My wife was greeted with a loud pop recently, and the good old Benq could only throw black and white after that. Three weeks ago I sent it in for repair. I received the following after waiting a bit....

Please allow us to extend our most sincere apologies on all the
inconveniences this has caused you. We have been informed the company
that manufactured the color wheel, which is the part required to
complete your repair, has gone out of business. We have been unable to
locate a alternate part nor have we been able to locate another vendor
globally. The only other solution we have is to offer you an
alternative refurbished projector at a very good price.



This what we can offer you:



MP730 - $499 + Tax and Shipping

SP820 - $599 + Tax and Shipping

SP830 - $649 + Tax and Shipping

What do you think? I haven't been in the business of looking for a projector for 5 years....so any clear winners here? Also, anyone have a spare color wheel around?

The 730 and 830 are hybrid business/home theater projectors. The 820 is a very bright business projector. All of these prices are decent, as long as they have some kind of a lamp warranty, even 30 days would be OK. Personally if I had to choose from these three, I'd probably take the 830 although the 730 is certainly worthwhile as well.

But what I'd really do is look at the new crop of projectors coming out right now. 1080p projectors are under $1000 in some cases. They won't be built as well as the 8700, but the technology has come a long way in the past few years. I think you'll be relatively happy with almost any of the new projectors.

Jim

Forget all those they listed. There are some outstanding projectors available these days for not a lot of dough. Even 1080p is available now for under 1k.

Thank you...money is a bit tight right now, so unsure what to do...I would be very happy to have the capabilities of the 8700 back with a minimum of cash outlay...but your advice is very appreciated.