Consider these 5 Best Projectors under 300 for Home Theater

Consider these 5 best projectors under 300 for home theater in 2022

If you are looking for a projector to kick your home movie nights up a notch you have come to the right place. It is amazing how high quality a projector you can get these days for under $300. That is a very good price to pay in order to bring the cinema experience home.

While there are many more expensive projectors for home movies. $300 is a very good price point to be at. You see, you can get one that offers the best of all world, all the while not breaking the bank.

The 5 Best Projectors Under $300 Reviews

Here are a handful of projectors that I have selected for this list. A few of these I have personally used myself, including one that is up in the attic right now that the kids use all of the time. The others, I may not have personally tested, but I think they are worthy of being in the conversation.

  1. YABER Y31 Native 1920x 1080P Projector
  2. Mini Projector, Iolieo 5500 Lumen
  3. ViewSonic 3800 Lumens SVGA High Brightness Projector
  4. VANKYO Leisure 430 Projector
  5. Projector, COOAU 5500 Lumens Outdoor Movie Projector

1. YABER Y31 Native 1920x 1080P Projector

First up we have this YABER Y31 Native 1920x 1080P Projector which I can personally tell you is a fantastic projector. It is currently being sold for around the 280 bucks mark which is a great price for a projector of this quality. This is a projector that I helped a good friend of mine set up a home theatre with and we were both very impressed. It has a rather “boxy” design, but he has it mounted on the ceiling so you do not even notice it. Two HDMI ports are a nice addition and even though the fans are loud, you at least know they are keeping it cool.

This provides a nice and bright image thanks to it being 7200 lumens. It offers a full HD image and just last week we watched the remake of Dawn of the Dead on this thing and it looked great. It does have its own speakers, usually, the built-in speakers on a projector are subpar at best, but these are actually not bad at all. It comes with everything you need in the box and in all, I am sure you are going to have a lot of fun with this.

What Other People Are Saying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2CdTl1XXzk

You can see this in all its glory via this video unboxing that I found over on YouTube. Here you can get a much better idea of its size and if the design is something you will be cool with, in your own home theatre. This is a very popular home projector on Amazon and it has over 2800 customer reviews. 87 percent of these reviews are for four and five stars so the general thoughts on this are mostly positive.

My buddy has been using this YABER Y31 Native 1920x 1080P Projector as his main movie projector for a while and it has served him very, very well. This is a high-end projector without the over $500 price tag. I have watched movies, sports, and even some TV at his place many times and I have never once had an issue with the picture quality.

Pros:

  • The image is very sharp and clear
  • It has two HDMI ports
  • The built-in speakers are way better than you would think
  • It runs pretty cool

Cons:

  • It can get a bit loud
  • The design is not the most appealing that I have ever seen

2. Mini Projector, Iolieo 5500 Lumen

I know that at just over 100 bucks this Mini Projector, Iolieo 5500 Lumen may seem like it could be too good to be true. This is the projector that we have in our attic which is the kid’s playroom. They wanted a projector so they could watch movies on the big screen and this one ticked all the boxes. It is a very small projector and it is easy to use, we have the PlayStation 4 hooked up to it and it looks great. They watch Netflix, play games, watch Blu-Rays, and so on via this thing and it is fine. The attic is pretty dark so the picture really does pop up there. I have to be honest and say that I am not 100 percent sure it would be as good in a lighter room, however.

This is not a full HD projector so it is not going to be something that a true movie fanatic would want as their main projector. However, for someone just starting out or someone on a budget, you can do a heck of a lot worse than this. I feel that they have crammed all that they could in this little box and managed to keep the price to a very affordable amount. I will not say that the image is going to blow you away, but for kids or just a casual movie fan, I am sure it will more than get the job done.

What Other People Are Saying

As this is a very affordable projector it has a fair amount of customer reviews over at Amazon. Over 80 percent of these are glowingly positive reviews which is great. “You can project up to 200″ clearly and it can play video from a variety of sources. I used this with a cellphone, micro SD, USB flash drive and even with an Amazon fire stick” pretty much tells you all you need to know. The negative reviews that I have come across tend to be folks with very unrealistic expectations for what this could do.

I have had this in my house for a while now and I have no complaints. For a budget priced projector, the Mini Projector, Iolieo 5500 Lumen does pretty much everything you could want. This is not going to showcase you something like Transformers in clarity just like you get at the cinema. However, it will show you the movie in a fun and solid enough way that you will not care. If you are on a budget, you can not go wrong with this one here.

Pros:

  • The asking price is very reasonable
  • It is very easy to get up and running
  • The image quality may not be full HD, but it is not bad at all
  • It is also pretty good for gaming too

Cons:

  • You are not getting a full HD image with this
  • It may be a bit too basic for some people

3. ViewSonic 3800 Lumens SVGA High Brightness Projector

Ok, so we are at a price point of $299.99 with this ViewSonic 3800 Lumens SVGA High Brightness Projector, however, if 300 bucks is your price limit, this one here is perfect. I was actually sent this bad boy to test out a month or so ago and I was very impressed. It has your standard HDMI input, but it also has a few other connections on the back to such as a USB and a few for computers which I did not use, but it means that you could also use this for work as well as watching awesome movies.

