Dangbei, a manufacturer dedicated to making large-screen entertainment accessible, is known for their smart projectors. The Freedo is their first portable Google TV projector, which launched in February 2025. A 1080p lifestyle projector, the Freedo offers a sleek, spotlight style design and a cinematic viewing experience indoors or out, thanks to its built-in battery. Aptly marketed as a nighttime projector, its 450 ISO lumens is enough for watching movies, TV shows, or gaming in a light-controlled home or under the stars. While priced competitively at $549, the Freedo can be found for significantly less at retailers like Amazon, where it is currently just $399. There is also currently a $110 off coupon on the Dangbei website.

The Dangbei Freedo includes a one-year warranty, and a 30-day money back guarantee when you order from their website directly.

Features

The Dangbei Freedo is a single-chip 0.23-inch DLP projector with an LED light engine rated for up to 30,000 hours. The 1080p-resolution lifestyle projector offers 450 ISO lumens, which is enough for nighttime viewing or consuming content within a fully darkened room. Dangbei has a nice little caveat on their website: "This brightness value represents the average value of mass production, measured in accordance with the ISO 21118 standard, under ideal laboratory conditions in the high-performance mode." As it is unlikely that you will ever achieve ideal laboratory conditions, you'll want to look at our real-world brightness measurements in this article.

The Freedo has 4K support, so you can watch 4K content, but it will be projected in 1080p. The Dangbei claims the Freedo reaches up to 124% of Rec.709 and over 90% of the expanded DCI-P3 color space. They also claim D65 factory calibration, yet I observed some deviations in real-world use, particularly in yellow and green hues, which are inaccurate and appear shifted. On some types of content, in some scenes, skin tones skew slightly magenta, suggesting imbalances in greyscale tracking or color processing. Though there is some ability to adjust color, it doesn't always prove to be enough, which could be frustrating for those to whom color accuracy is important.

The projector weighs 3.1 pounds with the dimensions of 9.4 x 5.2 x 4.3 inches (WHD), making it the size of a large tumbler. The Freedo has a spotlight design, and its stand allows for +135 degrees/-30 degrees of tilt for excellent placement flexibility. It can project from 40 inches up to 180 inches, with Dangbei rating the sweet spot as between 60 to 100 inches for the screen size. It has a fixed focal length and a 1.20:1 throw ratio. Use our ProjectorCentral Throw Calculator to calculate where you should place the projector within your space.

It has plenty of auto features, which Dangbei calls InstanPro. It has auto keystone correction +/-30, autofocus, screen fit (scales the image to fit within a defined area), and obstacle avoidance (shifts the image for an unobstructed view, such as away from a picture frame hanging in the projection area), and eye protection (which turns off the picture when walking in front of the projector to prevent vision hazards), for a true plug-and-play experience.

The projector operates on the Google TV operating system, which is a fantastic smart OS that is often seen on today's smart projectors and TVs. It is easy to set up but does require a Google account for the full, personalized experience. We're talking about accessing the Google Play Store, which is where you go to download additional apps and even accessing some functions of Google TV. The Freebo comes pre-loaded with Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney+, but you can also get favorites like Max, Apple TV, Starz, and more as you customize during setup.

It being a Google TV OS, the menu system was much the same as it is on nearly every projector that I've reviewed this yearmdash;which is to say, intuitive, and fairly easy to find even the more elusive settings. The only ones that tend to be a tad hidden are power modes, which can be found in the picture mode settings, under Brightness. Those modes are Standard, Eco, Custom, and High Performance.

The projector has Chromecast, and it is easy to use. I began with my MacBook Pro, casting through Google Chrome. My brother introduced me to Simon Whistler's Into the Shadows playlist after I expressed my interest in history and espionage for the purpose of researching my novel, after having finished The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre. The video I tested was called The Insane Depravity of Caligula: Was He Truly Mad? as Caligula is a character study for my antagonist. The Dangbei projected this video well and there were no syncing issues. I was also able to watch this during the day at 80 inches with my blinds closed. When moving the curser across the screen on a typical webpage, there was some delay, though it was within an acceptable range.

The projector does have a Game Mode to reduce latency, and it does so significantly. The lowest input lag measurement was 56.1 ms when projecting in Standard power mode, using Game picture mode with Game Mode enabled, in 1080p @ 60Hz. Otherwise, measurements were a playable 61.5 ms in Eco power mode, using the Game picture mode with Game Mode enabled, or an atrocious 94.8 ms with Game Mode off, projecting in the Game picture mode in either Standard or Eco power modes.

