Spent $250 after spending months of research. Don't regret it at all. Isn't bright but it works fine in it office/gaming room. Audio is fine. I almost spent $2k for something i use to watch movies, anime, and murder shows while I'm high playing video games. 100% worth it.
[Nexigo PJ40 - rtings link](https://www.rtings.com/projector/reviews/nexigo/pj40-gen-3)
Looks like rtings requires membership now to see their ratings. Oof.
Edit: This projector scored a 5ish on their rankings but it makes sense since there's a world with bigger budgets and better projectors out there. I was worried about getting one ranked so low, but it's been fine for everything.
You have the major points covered. This video is a must watch, but the 'clear winner' was the Nexigo PJ40 which basically has been the best 'cheap' projector for several years now. That's not good. That means that the cheap projector market isn't changing for the better.
[https://youtu.be/SKW2IIaLp\_4?si=RMtuDBNeo\_2-MKkM](https://youtu.be/SKW2IIaLp_4?si=RMtuDBNeo_2-MKkM)
I'd look used. I would scour the used market and find something that actually was a brand name model of decent quality within my budget. I bought a HT2050a for under $200, with a lamp that is aging and some dust inside. Need to clean it up still, and the aging lamp is still working fine. With a replacement lamp, it would be just over $200 total.
It may take a bit to find a home theater designed BenQ, Optoma, or Epson projector within budget, but the quality jump makes it the best way to go IMO.
Magcubic is a cheap no-name Chinese company that sells extremely low end product. They are bought a lot, but also have a ton of issues. They are very dim, and not appropriate for any serious home theater.
You REALLY want to check the videos over at [www.youtube.com/thehookup](http://www.youtube.com/thehookup) as he just put out a sub-$500 projector shootout. The Nexigo PJ40 was ranked best, with some other options in there. He also has done a similar shootout for sub-$100 projectors.
Here's the deal: At this price point you are getting mostly no-name models which use single LCD panel technology that is prone to failure. Understand you aren't buying long term quality, and that's half the battle. Then you don't get brightness, or sharpness, or quiet operation. Whatever issues you have will rarely get any support from the manufacturer. The single LCD often doesn't get proper cooling and it (literally) burns up, or the from polarizer burns up. This appears as a brown spot in the image.
I personally bought the Happrun H1 for about $70 on Amazon. It was inexpensive, and it is okay, at best. I hooked up a Amazon Fire TV Stick to it, and it showed an image. Yay. It filled my 110" diagonal screen with what was a usable, but dim image. The noise was significantly more than my branded higher end projector (JVC) and my used BenQ models (HT2050a, W1070) but the Happrun only put out about 1/10th the light output.
Audio should generally be considered an afterthought on most projectors. Not all of them, but in general, audio isn't that good. A decent Bluetooth speaker is often a significant step up in audio quality.
I did a bunch of research a few years ago for this exact garage idea. NexiGo PJ40 is what I came up with for under $300. Has been great so far and the neighborhood kids love the movie nights
I’ve been massively impressed with my PJ40 over the past couple of years, the only criticism is the amount of dust that has now made it onto the LCD, to the point it essentially needs replaced. I would like to see them address this and fan noise in future iterations but would absolutely buy the Pro and recommend Nexigo.
**Elephas W1K** = best image quality under $300. Won 12 out of 12 rounds against pricier models in independent tests. Dark room monster.
**NexiGo PJ40** = brightest + best for gaming (under 20ms lag). Most flexible placement.
**TCL A1** = best plug-and-play (full Google TV, no Fire Stick needed).
**Yaber Pro V9** = best on a tight budget ($180).
Dark room required for all. Full breakdown of [best budget ones here.](https://medium.com/@dejan-k/the-only-projectors-under-300-worth-buying-in-2026-9ff8ed3156db) 👍
PocketPanache
