The Epson Home Cinema 5050UB is the best all-around home projector we've reviewed. Take an excellent contrast ratio, paired with impressive brightness and accurate color, all with better detail than what's possible with a 1080p native resolution projector, and you've got all the pieces for a fantastic image. This home entertainment projector is not cheap, but it offers a significant step up in image quality over other projectors on this list (aside from the Sony, which is nearly double the price). It comes with HDMI 2.0 which allows you to do 4k60p. Extensive lens shift and a motorized zoom are the icing on the cake.

Read our Epson Home Cinema 5050UB review.

We wouldn't put this in the "cheap projector" bucket, but the BenQ HT2050A is definitely the best video projector you can get for the money. This modern projector produces a bright picture with great contrast and lifelike color accuracy. It's also one of the only comparable models with vertical lens shift, which makes setup a little easier. It supports most media players, gaming consoles, PCs, Macs, and mobile devices with input options such as HDMI, USB, and more. Plus, the projector offers a low input lag of 16ms for immersive gaming.

Read our BenQ CineHome HT2050A review.

The Epson Home Cinema LS11000 is similar to the Epson 5050 but instead of a lamp it uses a laser and phosphor combo to create light. This means even better color, no lamp replacements, faster turn on/off and a more usable dynamic contrast ratio. A more advanced different pixel shifter means better resolution than the 5050 as well. It's more expensive to start, but over the life of the projector they should be about the same. So better picture quality for roughly the same total cost of ownership makes this well worth considering over the 5050.

Check out our full review of the Epson Home Cinema LS11000.

The Optoma UHD35 is a modern projector that packs a lot into its tiny case and low price. This budget projector can throw a ton of light, its color wheel produces accurate colors and has great detail. The contrast ratio isn't great, but it's pretty average among 4K resolution projectors in this price range. And that price really is the UHD35's biggest selling point. This 4K UHD projector offers great picture quality for only a few hundred dollars over the best 1080p projectors. It doesn't offer lens shift or much in the way of a zoom, but if it fits in your room it's a great way to get a 4K projector on a budget.

Read our Optoma UHD35 review.

It's smaller than a six-pack of Coke and equipped with Wi-Fi streaming, a surprisingly loud Bluetooth speaker and even a handle. It offers auto vertical and manual horizontal keystone correction. This portable mini projector powerhouse also has one thing many compact projectors lack: a built-in battery. This budget projector is an all-in-one entertainment machine that's darn cute, too.

Read our Anker Nebula Mars II Pro review.

The Optoma UHZ50 uses a blue laser and a yellow phosphor to create some incredibly bright, ultracolorful images. It's bright and has the second-best contrast ratio we've measured from a DLP projector. Also, because it's DLP, it has excellent detail. The zoom range and lens shift are fairly limited, so it won't fit in as many rooms as the Epson 5050 or LS11000, but otherwise it's very good.

Read our Optoma UHZ50 Projector review.

The Sony VPL-VW325ES is a thoroughbred among ponies, a Porsche among Volkswagens, an absolute stunner with a price tag to match. The contrast ratio, easily the most important aspect of overall picture quality, is better than the Epson 5050 and significantly better than any projector that doesn't cost significantly more. And that's saying something, since the Sony itself costs significantly more than any other projector on this list. It checks the box for gaming with the input lag reduction feature. And with brightness that can go up to 1,500 Lumens, it works well in a bright room as well. If price is no object, the picture quality is incredible.

Read our Sony VPL-VW325ES review.

The BenQ GS50 is a lunchbox-size 1080p projector with a 2.5-hour battery, surprisingly powerful speakers and the ability to charge via a portable power bank. You can even use it as a Bluetooth speaker. It performs well for a portable projector, but costs about the same as BenQ's own HT2050A, which performs far better. But for regular movie nights far from an outlet, it works great.

Read our review of the BenQ GS50.

The EF-12 is a small, highly portable projector that looks a lot like the Anker Nebula Pro and the BenQ GS50, but it fits a slightly different niche. It's easy to tote and doubles as a Bluetooth speaker, but unlike those two it can't run off of a battery -- it requires AC power. The EF-12's light is created by Epson's "MicroLaser Array Projection Technology." Yep, laser beams, which deliver a brighter picture than LED-based models like the Nebula and GS50.

Read our Epson EpiqVision Mini EF12 review.