The Freedo comes in a shockproof, recyclable EPP carrying case and has a branded cloth bag to enclose the projector within. Inside the case, there is a white box that contains the power adapter, two AAA batteries, and a secret compartment inside the white box hides the remote so you can spend a moment thinking the projector didn't come with one. The remote itself pairs via Bluetooth and is slim, matte finish, and has a trick to get the batteries in. The back slides off, but only a little. It has to be pried the rest of the way off to reveal the battery chamber. Once that's done, the batteries fit in easy. It has a simple layout.

The Power and Google Assistant (for voice control) are stacked above the navigational wheel and OK button. Next to those are a red side key that acts as an Up button and for manual focus when pressed or auto focus when held for two seconds, and a black side key that acts as a down button and accesses Quick Settings or mute/unmute. The three buttons below the navigational keys are the back, Apps, and Home buttons. The Home button also opens Settings. Underneath are three buttons to connect to streaming apps, and the volume control +/- buttons are next to those.

The power adapter fits into the stand underneath one of the round hinges so it is hidden nicely. Its inputs are also hidden, and those are on the side. A single HDMI and USB Type-A port are accessed under a small silicone flap. The USB port can be used for either a mouse or USB drive, and it supports both NTFS and FAT32 formats. Additionally, it supports Bluetooth 5.1 and both WiFi 2.4 and 5.0 GHz.

It has a 6-watt speaker that sounded quite good, especially in Music mode, even when consuming content other than music such as playing video games. It has nice, spacious sound, with great range. Although the projector's bass output could be better, but it's not bad for an onboard speaker. I found that classical music was the most beautiful, such as from Hauser or film scores like Pirates of the Caribbean or Inception. This was also true of the game Symphonia, which I discuss later in this review.

Movie mode was the best audio option for TV shows and films. It reproduced dialogue well while giving the right attention to music and sound effects. The Freedo also has a Bluetooth Sound Mode for listening to music that was quite enjoyable and could be used as a portable speaker for outdoor enjoyment or around the house.

The projector's built-in battery is rated to last two and a half hours (in Eco mode) when watching video content, six hours in Bluetooth mode listening to music. The indicator light for it is on the right side of the projector's hinge when facing the lens. There are three colors to indicate different power levels: green for fully powered (70%-99%), goldenrod for mid-power (20%-69%), and red for low power (19% and below). It is also compatible with battery banks via that USB port.

When projecting films on battery power, the brightness dims significantly. This is fine for nighttime viewing in a fully darkened room or for an outdoor movie night, but it is better to use it plugged in for any other time of day or environment where there isn't good lighting control. At 30 minutes into a film, it was already down to 80% battery. An hour in, the battery dropped to 66%, then 50% at an hour and a half, and shut off one hour and 45 minutes in. I plugged it back into power and discovered that it had shut off at around 40% battery. This was disappointing. It does work with a battery bank, so if you have one, you can extend its cordless viewing/listening time.

The battery did not last as long as Dangbei claims. For music, it was only three hours. Immediately after disconnecting from power to use the built-in battery, the brightness dimmed considerably, and it went down to 97%. About an hour in, the battery was at 74%. It hit its halfway mark just under two hours of listening, and just before three hours, it was at 20% and the projector told me to plug it in to extend listening time. It shut off soon after that. While not what the manufacturer claims, three hours of listening is still decent, and most people will find it sufficient.

It is important to note that when listening to music, your phone's volume level affects the volume output of the projector. So, if your phone volume is, say, less than half and the projector's volume is all the way up, it might still be too quiet. Simply turning the phone all the way up will yield a good volume level that you can then control with the projector's remote. The speakers were loud enough to offend one of my cats, who arose from her spot under the projector's table to give it a dirty look and find a new place to nap.

Performance

Color Modes. The Dangbei Freedo has five picture modes, all with reasonably good out-of-the-box color when projecting in the Standard, Eco, or Custom power mode, though none are wholly accurate. The brightest power mode options for good color are Custom and Standard. The High Performance power mode was quite green and fairly unwatchable due to extremely distracting fan noise that accompanied it.

The Freedo's picture mode options are Standard, Vivid, Movie, Game, and Custom. I project a color wheel to test color performance initially, then real-world content like movies, TV shows, and video games. Those results are discussed later in the review.

Standard picture mode was a bit on the cool side, even when the color temperature was changed to Normal or Warm. It's a slight difference from the color wheel's true colors, and is mainly noticeable in yellows and oranges, which are a little off. Standard mode measured 315 ANSI lumens in Custom power mode and 279 in Standard power mode.

