For the last few years, we’ve repeatedly praised the Anker Nebula Mars II Pro as one of the best portable projectors. In the same breath, we also explained that this was despite some issues: The streaming interface wasn’t great, its color was a bit off and it wasn’t particularly bright (although similar to its competition). We were let down when the Mars 3 appeared and it was a radically different projector.
8.1
Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air
Like
Great size
Google TV streaming
Decent color and contrast for a portable
Don’t like
A little pricey
Shorter battery life
Turns out Anker forked the Mars line and the true replacement to the II Pro is the 3 Air. It has the same overall design, a higher resolution and uses Google TV for its streaming interface; all potentially solid improvements. The battery life is down a little, as are the claimed lumens. How much of an upgrade it was remained to be seen (pun intended).Â
After running it through our normal testing, the Mars 3 Air is a pretty solid upgrade overall. The image is improved and the streaming interface is significantly better. The only major downgrade is the price, which is a full 20% more than its predecessor. If you’re looking for a portable projector this is likely the best all-around option.
Some specs and such
- Native resolution: 1080p
- HDR-compatible: No
- 4K-compatible: No
- 3D-compatible: No
- Lumens spec: 400
- Zoom: No
- Lens shift: No
- Lamp life: LED, so the life of the projector
One of the biggest changes between the Mars 3 Air and its predecessor, the Mars II Pro, is the increase in resolution to 1080p from 720p. More pixels is pretty much always a good thing with projectors since said pixels are going to be huge.Â
Anker lists the 3 Air as having 400 ANSI lumens. In…
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