XGIMI released the MoGo 4 and MoGo 4 Laser in June of 2025. Both portable projectors are winners of the iF DESIGN AWARD 2025, a prestigious accolade established in 1953. These fashion-forward projectors are targeted at the younger generations: Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen A. According to XGIMI's CEO Apollo Zhong, they're all about the vibe and expression, and these two projectors are part of the company's endeavor to broaden the popularity of sportable projectors.

The MoGo 4 is a $499 portable projector with Google TV, 450 ISO lumens, an LED light engine, Harman Kardon speakers, and several features to craft the ambiance of the environment. The main differences between the MoGo 4 and MoGo 4 Laser are the latter's RGB laser light engine and an additional 100 lumens. We reviewed the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro in February of 2025, and the review was generally positive. The most significant addition to the MoGo 4 and MoGo 4 Laser is the built-in battery.

Features

The $499 XGIMI MoGo 4 is a 0.23-inch DLP smart portable projector with an LED light engine. The 1080p-resolution projector is packaged in a compact spotlight design that is about the size of a large thermos—3.8 x 8.2 x 3.8 inches (WHD) and weighing 2.9 lbs. XGIMI claims 450 ISO lumens, making this a projector most suitable for nighttime or fully darkened rooms.

Included with the XGIMI MoGo 4 are its power plug, the sunset Magnetic Creative Filter, the remote control, two AAA batteries, and an owner's manual. It has a one-year limited warranty, a 30-day money back guarantee, and lifetime customer support.

The MoGo 4's high-light-transmission coated lens is scratch and dust resistant and has a fixed focal length. It features Eye Protection, which shuts off the light when someone passes in front of it, protecting eyes from bright light. The built-in gimbal stand offers 360-degree rotation, providing excellent placement flexibility along with its 1.2:1 throw ratio. The MoGo 4's Intelligence Screen Adaptation technology includes uninterrupted auto keystone correction, uninterrupted auto focus, and intelligent eye protection, but not intelligent obstacle avoidance. The screen can go as large as 200 inches, but XGIMI suggests projecting between 60 to 120 inches for best results. Use ProjectorCentral's throw distance calculator to accurately place the projector within your space. This calculator is for the MoGo 4 Laser, but it works for the MoGo 4.

Supporting HDR10, the MoGo 4 is rated to reach 90% of the DCI-P3 color space. The pojectors's smart OS is Google TV, which is easy to navigate and offers built-in apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Max, YouTube, and others to enjoy films, TV shows, and sports; no additional streaming stick or smart player is required. The streaming apps I used worked well, and more are available via the Google Play store.

There is an included Magnetic Creative Filter that attaches to the lens for enhancing ambiance in low-lit environments when the projector is not being used for watching movies or TV shows. The one that comes in the box is the Sunset filter, but there are other options that can be purchased separately. A $99 three pack of filters includes Ripple, Dreamscape, and Lunar options. The meditative Ripple filter creates soft, wave-like motions, the Dreamscape filter projects dynamic, ethereal colors, and the Lunar filter has a moonlit blue tone for calming nighttime use. The Magnetic Creative Filter has gesture control, so the filters can be switched by waving a hand before the lens.

The Magnetic Creative Filters are lovely. In addition to the Sunset filter, I received the Dreamscape filter. It immediately transformed the ambiance of my viewing space. There's a soft shifting of color within blue, cyan, and purple to start. Waving your hand within a few inches of the lens changes the scene to one that cycles through the color spectrum. Another wave changes the colors to purple, magenta, and a soft orange.

The Sunset filter is essentially a spotlight circle with a ring of color at the edge, and there are several options: orange and yellow gradient with a yellow ring, bluish grey with a rainbow ring, blue gradient into red with a white ring, blue into yellow circular gradient with a yellow ring, blue into purple circular gradient with a yellow and salmon-colored ring, fuchsia into yellow gradient with a light-yellow ring.

I bet the Ripple filter would be a hit at social gatherings, as would the Dreamscape. The Lunar filter also looks cool from XGIMI's photos on the website, and it would be fun to have the moon projected on your ceiling or wall. I left the Dreamscape on while I wrote a few scenes of my novel and appreciated the soft mood lighting. If you get the projector, it's worth the splurge for the extra Magnetic Creative Filters.