I saw no visually detectable difference in color between the Vivid picture and Standard, and it behaved the same way when shifting through color temperature settings, which is called color gain in the Expert Settings of the picture menu. Vivid mode measured 311 ANSI lumens in Custom power mode and 312 in Standard power mode.

Movie picture mode reproduced more accurate color and skin tones, especially in the warm color temperature setting. It also looked good in the normal color temperature setting. The yellows and oranges improved in this picture setting, but were still not accurate, leaning toward a cooler tint. Movie mode measured 310 ANSI lumens in Custom power mode and 302 in Standard power mode.

Game picture mode was cool by default and was noticeably so. Its colors were a bit lighter in value than the other modes, with sky blues looking particularly lighter. Yellows and oranges were cool, more so than the previous modes. Changing the color temperature improved things considerably, making yellows and oranges closer to accurate than any other mode. All colors were still on the cool side, though, even in warm color temperature. Game mode measured 301 ANSI lumens in Custom power mode and 298 lumens in Standard power mode.

Custom picture mode was basically Standard/Vivid, but the color temperature starts off in Custom. Custom color temperature is exactly the same as normal. Changing the color temperature to warm also behaved the same way as it did in both the Standard and Vivid picture modes. Custom picture mode measured 306 ANSI lumens in Custom power mode and 307 lumens in Standard power mode.

SDR Streaming. I began by streaming Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation using the free PlutoTV app via the Google Play store. I was switching both the audio and picture modes to Movie, with normal color temperature, and this made the content horrendously skippy. My immediate impression was, "Man do these people have pores." You can really see it all. I changed the picture mode to Standard in the normal color temperature setting, which looked better in terms of color. The picture skipped during advertisements, and even during the content.

I gave up on PlutoTV and switched over to the internal Netflix app, which I was hoping would yield better results. I was not disappointed. I started with Peaky Blinders. Standard picture mode looked okay with cool and warm color temperatures, and Movie picture mode looked decent with normal color temperature. It looked best with these settings. The color overall was good, and skin tones looked excellent. Visually, highlights were within range, and black levels were decent for a sub-$1000 projector.

Black Sails in Movie mode looked good in either the normal or warm color temperature setting, but it depended on the skin tones and setting. For most, it'll serve well enough. Black levels were good, but dark shadow detail suffered. There were some points where clothing or hair lacked definition. In general, it was watchable.

The last test I performed was via the Prime Video app, watching A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I finished the Sunrise on the Reaping audiobook recently, so The Hunger Games is on the brain. The black levels were good, but like Black Sails, detail was lost. It was most noticeable in the opening scene, which is quite dark. Things improved after that, and the film looked quite lovely. I particularly appreciated reds, blues, and skin tones. I changed the power mode from Standard to Custom, but there wasn't a visual change in brightness. It's only a handful of lumens difference, so I was not surprised.

I briefly switched the power mode to High Performance power mode. It was green, as mentioned, but it would be watchable in dire straits should it have a quieter fan setting to go along with it. It did not. The other power modes were quiet.

SDR Blu-ray. I was nervous when I put in Big Hero 6 because, as you will see in the next section, there were some issues when projecting certain video games. In Standard picture mode, while color wasn't bad, highlights were clipped. Movie mode was the best mode for it, getting more accurate color than any other mode. The yellows were a bit off, but that is a running theme for this projector. Reds looked excellent and the black levels were decent. I didn't have any problems with the dark shadow detail. Skin tones in general looked good, but in some scenes, a bit warm with hints of magenta. The image was sharp, and textures were rendered well.

Next up was Jurassic World Dominion, the extended edition. In Movie mode, the opening scene was warm, but it worked for the environment the dinosaurs were in. The next scene was quite dark, taking place at night in a drive-in theater. It was difficult to see due to poor dark shadow detail. Scenes that took place in broad daylight looked good, with natural-looking skin tones and hair. Blacks looked good, and there were no issues with highlight clipping, even in scenes when there was snow. I would say if you're not planning on watching movies and TV shows with a lot of dark scenes, the projector may be suitable.

Gaming. I recently purchased Xbox GamePass to play Sea of Thieves with my nephew, and as I had I dusted off the old Xbox (PlayStation is my preferred platform), I decided to download a couple games and test how the Freedo handled gaming on the Xbox. I tested these games at night in a fully darkened room.

I was delighted to see that there is a Crash Bandicoot 4, however late I am to that one. It has an enhanced 3D style that's a spin on the original games, of which I am a fan. Gameplay with this 3D platformer game was smooth and I had no issues with lag. Crash Bandicoot games tend to reveal much about color, and the color wasn't quite right in any mode.

