There’s nothing better than watching a movie outdoors under the night sky. Maybe it’s the drive-in vibe, or maybe it’s just fun to be doing something that’s an innately indoor activity while camping or in the backyard. To pull it off, though, it requires an outdoor projector that’s rugged, portable, and easy to set up. Few do it better than Anker’s Nebula brand, and right now you can grab one of my favorites, the Anker Nebula Mars 3, for just $750 during Cyber Monday.
It may be a bit cold for a backyard movie night, but trust me, picking up the Mars 3 projector (or any of the others Nebula has on sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday) for when the warmer weather is back will be a good investment. The Nebula Mars 3 is a solidly-built 1080p projector that boasts an impressive 1,000 ANSI lumens of brightness that’s more than suitable for a vivid image (up to 200 inches), whether you’re projecting it on an actual screen, sheet, or against the side of your tent, in a pinch.
The Mars 3’s IPX3 water-resistance rating means that you don’t have to panic if you get rained out. And when I say it’s rugged, I mean that I’ve knocked mine off a cooler to no effect (it officially can withstand a drop from up to half a meter).
The Mars 3 is also built with outdoor function in mind. First, it’s got a big, grippy handle on the top, a sturdy slide-down lens cover, and a flip-out stand on the bottom for getting the projection angle right (it also has excellent auto-keystone and screen fitting). The Mars 3 doubles as a charging bank for devices, too, and has a decently bright LED camping light on the back.
It’s always a fun surprise propping the Mars 3 up on the picnic table on camping trips so the kids can watch a movie or a couple of episodes of something. If you’re somewhere with decent cell service, you can hotspot the Mars 3 to your phone for streaming (this uses data, though), or a good idea is to download movies to your phone and used an HDMI adapter to connect your phone to the Mars 3 that way. The Mars 3 also has Android TV built in, but it doesn’t have native Netflix support (you have to side-load it).
Battery life on the Mars 3 is solid, too, with up to five hours on eco mode. I’ve gotten two movies out of this, which is decent. Additionally, the Mars 3 has a better-than-you’d-expect 40-watt speaker built in, so no need for lugging a Bluetooth speaker along too (unless you want to). And that’s another thing — you can use the Mars 3 as a Bluetooth speaker, with up to 15 hours of playback.
The Nebula Mars 3 is not only one of the best outdoor projectors you can buy but it’s also an excellent projector, period, no matter where you put it.
