I’m not a huge movie buff, that’s more of a thing for Brandon and Fingal – but if I’m going to watch movies, I want to do it as properly as possible when at home. I watch movies on my 4K TV when I do watch them, but there’s still a certain appeal of watching a movie outside like in the good old days.

While I’m lucky that we still have a local Drive-In that’s still in business, nothing says summer like pulling out the projector and watching a movie with the family out in the yard. Enter Emotn’s new N1 projector, a small but mighty 1080p projector. Can a 1080p projector come anywhere near the quality you’d expect from 4K? The answer might surprise you. Read our Emotn N1 Projector review to find out!

Emotn N1 Projector
Manufacturer: Emotn
Price: $399 USD

Emotn’s N1 projector delivers a powerful punch in a little package. Weighing in at only 4.24 Lb and measuring 7.17 x 4.92 x 7.56 inches, Emotn’s N1 projector is small enough to easily throw in a backpack.

You could also take the Emotn N1 to someone’s house for outdoor viewing, and it’s small enough to tuck away on a shelf without taking up a bunch of space like a typical projector would if it isn’t mounted.

One small issue I ran into with this projector is while it has the spot to screw on standing legs, I found it quite challenging to find a nice position to get it to stay still while positioned on top of a GorillaPod.

Casting the image to a 100-inch screen required the N1 to be about eight feet away from the screen in order to obtain optimal clarity, but I also couldn’t get the screen to ever automatically adjust the keystone properly.

Thankfully, adjusting the focus and keystone is pretty simple using the Emotn remote, but for being less than 10 feet away, I would have preferred slightly better auto abilities.

Any further than eight feet and the N1 would often fail to auto-adjust for blur, it would simply give an error to move the device closer.

Watching programming on the N1 was pretty easy. It came pre-installed with Netflix and YouTube, and you can download a few other apps from their app store. However, it’s exceptionally limited and I found myself preferring to simply cast things from my phone to the device in order to watch things from unsupported streaming services.

So, does it match 4K? No, of course, it doesn’t, but where it lacks in power, it makes up for it by not only being officially certified by Netflix but it’s also got HDR10, which makes the 1080P stream look glorious outdoors. The speakers were a welcome surprise as well, as they are Dolby Digital Plus rated and sound astonishingly deep and full.

Things got really fun when I took my Xbox Series X outside and connected it to the Emotn N1 and messed around in Hi-Fi Rush and Forza Horizon 5. Games looked great but did have a small bit of lag, but they were fairly decently playable.

All things considered, I’d have to say this ain’t a bad little projector for the sale price of $359 USD. I wish that for the cost it had something to flip and cover the lens so you don’t take a chance of scratching it.

I also wish the Emotn N1 had come with a stand, but it’s hard to be too mad at solid projector that retails for just under $400 for watching movies outside with and the Emotn N1 is an easy recommendation.

Emotn’s N1 Projector is available on Amazon for an MSRP of $399 USD. The Emotn N1 Projector was reviewed using a review unit provided by Emotn. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here.