XGIMI Horizon Review: The Easy Living-Room Projector That Still Makes Sense

By Editorial Team | April 2026

The Horizon wins because it gets you from box to film night with almost no faff. At £559, it’s the rare projector that feels built for a normal living room, not a dedicated cave.

Our picks at a glance

Pick	Product	Price	Best for
Best overall	XGIMI Horizon	£559.00	A simple big-screen upgrade for living rooms, sports and casual gaming
Best upgrade	Hisense C1	£1,099	Sharper 4K playback and a more premium all-in-one setup
Best budget	BenQ TH685P	£578.99	Gaming-first buyers who care more about motion and input lag than smart features

Based on hands-on research, expert review consensus (RTings, Wirecutter, relevant subreddits), and current pricing.

Best overall: XGIMI Horizon

XGIMI Horizon — £559.00

This is the projector you buy when you want a proper home cinema feel without turning setup into a weekend project. The score is 7.6, but the real win is convenience: auto focus, auto keystone, auto screen alignment and obstacle avoidance do the annoying work for you.

Why we picked it:

• 1500 ISO lumens is bright enough for a mixed-use lounge, so you are not forced into blackout conditions every time you watch.
• Dual 8W Harman Kardon speakers are genuinely usable, which means you can live with it before adding a soundbar.
• Android TV 10.0 plus Chromecast built in makes streaming and casting easy, and it accepts 4K input at 60Hz.

The trade-off: the black levels are only average, so dark films in a proper theatre room will expose its limits fast, and there’s no native Netflix app support. If that matters, buy the XGIMI Horizon only if you can live with a streaming workaround.

Best upgrade: Hisense C1

Hisense C1 — £1,099

The extra money buys you a more convincing premium home-cinema image, especially if you care about 4K detail and want a projector that feels a step closer to the enthusiast end of the market. It is the smarter upgrade if your room is set up for movie nights and you are willing to pay for better picture quality rather than just easier setup.

Worth it if: you want a more serious cinema projector and can stretch past the Horizon’s value-first brief.

Best budget pick: BenQ TH685P

BenQ TH685P — £578.99

This is the better cheap pick if gaming matters more than streaming polish. It is still not a true all-round living-room smart projector, but it earns its place with a reputation for low input lag and 1080p/120Hz gaming performance that casual players and sports fans will appreciate.

Worth it if: you mainly want a budget-friendly projector for consoles and fast-moving content, and you do not care about built-in apps or speaker quality.

How we chose

We looked at the features that actually decide whether you will use a projector regularly: setup speed, brightness in a real room, built-in sound, streaming convenience and honest image quality. We also cross-checked current alternatives and pricing against recent review consensus from RTings, Wirecutter, PCMag, IGN and current retailer listings.

Frequently asked questions

Is the XGIMI Horizon good for first-time projector buyers? Yes. It is one of the easiest ways to get a big-screen setup without learning projector geometry the hard way.

Is £559 good value for a projector like this? Yes, if you want an easy all-in-one living-room model. If you care more about deep blacks and cleaner HDR, the money is better spent stepping up to a more serious home-cinema projector.

Do I need a separate speaker with it? No, not immediately; the built-in Harman Kardon speakers are good enough for normal viewing, though a soundbar will still improve movies.