Xgimi MoGo 4 Review: An Average-Quality Mini Projector at an Unbeatable Price

Straight out of the box, the MoGo 4’s image quality is a little marginal, but I was able to improve it significantly with some tweaking. One issue is that the autofocus consistently leaves the image softer than the lens is capable of delivering, so it is well worth taking the time to add manual adjustment after each autofocus attempt. Even after doing that, focus was still a little soft, but not by enough to matter for casual viewing.

A second issue is that all four predefined picture modes for SDR, as well as the four for HDR, lose significant shadow detail with the default settings because the Brightness setting (which sets the black level) is too low. For SDR input, adjusting it properly for each mode largely solves the problem without hurting black level or washing out brighter scenes. Bright areas, including clouds in bright scenes, are also blown out with the default settings. The standard fix would be to adjust the contrast setting to make the different high-brightness levels more visibly distinct. When I tried that, however, the overall image brightness dropped significantly, leaving me with the choice between blown-out highlights and a dark overall image. For my tastes, the blown highlights were the preferred compromise.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

All the modes offer essentially the same settings, but they can be adjusted to achieve similar color accuracy. I picked User mode as my starting point for SDR input. In addition to adjusting the Brightness setting, I also set the Gamma to Bright, which improved shadow detail even more without any other noticeable effect, and I raised the color saturation setting just a tad to improve color quality. The final result was a highly watchable picture, with good color, good contrast except for clouds and other bright areas, a dark-enough black to give dark scenes an appropriately dramatic effect, and good enough shadow detail to make out almost everything I know to look for in our darkest test clips.

For HDR input, the User and Standard HDR modes immediately stood out for the best image quality among the four. There was little difference between the two, so I chose User, which was the default, for my viewing tests. As with SDR, the HDR User mode default settings lost significant shadow detail and needed brightness adjusted. I didn’t see a need for any other changes. Image quality for HDR was similar to SDR in general description, but not quite as good in subtle ways. I could see what was happening in dark scenes well enough, for example, but shadow detail was a little harder to make out. (Note that Xgimi’s online specs at this writing mistakenly say that the HDMI port doesn’t support HDR10. Xgimi says it plans to fix the error.)

(Credit: M. David Stone)

For those concerned about rainbow artifacts (the red/green/blue flashes that single-chip DLP projectors tend to show), the good news is that the MoGo 4 shows few of them. I saw a total of one in my SDR viewing tests, and only a few with HDR input. That said, keep in mind that how easily you see these flashes varies from one person to the next. If you consider them a problem, be sure to buy from a dealer that offers easy returns so you can test them out for yourself.

There’s also good news for gamers, but bad news for 3D aficionados. The MoGo 4’s input lag is short enough for all but the most serious gaming. I measured it with my Bodnar 4K Lag Tester at 22.2 milliseconds for 1080p/60Hz input. The bad news? There’s no 3D support, which can be a deal killer for some.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

The rated 450 ISO lumens for the MoGo 4 is based on using the Performance setting for power and brightness, which raises fan noise to a potentially annoying level and gives the image a noticeable green tint. For my viewing tests, using the picture mode settings I described above, and the Standard power setting—the default for AC power—the image brightness for both SDR and HDR was close to what I expect from about 400 lumens. In a dark room, the image was easily bright enough to fill my 90-inch, 1.0-gain screen. In my family room on an overcast day, it delivered a watchable but washed-out image at roughly 55 inches.