The built-in battery is rated to last for up to 2.5 hours when playing video content in ECO mode, and 6 hours for music. Connecting to the $129 PowerBase Stand via the provided charging cable doubles that number. In Standard power mode, the battery lasted through the new War of the Worlds film, which is 90 minutes. When testing in ECO, the projector lasted around the 2.5-hour mark and was extended by the PowerBase Stand.

The PowerBase Stand for the XGIMI MoGo 4 and MoGo 4 Laser is different than the one for its predecessor, so be mindful of the one you are purchasing. Aside from the extended battery life, the benefit of purchasing the PowerBase Stand is that it's a floor stand, making it easy to project from anywhere with the projector off the ground and no table required. This adds to the projector's portability. The stand itself separates into two pieces that fit into a backpack.

XGIMI claims the MoGo 4 has a low input lag of 20ms in Game Mode, which turns auto keystone correction off. Auto keystone has a significant impact on latency, as reflected in XGIMI's 56ms claim with Game Mode off. With Game Mode on, latency measured 22.1ms and 44.8ms in PC Mode. It was 38.8ms with both on at the same time. Gameplay was smooth in RPGs, 3D platformers, and online multiplayer scenarios. The input lag was low enough for all but the most serious gamers.

There are two remote controls for the MoGo 4. One is the usual, handheld remote, and the second is a mini remote that hooks to the side of the projector via a detachable buckle lanyard. That mini remote has simplified, intuitive controls, with a navigational pad, volume control buttons, and a back button. The great benefit to this mini remote is that you don't have to remember to bring the standard size remote control with you when traveling with it.

The standard remote control is lightweight and backlit. It takes AAA batteries, but its backing is a bit difficult to get off without something to wedge in the opening. The top section of the remote has the power and Google Assistant buttons with the shortcut buttons for YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video, profiles, auto focus, and input below them. Beneath these are the navigational keys and the buttons for back, settings, home, and volume control.

The projector features dual 6-watt Harman Kardon speakers with multiple audio modes, which are Movie, Music, Game, and Sports. Harman Kardon is a well-known brand with a reputation for good sound. When you see a portable projector with these speakers, it is a definite plus, and usually a good indication that the sound will be robust. They performed well across a variety of content, with spatial audio and good bass, mids, and treble.

Ambient Speaker mode transforms the projector into a Bluetooth speaker with mood lighting when it is retracted. There is a trick to getting this to work, though. Your mobile devices will pair with the projector, but they will not play music through the speakers unless you go to the Ambient Light setting by pressing the Shortcut button on the main remote control and change the setting to play music rather than shut off when the projector is retracted. Then, you can retract the projector, connect via Bluetooth, and it will play your music. This has multiple color options, as well as reactive light pulses that sync to music while it is playing, which can also be changed in that menu. Music sounded good through the speakers and the synced lighting was fun.

XGIMI has an app called XGIMI Wall, which is downloadable via the Google Play Store. This allows you to project photos and videos from XGIMI like stars in space or nebulas, artwork, and a variety of ambiance videos. There's one that makes you feel like you're underwater watching schools of fish, sharks, and stingrays through a window. It's definitely a vibe and could be cool for hangout sessions with friends or parties with low lighting for engaging visuals.

For screen mirroring, the built-in option is Google Cast. There is no AirPlay to screen mirror on a Mac, but you can use Google Chrome's cast option or download a screen mirroring app from the Google Play Store. Casting from Chrome, I watched an analysis of a chess tournament between major AIs (spoiler alert, AI is terrible at chess, as they tend to want to make illegal moves several moves into the game, but Grok did well). There were no syncing issues with video through this method.

Projecting Adobe Express to edit a few pieces of social media content was awful using the cast option from Google Chrome. The image was pixelated, with incredibly hard-to-read text, and tended to skip frames. There was one point where the image appeared to fall out of focus by degrees, but the projector itself was in focus. It seems to not like still images either, because the color wheel I use to test color performance was a bit pixelated in the text.

I downloaded Air Mirror, and it was bad as well. Again, there were skipped frames when editing content via Adobe Express, but also a lot of glitches within the images. I also watched that chess tournament, which did well until the motion graphics started glitching. Then, when I brought up my document to write this section of the review, it overlayed the document's text over the browser in a highly glitched out form while only the video's audio continued to play. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of the screen mirroring. There are a few other apps to choose via the app store, so you could try your luck with those.

