witch Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 So...I have one of the casio LED projectors and it is fine but they are SO expensive. Is it really worth it versus a mid range NEC filterless? Any thoughts?
localzuk Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 It depends I suppose. It comes down to whether you want to spend up front or over the life of the projector. Casio projectors, when you take their whole life into account should be cheaper. Another issue when replacing projectors (not putting new ones in to places where they haven't been before) is their large focal range, so you don't generally need to replace the pole etc... Which in our experience is basically the same price as doing a new install. They do appear to develop a few more faults than other makes, I have to admit. We've now had to have 3 of our 5 sent away for repairs in 3 years, but they send out a loaner unit next day so you're only down for a day. However, if you're in a small school, even though the TCO may be cheaper, your school might not have the capital to spend it on things up front, so are more willing to spend over time instead on lamps.
witch Posted January 10, 2013 Author Posted January 10, 2013 Thanks @localzuk The thing is, we could go either way at the moment as we do have some IT money hanging around that needs to be spent by the end of the financial year. Sorry to be dim but I can't remember, what guarantee do the casios come with? I think what is bothering me is that we really don't know what their "whole life" will be, do we.
pcstru Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 My thoughts are no. The bulb is not the only item in a projector which will fail or wear and technology tends to move on such that the entire units are obsolete (or just worn out) over 3-5 years. Another factor to consider is that it may well become possible to buy bulbs for existing projectors which are based on LED technology.
elsiegee40 Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Casios come with a 5 year guarantee. That was the deal-maker for us. All our projectors were replaced with Casios.
witch Posted January 10, 2013 Author Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) Ta. Hmmmm. My projectors that are half the price would still end up cheaper even if you had to replace a lamp once in 5 years, and it has to be said that some of my projectors are waaaay older than that and they have only had one replacement TBF, other than a known issue that caused some problems at the begining of the life of some of my NECS, I have not had anything other than a lamp fail on a projector Edited January 10, 2013 by witch
Hosker Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 I believe that projectors have limited life now. Look at the CleverTouch range of screens they do not suffer from filters needing changing, bulbs that pop, teachers complaining the light is hurting them. Different pens for different years of manufacture I could go on. Over a 3Yr TCO projectors are not the answer?
witch Posted January 10, 2013 Author Posted January 10, 2013 Boss wants Promethean boards and wont consider a change so it is necessary that I get normal projectors
plexer Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Casio's come with 3 year as standard which is upgraded to 5 year when you register them. I was reading an article on the casios yesterday with a school where changing mounts etc... would cost them an arm and a leg but as has been said with the Casio A range they have a 2x optical zoom and therefore can replace most projectors on the same pole. The M series only have a 1.5x optical zoom. Ben
Hosker Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 You can run whatever software you like on the screen. We gone down this road and believe me its a delight to forget where they are.
localzuk Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 I believe that projectors have limited life now. Look at the CleverTouch range of screens they do not suffer from filters needing changing, bulbs that pop, teachers complaining the light is hurting them. Different pens for different years of manufacture I could go on. Over a 3Yr TCO projectors are not the answer? The LCD screens, while nice, have a far higher cost than any projector, by far. You're looking at £3.5k for a 65" screen. A projector can do 87" for half that...
witch Posted January 10, 2013 Author Posted January 10, 2013 I have just had a look at those screens and the price is waaaay out of our league. Projector it is then. Just not sure which way to jump..
BJG Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) I've changed enough projector bulbs for one lifetime, so I'd prefer to make sure any more of the things I purchased were the "lampless" variety, though I'm not completely sure about the best way to manage things from an environmental aspect. One other thing I noticed is that standing in front of our (non-Casio) LED projector is pretty dazzling, and short-throw or ultra-short-throw might be kinder to staff. (Last time I enquired, there weren't any ultra-short-throw lampless models available, but I'd have thought there must be by now.) Like pcstru says, projectors tend to become obsolete after a few years anyway...I've currently got an EMP82E sitting on my desk which is going to have to go off to the scrapyard because the cheapest bulb I can source is £370+VAT. Edited January 10, 2013 by BJG
Hosker Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 We use a size of screen suitable for the size of teaching room these screens are far superior in clarity and a 65inch can be fully fitted for £2,500. Initial cost is higher but then think man hours and down time ? Try your real world costings over 3Yrs.
dgsmith Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Epson EB-X11: - Great price, £275+VAT - Long lamp life - Excellent image and quality. Only ones we buy now and just had another 3 delivered yesterday @ this price.
