For a movie night under the stars, an outdoor projector is your best bet

For outdoor viewing at home, this projector will likely give you the most bang for your buck. (A note: It's frequently marked down close to $300 below its original list price.) With 2500 lumens of brightness, it'll fare well against mild ambient light, and its 10-watt speakers will do just fine for casual use. It can also project a screen size of up to 300 inches.

This projector isn't Bluetooth-compatible. It does, however, have two HDMI ports, so you'll be able to hook up two devices at once. 

Bonus: You'll be able to watch 3D movies with the Epson 2100, provided you already have the other equipment necessary (a 3D video source, for example). You know what that means: It's time to put on those fashionable 3D glasses.

Take this one to the rooftop movie night: You'll get 2.5 hours of use on a single battery charge. (That's not quite enough to make it through The Irishman, but maybe you don't mind.) Plus it's wireless, which means that as long as you have a good surface to project on, it works pretty much anywhere. It also runs LG's smart TV platform, which renders the projector a streaming device all on its own. 

The LG PF50's screen size maxes out at 100 inches, which is best for small to medium spaces. Its brightness isn't the best on this list — you'll certainly struggle to use it if there's lots of ambient light — but what it lacks in lumens it makes up for in portability. 

This projector does have built-in speakers, but they're fairly weak. You'll probably want to find an external sound system for this one. 

Want to play video games in your backyard? Consider the Optoma HD146X, which is bright enough to use in outdoor spaces where there's some ambient light. Yes, this means a sunset Animal Crossing session could be in your future. It's hard to imagine anything more pleasant than that.

The projector is equipped with a setting called Enhanced Gaming Mode, which cuts back on lag for an input response time of 16 milliseconds. (That means your actions will be reflected onscreen after that time interval.) There's also Game Display Mode, which makes shadows and dark scenes easier to see.

The Optoma HD146X is not just for games, though. It's also a really solid option for streaming movies and TV — especially for medium-scale uses like backyard movie nights. You'll be able to project onto screens up to 300 inches, though keep in mind you'll need to do this from a distance of about 13-14 feet. So you'll need some space, but it'll pay off.

Alright, so you've put the work in on your gorgeous backyard and you're ready to splurge. The ViewSonic PX748-4K has the features you need to recreate the movie theater experience at home — provided you have the space to accommodate it. According to the company, this projector can project a 100-inch screen from just under 10 feet away, so you'll need quite a bit of yard to work with.

In terms of features, though, this option is hard to beat for the price. It's super bright — 4000 lumens — and has an impressive set of 10W speakers, so you can get away with not purchasing a separate set. 4K fanatics will also be pleased to know this is a true 4K projector, and a surprisingly affordable one at that. The projector does tend to take a while to turn on and off — up to 15 seconds in some cases. A few folks also noticed some distracting noise from the fan, which may or may not be a concern for you depending on how much ambient noise you anticipate around your setup.

Despite these relatively small issues, though, the ViewSonic PX748-4K appears to be well worth the price.

The Anker Nebula gets an update with the newest model, the Capsule 3 Laser Projector. I adore my Anker Soundcore Mini speaker, so I was pretty excited to try out a projector from the brand. The setup was pretty uneventful, with the same update situation required of all tech. I found both the image and audio quality of this projector to be very solid. One quirk I found with this projector was that the remote phone app wasn’t usable when connected to a VPN. It is lightweight and perfectly packable, making it ideal for taking on camping trips. Our family previously had a compact outdoor projector we took camping, but this one offers a serious upgrade in terms of quality at a similar price point. It also doubles as a smart speaker, and is compatible with a number of popular voice assistants.

The setup on this projector drove me nuts. It seemed like everywhere I turned I was prompted to download the Samsung app. And then set up an account. I just wanted to plug and play, which is what this projector promised. There was an option to complete the setup using a QR code, but the screen was so out of focus that my phone wouldn’t recognize the code. Using the remote, I was eventually able to get into setup and adjust the picture and sign into my streaming service account.

And boy was the reward worth the wait! The picture quality was outstanding, even with multiple lights on in our space. The audio was straight fire and felt like I was in a theater. The rotating stand made it easy to project the picture along the wall or ceiling, though I wish it was a bit sturdier (#boymom life). I really liked the option to mount it! The only thing that would have made this projector better for me would be if the external battery for wireless use was included. 

If you’re looking for an outdoor projector that won’t break the bank, the Nebula Solar Portable is a solid option. Coming in at just over $500, it does an adequate job of projecting video in most spaces. Our family really appreciated the built-in rechargeable battery that got us through all our outdoor movie nights (and a couple of TV series binges) with ease. It’s not super bright, so the picture wasn’t great when we had a fire going at the same time, but it was still OK. For some reason, it doesn’t come with Netflix pre-installed, and the multi-step process to get the app onto the projector took a couple of hours to figure out. Disney, YouTube, and the whole Google Play store were ready to go, however.