HORIZON (XK03K)

You are losing a fair bit of quality by simply projecting on a wall unless you put in a lot of time and effort making it into a good screen. Keep that in mind. I think you've done good homework on things already. These models aren't miles apart from one another. The Valerion is probably the way I would go if it fit my space and was within my budget. That or the XGimi Horizon 20. In recent testing, the Horizon 20 Max was praised for image quality, but was considered too expensive for what you get. I tend to agree. At $3,000, I'm looking at the XGimi Titan Max, currently on Kickstarter. But, if I'm buying in that lineup, the standard XGimi Horizon is a incredible value and is plenty bright enough for a 120" diagonal or so, if it fits your room, I'd look hard at it. Not sure what about the BenQ really sets it apart from the competition. It's a good model, and the short throw lens is nice. BenQ has been playing a bit of catch up with XGimi and Valerion in recent years. But, they have been doing it for a long time and they aren't doing stupid things. Models like their X500i are very solid home theater models and the LED light engine eliminates laser speckle. But, it's not bright enough and would leave you asking for more I expect.

I just upgraded from 1080p Epson 2150 to the horizon 20 base model. I have a dark basement so didn't need the extra lumens. I love it so far, super bright and crisp

I’ve got 110” screen with a projector that’s only 1800 lumens and it’s too bright sometimes lol. I think you’d be okay. You can always send it back if you don’t like it. I did that with the original horizon before i got this one. Perfectly good projector, just poor black levels for me

Good news, your expectations are super reasonable. Do you want one with a built-in OS like Android or are you happy just throwing a Fire Stick or equivalent in for streaming movies? XGIMI has refurbished models on their website around your price point that'll likely exceed what you're looking for, and you can very likely find a used BenQ or an older-model Valerion around there too.

You should be able to get the XGIMI Horizon refurb on their website around that. It's what I'd be using if I hadn't gotten a great deal on my TK710 this summer (Amazon Prime deals can be a heck of a thing if you get lucky)

There are still good deals on some of the Xgimi models for black Friday. Some of the slightly older models in the Horizon line are 700-800 and offer good features and quality. They run Android TV but don't have Netflix for some certification reason (can always add a stick).