All told, when it comes to casting, I think the Google Cast problems I had were definitely an issue with the projector, but the rest was an issue with the applications. I saw the pixelation across video and still images when projecting via Chrome's cast feature, but the apps I were far worse.

Using Google Chrome's cast is the best way to do it on a Mac but requires everything you do to be executed within Chrome. If you wanted to do something outside of Chrome, you would need the other apps, which didn't perform well.

Performance

Color Modes. The XGIMI MoGo 4 offers four picture modes: Standard, Movie, Game, and User. Of its three power modes, only one affects the color. Rather than having a single, unusable brightest mode, its Performance power setting renders all color modes with a noticeable green hue. Performance mode boosts the brightness, but at the expense of color. The modes you will want to use are Standard and ECO, which yielded better results.

Standard mode presented cooler colors, with most hues shifting slightly toward blue. While not drastically inaccurate, these tones were most noticeable when projecting the color wheel rather than on real-life content. There were no harsh or unpleasant colors. This is the best mode for watching video content, as skin tones and environments looked the most natural and accurate. It measured 400 lumens in Performance mode, 258 in Standard, and 151 in ECO.

Movie mode was underwhelming and oversaturated. Projecting the color wheel revealed why it looked off while watching The Last of Us. In the next section, I mention that Tess looked jaundiced. The cause became obvious when examining the various yellows. Movie mode was far more vibrant than Standard, with three shades of yellow (2-4) appearing identical, and the fifth one the darkest and only slightly different.

The same thing was true of reds in this mode, with four shades looking no different from one another. The salmon-colored section was off as well, having a split between appearing orange and pure red, and three of the shades of red had no differentiation as well. The other colors fared better, save for the extreme vividness and intense fuchsia that the mode transformed the plum section into. Movie mode resembled a Vivid setting on other projectors. It measured 404 lumens in Performance mode, 258 in Standard, and 154 in ECO.

Game mode, like Standard, had a mild blue tint, though slightly less pronounced. Some colors, especially yellow and the plum tones (again leaning fuchsia) were particularly vibrant. Yellow's middle tones were quite close in color but also compressed like in Movie mode. This is the best mode for video games but requires you to enable Game Mode to get that low input lag. It measured 404 lumens in Performance mode, 270 in Standard, and 153 in ECO.

User mode starts off looking the same as Standard, but with some adjusting, can be vastly improved. This mode measured 402 lumens in Performance mode, 270 in Standard, and 153 in ECO. Using the color management system, I was able to get User mode to look nearly accurate to the color wheel, using these settings:

Brightness
Red - 50
Green - 50
Blue - 91
Cyan - 50
Magenta - 70
Yellow - 35
Flesh Tone - 50

Saturation
Red - 50
Green - 50
Blue - 23
Cyan - 53
Magenta - 42
Yellow - 29
Flesh Tone - 50

1080p Streaming. For watching films and TV shows, Standard or User are my top choices, offering better overall color balance than in Movie mode. Skin tones look most accurate in Standard and User.

The first film I tested was the new War of the Worlds on Prime Video, which happened to be on the home screen. I watched in Standard picture mode with the audio set to Movie. The experience was immersive. The color looked excellent, black level performance was decent, and shadow detail good. The image was sharp and clear, with close ups revealing the pores and skin texture of some actors. There were a lot of video call scenes meant to mimic Zoom calls with occasional lag, and the projector handled those moments smoothly. I watched during the day with blackout curtains drawn. Some light leaked through at the window edges, but it didn't interfere with the viewing experience in the dimly lit room.

At first, it looked good. That changed when I reached the scene in Episode 1 where Tess tells Joel not to go "all Clint Eastwood" and to take a breath. Tess looked like she had jaundice, due to the oversaturation of yellows and too-warm tint to the image. After switching to Standard, the difference was clear. Skin tones looked natural again, as did clothing and "environment" colors. The projector handled overgrowth, moss, and foliage particularly well, with textures rendered cleanly. Black levels could have been better, but shadow detail in Episodes 1 and 2 was good. Even in very dark scenes, I could make out everything, which isn't always true for projectors at this brightness and price point. After calibrating User mode, I watched the next episode with it enabled and saw even better color performance.

