Get the Nebula Capsule Max on Amazon!
I’m going to do a quick review of the Anker Nebula Capsule Max projector and go over why I think it’s one of the best projectors to own for your van.
Specs
Let’s start with the build and some specs. This thing is about 6 inches tall, 3 inches in diameter, and weighs about a pound a half. I’ve held some of the other options in this class of ‘mini projectors’ and a lot of them just feel really cheap. You get what you pay for with these types of projectors. The nebula capsule max feels really solid and durable. The outside is a really hard plastic. The top has these touch sensitive buttons for volume and moving around the menu. The bottom has a solid piece of rubber so that it sits really nice and doesn’t slide around while you’re using the projector without the tripod.
Speaking of tripods, it has a standard tripod thread on the bottom and they sell a tripod specifically for the capsule series, and it runs around $45. I purchased the tripod and it works fine. In the van, I tend to use it without the tripod, but it’s nice to have.
Overall this thing kinda looks like a bluetooth speaker, but I find it appealing. The front has the lens, along with the camera for auto focus, which by the way works really well. The back is where all of the ports are. There is an auxiliary port, HDMI, usb, and DC power jack. There are also button for power and bluetooth speaker mode.
The projector comes with this nice little remote which offers all the basic functions needed to navigate through the menu and adjust the volume.
The projector is able to display a max size of 100 inches at 720p and you don’t need a large space to achieve the full size. According to the website, the throw ratio is about 100 inches at 9 feet, so you can still get a large picture in a small space, which is great for the van.
The specs list the brightness at 200 lumens with a lamp life of 30,000 hours. It supports a ton of audio/video formats, has bluetooth, wifi, and runs on android 8.1 with a custom Nebula UI. Just a note, it’s not running Android TV. However, you can download apps on the projector, such as youtube, netflix, and hulu so you can stream directly to the projector if you’re on wifi. They offer an app as well so you can control the projector with your phone via bluetooth.
So there are a couple reasons why I think this is the best projector to own if you are using it in a van.
Keystone Correction
In my opinion the best feature that this projector has that most others do not in this class of projectors is keystone correction. The keystone correction is available both vertically and horizontally, which is a game changer when you’re dealing with weird spaces.
Now if you’re not familiar with keystone correction, it’s simply the ability to make the image rectangular even if you are projecting at a weird angle. So most projectors you need to basically have it sitting directly in front of your screen or wherever you want the picture to be. With this projector you can have it sitting pretty much wherever and you have the ability to correct it. For me, this is huge. In our van, I can have the projector sitting on my kitchen counter, up against the wall, and project towards the cab, where our white curtain is, and I still have a beautiful looking image directly in the middle. This gives you so much flexibility with how you design your van if you know for sure you want to use a projector. You don’t need to build around having the projector directly in front of your screen.
Offline Capability
The second and other big reason why I think this is one of the best projectors to own if you’re traveling is that you’re able to use it completely offline in a variety of ways. Like I mentioned earlier, it has both HDMI and usb connectors, so you can plug in basically whatever you want and watch media completely offline. You could play movies directly off a usb stick or portable hard drive. With the HDMI, you can play downloaded movies from your laptop or even your phone, which is what I do.
I purchased this Apple Lightning to HDMI Adapter and with the adapter I can basically mirror my phone. So for example, with Netflix, you can download movies and tv shows for offline viewing. I can then play those on my phone and with the adapter plugged in via HDMI, we can watch on the projector and get the nice sound from the speaker as well. This is a feature that should not be overlooked if you are buying a projector specifically for your RV or van where you know you’ll be in remote areas without service.
Bluetooth Speaker Mode
The 3rd and final big reason why I really like this projector for the van is that it’s dual purpose, and when you’re dealing with a small space like a camper van, every inch of storage is important. It’s a projector but also doubles as a bluetooth speaker.
We really like to just chill and listen to music, so originally I thought we were going to have both a projector and a separate bluetooth speaker in the van, but that’s not the case. The projector has a bluetooth speaker mode, which allows you to play music via bluetooth, without having the lamp on.
The projector has a nice little 8 watt speaker and I think the sound quality is perfectly acceptable for a small space like a van. If you are trying to fill a large room, with a lot of people, it may not be up to your standards, but for this use case I think it’s perfect.
Power Consumption
The last thing I want to talk about is the battery life and power consumption. The specs say you should get around an hour and half at full brightness, I don’t know if that’s true or not. But one thing to keep in mind is that you need to charge it with the DC adapter that they give you, you cannot charge it via USB. For you van dwellers, this means you’ll need to use your inverter if you have one. When I ran it through my kill a watt usage monitor, it was pulling about 20 watts on 110, which is about 1.5-2 amps/hour. Not a big deal, but good to know if you’re tracking your power usage.
Summary
So those are the main reasons why I choose this projector and why I believe it’s currently the best projector on the market to own if you are looking to use it in a van or RV. Just a quick note, there is another version of this projector that is $100 more, called the Nebula Capsule 2.
The Capsule 2 has some nice features such as Android TV, Chromecast ability, and USB-C charging. However, keystone correction is only available vertically and there are a lot of complaints about how the capsule 2 is not compatible with Netflix, which to me is a little insane. For those 2 reasons alone, I don’t think it’s worth a look.
In summary, this is a great little projector for van life. It’s nice that you don’t need to mount it so you can use it in the van but also bring it outside and use it wherever you want. It’s also a great option for an apartment or bedroom if you have limited space. Retail price on the Nebula Capsule Max is about $470 US, but as posting this video, its about $375 on Amazon. So if you’re looking for a nice Christmas gift for that van lifer in your life, go pick up the Nebula Capsule Max.
If you have any questions or feedback about this projector, feel free to leave a comment on my video.