The greens and yellows were a bit obnoxious, and there was some slight highlight clipping in bright yellow tones, such as the yellow highlight in grassy hills. That is where I noticed it. It isn't so distracting as to not be able to immerse yourself in the game, but worth mentioning. I set the color temperature to Normal rather than Cool because the orangish-red of Crash's fur was a tad uglymdash;just a bit muddy. Changing the color temperature didn't fix everything, but it looked much better and closer to what the game designers intended.

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I tested all the audio modes and settled on Music, which I liked best across the board. This mode provided the most spacious sound, with good bass, mids, and treble for a projector of this class.

Next, I decided to play a game called Symphonia, which is another platformer game. It spoke to me because I am a classically trained violist, and this game is described as a non-violent and poetic platformer game. The realm of Symphonia, where music was once a source of life and energy, has fallen into silence. As the character Philemon, players use their violin to play music that reactivates machinery and brings life and energy back to the realm. The music, based on the romantic musical period, was created by the composer Olivier Esman.

Obviously, I kept it in Music audio mode, and it sounded phenomenal. This is truly a gorgeous, and absolutely a poetic game, with an excellent soundtrack that was reproduced well by the Dangbei Freedo. Music mode brought out the tones of the violin's music, and the color looked great in Game mode with Normal color temperature. There was only the slightest clipping of highlights, which were only noticeable if I was looking for them.

I played Kingdom Hearts III next. I was disappointed with the color in every mode. I'm in Arendelle and the snow and skin tones, particularly Anna, were quite magenta in hue. The highlights were also clipped, like on their noses and some areas of the snow. The yellows and greens were pretty off, such as Donald Duck's beak and legs, and Goofy's pants. It was playable but I did not like it. I suppose Game picture mode is best for this, or Standard. Gameplay was fine. There was no lag during the heavier battle moves that have a lot of animation.

I was hoping that Horizon: Zero Dawn would yield better results in terms of color. The game has HDR, and all the color modes are the same, only they have (HDR) at the end of their names. The menu, in Standard (HDR), looked promising. Unfortunately, I didn't much care for the way it looked during gameplay. It was sort of green, making certain colors a bit muddy. There were also some issues with the highlights. I changed it to Movie (HDR), and while this made everything warmer and the red of Aloy's hair was more of a dark red with an ombre into orange, it was a bit of an improvement at the time. I soon found that everything looked odd and unnaturally orange, so I switched it to Game (HDR). This was better but still not even approaching accurate. All the modes had some issues with highlights being blown out. There were no issues with gameplay in this one either.

Conclusion

The Dangbei Freedo is a single-chip 0.23-inch DLP projector with an LED light engine, 1080p resolution with 4K and HDR support, and a claim of 450 ISO lumens. The brightest mode with decent color was Standard picture mode in the Custom power mode, measuring 315 ANSI lumens. This was bright enough for good nighttime viewing and some types of content during the day in a room with control over ambient light. The projector looked best at sizes between 60 to 100 inches, but it is important to remember that the larger the image, the less bright that image will appear.

The Freedo features a spotlight design with a stand that allows for +135-degree/-30-degree tilt. This, coupled with extensive auto features, yields excellent placement flexibility. The projector did not meet its internal battery life claim for either video or music, but it was still decent enough and the ability to utilize an external battery bank very nearly makes up for this.

My tests yielded a bit of a mixed bag in terms of color in that some content looked good, while others do not, and there was no real pattern I could distinguish. This was most obvious when playing video games, and most video content looked decent, though the projector struggled with dark shadow detail. The projector's Game Mode did reduce latency considerably, but it still fell within the range acceptable only for casual gamers.

The Dangbei Freedo is not a poor recommendation, but neither is it a particularly impressive projector. Improvements in the realm of color and shadow detail performance would be welcome. Its strengths are the tilt design, solid-state light engine, Google TV, and auto features. It was a quick, plug-and-play setup that gets the projector up and running without requiring any real understanding of tech and does have an immersive viewing experience. The Freedo is suitable for a first projector for those who desire a portable outdoor projector, families, collage students, and children getting their first home theater.

Measurements

Brightness. Dangbei rates the Freebo for 450 ISO lumens. The following measurements are for ANSI lumens, which measure higher than the ISO21118 standard, as ISO requires more stringent measuring conditions. The brightest measurements came from Game mode combined with the High Performance power mode. Standard picture mode was the next brightest picture mode when measured with the Custom power mode.

