I know many most projectors bought by K-12 get money from federal grants, and that's how schools/school districts pay for them. But often there's no local money to replace a failed lamp. Problem solved with this Casio.
Audio - or lack thereof:
I frown upon projectors for the classroom with only a 1 or 2 watt audio system, because they will have trouble carrying the room. So what do I say about a projector - the XJ-V1, that has no speaker at all? Well, I figured that out, and:
The answer is Bluetooth. Today any teacher or the district folks can hook up some $39 - $49 Bluetooth mini boombox that can handle a typical K-12 classroom, and do it wirelessly, and as well as most projectors with 10 or 15 watt systems.
Perhaps the greatest issue in giving the XJ-V1 this award is the lack of Closed captioning built in. That may prevent this projector from going into classrooms in some cases.
Getting beyond those issues, the XJ-V1 is more than sufficiently bright for a K-12 classroom even if competitors are brighter. Overall picture quality is perfectly acceptable.
I see this XJ-V1 as a game changer for some. I hope next year Casio ups their game, say with at least wireless networking - maybe a media player, and definitely Close captioning. If they can do that for $100 more, they will have an even higher value proposition. And give us a WXGA version too, please.
Bitching aside, congrats to Casio on the XJ-V1. By itself it may not change the playing field but I detect a definite tilt to the field, as we have the first really affordable solid state projector that's easily bright enough for the classroom.