XGIMI Elfin Flip 4K review: An ultra-portable laser projector with sharp video quality

XGIMI Elfin Flip 4K review: An ultra-portable laser projector with sharp video quality It’s not particularly bright, but it provides crisp, color-accurate video. 4K laser projectors are everywhere these days, but there are still a couple of things they lack: decent prices and true portability. XGIMI, which burst on the scene just a couple of years ago, believes it has an answer for both issues with the Elfin Flip 4K. With its unique lightweight, tilting design, it can be set up anywhere and at $999, it's cheaper than most triple-laser 4K projectors. The Elfin Flip 4K offers outstanding image quality, comes with Google TV and even has a built-in Harman-Kardon speaker. After testing it, I think it could be an excellent first buy for anyone wanting to dip their toe into laser projectors — as long as you don't plan on using it in bright rooms. Features and design The Elfin Flip 4K certainly looks unique. It's mounted in a squarish swivel stand that also serves as a handle, and can be adjusted up to 150 degrees to project from a coffee table, shelf or even up to the ceiling. It weighs just 3.4 pounds, making it one of the lightest 4K projectors on the market. What's more, the brushed metal finish gives it an elegant and futuristic look. I set it up to project on my 120-inch standard roll-down screen, though the Flip 4K can project an image up to 400 inches. Setup isn't fully automatic like Anker's Nebula X1 or other models I've tested lately, but the 0.98x to 1.3x optical zoom, along with the light weight, made placement easy. I just needed to place it on a table and center it to the screen, tilt it up and adjust the zoom. From there I ran the auto keystone adjustment and autofocus, giving me a perfect screen fit and image in about two minutes. The projector comes with a pair of HDMI 2.0 inputs, including one with eARC to easily incorporate audio devices like soundbars or speakers. You also get a pair of USB-A ports to play media files and supply power to streaming dongles, along with a 3.5mm output port. It includes Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6 for wireless speakers and streaming. At room temperature where excessive cooling for the triple laser engine isn't needed, I measured fan noise on the Flip 4K at just 30 decibels, which is barely audible. However, cranking brightness can boost the fan speed and thus increase the noise. Unlike XGIMI's other Elfin Flip models, the Flip 4K isn't truly portable because it doesn't have an internal battery. That likely wouldn't be practical in any case, as the relatively high brightness and 4K chip would eat power quickly. If you plan to take it outdoors, you'll need to have a good-sized portable battery or some other way to plug it in. Google TV is built-in for streaming and projector control via the slim remote. It provides a large library of apps via Google Play plus a familiar interface. You get certified versions of Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Max and others, plus Google Cast and AirPlay support, along with Google Assistant for voice control. As with other Google TV projectors, it was reasonably responsive but not super snappy, so some buyers may prefer to use a Chromecast or another streaming device. Image quality The triple laser, along with the 0.39-inch image 4K-capable chip and high-quality lenses, elevate this projector above similarly-priced rivals. Along with a promised 20,000:1 contrast ratio, XGIMI says this projector covers 110 percent of the HDR BT.2020 color gamut and outputs 1,600 ANSI lumens of brightness. It supports both HDR10 and HLG, though not Dolby Vision or HDR10+. Still, those are solid specs for a $999 projector. My testing confirmed the specs are accurate, for the most part. I measured just over 1,550 ANSI lumens at the brightest Performance mode, though colors at that setting were noticeably shifted to green. When using the more typical Movie setting, I measured just over 1,200 ANSI lumens and a contrast ratio of 5,400:1 with dynamic black level enhancement (DBLE) enabled, or 1,600:1 with DBLE turned off. That's well short of XGIMI's claims, but still a good result. It's difficult to measure color accuracy with projectors, but I clocked it at well over 100 percent of BT.2020, also an outstanding result. In a fully-darkened room, the Elfin Flip 4K was great for movies and series like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Andor and Dune 2. However, it's not bright enough for daytime sports, even with the shades down. For that, you'll need a model like Anker's Nebula X1, which puts out 3,500 ANSI lumens for more than double the price. Colors on the Flip 4K are surprisingly accurate, which gave me reference-like viewing for movies like F1, Interstellar and Avengers: Endgame. Triple-laser projectors are a better option than most TVs in terms of color accuracy, so cinephiles will love that aspect of the Flip 4K. As mentioned earlier, brightness isn't as excellent, so the HDR settings on this projector don't provide nearly the pop you'd get from a good OLED or MiniLED TV. Audio and gaming In its marketing, XGIMI touts the 7-watt Harman Kardon speaker on Flip 4K, but sound quality is pretty weak and lacks bass if you're relying on it alone. Luckily, the projector also supports Dolby Audio and Dolby Digital+ (see Engadget's explainer to learn the difference between them). That will let you connect a nice surround sound system via the HDMI eARC port, or at least use wireless speakers over Bluetooth 5.2. The XGIMI Elfin Flip 4K offers better gaming specs than most other mid-range projectors as well, with 1080p at up to a 120 fps refresh rate (in Game mode with VRR support) and very low 1ms latency with ALLM (auto low-latency mode) enabled. It won't excel at 4K gaming due to the 30 fps limitation, however. Still, I was able to do some no-compromise 1080p gaming at 120 fps with VRR for titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hollow Knight: Singsong. The enormous screen, color accuracy and relatively sharp image provided a great experience and immersion that's not possible on a smaller display. Wrap-up It's nice to see triple-laser projector technology trickling down to cheaper portable models like the Elfin Flip 4K. The advantages are clear, as you get a small and light projector that can be quickly set up and beam out surprisingly high-quality images. The drawback of this model is the laser light output, since you can easily find brighter models at around the same $999 price (the Flip 4K is currently on pre-order for $899). If brightness is important, you might be tempted by XGIMI's own $1,399 Horizon 20 that also has a triple-laser and puts out exactly double the light (3,200 ANSI lumens), albeit in a much larger form factor. A like-priced option is the $999 BenQ GP520, which uses an RGB LED and boasts 2,600 ANSI lumens of brightness. However, that projector is also bigger than the Flip 4K and weighs more than twice as much. If you're looking for the most stylish and portable 4K projector, XGIMI's Elfin Flip 4K is my preferred pick. It's easy to tote around, connects to your favorite streaming services, plays games well and won't disappoint on image quality — if you're in a dark room.