In terms of ambient light, turning on a bright light directly in front of the screen made dark scenes nearly impossible to view. Turning on a light behind the screen washed out the image somewhat but didn't ruin it. Switching that light to purple, blue, green, red, and other colors had less impact on image quality. Ambient mood lighting works well with this projector in a darkened room. I tested the light in front of the screen using purple, blue, and red. Purple preserved the most detail, making it a good option for those wanting color ambiance without sacrificing visibility.

1080p Blu-ray. I watched Uncharted in User mode and was impressed by both color and clarity. Skin tones of all shades looked accurate, and the environments were well-rendered. The film's opening scene is a strong highlight test, and the MoGo 4 handled it without issue. Another challenging scene is in the auction house, where blue and purple lighting often causes blown-out whites on shirt collars. The MoGo 4 passed this test as well, which was impressive considering even higher-priced projectors have struggled here. Chloe's red dress stood out as particularly rich and vibrant. Black levels and shadow detail were solid.

Encouraged by how Uncharted handled reds, I queued up Big Hero 6. The XGIMI didn't disappoint. From Hiro's red shirt in the opening to Tadashi's shiny red bike, the colors popped without oversaturation. During the bot fight scene, the floor of the arena had visible scuffs and lifted textures, which the projector showed with clarity. Baymax's white body maintained detail without highlight clipping. Shadow detail and black levels remained strong. Hair texture and shine also looked fantastic, and skin tones were natural throughout.

Gaming Quality. XGIMI advertises the MoGo 4's input lag at 20ms. It came close, measuring 22.1ms at 1080p at 60 fps in Game picture mode with Game Mode activated. PC Mode measured 44.8ms. Enabling both Game Mode and PC Mode together resulted in 38.8ms. Game Mode is clearly the best option for low-latency gaming.

I started with Hogwarts Legacy in Game mode. I selected a distant quest and flew across the landscape on my broomstick to test for stuttering. It was smooth, and the scenery remained sharp during high-speed traversal. The quest itself was simple, only destroying vases to reveal a hidden charm, but it gave me a chance to warm up. Later, I fought magical creatures and dark wizards, which are graphics-heavy sequences with fast movement and spell effects. The projector kept up without issue. Colors looked accurate, including skin tones, outfits, and environmental details. Textures were sharp, and no highlight clipping occurred.

Next, I played Spyro Reignited Trilogy, a 3D platformer, and was immediately struck by the vibrant colors in Game mode. I explored the Peace Keepers realm, which is a desert setting with militarized Gnorcs. Many projectors struggle with this environment, often losing sand texture or blowing out highlights. The MoGo 4 rendered the sand's detail beautifully. Yellow tones, which are often problematic, were handled well. Purple and magenta shades had slightly less variation between tones, but it was a minor flaw. Gameplay remained smooth throughout.

For most games, you'll want to darken the room during the day and avoid direct light on the screen. Dark scenes can struggle under bright ambient light. With blackout curtains, I had no trouble playing RPGs during daylight hours. Brightly colored games like Spyro Reignited or Mario Bros. can still look good with some ambient light.

Conclusion

The XGIMI MoGo 4 is a thoughtfully designed portable projector that brings more than just entertainment to the table. It delivers atmosphere, personality, and surprising performance for its size and price point. While its out-of-the-box color in Movie mode leaves something to be desired, the Standard and Game modes offer accurate colors and a satisfying viewing experience. The customizable User mode allowing for impressive calibration that further enhances color performance.

It has desirable features like Google TV, Harman Kardon speakers, gesture-controlled ambiance filters, and a rechargeable battery with an optional PowerBase Stand that expands portability and extends battery life. Though it is not ideal for brightly lit spaces or screen mirroring, the MoGo 4 excels in darkened environments where its strengths truly come alive.

Whether you're streaming your favorite show, gaming on the go, or projecting a soothing color wash across your wall while you do homework, creative activities, or just relaxing, the MoGo 4 makes a compelling case for itself among the younger generations. If you are looking for a stylish, feature-rich projector that balances fun and function, the MoGo 4 is well worth considering—especially for those who value both form and flair in their tech.

For more detailed specifications and connections, check out our XGIMI MoGo 4 projector page.

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