Anyone know much about Buhl 109 Overhead projector?

[BoNeIdLe]

I am looking to buy a Buhl 109 overhead. So far the only info I have been able to get is that it supposedly has a 650W Metal Halide lamp, about 8000 lumens. From reading most of the forum here I suspect this will be quite powerful even during the daytime.

Has anyone got any info on this unit? Using Google I have only found the Buhl 108 model here http://www.nationwideav.com/pages/bu...ojectors3.html

There is another model in the above website, Buhl 2973, it also is an 8000 lumen model with an average 750 hour bulb life. http://www.nationwideav.com/pages/bu...ojectors1.html

The guy I'm buying the unit off reckons replacement bulbs are $100 Australian. Not to bad considering what DLP/LCD projectors bulbs cost ($800+)

I suspect that this will be a suitable experiemental overhead without spending too much cash.

The guy is asking $500 for it.

Also I will be getting an ASK Impact 24 LCD panel for $150.
Anyone know about these panels? I got the PDF user guide from ASK website in Norway, but the specs don't say how fast the screen is. Oh well it's only $150. It has VGA, S-Video and Composite inputs and is 640*480.

Edit : Reread the PDF and found response time is 30ms.

ASK website http://www.ask.no/


All up less than 1/10 of the DLP I was planning to buy.

Hope to get this within the next week or so. Will update my website with results and pics.

Cheers...

[BoNeIdLe]

OK since no one replied I suspect that no one knows anything much about OHP's in general, hence all the experimentation and complaints that the picture is too dark, out of focus etc.

This Buhl 109 OHP is powered by a 525W MH bulb. It is bloody bright!!! It folds down to half it height and packs away in a padded carry case. It has a triplet lens and has a focus adjuster on it. Very convenient.

I would recommend that you don't go much lower in power of the lamp because when the LCD panel is put on the OHP the light output dimishes significantly.

Also when buying secondhand be careful that you check out the OHP or LCD panel very thoroughly. Unfortunately my 1st OHP had been dropped but was quite well repaired, although the fan was noisy. I swapped it for another where the fan was quite quiet, but unfortunately some previous owner had pulled the power before the unit could cool itself down (like a turbo timer in cars). It has melted the case underneath and burnt the reflector under the lamp. Didn't notice this till I got it home and noticed a plastic burning smell. Bummer. Oh well, another trip to the other side of town to swap it.

These units came from a government auction so be wary that they may have had a hard life even if they haven't done a lot of hours.

Overall though, I would have to say that this was worth the trouble as the picture I'm getting is about 8 feet wide by 6 feet high. My wife is very happy with the setup, especially as it is nowhere near the $7000 I was thinking of spending on a DLP.
Even my 3 year old daughter loves it as Winnie the Pooh is huge.

Thank you all for the insperation for this to become a reality.

[BoNeIdLe]

OK, finally got my site updated. Here's my setup.

Turns out that the Buhl 109 is one of the most powerful OHP available. I have specs for both it and the LCD panel I'm using on my website.

http://www.geocities.com/karl4hub/index.html

A sneak peek... more at my site...