High Performance mode yielded a greenish hue, while Custom had more of a blue bias to the image. Blue makes an image better suited to brighter conditions, and this can further be utilized by setting the Color Temperature to Cool. Furthermore, High Performance power mode's fan noise is distractingly loud, making it a less suitable choice for standard viewing than Custom power mode.

Using the traditional 9-point averaged measurement technique described in the ANSI standard, Game picture mode in High Performance power mode measured 367, and Standard picture mode in Custom power mode measured 315, which is below its specification of 450 ISO lumens.

This is what you can expect from a real-world environment, and as such, the projector will do best at night, in a fully darkened room, or in a room with excellent lighting control and an ALR screen if you must watch during the day. Vividly colored content will be more visible in daytime viewing than TV shows, films, and games with darker scenes. For reference, 2,000 lumens are about the minimum required to project a visible and clear image in a well-lit room.

Selecting Custom power mode resulted in a 14.1% light decrease. Standard power mode resulted in a decrease of 14.9%. Eco power mode resulted in a 66.4% decrease.

The brightest measurement taken was in High Performance power mode, in the brightest sector of the screen in Standard picture mode. That measured 438 lumens. In Standard power mode, the brightest sector of the screen measured 321 lumens.

Dangbei Freedo Lumens

Display Mode	Standard	Eco	Custom	High Performance
Standard	279	120	315	371
Vivid	312	121	311	363
Movie	302	121	310	366
Game	298	119	301	367
Custom	307	123	306	365

Brightness Uniformity. The Dangbei Freedo has an excellent measured brightness uniformity of 93% for Vivid picture mode combined with Standard power mode. Standard mode in High Performance power mode has a brightness uniformity measurement of 80%, which is still rather good. There were no visually detectible hot spots and no vignette at the edges when projecting a pure white screen.

Measuring Vivid picture mode in Standard power mode, the brightest sector of the screen was the top center and the dimmest was the right center sector. Measuring Standard picture mode in High Performance power mode, the brightest sector of the screen was the bottom left and the dimmest was the top right sector. No hotspots were visually detectable, nor any rainbow effect.

Fan Noise. Dangbei has a rather specific fan noise rating for Standard power mode. That is <24 dbA at 25 degrees C at a distance of one meter. Real-world conditions spike that claim but the fan in Standard, Eco, and Custom is quiet. My testing room's noise floor is 33.1 dbA and had a slightly cooler environment than 25 degrees C (77 degrees F)mdash;and the decibels were measured at a distance of one meter, or just over three feet in any direction.

Standard
Left mdash; 33.1 dBA
Right mdash; 33.5 dBA
Front mdash; 32.7 dBA
Rear mdash; 334.0 dBA

Eco
Left mdash; 33.2 dBA
Right mdash; 33.3 dBA
Front mdash; 33.6 dBA
Rear mdash; 35.3 dBA

Custom
Left mdash; 33.2 dBA
Right mdash; 33.1 dBA
Front mdash; 32.8 dBA
Rear mdash; 33.7 dBA

High Performance
Left mdash; 46.6 dBA
Right mdash; 43.5 dBA
Front mdash; 44.5 dBA
Rear mdash; 44.4 dBA

Input Lag. Input lag was measured using a Leo Bodnar 4K Lag Tester. The measurements were as follows:

1080p @ 60Hz
Power Mode: Eco
Picture Mode: Game
Game Mode: Off
Measurement: 94.8 ms

1080p @ 60Hz
Power Mode: Eco
Picture Mode: Game
Game Mode: On
Measurement: 61.5 ms

1080p @ 60Hz
Power Mode: Standard
Picture Mode: Game
Game Mode: Off
Measurement: 94.8 ms

1080p @ 60Hz
Power Mode: Standard
Picture Mode: Game
Game Mode: On
Measurement: 56.1 ms

It is best to game in Standard power mode, using the Game picture mode with Game Mode enabled. This yielded a 56.1 ms measurement. This is suitable for casual gaming, but those who play online multiplayer games will want to look for a projector with the lowest lag time possible, which these days is around 4 ms. For reference, playing a 60 fps game with a projector that has a 60 ms input lag would result in a one-frame delay. The same measurement playing a 30 fps game would have a two-frame delay. This can make a significant difference in competitive gaming.

Connections

• HDMI (eARC)
• USB 2.0 Type A
• DC-In (USB Type-C)

For more detailed specifications and connections, check out our Dangbei Freedo projector page.

To buy this projector, use Where to Buy online, or get a price quote by email direct from Projector Central authorized dealers using our E-Z Quote tool.

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