Quote:
Originally Posted by
golfnz34me 
I'm currently on my fourth bulb for my Sanyo Z1. The first three each lasted about 800-900 hours in low power mode. Needless to say , I'm not happy. Needless to say, I'm looking for a new projector.
Mike
I went through 5 bulbs on my Z1 over 3 years, including the original one. Last year I got Sanyo to service the projector shortly after installing the 5th bulb when the output was very low and the colors messed up. They said the blue polarizer was gone. And they said there was lots of dust, despite regular filter cleaning. I had to push a little, but they fixed it all under warranty. They wouldn't provide any replacement lamp, unfortunately :-( My first four lamps lasted only between 300 and 700 hours each. My 5th lamp actually lasted until last month, at about 5 hours a day since last july, or about 1300 hours. The Z1 lost its settings a few times so I can't get the exact info from the lamp counter. But the lamp isn't dead yet, though I was running in high lamp mode at the end.
After all the troubles with the Z1, you can imagine I didn't really want to buy another Sanyo. But I just upgraded to a Z4 still, right after my Z1's 3-year warranty expired. My 2nd choice was the AE900. What made the difference for me was the improvements that Sanyo made to allow cleaning with the blower (since the Z3), the automatically closing lenscap (in the Z4), which should prevent most dust (such as from my cats) from entering the projector . I'm hoping that these Z3/Z4 improvements will result in much longer bulb life than the Z1. The longer Sanyo warranty doesn't hurt - despite the trouble that many people have had getting it enforced - although you can get a 2-year warranty from VisualApex, or lifetime from Costco if you pay a premium. Also, the Sanyo bulbs are a little cheaper and easier to find than the Panasonic. A lot of people reported early bulb failures on the AE700, but not that many on the Z3, so there is evidence that Sanyo's improvements are working .
I am keeping the Z1 as a backup on a shelf. I expect the Z1 lamp probably may have 50 to 100 hours left on it, which should be enough for any time that the Z4 needs to be sent to service in the future.
)
