The Xgimi Elfin Flip ($399) is best described as an oversize palmtop projector—but it has little in common with other DLP-based projectors that fit that description. One obvious difference from the pack is its unusual, if not unique, built-in stand. A bigger deal: It's a much better fit for a budget-minded buyer than most oversize palmtops are, thanks to its rated brightness and frequent availability below list price. (That's even bearing in mind that the projector lacks a built-in battery or 3D support.) In fact, its capabilities and $300 typical street price put it more directly in competition with excellent single-chip LCD projectors like the Vankyo Performance V700W. In that context, it's a strong contender, offering easy portability, automated image setup, and a bright, high-quality image for the price. If you can spend more, consider the AAXA M8 UST and Xgmi MoGo 3 Pro, but this model's a good value for what it is.

Design: A Projector That Pivots Open

The Elfin Flip enhances its oversize palmtop shape with an attached stand that fits around it like a halo, at least when the stand and projector are in what Xgimi calls its "book-sized" form. I measured the projector at 9.25 by 8.6 by 2.5 inches (HWD), which makes it compact enough to fit easily in a backpack or store on a bookshelf (where it will take up less actual room than some books). You can also lay it down, so the 2.5-inch depth becomes the height.

The projector and stand are attached at two pivot points positioned midway between the top and bottom of the stand and the front and back of the projector. Place the stand vertically so its widest side (2.5 inches) becomes the bottom, and the front of the projector will point down. You can then rotate the projector from facing straight down, with the lens covered, to just short of straight up. This lets you project on any handy surface over a 150-degree range from floor to ceiling.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

One potential drawback to the stand is that it's a little unstable. I found that even a slight tug on any attached cable (like when trying to reposition the power cord) can tip it over and potentially send the whole works crashing to the floor. If you have a house filled with rambunctious toddlers and pets, this could be a problem. To avoid mishaps, you can take advantage of the mount hole on the bottom of the stand and put the entire unit on a tripod.

Features: Easy Menus and Auto-Setup

The official native resolution for the DLP imaging chip is 1080p (1,920 by 1,080 pixels). However, it's actually a 960-by-540-pixel array that uses TI's XPR pixel shifting to put 1,920 by 1,080 pixels on screen—a common choice for portable DLP models. The red/green/blue LED light source offers a 25,000-hour rated lifetime. As with most 1080p models today, the maximum input resolution is 4K (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) at 60Hz, which it downconverts to 1080p. The Elfin Flip also supports HDR, but it is limited to HDR10 (no Dolby Vision).

(Credit: M. David Stone)

A key strength for this projector is that very little setup is involved, even the first time you use it. Simply set it down, connect the power cable, turn it on, point it wherever you want the picture, and connect a video source. Connection choices include an HDMI 2.0 and a USB-Type A port (the latter for upgrading firmware, as well as for reading files from USB memory) on the back, plus Wi-Fi for streaming via your internet-connected network, or mirroring using either MiraCast or DLNA. Notably missing is AirPlay support for iOS devices. Very much on the plus side, the proprietary Xgimi OS offers straightforward menus, several already-installed streaming apps—including Prime Video, YouTube, and a licensed Netflix app—and no need for additional setup, beyond potentially downloading more apps.

As is increasingly common for projectors in general, the Elfin Flip offers autofocus and a full set of automatic adjustment features, including keystone correction, intelligent obstacle avoidance, and screen alignment. All are on by default and set to run automatically any time you move the projector to adjust the image position.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

As with any projector, these digital adjustments can lower image brightness and introduce artifacts. However, that's the required trade-off for the ease of setup they offer. It would be counterproductive, if not pointless, to buy a projector that lets you aim it from any angle for quick setup and then turn off the features that help set it up quickly.

The stereo audio system, built around two 3-watt speakers, delivered good enough sound quality in our tests for casual viewing at volume levels high enough to fill a family room. Bluetooth is the only option for connecting an external sound system or headset.

Performance and Image Quality: On-Point Color Accuracy

The Elfin Flip's menus offer five picture modes. All of them turned in acceptable results except for Performance mode, which delivers the highest brightness but adds an obvious green shift and boosts fan noise to a bothersome level. Among the other four modes, all had essentially identical contrast, black level, and shadow detail in my preliminary tests, and all but Game mode offer settings for brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, noise reduction, and color temperature. All four are also slightly blue-shifted, which is far less annoying than a green shift. That said, Movie mode has the least obvious color shift, making it my preferred mode for our viewing tests. Switching the color temperature to Warm improved the color even more.

For SDR input, the Elfin Flip delivered good skin tones and more-than-decent color accuracy and contrast in bright scenes. That said, it lost a bit of shadow detail in the darker areas of overall bright scenes. In dark scenes, though, the results were a mixed bag. In those scenes, the monitor managed to hold almost all the detail I look for in our test clips. But the black level was a little high for viewing in a dark room, hurting the contrast enough to give dark scenes a slightly foggy look. This effect disappears even in low levels of ambient light, though.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

For HDR input, the menus offer the same picture modes as for SDR, even keeping the same settings adjustments. But the image quality and brightness didn't hold up well when I viewed the HDR versions of the same movies on disc that we use for SDR tests. The image was a little too dark overall for comfortable viewing at the same image size. Adjusting the size from the 90-inch diagonal I used for SDR to 60 inches for HDR made the movies watchable, but they were still darker overall. HDR versions of the same movies also lost far more shadow detail with default settings.

Raising the brightness setting revealed more shadow detail but dropped the contrast significantly, hurting picture quality more than it helped. The default setting may be the best compromise. Bright scenes, meanwhile, have the same issues with losing more shadow detail, but SDR and HDR quality otherwise match, at least in general description.

Very much on the plus side, although I saw rainbow artifacts (red/green/blue flashes) with the Elfin Flip, I didn't see many, and I tend to see them easily when they are there. If you're not as sensitive to them as I am, you might not see any at all. That said, it's always best to buy a single-chip DLP projector from a source that allows returns without a restocking fee, so you can judge the issue for yourself.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

Also on the plus side of the ledger: Input lag is easily short enough for casual gaming. I measured it in Game picture mode at 21.9 milliseconds for 1080p/60Hz, and 22ms for 4K/60Hz, using my Bodnar 4K Lag Tester.

Xgimi rates the Elfin Flip's brightness at 400 ISO lumens, but that's when using the Performance setting, which has a green bias. In my tests using my preferred settings, the image brightness was close to what I expect from about 350 lumens. In a dark room, it was enough to light up my 90-inch, 1.0-gain, 16:9 screen, but at a slightly lower image brightness than I prefer. Also, as mentioned earlier, I had to drop the image size to a 60-inch diagonal for HDR material. In my family room, the projector delivered a watchable, but somewhat washed-out, 80-inch image for SDR input with dim lighting at night, and a similarly watchable 48-inch image on a sunny day.