don't typically write reviews. I'm sharing that so you understand how strongly I am praising this company. The unit is really wonderful and well designed. But I'm actually writing about the company. After enjoying this product for about 9 months, something went wrong and it wouldn't start up. I was concerned that I would end up in some long battle to get the company to repair it. On the contrary! In a short phone call, they agreed not only to repair it, but replace it. And they even sent out a replacement unit that same day so I wouldn't have any downtime. Once that arrived, I put my old unit back in the box and sent it (with their free label). Problem resolved. This is a rare level of service and I do want to commend them for how well they handled the issue. Strongly recommended.