Also consider Sanyos.
I demo'd a rental SW10 this weekend (LCD, 700 lums, SGA, zoom, nice remote, 5.5#) that is selling for $1500, new ones a couple hundred more. But I think I'm going to buy the new XW15 (XGA!, 800 lums, component in, HDTV, etc) available from many places for <$2300 (I've negotiated $2360 with a DVD player and 50' component cables & switch box with a local place).
I set up the SW10 12-13' away from a matte white wall in my apt, did I mention I have 9 foot windows covering one whole wall? With just 1/3 of the windows shaded (the one next to the "screen") I got decent brightness for the US GP at Indy, but by the time the Eagles started kicking Cowboy butt I was seeing a very bright image. This was with a cheapy single RCA cable coming from my VCR. Discovery Channel was the best picture and looked GREAT on a 6' wide screen.
Of course anything less than 1000 lums will be obsolete shortly, but if you don't want to wait think about the Sanyos.
good luck,
Kurt