Sharp XV-z12000 $1999 at Costco

Thats insane

....buyer beware. I ordered a stainless outdoor compact refrigerator from Costco ($800+) and they shipped me a model that had obviously been opened and returned. I asked for a replacement and Costco responded via e-mail that they will not replace anything you buy, their policy is only to accept returns for refund. I arranged for return and placed a second order for a new unit -- the replacement arrived and it was the same thing -- opened/used/returned merchandise. It has been over a month since asking them to pick up the return unit and several e-mails (they did not answer my customer service phone calls after keeping line open for 30 minutes) and my original unit is still sitting in the garage. Their practice of selling returned goods as new is actually illegal in my state and in most others.

Despite all the praise I read in this forum on Costco -- beware. Judging from my experience, the Sharp projector above is likely refurbished, damaged pixels, or something of that nature.

This may have been $10,000 at some point...but wasn't almost everything?

Today it is about 3+ years old, and selling for, this $1,999 to about $4,999.

I'm not going to denegrate it...nor would I Costco over a single experience. They have served me well for over 20 years.

Note that this is the Z12000 Mark II, not the original Z12000. It's been upgraded to the DC3 DMD and has significantly higher contrast than the original model.

Easily one of the best 720p DLPs ever made (comparable to the Marantz S4 and Yamaha 1300) and at a price that puts it in direct competition with budget players like Optoma.

$1,999 for this projector is a really, really good deal.

Curious - old "expensive" PJs competing directly against their newer "budget" entries. How would this really compare to, say, an Optoma HD73 (same price)?

The Optoma also uses the DarkChip3...a 5x color wheel...

The Optoma also has HDMI connectivity without a dongle. Is newer better? Do the new entries actually surpass these older units that were the Ferraris (entirely unattainable for most) just a year or two ago?

Interesting question about the deal - and about the state of the art/industry.

The 12K has higher contrast, better optics, excellent lens shift (100% above or below the lens center), true inverse telecine for 1080i film sources and excellent processing in general, a full color management system for truly accurate primaries/secondaries, an adjustable iris, and a 7-segment color wheel.

You'd have to be hitting the pipe pretty hard to choose an Optoma over this machine at the same price.

I can't afford to hit the pipe because I blew $2000 on the Sharp.

I'm waiting for it to show up. I'm not sure it'll work in my configuration, but after reading about exactly the things you mentioned here, I'm going to at least give it a shot. 7000:1 constrast just has to be worth something.

Jack,
My Sharp comes today, I can't wait.
I'm "upgrading" from an Infocus 7200, I hope it was worth it.

Any way to get this projector to work with a 106" diag screen @ about 12.5' away?

Here's the calculator that'll tell you everything about screen size and throw distance for the Sharp XV-Z12000:

Link to Throw/Size Calculator

Wow. FUD at its finest!

Rob,
I know a guy that works at a store where his brother works for Costco and he said the same thing! :-)
Best,
Chris

I know a guy that works where I work whose sister had a boyfriend whose fathers nephew knew a guy who said he knew someone that works for Costco who said the same thing too!

Well that settles it then! IT MUST BE TRUE!
sheesh....
C

On a serious note: it would be ILLEGAL for Costco to sell one of these projectors as NEW units if, in fact, they are refurbished. If they were refurbs, Costco would have to disclose this.

The website says nothing about the unit being a refurb. Nada.

If you think Costco is the type of company that would risk this type of illegal conduct, there is nothing else to say....

.....

Gotta love the conspiracy theorists!

Or, if you can't join them (and their massive buying/negotiation power to bring the prices down), smear them!

I heard from someone I don't know that these are not made by Sharp at all!. They are made in Burma, and there's nothing inside the proj. case!

Sharp XV-Z 12000 MkII arrived on friday. New in box, sealed and double boxed along with plastic air-pac cushions in bottom and top of outer box. From my experience only, this was a nice purchase. I am kind of waiting to see what else shows up on their website. Prior to purchase I was told that they are an authorized dealer so that if service needed it is not by a third party.

I think the only real critique of the sharp when it initially hit the public was that it was pretty dim. To get that high contrast number, you just can't throw a lot of light at the screen. Therefore, in its "best" modes, it only puts out between 200-300 lumens.

However, if that is all your setup needs (smaller screen, totally dark theater), then this will thow a MUCH better picture than the current DC2 DLP's.

It seems these days though that lots of lumens for larger screens or daylight viewing is all the rage. This would NOT work well if that is your desire.