Review: Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro

Portable projectors bring freedom to stream your favourites movies and TV shows from just about any room, anywhere. I’ve been testing the coffee-cup sized Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro Mini Portable Projector, which promises exactly that.

To get the obvious out of the way, the name “Xgimi” is pronounced “Ex-Gee-Mee”. It lets you stream your favourite shows with Google TV, and built-in Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, with one-touch access on the remote control. It also supports Apple TV.

Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro Quick Look

• 1920 x 1080p HD, 60Hz resolution
• LED light source; 450 lumens brightness
• 2GB RAM; 16GB storage; HDR 10 support
• 2x 5W Harmon Kardon speakers
• USB-C charge; 1x USB-A; 1x micro HDMI
• Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus support
• 1.1kg weight

Inside the box 

The Xgimi MoGo 3 comes in a slim line box with the projector, a 65W two-pin plug attached to a cable, a remote control with 2x AAA batteries and a user manual. That’s it, it not complicated and to be honest, you don’t even need to read the manual.

I like that the cable colour matches the projector. It’s a small touch that you don’t realise how much adds to the aesthetic.

If you care about what your gadgets look like in the living room, you will appreciate the colour; it’s a soft gold tone. And the Bluetooth remote is slim and elongated, which is easy to hold.

The unit itself is 204.9 x 95 x 95 mm in dimensions and weighs 1.1kgs, so not at all heavy. It is one of the nicer looking projectors that I’ve seen. I am a big fan of the speakers sitting at the bottom and the swivel design.

It supports Bluetooth 5.1 and WiFi 5 dual band 2.4/5GHz. You can use third party cables and plugs provided it has a 65W PD.

Setting up the Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro

I simply plugged the projector in, added the batteries to the remote and followed on-screen instructions. I just projected it onto my wall and it immediately felt intuitive in set-up.

It supports projections at 1.06m away that is 40-inches; 1.6m away that is 60-inches; 2.1m away that is 80-inches; and 3.2m away that is 120-inches. This lets you accommodate all room sizes.

You start with logging into a Google account, which I mentioned has Google TV built in. It does take a while to download before you get to the main screen. You may be familiar with this interface if you’ve used a Google Chromecast or any Android TV box.

You can also download and log into your favourite streaming apps at this step, such as Prime Video, Netflix. Apple TV.

Initially, you can set up the display automatically or manually. Manual lets you choose your four corners of your screen, which I used with my projector sheet. I didn’t get it to align exactly inside but it worked fine.

However, I did prefer a projection straight on the wall. And when you move the unit around, it uses an “Auto Keystone Correction” feature to realign in properly.

It also has an autofocus feature; so you don’t have to adjust for clarity. When I tell you this thing does it automatically, it just does. How refreshing, you don’t have to go through blurriness to find the right settings, like you do with other systems.

Once it sets-up automatically, you can still go and adjust it manually if you prefer.

The built-in stand lets it move 130-degrees to project, and it has an ambient light. I placed on a chair so I didn’t actually see the ambient light and depending on you, you may or may not find it a bother. It also has a sound level of 32 decibels, which my cat did not like.

The remote control

The remote control has buttons for power, voice commands via Google, user accounts, screen adjustments, source, back, settings and home. It also has four prominent shortcut keys and one customisable one, a clicker, and volume.

The shortcut keys are what you’d expect from any streaming box, featuring YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, but also the customisable option. I haven’t used a projector before with that option. It does support Apple TV+ subscription so you can set it to that if you want to.

I appreciate the slimness in the design, it’s not heavy and chunky, and you can easily tap the buttons. I don’t like remotes with a big height on the buttons, these are “shallow” and have a soft touch to it versus pressing hard into a remote.

Watching TV Series and Movies

I found the brightness levels suitable once I switched my lights off. I didn’t find it overly bright and could easily watch my favourite content on YouTube or Netflix without my eyes taking strain, which is something I notice as I wear glasses.

This is me using my projector sheet. Unfortunately it was folded a certain way and wasn’t fully straight based on how it was stored but I used it regardless.

I didn’t need to keep adjusting the projector. After the initial set-up, I found it worked seamlessly.

Regarding the sound, it was excellent quality by Harman Kardon. There is Dolby Audio support as well. I tested the Samsung Freestyle projector before, and this is one of my biggest differences, the superior sound on the Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro. There’s a reason it has a Pro in the name.

For the most part, I used it to stream only but it does have a USB-A port and micro HDMI if you want to connect other things to it, which I didn’t find the need to. You can also connect and play games on it if you want to, and it supports DLNA/Google Cast.

Settings

Given that it is a Google TV interface, the settings are what you’d expect on Android. It’s accessible on the top right, and you can choose a screensaver, manage inputs, picture, sound, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. and run your software updates.

For sound style, you can choose movie, music, game or sports based on what you are watching; and choose between stereo or surround sound. It also has a dialogue enhancer; you can either have it off, low, medium or high.

If you’ve been using smartphones or tablets over the years, it’s not difficult to tweak the settings to your preference.

Final Thoughts

I’ve reviewed a bunch of projectors before and didn’t think they could be a replacement for a TV before until I tried the Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro. It is easy to set-up, works across various room sizes, giving you between 40 to 120 inches of screen projection, and the sound quality is great given its size.

It is suited at those who are starting out and don’t want to fork out for TV because they wouldn’t use it as much, or for those who want a portable solution to move around the house whether indoors or outdoors. It promises up to 25 000 hours of use.

It’s a coffee-cup sized projector, that is also portable, and easy to move between rooms; so one of my disappointments was that it didn’t have a battery built-in, however, you can connect to a portable power station.

It is convenient to take with you on holiday, as you will already be logged into your accounts. A carry-case would have also been a nice addition.

Given that I think it could be a TV replacement, it comes with a price tag of R16 999 for the Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro, which according to the distributor, is available via Cape Union Mart.

After googling, I also found the Xgimi MoGo 3 Pro bundle on Takealot that includes a PowerBase stand with a 20 000mAh battery built-in. It’s like a tripod stand with a battery. It is R20 999.