The Dangbei Atom is a compact portable laser DLP projector with a 1080p native resolution and Google TV built in, including officially licensed Netflix. It's rated for 1,200 ISO lumens, uses an ALPD laser light source, and supports HDR10 and HLG. For connectivity, it has one HDMI input (HDMI2.0) with ARC support, one USB port, and a 3.5 mm audio out, along with dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.1. It also supports Chromecast built in for casting and includes a 10W speaker system. The Atom has a 1.20:1 throw ratio and can project roughly a 40-inch to 180-inch image, with a listed throw distance range of about 3.6 ft to 15.7 ft.
Our Verdict
The Dangbei Atom is a mediocre pick for movies, as it's functional but doesn't offer anything special. It's bright enough to look good when the lights are off, but it washes out quickly in brighter contexts. Its contrast is solid when watching brighter content, but it really struggles in darker scenes, as it has noticeably raised blacks. It's also quite inaccurate out of the box, so accuracy purists won't be satisfied. Finally, its color gamut is alright, but it can't show the entirety of the common Rec. 709 color space, leading to a visual presentation that isn't quite as vibrant as you'd like.
Bright enough to look fine in dim rooms.
Very uniform brightness.
Great separation between dark and bright elements in high-APL scenes.
Fully featured portable smart projector, with a ton of features.
Has a pink tint that is visible on gray or white backgrounds.
Contrast really struggles in dark content, with grayish blacks.
Just isn't bright enough to handle any lights.
Colors are fine, but they're not vibrant, and the projector isn't accurate out of the box.
The Dangbei Atom isn't really made for gaming. It frame skips at 120Hz, so it's really only a 1080p @ 60Hz projector. Unfortunately, its input lag is rather high at 60Hz, making it ill-suited for any fast-paced games. As for image quality, it's mediocre and bright enough for dim rooms, but it washes out when lights are around. Its contrast is solid when playing brighter games, but blacks look gray when playing darker titles. Overall, it doesn't provide a pleasant gaming experience.
Bright enough to look fine in dim rooms.
Very uniform brightness.
Great separation between dark and bright elements in high-APL scenes.
Fully featured portable smart projector, with a ton of features.
Has a pink tint that is visible on gray or white backgrounds.
Contrast really struggles in dark content, with grayish blacks.
Limited to 1080p @ 60Hz, with high input lag.
Just isn't bright enough to handle any lights.
Colors are fine, but they're not vibrant, and the projector isn't accurate out of the box.
The Dangbei Atom's brightness is alright. It's bright enough for dim rooms, but it quickly washes out once you start turning on a few lights. It does have fantastic brightness uniformity, but there's a pink tint to the image that is mostly noticeable on gray or white backgrounds.
Bright enough to look fine in dim rooms.
Very uniform brightness.
Has a pink tint that is visible on gray or white backgrounds.
Just isn't bright enough to handle any lights.
The Dangbei Atom's contrast is mediocre. While it performs well in brighter content, with good separation between bright and dark elements, it really struggles in darker scenes, with noticeably raised blacks.
Great separation between dark and bright elements in high-APL scenes.
Contrast really struggles in dark content, with grayish blacks.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Dangbei Atom projector doesn't have hardware variants; it's sold as a single model rather than separate versions with different specs or features. Some retailers offer it in different bundles, typically pairing the projector with accessories like a carrying case or a stand.
Our unit was manufactured in China.
Popular Projector Comparisons
The Dangbei Atom is a solid portable projector for the price. It doesn't do anything special, but it's bright enough for dim rooms, its contrast is great in brighter scenes, and it's super small and light. It competes well against the similarly priced XGIMI Halo+, although the XGIMI has an integrated battery that the Dangbei lacks. The Dangbei is much brighter than the LG CineBeam Q, but the LG has noticeably better contrast and is more colorful, giving it the edge when watched in darker rooms. Overall, the Dangbei is a good option at its price point.
Check out our recommendations for the best portable projectors, the best outdoor projectors, and the best home projectors. If you'd prefer to shop for another product in the same price range, look up the best projectors under $1,000 instead.
The Dangbei Atom is a bit worse than the XGIMI HORIZON, but they're different. The Dangbei is a small portable unit and is very easy to throw into a backpack. In turn, the XGIMI, while not huge, isn't easily portable. Neither product delivers tremendous image quality, but the XGIMI is brighter, has slightly better contrast, and has a wider color gamut. The Dangbei is a bit more accurate out of the box, but they're both inaccurate overall. Ultimately, go with your needs: if you need portability, go with the Dangbei; otherwise, the XGIMI works nicely.
The XGIMI Halo+ is just a tad better than the Dangbei Atom, for one reason: it has an integrated battery. Otherwise, these two units are super close. The Dangbei is slightly brighter, but the XGIMI has slightly better contrast. They're both inaccurate out of the box, but the Dangbei is less so. In turn, the XGIMI has a wider color gamut, leading to a more vibrant experience. Still, for image quality, they trade blows, so the battery is really the big difference.
