You literally can not beat this projector for the price, but I am returning it for a more expensive option so that I can have Dolby Atmos support for my Sonos sound system.

I purchased this projector during Amazon's Prime Day and got a crazy deal on it. I paid $1,189 instead of $1,699 so I couldn't pass up that deal. It is one of the best tech purchases that I've made for my family. The picture is amazing and the sound is surprisingly great. I use it for family movie night on our deck and my sons also use it to entertain their friends on the deck and in our basement. The only issue I have with the projector is that it won't allow me to download the Netflix app which makes no sense to me. I need to attach a Roku or Stick to experience all that Netflix offers. If you're looking for a nice projector with great a great picture and sound, this is it. I will admit that I would not have paid $1,700 for it but it was worth $1,200.

This is a very good quality projector. The OS is very fast and responsive. Unlike the LED LG 4k projector that I just returned, in which the OS was sluggish. My problem is with the product description and certain reviewers on YouTube. The product description claims that you can get a 150-in diagonal screen at 3.9 meters, which is 13 ft. I have mines fully zoomed and I'm only getting 115 inches at that distance and that's all of the room that I have. . Don't get me wrong, $115-inch image is beautiful, but my whole point of buying it was for the 150 inch at that distance. It's a bit of a letdown when you trust the manufacturer and popular YouTube reviewers that claim that it projects a certain image at a certain distance and to spend time and money on an expensive product only to be deceived. I like the projector, I just hate that the product description was a bit misleading. Have yet to buy another projection screen. I currently have a 100 inch screen, but I haven't decided on whether or not to keep this projector.

Except the noise level everything is just great

The Anker Nebula Cosmos Max is a LED projector designed for use in a home theater or mid-sized auditorium setting with a 1,500 ANSI lumen rating and 4K resolution (pixel shifted from its native 1080p). Its unique, oval-shaped design lends a visual queue to its Nebula Cosmos name with a starry animation fading in and out from its glassy top, although I much prefer the classier, metallic look of the Xgimi Horizon Pro. Both the red Anker logo and fading stars can be turned off.

We were particularly impressed by the booming loud, 3D surround sound that enveloped our ears with clear delight while watching movies, TV shows, playing games, or listening to YouTube/Spotify-streamed music. No audio distortions were discerned below 90% volume and decent bass gave us a good amount of chest pounding while images sprung alive in crisp detail for a very cinematic experience. Dolby Digital Plus sound sources especially highlighted the four speakers’ capabilities and easily filled a large room with a combined 40W. Xgimi’s Horizon Pro only outputs 16W. While the Cosmos Max was bright enough for daytime viewing with its Texas Instrument DLP, the best experience would call for a dark room for the whites and colors to pop. Some black areas, however, were not completely black. Cosmos Max can throw a diagonal 30″-150″ image at a distance between 3′ and 13′.

Today’s higher-end projectors should feature a Smart TV-like user interface with the ability to install app favorites like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO, and Plex — and in that regard, Anker delivered with a full Android TV interface by Google. That meant full access to Google’s Play Store with access to thousands of apps. Navigating the screens felt as snappy as on the excellent Xgimi Halo and was leaps better than my favorite portable, Anker Nebula Mars II Pro, that ran an antiquated Android 7.1 operating system. Had Anker gone with the non-TV version of Android, the company would have committed an unforgiveable sin for a projector in its price range! Video and audio files could be played off a USB drive formatted with a supported filesystem after downloading Total Commander (or ES Explorer) and VLC Player.

Automatic focus and keystone took about 3 seconds to complete — like the cheaper Mars II Pro and Halo — and worked very well during most tests. However, I found that auto-focus could only be activated with its included, non-backlit remote. That leads me to one of the gripes I have with this and Xgimi Halo’s projectors: the lack of physical buttons to start, stop, pause video, mute and adjust volume, and navigate the screen. The Mars II Pro has them and why it became one of my favorites since I sometimes do not want to look for a misplaced remote. Unlike Xgimi, Anker does provide a Nebula Connect app (for Android/Apple iOS) for touch-enabled control of its projectors without the use of a remote. The included remote has a dedicated button for Auto-Focus, Google (voice) Assistant, and was intuitive to use.

Cosmos Max includes a threaded hole on its bottom for mounting to a tripod or ceiling. Considering its size, high power usage, heat production (from its right-rear), and delicate, glassy top, it would make most sense to keep it sitting on a shelf or hung from a ceiling as part of a permanent, home theater installation.

There were some things I did not like about the projector. I had already mentioned the lack of physical controls and the high amount of heat production, but if mounted to the ceiling, both issues become mute. I was able to hear the fan softly whine during silent moments, HDR sometimes looked a bit washed out, input lagged slightly for high-intensity games, and there was no physical button available to launch auto-focus without the remote. Of worthy mention also was the Netflix app with a problem not unique to the Cosmos Max: it also affected the Anker Nebula Mars II Pro and Xgimi Halo. Due to certification requirements, the latest version of Netflix found in the Google Play store was incompatible with all 3 projectors. In fact, navigating the streaming service even with a compatible app version could be frustrating as some controls required a mouse or touch. It was perhaps for that reason why the remote from both manufacturers include a mouse functionality to circumvent Netflix’s limitation. Anker took a step further with its Nebula Connect app for smartphone-like navigation.

From a brightness measurement perspective, the ANSI Lumen rating is considered to be the most accurate measure of a projector’s light output. One would logically assume that the Xgimi Horizon Pro at 2,200 ANSI lumens would be vastly superior to the Anker Cosmos Max’s 1,500 rating, but that is where I often question how accurate manufacturers report or state their product’s output capability. For instance, the Mars II Pro was rated for 500 ANSI lumens whereas the Xgimi Halo (at 800 ANSI lumens) should theoretically be 60% brighter. That did not appear to be ...