Don't Buy Sony VPL DX120/121/122/220/221 Projectors

[waltflanagan]

Good afternoon

 

After trying several types of projectors we came across the Sony VPL-DX range, at first the picture quality and resolution was fantastic and all the teachers using these units were very impressed. Between 6-21 months later nearly all the units we purchased have started to show a pink blur which then spreads across the screen (see attached)

 

We contacted Sony about the fault and after several emails including videos and pictures they sent a new unit (if under warranty). The ones that are out of the 2 year warranty Sony wouldn't do anything about it, we decided to strip it down and fix it ourselves. The fault seemed to come from the optical block /optical assembly which was cracked, we spoke to Sony about a replacement part and they quoted us £1072.14 plus £9.95 delivery + vat, the entire unit only cost us £350.00

 

Out of the 21 units purchased nearly all of them has either had this fault or is now starting with it, I wont be purchasing another Sony product.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Katy]

We had a load of those orange Sanyo projectors that went purple (...not quite as bad as your Sonys), the "fix" was we had to strip every projector down and clean all the internal mirrors etc every summer. So glad they've all been skipped.

[NB9457]

I'd still be pushing them. Out of warranty or not, they shouldn't be failing at that age, especially all of them, never mind one or two.

 

I'd be going to Sony and kicking up a fuss. The trick is be polite, yet firm, perhaps a little bit manipulative with your questions. It can be done and I'd be pushing. Get the original supplier involved too, if you have a good account manager, they'll definitely be able to push them.

 

Honestly, keep pushing and hopefully it will pay off for you in the end.

[PotNoodleTech]

I won't buy anything Sony on principal they have a terrible attitude, and all of the bad things they got caught doing in the past such as rootkits etc.

[HTCPCP]

Be firm but polite in your dealings with them, and point out to them that this seems to be a design floor. Also hint at potentially writing to Trading Standards about the design being not fit for purpose. Also, escalate - Speak to the manager, move upwards as much as possible. The problem is for a lot of these companies, the people lower down aren't allowed to do anything beyond exact terms, and are encouraged to reject as many claims to get people to upgrade.

 

In future, just buy Epsons - Never had an issue, and when we had a batch fail just outside of warranty (4-5 out of 30 bought in bulk) they swapped them out anyway saying that it sounded like a faulty batch, and the 3 year education warranty includes the bulb (or at least used to)

[waltflanagan]

We've started to buy Casio XJ-V2 (5 year warranty, no lamp).

 

XJ-V2-UJ | Core Series | Projectors | Products | CASIO

 

We'll try and get what we can from Sony with our existing units.

[synaesthesia]

Funnily enough Casio is the first company I would heavily avoid buying projectors from. Their last batches have been utter turd; promised the world, no degredation in image, 20,000 hour warranties; all absolute poppycock.

[NB9457]

Personal favourite are Epson, but Hitachi have some deals you honestly can't say no to, to the point where I went with them over Epson. So far, I'm pretty happy.

[kennysarmy]

No SONY projectors here !