Nighttime Performance

We test real world luminance the same way ANSI lumens are measured. This includes a nine-segment white screen across the 100" or 2.75 m² canvas in a dark room where the ambient luminance (it boosts the values of the digital light meter) around the area of the projected image is just under 1 Lux. While the projector's brightness and contrast may be adjusted to see the eight shades of gray in a control image, we test the unit at its default settings. The used measuring device has a variance of 4%, which should be taken into account when considering the final result in lumens. Lastly, as measuring the nine zones is a manual process, some variance is expected, especially with short throw and ultra short throw projectors, as one has to point the measuring device at the light source instead of laying it flat against the wall as with classic projectors.

For the test the brightness is turned all the way up, HDR is turned off, and the color setting is meant to be set to a hidden "High Power Mode" on the Horizon device. This setting comes with a warning that this should not be used for prolonged use and it also cranks the fan up to 100% - as such, this setting is really not something you should be using on a daily basis. Even in this mode, the XGIMI Horizon clocked in at around 600 lux before considering any device-specific variances across the surface area of 2.75 square meter, which results in approx 1650 ANSI lumens. This is quite far from advertised 2200 ANSI Lumens, but XGIMI does publish their testing methods in some detail on a special webpage in the fine print under the specification table. It basically translates to "if the device can hit 80% of the advertised number in testing, then it is considered a pass according to ISO/IEC21118-2020." Such a number is considered before any additional manufacturing variances. As such, the XIGMI Horizon sample we received manages 75% of the max advertised ANSI Lumens in reality. While that is still pretty bright, the fact is that the real world user based settings will be around 10% lower than even our measured results, it would have been nice if XGIMI would go beyond the bare minimum industry standard for the benefit of meeting customer expectations. In our conversation with XGIMI, they mentioned that they are working on a more picture focused standard that relies less on pure brightness - but until that becomes an industry wide standard, ANSI Lumens is what we will hold every projector accountable with.


Even with those measurements, the Horizon 1080P looks excellent at night. It is essentially identical to the Horizon Pro as they both use the same lens and lighting setup, just with a different resolution.


Going back to the movie that brought us back Val Kilmer to the silver screen - even if it was just for a little bit: Top Gun Maverick, at night the saturation and color balance of the Horizon does so much better than at night. While it was certainly watchable, in this setting you can really see the details that otherwise may go unnoticed in the darker parts of the scenes.


And lastly, for a complete picture (all the pun intended), watching cartoons is an easy task for the XGIMI Horizon, while games like Death Stranding manage to offer a bit of extra detail. The shadows on the cave walls are still a bit more pronounced than a short throw laser projector which is the detail difference of a few hundred ANSI Lumens.