With good audio and picture quality as well as a rugged design, the Anker Nebula Mars 3 is a top choice for an indoor/outdoor 1080p streaming projector.

The Anker Nebula Mars 3 is a smart LED projector built with durability in mind. Features like water and drop resistance make it well-suited for outdoor environments like camping or portable outdoor cinema, and with an easy-carry handle, the Mars 3 truly can be taken anywhere. Fast, automated setup and solid video performance nicely round out the package.

Slightly larger than a pocket-size projector, the Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air is still light enough to take most places and its larger case means that there’s more room for larger speakers. Decent brightness and sharp images make this a great portable projector at a sensible price. And, running Google TV, it’s nice to see a proper Netflix app, meaning most people won’t need an external streaming stick.

The Nebula Mars 3 Air is one of the best, brightest low-cost portable projectors around, and comes with Google TV streaming

The Mars 3 is an impressively polished product. It feels luxurious, has a stellar design, and the myriad LEDs make it look like a spaceship compared to most traditional projectors. The price has inflated with this move upmarket and it's double the cost of the Mars II Pro. Does it perform twice as well? Pretty much, yes. Does it perform as well as something like the BenQ HT2060 or Epson HC2350? Nope. But it has a battery instead.

If you like projectors as a concept and want something you can take to a friend's or bring along to a late-night gathering then this is a solid choice. If you want something for a fixed spot in your home, you're probably better off looking at less-portable options that will likely be cheaper, brighter, or sharper. If you want something that can display a movie on the side of your house at high noon — you need to considerably up your budget.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have the necessary contrast to truly impress in dark contexts.