witch Posted January 10, 2013 Author Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) I am sure the screens are absolutely wonderful but we just don't have the money. I'm sure the cost over three years will be more but it will come from three different budgets! Just as an aside, my other school had new projectors fitted just before I started there, 9 years ago. I have only had to replace the lamps once (and some of them not even that!) and as they came with a free lamp, I think they have ended up pretty cheap! They are filtered as well and many of them have the filters covered by the bracket and I don't have the time or tools to get them down so they are NEVER cleaned! Edited January 10, 2013 by witch
RTFM Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 We have a few (10?) of the Sahara Clever LCD's which are fine (the new model are much better as they are plug and play with W7) and have inbuilt speakers. We also have probably 30+ Casios. It's all we replace with now. Their throw distance is so flexible and the warranty is great.
pcstru Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Just as an aside, my other school had new projectors fitted just before I started there, 9 years ago. I have only had to replace the lamps once (and some of them not even that!) and as they came with a free lamp, I think they have ended up pretty cheap! They are filtered as well and many of them have the filters covered by the bracket and I don't have the time or tools to get them down so they are NEVER cleaned! Blimey. I find that the image quality on our projectors degrades to the point where they are not fit for purpose. 5 year old projectors here are generally 'worn out' and need to be replaced. Perhaps yours are particularly lovingly cared for? Or perhaps ours are sadly abused!
localzuk Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 I am sure the screens are absolutely wonderful but we just don't have the money. I'm sure the cost over three years will be more but it will come from three different budgets! Just as an aside, my other school had new projectors fitted just before I started there, 9 years ago. I have only had to replace the lamps once (and some of them not even that!) and as they came with a free lamp, I think they have ended up pretty cheap! They are filtered as well and many of them have the filters covered by the bracket and I don't have the time or tools to get them down so they are NEVER cleaned! You've got some good projectors there. Either that or they aren't used that much. We have replaced the lamps in most of our projectors multiple times over their 9 year lives. If we don't clean them, they overheat, so they get cleaned regularly too. Not to mention, the image quality is appalling on the older ones now (but the school has a policy of 'don't replace until it explodes' on projectors...).
sparkeh Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 For us going for Casios was (in our view) worth it. We were fed up with faffing around trying to find projectors with the right throw length and features at the right price, the casios have a great projection range and fit all our weird and wonderful cages heights/distances etc. We used to be cleaning filters and replacing bulbs constantly and the image quality on our older projectors is awful, something that (should) be avoided with the Casios. Projector maintenance has dropped off considerably now we have replaced a lot of the old stock and we couldn't be happier with them.
sonofsanta Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Worth noting that the difference between the Casios and other projectors isn't necessarily the years of warranty, but the hours - the Casios should run for 20,000 hours before they are at half brightness, and in that time your average Epson (etc.) projector will be coming to the end of it's 4th replacement bulb (ignoring eco mode, because I do on the Casios). Back of envlope calculations when I looked at it had the Casio at £700 new, the Epson at £350 new but with £700 of bulbs over the lifespan...
caffrey Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Not sure if quality is declining on projectors, the older ones here are old and are still running great (8 year old plus) never replaced a bulb, just clean the filters now and again. Recently tho we've had two new modern(ish) (2 years old) develop "starry night" - a common fault on DLP chips apparently (a benq and a optoma - so it's not manufacturer related) My Epson at home eats bulbs too - i'm looking for a cheap LED 1080p projector to replace that. I'm tempted by the casios for Hall projectors that are 4m up in the air.
mdench Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 Bought one casio unit and then never looked back. All new rooms are having them put in straight away and we are slowly changing over all the old IWB installations to having casio LED projectors. Staff prefer them greatly over the old projectors and haven't had any issues with any so far.
Meldrew Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 +1 from me for casio laser projectors too. We did the maths and worked out they are cheaper in the long run due to not having to replace bulbs at £150-£200 a pop, never mind taking into account they are pretty much maintenance free. We've about half a dozen so far and none had any issues so far. Meldrew
plexer Posted January 10, 2013 Posted January 10, 2013 We just replaced the projector in our hall with a loan unit Casio XJ-A131 and are having and A150 installed permanently. I've also fitted a pixie pro controller to control it allthough that's not without it's problems as to change the input from rgb to video the Casio doesn't just cycle through inputs, pressing input on the projector brings up a menu and you have to select the input you want then press enter. The stock buttons on the pixie don't suppor this configuration. Ben
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now