Valerion’s VisionMaster Kickstarter campaign raised more than $8 million in 2024, making it the most-funded campaign on the platform that year. After spending the past few weeks with the flagship VisionMaster Max, I’m confident there are plenty of satisfied backers.

At $3,999, it costs far more than excellent point-and-play rivals, such as the Nebula X1 (9/10 WIRED Recommends), but considerably less than native 4K home-theater projectors from brands like Sony and JVC. That leaves the Max straddling two very different camps.

Its compact design, built-in Google TV, and automated setup suggest the classification of a premium lifestyle projector, while optical zoom, vertical lens shift, a mechanical iris, and sophisticated black-level processing point toward something far more capable. It’s easy to use and almost too pretty to ceiling-mount, but arguably too sophisticated to spend its life propped up on a side table. So the question remains: Who is the VisionMaster Max actually for?

5-pound VisionMaster Max is simple to get up and running. Google TV grants instant access to many streaming services, while auto-keystone and autofocus make positioning a frictionless process. 5:1 throw ratio, lets you resize the picture without moving the projector. There's also vertical lens shift, which moves the image up or down without needing to resort to digital correction. All of this means that if you’ve got a blank wall and five minutes, you can stream Emily in Paris on a 90-inch screen in no time.

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