The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra is a long-throw 4k HDR projector. It features a hybrid Laser-LED Dual Light Technology, which leverages the strengths of both technologies to its advantage, and its light source is rated to last for 25,000 hours. The projector comes with a full suite of image correction technologies, including autofocus and auto keystone correction with object avoidance, so it compensates for any geometry errors in the image automatically and adjusts itself when it detects objects in the frame. It comes with Android TV 11.0 with Chromecast and AirScreen built in and supports Bluetooth 5.2/BLE and Wi-Fi 6. It has two HDMI ports, each capable of 4k @ 60Hz, and can passthrough advanced audio formats from DTS and Dolby through eARC. Finally, it has two integrated 12W Harman/Kardon speakers.
Our Verdict
The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra is decent for watching movies. It's quite bright with spectacular brightness uniformity, so it looks great even in rooms with a few lights. Unfortunately, its contrast is subpar, so it doesn't look as good in dark rooms due to it projecting noticeably raised blacks. This projector's color accuracy is very good, but calibrating it doesn't further improve its accuracy. Finally, it has a good color gamut, and the projector is bright enough to make them pop.
- Bright projector with fantastic brightness uniformity.
- Very good color accuracy.
Supports Dolby Vision.
Sub-par contrast leads to raised blacks.
- The color calibration mode isn't working properly, so the projector's colors can't further be improved.
The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra is an alright living-room gaming projector that favors image quality, especially brightness, over raw speed. Brightness is ample, and the hybrid LED-laser engine produces saturated color, so games look vivid with a couple of lights on. However, contrast is subpar; blacks lift noticeably in very dark scenes. The projector supports Dolby Vision, which is nice for Xbox gamers. As for responsiveness, there are no high refresh rate modes, so plan on playing all of your games at 30 or 60Hz. Input lag at those refresh rates is unremarkable, so the projector is truly better suited for playing slow single-player titles versus faster competitive titles.
- Bright projector with fantastic brightness uniformity.
- Very good color accuracy.
Supports Dolby Vision.
Sub-par contrast leads to raised blacks.
No high refresh rate support.
Input lag is unremarkable overall.
The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra is bright enough to look punchy on a big screen in a living room. It easily handles movie nights with the lights dimmed and still holds up with a bit of ambient light, so scenes don't look dull or washed out. Brightness is very even across the image, so you don't see distracting dark corners or hotspots.
Bright enough to look good in a moderately lit room.
Good color brightness, so colors still look fairly vivid when you turn the light up.
Fantastic brightness uniformity.
The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra's contrast is sub-par. In a fully dark environment, blacks and letterbox bars look more gray than black, and very dark scenes lack depth. With some lights on or in typical living-room conditions, the raised black level is less noticeable, but it won't satisfy someone chasing a true home-theater look with deep, rich blacks.
Blacks look more dark gray than truly deep in a dark room.
Struggles with near-dark content.
Changelog
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Updated Jan 20, 2026:
We mentioned the newly reviewed XGIMI HORIZON 20 Pro in the Contrast section of this review.
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Updated Jan 16, 2026:
We mention the newly reviewed Epson Lifestudio Flex Plus in the Portability section of this review.
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Updated Jan 14, 2026:
We updated the Native Contrast results after a recent adjustment to our testing. We also touched up the Our Verdict section and the Popular Projector Comparisons box.
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Updated Jan 14, 2026:
We've modified the text in our Brightness and Native Contrast text boxes as a result of our latest test bench and added a Sequential Contrast test. We've also added Brightness and Contrast performance usages in the Verdict section.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra 4K. It now sits alongside the XGIMI HORIZON S Max at the top of XGIMI's HORIZON lineup. Both the Ultra and S Max use XGIMI's hybrid Dual Light engine (laser + LED), with the S Max using the newer Dual Light 2.0, while the XGIMI HORIZON Pro and XGIMI HORIZON are LED-only models. The Ultra adds a motorized 1.2–1.5:1 zoom, whereas the S Max has a fixed 1.2:1 throw with a built-in rotating stand; both support Dolby Vision/HDR10/HLG, while the older HORIZON models top out at HDR10/HLG.
| Model | Light Source | Resolution | Brightness (ISO) | HDR Formats | Setup / OS | Ports (highlights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HORIZON S Max | Dual Light 2.0 (RGB laser+LED) | 4K (XPR) | 3100 | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG, IMAX Enhanced | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI (eARC)×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 5 |
| HORIZON S Pro | Dual Light 2.0 | 4K (XPR) | 1800 | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG | ISA 5.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI (eARC)×1, USB×2, Wi-Fi 5 |
| HORIZON Ultra | Dual Light (Laser+LED) | 4K (XPR) | 2300 | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG | ISA 3.0; Android TV 11 | HDMI×2 (1×eARC), USB×2, LAN, optical out, Wi-Fi 6 |
| HORIZON Pro | LED | 4K (XPR) | 1500 | HDR10, HLG | ISA (earlier gen); Android TV 10 | HDMI×2, USB×2, LAN, optical out, Wi-Fi |
| HORIZON | LED | 1080p | 1500 | HDR10, HLG | ISA (earlier gen); Android TV | Typical: HDMI×2, USB×2, LAN |
Our unit was manufactured in July 2023.
Popular Projector Comparisons
The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra 4k projector has a good mix of image quality and smart features. It is bright, has very even illumination, and its colors appear rich and saturated, making it a suitable choice for a living room projector. Its main weakness is contrast, which keeps blacks looking more gray than inky. If pure image quality is all you care about, especially for dark-room movie watching, the Epson Home Cinema 3800 is a much better choice for a similar price. However, the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra counters with a more modern package, featuring a compact chassis, full Wi-Fi 6 support, an integrated smart OS, and advanced image-correction features that simplify setup in challenging spaces.
Check out our recommendations for the best 4k projectors and the best projectors for home theater. If you prefer to shop for a projector that can be used outdoors, look for the best outdoor projectors instead.
The XGIMI HORIZON 20 is noticeably better than the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra in every way. The HORIZON 20 is brighter, has better contrast, is more colorful and accurate, and is much more responsive for gaming with high-refresh-rate support.
The Hisense M2 Pro is much better than the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra. The XGIMI has one advantage; it's much brighter. Otherwise, the Hisense is better across the board: much better contrast, a wider color gamut, more accurate out of the box, smaller and more portable, and far better for gaming due to its high refresh rate support and lower input lag.
The BenQ X3000i is better than the XGIMI HORIZON Ultra. The XGIMI is a bit brighter, but the BenQ has slightly better contrast and noticeably better color accuracy. The BenQ is also better for gaming with its 1080p @ 240Hz support. While neither projector is particularly portable, the XGIMI has full auto keystone support with object avoidance and autofocus, making it the easier of the two to set up. The XGIMI has more modern features, as it has Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and Android TV 11, while the BenQ's included Android dongle is limited to Android TV 10, Wi-Fi 5, and Bluetooth 4.2.
The XGIMI HORIZON Ultra is much better than the XGIMI HORIZON Pro. The Ultra is significantly brighter than the Pro and has better pre-calibration color accuracy. The Ultra also offers more modern smart features, including Android TV 11, Bluetooth 5.2, and Wi-Fi 6, as well as a more powerful integrated sound system.
We've independently bought and tested over 75 projectors and published detailed results for each, so you can decide which one to buy. These have all been tested under the same standardized methodology, allowing you to compare them side by side. We still have all these projects in our lab, so we can continually go back and compare them to ensure our reviews are still accurate. All our test methodologies are also public on our website, so you can validate the results yourself.
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