This may be a stupid question, so forgive me if it is, but I have never purchased a used projector before. I found a steal on a great projector, but it has a LOT of hours of use on it, but its only a year old. Is there any downsides to this beside the lamp probably needing to be changed in the near future? Anything else wear out or lose quality over time? What would you consider as "too many" hours of use as to where you would not consider buying the unit?


I am really excited that I found a great projector at a great price, I just want to verify these things before I jump on it.. Thanks!

This may be a stupid question, so forgive me if it is, but I have never purchased a used projector before. I found a steal on a great projector, but it has a LOT of hours of use on it, but its only a year old. Is there any downsides to this beside the lamp probably needing to be changed in the near future? Anything else wear out or lose quality over time? What would you consider as "too many" hours of use as to where you would not consider buying the unit?


I am really excited that I found a great projector at a great price, I just want to verify these things before I jump on it.. Thanks!

Other than internal parts wearing out, generally there is no downside of purchasing a newer model used projector...though it depends greatly on the make and model number. If it is an LCD model I think the general consensus in buying a used one is to get one with inorganic panels as they are much more durable, which I believe most of the current production ones are (there is some debate about past models but most last year were as well, check with each manufacturer). Although DLP has a spinning color wheel they have a sealed light path and are generally thought to have fewer problems down the road than LCD (their probs usually occur right out of the box if there are going to be any), generally the same with LCOS. All three chip designs have the potential for misconvergence of panels as well as color shifting, but these problems are either there or they aren't and generally wouldn't worsen with age (again, generally...not saying it couldn't happen).

As these are just generalizations and they will vary from model to model...I would be a little hesitant with "used" models right now as a JVC RS1 and Pioneer FPJ1 (JVC-RS2) can be had new, in the box with warranty, for less than half their original MSRP as they are clearancing them out...this pj is one of the finest made and it would be very tough to beat these prices even on used units, with all their potential problems.

I would assume this is a digital projector since this is such a forum. That being said...the potential downsides are:

1. Dim picture (high lamp hours means lower output).
2. Potential for parts to fail (depends on what kind of projector to some degree).
3. Potential for replacing lamp soon (ie. added expense).
4. Potential for imploding lamp (rare, but can damage a projector).