Speaking of watching awesome movies, I had this for about two weeks to test and a few of the movies I watched were Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, Terminator 2, Spider-Man: From Home, and Monsters University. I wanted to make sure this could handle movies that have a lot of color and action going on and it certainly did. This is nice and bright, but I was especially impressed with the way that it handled dark colors. I even watched a few 3D movies with this and they were great too. I could have been told that this was a $500 projector and I probably would have believed it. The only downside to this is the internal speaker which is very poor quality, but you can easily add your own speakers.

What Other People Are Saying

I was impressed with this and I found a solid video review that shows this off a bit more. Here you can get a better idea of what this is going to be offering you. If we head over to our good buddies at Amazon, you can see that this is a very popular home theatre projector. It has 1600 customer reviews and 90 percent of these customer reviews are for four and five stars. Only three percent of the reviews are negative and they tend to be from people who were sent a defective unit.

The best compliment that I can give the ViewSonic 3800 Lumens SVGA High Brightness Projector is that I could quite happily have this as my main projector. It does what it does very, very well. Over the time that I had this to play around with, I was very impressed. I watched a ton of movies, but I also watched a few basketball games, some WWE, and even played some Nintendo Switch with the kids and it handled it all very well.


Pros:

  • It is a high-end projector that is being sold for a good price
  • The image quality is very clear
  • I really liked the way it dealt with darker colors as well as the bright colors
  • It has a few extra ports on the back

Cons:

  • It is at the higher end of our $300 limit
  • It does have an internal speaker, but it is very poor quality

4. VANKYO Leisure 430 Projector

Here we have this funky little VANKYO Leisure 430 Projector that I have not personally tested, but at only $109.99, I felt it was well worth us taking a closer look at. For something so small, it is more than capable of supporting pretty much any device. From the description, phones seem to be the main thing that they are pushing, but it does have an HDMI port so your Blu-Ray player or games console will be able to be connected to this. It says that it has a built in speaker, but at this size and at this price point I would be shocked if the sound quality was any good. Still, if you want something that is cheap and ready to rock right out of the box this could be ideal.

In looking at the tech specs for this, they claim that it is very bright and that the image can be in 1080p. From the images, it does look quite clear so if you are using it in a very dark room, I am sure that this is going to look pretty damn good. I do not think this kind of projector is aimed at those who have a home theatre. It is more aimed at those who want something cheap that they can have the odd family movie night or something like that.

What Other People Are Saying

Due to the low price a ton of people have purchased this. On Amazon, there are a phenomenal 3356 customer reviews as I write this! Even more impressive than that is that over 90 percent of these reviews are for four and five stars. “While watching Supernatural on Netflix, the image shows as very clear with good colors. It’s not as crisp as what you would get with a native 1080p projector, but it’s definitely enjoyable” That review caught my eye, one because it mentioned that the picture quality was good, but also because they watch Supernatural which is awesome.

I have played with many mini projectors over the years and I would love to get my hands on this VANKYO Leisure 430 Projector. I am sure that families would have a ton of fun with this. The fact that it is so compact and comes with its own little carrying case means that it is ideal if you want a projector that can be stored away when it is not in use. Plus, let’s face it the close to 100 bucks price point is very attractive too.

Pros:

  • I like the compact design of this projector
  • It is very affordable
  • It comes with a carrying case
  • Ideal if you want a very cheap projector

Cons:

  • I have no confidence in those little speakers!
  • The image is not going to be as sharp as it would on a higher-quality projector

5. Projector, COOAU 5500 Lumens Outdoor Movie Projector

Last, but by no means least we have this funky looking Projector, COOAU 5500 Lumens Outdoor Movie Projector. The design of this is really interesting, it has a very futuristic kind of thing going on and I cannot decide if I like it or not. This is priced at $129.99 which is a great price. They also have a black version which as I write this is on offer for under $100 which is insane. It does say “outdoor” in the title, but at 5500 lumens I am certain this will be just as good for indoor movie viewing as well.

This projector has all the hookups that you would expect on the back, but what sounded most interesting to me was the way they allow you to wirelessly stream stuff off your phone. I have to admit I am not sure what the quality here would be like, but it does sound like a very convenient feature for this to have. It does only play in 720p so you will not be getting the movie theatre experience. However, for those that just want something fun so they can watch a movie on the big screen, I am sure this will be great.

What Other People Are Saying

If you want to see this thing in action check out this video unboxing where you can see it in all its glory. Over at Amazon this currently has over one thousand customer reviews and the reception to this is pretty positive. It has a very respectable 90 percent when it comes to positive customer reviews.

I have looked at a lot of these lower budget home projectors, but this Projector, COOAU 5500 Lumens Outdoor Movie Projector one looks like it could be very special. I like the way they are trying to bring the big screen home at an affordable price. Granted this is only 720p, but I feel most people will not care about this and still have fun with it anyway.

Pros:

  • The asking price is very affordable
  • The design is weird, but interesting
  • It has plenty of hookups
  • You can stream from your phone directly to this

Cons:

  • The design is different, but is it too different?
  • Why is the black version so much cheaper?

What Is The Best Projector Under $300?

If you do not mind being as close to our 300 bucks price limit as possible then the one that I am going to recommend to you is the ViewSonic 3800 Lumens SVGA High Brightness Projector. This thing is fantastic and while it is 300 bucks, it offers as much as some projectors that cost way more, plus the image quality is incredible.

Those that want to purchase a projector that is more on the modest size. I suggest you take a closer look at the Mini Projector, Iolieo 5500 Lumen. I have had this in my house for a while and the kids love it. It is cheap and does a fine job, actually just last weekend, my kids camped out in the attic and watched movies on this all night and loved it.

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