Projectors and lamp life (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Williams]

Need some advice & info on first projector purchase:

The projector I'm considering buying (Runco CL-510) has a relatively short rated lamp life - 1000 hours. Most of the other projectors I see are rated anywhere from 2000-3000 hours. Would this alone turn most of you off on this projector? Do the ones rated 2000-3000 hours actually achieve this, or is it marketing hype; as I see most of them only warranty the lamp for 6 months or 1000 hours (same as Runco does.)

Thanks for any reponses!

 

[Paul_Scott]

any particular reason you are high on the Runco?
i have no doubt its a quality unit, but Runco seems to me a bit over priced in general.
i've heard they have good service though.
what are the specs on that one?

as far as bulbs,
my first pj only had a lamp life of 1000 hrs, and it took me about 2 years to use it.
if you plan on using the projector to replace the 'boob' tube and killing 4 hours on it a night, you may want to look elsewhere or plan on buying a lot of bulbs.

one of the reasons i just sold it though, was the fact that the newer pjs have much longer rated bulbs (with econ modes usually).

if you wait a few weeks, you may find some really good deals soon on last years HD2s...i'm sure most of those would give the Runco a good run for its money.

i recently got a chance to test drive a NEC ht1000.
this pj can be had for $3500 (w/rebate), and its a much better projector than the first DLP i ever saw (and the first front projector to ever 'blow me away') which was a $17000 Runco from about 2 years ago.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

RUNCO's have a certain price premium to them which includes extensive support ...

They are also geared toward a certain type of clientele that is service oriented. The life of their bulbs is usually in the 2000 hr range when economy modes are employed.

Regards

 

[Patrick Williams]

Thanks for the reponses. I know the Runco carries a premium price, but I can get it at dealer cost through a relative.

As far as I know, it does not have an economy mode.

 

[Paul_Scott]

I know the Runco carries a premium price, but I can get it at dealer cost through a relative.

that would certainly make a big difference.

 

[Neil Joseph]

The projectors I have owned have achieved their bulb life ratings with proper care/cautions taken with the projector such as allowing proper cooldown of the lamp and not too many successive power down/ups. If you want to watch a movie in 10 minutes, it is better to leave the projector on rather than power down and then up for instance, keep the unit's filter clean and allow sufficient cooling space around the projector.

 

[noki123]

I own a very old projector got it for my office for presentations. i was thinking of replacing it but i found out that the by placing a projectors lamp it would be as good as new i bought one from www.projectorlampsworld.com .They are guranteed to work for 5000 hours, I want to confirm that does an average lamp has an life of 5000 hours.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Does it have a written warranty to last for 5000 hours? If so, what exactly does it say? I've never heard of a lamp that lasts 5000 hours. That sounds like BS to me.

 

[noki123]

Hey i have read somewhere that their original lamp worked for 10,000 hours. The site which i am refering states that 90 days or 5000 hours which ever comes first.

 

[Jim Mcc]

OK, "whichever comes first" is the key. They could say it's 50,000 hours and it wouldn't matter. That warranty is realistically only 90 days.

 

[Leo Kerr]

I was in charge of an old Ampro that we were getting 5000 hours out of the lamps, typical. I think one went to 8k, but that is by far unusual.

With regards to the Runco, I'd avoid it. It's a very low resolution projector to begin with; essentially a 16x9 PAL chip. Not sure what "dealer cost" is, but if it's half MSRP, I wouldn't even look its way, even if you don't see the DLP sequential color (rainbow effect) problem.

Leo

 

[BoyPcc]

I guess the rainbow effect can be sort out by replacing the color wheel? Is it like this? I don`t have DLP Tv but have placed bulbs in my friends DLP.