Does anyone know if I can buy, in hand a z5 anywhere in the boston area. I looked online and none of the warehouses (bj costco sams) seem to carry it. neither do best buy or cc. Am i missing somthing? My wife wants to get this projector somewhere, where she can walk into the store and take it back if there is a problem. any ideas

thanks
steve

ok now i only have 1day, no one have any thoughts?

Well, if you aren't sold on the Sanyo then my suggestion would be Costco and go with one of the Panasonics (AX100 or 900). These can be brought back to Costco for a full refund just like all of their other products (including shipping). You can pay for express shipping but I don't know if they'll be able to process the order quickly enough to get the projector to you for the super bowl (just a crazy example :) )

If you're stuck on the SAnyo you may be out of luck. I have never seen Sanyo products on shelves at any stores.

In fact, if you are stuck on walking into a store and purchasing you might be out of luck in general regarding return policies. Most stores that sell projectors often have restocking fee's - from the Big Box guys like Circuit City and Best Buy to online retailers like Visual Apex and Projector People. Why? Because once there are hours on the bulb the product is considered used and has less life then when new. Just take a look at Best Buy's return policies - projectors are treated like computer parts and have restocking fees.

For example:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=page&entryURLType=&entryURLID=&categoryId=cat10004&contentId=1117177044087&id=cat12098

Restocking fee
A restocking fee of 15% will be charged on opened notebook computers, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors, GPS/navigation and in-car video systems unless defective or prohibited by law. A restocking fee of 25% will be charged on Special Order Products, including appliances unless defective or prohibited by law.

AVScience may be able to help. They have a generous return policy (one of the most generous in the industry) and allow users to take a look at projectors in their homes for a month before accepting returns - no hour limit.

Another suggestion would be to call Sanyo and get the number of your regional distributor and see who carries them in the area. I think you'll have little luck here. You're mostly going to get industrial A/V companies that install projectors in conference rooms, schools, etc - these guys rarely have the home theater lines in stock. Additionally, they aren't built for "returns" per se.

thanks vigga,
talked to the wife and decided to go with visual apex, i bought my pannasonic 300 from them so i know they are good people and it come with the extra warenties on the projector and bulb.

thanks again
steve