Tech review: Dangbei N2 Mini projector is small, yet mighty

Jim Rossman, Tribune News Service on Aug 6, 2025

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I’ve reviewed more than a few projectors over the years. Some are made for meetings in a conference room, and some are made for watching movies in your home theater room. Some are made very small for carrying around in a travel bag, and some are quite large.

Some are expensive and some are more affordable.

Today we are looking at a very affordable projector from Dangbei called the N2 Mini ($199, us.dangbei.com).

What surprised me about the N2 Mini was the low price, especially as it relates to the built-in features.

First, let’s talk about where you’d want to use this projector.

The N2 Mini will not replace your main TV or be the focal point of your home theater room.

A large part of picking out a projector has to do with how bright the picture is on the wall, especially in situations where the room has a lot of windows.

When you choose a TV for your living room, you don’t have to worry about the picture being washed out when watching during the day in a bright room.

Projector shopping is different. Since the light has to travel from the projector to the screen, the brightness of the image the projector can throw is a big deal.

The N2 Mini has a brightness rating of 200 ISO lumens, which is not extremely bright.

For reference, the best Dangbei DBOX02 Pro home theater projector can output 2,000 ISO lumens.

Remember, different projectors for different uses. The N2 Mini is a sub-$200 projector and the DBOX02 Pro lists for $1,599.

This means you will want to use the N2 Mini in a darkened room to look its best.

The N2 Mini is also very small and it has a fantastic gimbal stand that tilts and rotates to make projecting at almost any angle quite simple.

The gimbal makes it a perfect projector to put on your nightstand to project on a bedroom wall or even the ceiling. Watching videos while laying in bed is very underrated.

The N2 Mini is quick to set up and use.

The video resolution is 1080P (1,920 x 1,080 pixels).

It has built-in Wi-Fi and comes pre-installed with officially licensed streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime and YouTube. There is also an app store where you can add other streaming sources, but not all services are available, so you may need to add your own Roku or FireTV or Apple TV if you find your favorite streaming service is not available.

It has an HDMI port so you can connect it to your computer or a set top box or streaming box. It also has a USB port so you can watch content from a flash drive.

You can also wirelessly cast video from your phone or computer.

The image size ranges from 40 inches up to 120 inches.

Just so you know, to make the image larger, you move the projector farther away from the screen or wall, but that also drops the brightness. It’s a give and take. To get a nice looking image at 120 inches, you’ll need a really dark room. Dangbei says 100 inches is the sweet spot.

The projector does a great job in adjusting the picture with auto focus, auto keystone adjustment, intelligent screen fit and obstacle avoidance.

These settings will square up the video image and even move it over if the projector senses something on the wall or in the way when you project.

There are also manual ways to make these adjustments. I found the auto focus a bit soft, so I usually had to tap the adjustment buttons on the remote to fine tune the focus to my eye.

There’ s a built-in 6 watt speaker with Dolby audio that is fine for watching movies or YouTube videos, but you won’t be blown away by the sound quality. Luckily there is a headphone jack to physically connect external speakers. The N2 Mini also has Bluetooth to connect to external speakers wirelessly.

The fully sealed LED light source keeps dust away and will never need replacing.

The N2 Mini could replace a bedroom TV or would work well for an outdoor movie night. The gimbal makes all the difference in how easy it is to set up and start watching.

If you’d like to dip your toe into the world of projectors, the Dangbei N2 Mini is the perfect combination of sharp image, ease of setup and low price.