Anker Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K projector review: Ugly projector, gorgeous picture

Projectors are a unique alternative to televisions in many ways. Projectors are capable of many different display sizes, for example, while TVs are stuck at the size you purchase them. And you wouldn’t haul a 72-inch flat screen out to your backyard bonfire, but many projectors are small enough to be carried in a backpack.

While they come with their share of setbacks, modern projectors have consistently grown into smarter, more capable devices. They support your favorite media apps by running Google TV or Android TV. You can also connect a video game console or a great streaming stick if the projector’s native platform isn’t giving you what you need.

Anker’s Nebula Cosmos 4K projector is one among the sea of options, and it delivers quite the sticker shock with its $2K price tag. It’s easy to balk — I did too — but there are some specs and features that may offer some redemption. Let’s take a look.

Price, availability, and specs

With a suggested retail price of $2,000, the Anker Nebula Cosmos’s cost is no small change. However, it’s currently on sale through Amazon, where you can snag it for $200 off. Anker’s Nebula storefront also sells the device, but it’s not on sale there.

What’s good about the Anker Nebula Cosmos 4K Projector?

The fan is a whisper and the display is unparalleled

​​​​​​I quickly noticed that the Cosmos 4K is a very quiet projector. The fan on a comparable projector, the Dangbei DBOX02, is significantly louder. Anyone in the room where the Dangbei is running would hear its fan whirring to disperse heat, while I only heard the Cosmos’s hum if I were within 2 to 3 feet.

The Anker Nebula Cosmos projector offers a native 4K resolution and also supports 4K streaming through connected devices like a streaming stick. The display performance between this 4K projector and the above-mentioned Dangbei 4K projector is, to the human eye, identical. Both projectors utilize a DLP fast-pixel-shifting display chip — meaning that the sharpness and vividness of each projector’s display will be by and large the same, assuming they’re throwing to the same size, are at the same brightness, and so on.

That said, the Cosmos’ picture is gorgeous. In the pictures below, I’m watching the “America the Beautiful” nature documentary, thrown to about 100 inches, on Movie Mode. The colors are plenty saturated, but the display was overall heavier on the shadows than I liked, so I switched to a Custom viewing mode and tweaked the contrast. I liked the result, but it took a few moments of adjusting to get there.

The Cosmos 4K uses a team of four Dolby Audio speakers (two 10-watt, two 5-watt) for its sound output. A family using this projector’s onboard speakers to watch a movie in their living room will have no trouble hearing the film; sheer volume is certainly not an issue for the Cosmos 4K. With its Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, I tried connecting the projector to a soundbar. I’d recommend using the projector’s 3.5mm connection instead of Bluetooth where possible if you’re looking to add external sound devices — I had to stop a movie twice to reconnect the soundbar due to audio lag.

What’s bad about the Anker Nebula Cosmos 4K Projector?

Google TV is better than Android TV, and questionable portability

Firstly, I’m skeptical of Anker’s decision to call this device portable. Okay, it has a handle. That’s wonderful — but anywhere you carry it with that nice little handle must still have a power outlet nearby. And while I couldn’t find an IP rating for the Cosmos 4K, its manual prohibits any exposure to moisture or rain. This certainly makes the Cosmos 4K seem less prepared for the elements than its own sibling, the Anker Nebula Mars 3, an actually portable projector (with battery power and a modest IP rating) that can’t meet the Cosmos 4K’s display quality but is vastly more affordable.

Also, Android TV is not as seamless of an experience as Google TV, which the competing Dangbei DBOX02 uses. For example, the Cosmos projector comes with a remote, but the remote’s settings button actually calls up the options for Android TV itself, not the actual projector. For more in-depth projector settings, like keystone, zoom, and picture modes, the projector’s control panel must be used. It’s fine once you’re familiar with what’s where, but very agitating in the initial setup.

Lastly, the Cosmos 4K is not cute. It looks like the power unit that your dad would plug his CPAP machine into on family camping trips. This rectangular, rugged look worked on the Anker Nebula Mars 3, but the Cosmos 4K, which is a supposedly-but-actually-not-at-all portable projector, is more likely to permanently sit in one indoor spot than the Mars 3. So, I think Anker missed an opportunity to distinguish this premium-priced projector with a premium visual design.

Should you buy it?

Looks aside, it’s one of the best projectors you can buy

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed projectors, but never could quite fall in love with them. They are ripe with impracticalities, often unusable in the daytime, and not as user-friendly as plain TVs.

Only in the past couple of years has my opinion on projectors started to change. Devices like the Cosmos 4K make us aware of how far projectors have come. Considering that my biggest complaints with the Cosmos 4K are its aesthetic and some software-related insufficiencies, this could very well be the perfect projector for somebody, even if that somebody isn’t me.

Hopefully, Anker combines the strengths of the Mars 3 and the Cosmos 4K, and someday gives us a high-resolution, battery-powered projector that can actually go anywhere and play anything.