A Unique Viewing Experience: The Ultimate Guide to Nebula Portable Projectors

A few years in the tech world is aeons. Gone are the days when the first iterations of digital projectors cost as much as a decent car, could barely muster a pixellated image, and were huge, heavy, and a pain to use. Today we have pint-sized projectors that are simple to use, easy to move around, beam high-definition images, and don’t cost an arm and leg to buy. 

And there are tons of affordable and worthy portable projector options to choose from. They can easily be the centrepiece of your home theatre, work wonders at work, and are perfectly fine for the great outdoors. No straddling cables, only tons of fun thanks to the simple setup. 

One brand that’s made a name in the projector market is Nebula. Its parent company, Anker Electronics, is a staple in the power bank and charger sectors and has recently expanded into household and consumer electronics offering products as diverse as robotic vacuums and security cams, besides the regular line of headphones, webcams, and Bluetooth speakers. The innovative portable Nebula products, though, have garnered the most interest, earning favourable reviews and respect from customers. 

So, if you’re in the market for a projector with excellent image quality, sturdy build, low weight, and some interesting designs, this is the brand to go for. 

The Nebula Projector Range

The company has two distinct lines of projectors – portable and compact units and units providing crystal-clear imaging in more demanding home theatre settings. This leads us to the self-explanatory “Go Anywhere Series” and the “Around the Home Series”. Let’s take a closer look. 

The Go Anywhere Series

Here we find the ever-popular Nebula Capsule, its newer sibling – the Capsule II, the high-tech cousin – the Capsule Laser, the slightly bigger Capsule Max, and in a somewhat different form factor, the Mars II Pro. The range also includes the boxy but capable Solar Portable, the reasonably priced Apollo, and the magician’s bowl that is the Astro. 

The Capsule

One of the most affordable portable projectors in the lineup is the Capsule. This is a tiny Android device capable of streaming your favourite platforms, including Netflix, YouTube and Spotify, as well as mirroring content from your phone. 

The projector comes with a native 480p resolution, the ability to beam images to a 100-inch screen, and 360-degree audio for immersive sound. Its brightness is 100 lumens, just about right for watching movies under a star-studded campsite. 

The setup is simple with the included control app and remote and buttons to manually adjust the focus and volume. In terms of connectivity, there’s inbuilt Bluetooth and a full-sized HDMI-out for connecting computers. 

The entire package allows for unrivalled playtime of up to 4 hours, so no worries about watching your favourite movies or shows in a single go. And when power runs out from the 5250mAh battery, simply recharge your Capsule with one of Anker’s power banks. 

The Mars II Pro

Not as small as the Capsule, but still small enough to fit in a backpack, the Mars II Pro offers users a little bit more. 500 lumens of brightness for watching content even in the darkest settings, a higher 720p resolution for clearer images, more accurate colours and higher contrast, and better sound with the twin speakers. There’s even an additional 8GB of internal storage to keep those favourite tracks and flicks in one secure place. 

You still get a long run time, three hours to be precise, or 30 hours for audio playback, along with all the goodies in the Capsule, like the connect app, the streaming capability, an HDMI port and the ease of use. All this for a slightly higher asking price. 

Capsule II, Laser and More

Other offerings in the Go Anywhere range go that extra mile in getting users what they want. The Capsule II, for instance, has the same form and similar dimensions as its namesake, but offers double the brightness, higher 720p resolution, a bit more body in the sound, updated Android TV, Airplay and Chromecast and auto-focussing. You’re paying for those features, though. And there’s the weight factor which may make the first version all the better buy.

The Capsule Laser (although technically not in the same Go Anywhere line) offers the best viewing experience from the compact, soft drink size. This is due to an uprated laser light source. There are 300 lumens to play with, a clearer 1080p resolution, Android TV 11, Google Voice Control, Chromecast, 16 GB of internal memory, and an updated control app for even quicker setup and ease of use. There’s also the promise of 120-inch screen sizes. 

The Around the Home Series

Following the success of the Capsule mini projectors, Anker updated its line of Nebula products to include portable projectors with cinematic credentials for home theatre. The name says it all. Their Cosmos Laser 4K projector was their first product to go with such a high resolution, a 150-inch screen size, 1840 lumens for extraordinary brightness, black levels and contrast ratios, six different picture modes, included Dolby Audio for immaculate sound and a range of extras you’d expect at the price point. 

The whole package delivers on multiple fronts and is more than a worthy alternative to pricer models from other brands. The only thing missing is battery power and this limits portability. You still need a nearby AC connection to get the projector up and running. 

If you want something at the lower end of the price scale that will be used (mostly) indoors, check out Nebula Solar. It has a decent 400 lumens rating, beams FHD images, has twin speakers and comes bundled with Android TV, for not much more than the Capsule. 

The projector has a squarish shape, is extremely light, and comes with an included stand, so you’ll be saving on accessories. For the price and feature list, there’s nothing quite to match, except maybe the Solar Portable with the inbuilt battery. 

Accessories List

The Nebula series of projectors is a fully-featured ecosystem. Buyers get to choose from a range of models to best suit their needs and budgets and also get a rich accessory product list. It includes projection screens in varying sizes, ceiling mounts, floor and desktop stands, tripods and carry cases. Most items are geared towards the brand’s portable variants and are inexpensive. 

Summing Up

Nebula gets the basics right in all of its projectors. The Go Anywhere units are what most buyers will be getting, considering all feature excellent image quality, great sound, a small form factor and the best-selling point – portability. 

These are projectors that can go, well, anywhere – the backyard, the garage, the neighbour’s BBQ party, the footy, fishing, the beach, long road trips, camping, you name it. They have long run times, can be charged on the go, and are some of the cheapest out there. 

Alternatively, if you need peerless image quality for your home cinema, there’s always the Around the Home line of projectors. Just get those cables ready.