Casio EcoLite XJ-V1 Projector Review - Special Features

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Art Feierman

CASIO ECOLITE XJ-V1 PROJECTOR: Special Features: Hybrid Light Engine, Low Maintenance, Quick Power On/Off

Hybrid Light Engine

Casio is definitely a leader in solid state light engines. They’ve been offering an extensive line-up for several yeare. We reviewed their first series about five years ago. Casio claims to have the largest market share in terms of serious solid state projectors (excluding all those tiny pico and pocket projectors).

The light engines Casio uses are “hybrids” where they use both a blue laser and a red LED, and use phosphors excited by the blue laser to produce the blue and green primary colors along with the LED's output for the red primary color.

The EcoLite XJ-V1 is the first and only projector we have seen in this price range that offers a hybrid light engine with reasonably high light output.

Laser/LED light sources have the advantage of being much more stable over time, in terms of light output and color characteristics, than do traditional lamps.

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Low Maintenance

The laser/LED hybrid light engine discussed above is a major factor in reduced maintenance costs. The 20,000 hour expected life of the EcoLite XJ-V1's hybrid light engine is 4 to 6 times longer than the life of a traditional projector lamp. That means significant savings over the life of the projector by avoiding the cost of the replacement lamps and also the labor required to replace those lamps. Also, this model does not have an air filter that requires periodic cleaning or replacement, so that is an additional factor that contributes to the very low maintenance requirements for this model.

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Quick Power On/Off

The use of a hybrid light engine allows for a quick startup of the projector with full brightness being achieved in as few as five seconds, and the time from startup to screen display is shortened dramatically as compare to traditional lamp-based projectors. Also, no cooling down period is necessary when the power is turned OFF.