The Dangbei Atom is better than the XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro, as it delivers a brighter image with better contrast. The XGIMI is a bit more portable due to its swiveling stand, and slightly smaller can-shaped format with a lanyard attached, but the Dangbei is also very portable; you'll just have a slightly harder time lining it up due to its pancake form factor with no adjustable feet.
We've independently bought and tested over 60 projectors, and we've published all the detailed results for each so you can decide which one to buy. These have all been tested under the same standardized methodology, allowing you to compare them side by side. We still have all these projects in our lab so we can continually go back and compare them to ensure our reviews are still accurate. All our test methodology is also public on our website, so you can validate the results yourself.
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Test Results
The Dangbei Atom's brightness is alright. It's not bright enough to handle any ambient lights, but it's fine in a dim room. It's very uniform too, although there is a slight pink tint to it that is visible on a white or light grey background.
The table below lists the unit's uncalibrated Picture Modes. 'Custom High Performance Brightness' is noticeably brighter than our calibrated 'Custom' mode, at the cost of color accuracy.
| Picture Mode | White Light Output (WLO) | Color Light Output (CLO) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 756 lm | 754 lm |
| Vivid | 756 lm | 754 lm |
| Game | 720 lm | 728 lm |
| Movie | 704 lm | 726 lm |
| Custom High Performance Brightness | 940 lm | 945 lm |
The Dangbei Atom projector's native contrast is mediocre. It really struggles in dark scenes; blacks look grey, and it doesn't deliver an immersive viewing experience when watching movies with rich, cinematic blacks. However, it performs much better in brighter content, so everyday content looks solid.
The Dangbei Atom's color gamut is just okay; it's wide enough to portray a lot of the common Rec. 709 format, but not nearly enough to portray all of it. Its color gamut doesn't completely fall off a cliff with the wider Rec. 2020 color space, but it definitely doesn't deliver a colorful experience when projecting content in that space.
The projector's image accuracy is disappointing out of the box. Its blues are overrepresented in most grays, and its reds are underrepresented in most of the same grays, leading to a color temperature that leans noticeably too cool. The gamma is generally solid, but bright content leans too dark. As for color accuracy, the projector struggles with most colors, especially blues, cyans, alongside reds and greens; magenta and yellow are noticeably more accurate, but still far from perfect.
The Dangbei Atom only has 1-point white balance calibration and no color calibration, which limits it when it comes to improving its image accuracy. Still, you can mostly fix its white balance, which brings its color temperature in line. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to fix the unit's color accuracy, as it stays more or less just as it was prior to calibration.
Check out our calibration settings.
The Dangbei Atom uses a single-chip DLP imaging system paired with an ALPD laser-phosphor light engine. The light source is rated for a long service life (up to 30,000 hours), and there's no user-replaceable lamp module. As with most single-chip DLP designs, some viewers may notice slight rainbow artifacts (RBE) on high-contrast edges, especially in bright scenes.
The projector has no optical zoom and no lens shift, so placement is all about distance and angle. Still, focus is fully automatic, and it also supports automatic keystoning, which helps square the image if you're off-axis; just try to do it manually if you can, as keystoning does reduce image quality.
The Dangbei Atom is extremely portable. It's small, compact, and pretty light; it easily fits into a backpack. It also has a full suite of image correction features, so placement is quick and easy. It doesn't have any feet, so keep that in mind when placing it. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an integrated battery, so you'll need to have access to an outlet to use it. There's no USB-C port to charge it either, although you can use a USB-C to DC adapter; just make sure your power bank is powerful enough to properly power the unit, as it comes with a 120W power brick.
This projector is very quiet; you shouldn't have any issues using this in most rooms, as your volume will easily overcome any noise coming out of the unit's fans.
The Dangbei Atom is pretty basic for physical ports. You get a single HDMI 2.0 input that supports ARC for sending audio back to a soundbar or AVR, plus one USB 2.0 port for simple media playback, and a DC-in for power. For audio, there's a 3.5 mm output, but no optical digital output and no Ethernet port.
On the wireless side, it supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz/5GHz, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth 5.1/BLE, which is handy if you'd rather connect wireless headphones or a Bluetooth speaker than rely on the analog jack.
This projector is limited to 60Hz. You can select 1080p @ 120Hz when using it, but it ends up frame skipping.
The projector's input lag is disappointing. In a pinch, you could play slow turn-based titles on it without it being too sluggish, but anything faster than that isn't a pleasant experience.
The projector supports HDR, but only when streaming HDR content; HDR over HDMI or USB isn't supported.
The projector includes an HDMI ARC port, so you can send audio from its built-in apps to a soundbar or AVR. It can pass basic formats like Dolby Digital, MAT, Dolby Digital Plus, and LPCM from its internal apps. Because the projector has only one HDMI input, ARC only works with its internal apps, so you can't route external sources through the projector.
The unit supports 3D playback, including Blu-ray 3D, Side-by-Side (Left-Right), and Top-and-Bottom formats. Enabling it can be a bit picky, though: if you've applied any image correction like keystone or other geometry adjustments, the projector will prompt you to "reset to default image' before it'll let you turn 3D on. It won't do 3D otherwise.
