XGIMI MoGo 4 Laser projector review

When Xgimi released the MoGo 4 Laser projector, a little light switched on in my brain. Three, actually. This versatile little tri-laser beamer seeks to follow your lead, and light up your life with a cornucopia of practical portability features. I wouldn't say you're looking at a projector as much as you're looking at a technological druid packing the Wild Shape spell.

In all my years of reviewing tech it's become painfully clear that a plentiful feature set usually points to at least a couple of small caveats. No projector could possibly nail everything expected of it, especially with a price so reasonable. There's nothing glaringly wrong to note while unpacking this stylish little machine, unless the curved, retro look offends you terribly. So let's get into where the MoGo 4 Laser projector excels, and where it's maybe a little less effective.

Now, I love a transformer. Any piece of tech that can shift from projector, to soundbar, to fancy lightshow with the flick of some far-out mechanism gives me a palpable dopamine hit. That's what Xgimi is pandering to with the MoGo 4 Laser: tech fiends with a penchant for adaptable equipment. At any moment, a swift attachment of one of the MoGo 4 Laser's magnetic creative filters will see your room bathed in cosmic lighting. While other portable projectors I've tested like the Xgimi Halo also offer the option to go sans-visuals, none have been so bold as to throw in a light show for my troubles. It does mean there are more components to worry about getting lost, but I always appreciate a little novelty to appease parents, art students, and stoners alike.

Alternatively, you can rotate the body 360 degrees on its slide rail base, snapping the front to face downwards. This signals that you're done projecting and would like to listen to some music instead. The Harman Kardon speakers' sound quality is far better in larger projectors like the Aura UST since they're a little tinny in their 6 W form, with some shaky bass handling, but they're still clear as anything.

In audio mode you can have the ambient light blink to the music which is another fun little novelty feature, but using the lasers for such an effect won't do the battery life any favors. Audio only mode takes the standard two and a half hour battery life up to just under six hours without the dancing ambient lighting, though, which is more than enough to kick off a beach party before the rig sets up.

For $100 extra, you can extend that battery life to around five hours with the Outdoor Collection variant's included PowerBase stand, thanks to its integrated battery pack. That added premium also nets you an outdoor projector screen and a carry case to house everything, adding exponentially to that portability factor.

All this adaptability is upped still further by the MoGo 4 Laser's intelligent screen alignment feature. Move it from room to room and it'll attempt to adapt to whatever surface you've earmarked for it. You can even flip it around to project on the opposite wall and it'll flip the image accordingly. Ceiling projection is also far easier than other projectors, thanks to the handy swivel.

Sadly it struggles a little with identifying where one wall ends and another begins unless there's a clear divide, like coving or a colour difference. It's easy enough to correct in the software, with manual keystone correction and digital zoom features being easy to master. There's also a host of practical quality-of-life features baked in, with auto power on and even a mildly programmable shortcut key on the controller. I say mildly because the only options are to use it as an ambient light or mute toggle, which could just have been two separate buttons, honestly.

Google TV itself—which is essentially a reskinned Android TV operating system—is not going to be to everyone's taste. Part of the draw of going Android for me has always been more control over how you use your device, and while Google TV does come with more personalized recommendations and profiles that allow easier parental controls, having ads plastered across the top of your homescreen at all times definitely starts to grate after a while.

When it comes to gaming, you're looking at around 20 ms latency in game mode. For RPGs, farming sims and the like it's workable, but that delay could affect your K/D ratio in more fast-paced and pro-level games. My biggest saving grace has been the fact you can keep the MoGo 4 Laser set in whatever super-awkward keystone you need while playing games, meaning you don't have to reposition it like other projectors that can't handle keystone correction in gaming mode. So yes, the MoGo 4 Laser can not only handle gaming as well as is necessary for the everyman, it does so without compromising your setup.

Playing or watching with the MoGo during the day can be tricky, however, as even 550 ISO Lumens leaves me squinting every time the sun decides to peek out from behind a cloud. That's going to limit your options if you're thinking of taking it out into the wild as it's designed to be used, but it's more something to consider than a drawback—any brighter and the battery life would really suffer I imagine.

What you need to remember is that the Xgimi MoGo 4 Laser is a highly specialised piece of kit. While it doesn't spec into high resolution or extreme speeds like the XGIMI Aura 4K UST, it leans heavily into adaptability and portability instead. It won't ace a daytime movie session or suit a pro gamer like the Optoma UHZ55 might, but in the dark, the wild, and with only obtusely-angled surfaces to project onto, the MoGo 4 Laser captures the spirit of the nomadic lifestyle and does so in exceptional style. You could do a lot worse for a portable projector at a sub $800 price point.