Cost of replacement bulb of average projector

[Saket]

Hello FMs,

I have searched this forum & the web, but have not got any definitive answer for this. THere are a lot of people on this forum who are using lamp projectors. The average life of the bulb in lamp projectors is around 4000-5000 hrs normally. SOme even claim around 6500 hrs. Replacement bulbs are expensive AFAIK, but I havent seen them anywhere retailing, may be bacause I have not really looked for them as yet & I have no Idea what is the price like. I know its impossible to generalise the cost of different projectors but please share the prices of bulbs of some projectors.

This will be very helpful to those who are swinging between the idea of LED or bulb projectors regarding cost of ownership/ image quality. This includes me too!

Also, please do not quote prices from amazon/ebay as people like me are still reluctant to buy it from abroad. Indian online retail sites like flipkart are okay. (I know flipkart doesnt retails those as of now)
Please suggest such sources & prices.

Thanks & regards,
Saket

 

[tma]

Hope this is not OT:

Could FMs who use bulb projectors also comment on actually how long their bulbs last before being replaced?

Does the hours claimed by manufacturers do really hold up or are they much less?

 

[Saket]

Hope this is not OT:

Could FMs who use bulb projectors also comment on actually how long their bulbs last before being replaced?

Does the hours claimed by manufacturers do really hold up or are they much less?

Thats pretty imp point you made. I missed on that. Thanks.

Now bulb owners to jump in!

 

[inshadesofgrey]

Hello FMs,

I have searched this forum & the web, but have not got any definitive answer for this. THere are a lot of people on this forum who are using lamp projectors. The average life of the bulb in lamp projectors is around 4000-5000 hrs normally. SOme even claim around 6500 hrs. Replacement bulbs are expensive AFAIK, but I havent seen them anywhere retailing, may be bacause I have not really looked for them as yet & I have no Idea what is the price like. I know its impossible to generalise the cost of different projectors but please share the prices of bulbs of some projectors.

This will be very helpful to those who are swinging between the idea of LED or bulb projectors regarding cost of ownership/ image quality. This includes me too!

Also, please do not quote prices from amazon/ebay as people like me are still reluctant to buy it from abroad. Indian online retail sites like flipkart are okay. (I know flipkart doesnt retails those as of now)
Please suggest such sources & prices.

Thanks & regards,
Saket

You won't get replacement projector bulbs at Flipkart (atleast the last time I checked); you can get them on eBay but as you'll see there about 75% of them are imported (shipped from Chicago, or something)

Problem is that apart from a few Indian retailers like Flipkart, and maybe Infibeam - I don't trust anybody with sensitive purchases like that.

Why the reluctance with Amazon? If there's one company with whom your product and money is safe, its Amazon. I have been shopping with them for 3-4 yrs now and only in 2-5% of the cases, i haven't been completely happy. In those cases, I got my money refunded right away, and a gift voucher of $20 given in one case for my inconvenience. They are the Flipkart of the world.

You can use Junglee.com: Shop Online and Compare Prices for Books, Mobiles, Clothing and More (the Indian wing of Amazon). They are just as efficient, give you an all inclusive cost - and they are super-fast. Only problem: not all products are on display yet.

In general the price of bulbs range from Rs. 6000-Rs. 30,000 (lol) depending on the projector you buy. A good mid-range projector's bulb costs around Rs. 8,000-15,000

Here's the thing: with expensive and high maintenance items like projectors, DSLR etc, its ALWAYS better to source from the source.

Yes, you might wait a week extra than you would other wise - but atleast you know, its original - and there is a solid company vouching for it. I have yet to come across an Indian online retailer who i would trust with sensitive purchases like these. Flipkart, yes - but they don't have everything

you can also try this (no personal experience)
http://www.buyprojectorlamps.com

 

[Saket]

Nice reply....Somewhat convinced about amazon..signing up with junglee at the moment. Hope to find some good deals there.
Thanks

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Wherever possible,buy directly from amazon.com than junglee.com. My experience with amazon.com and amazon.co.uk was always very reliable and satisfactory. Some sellers in ebay.com are also very good and reliable.

I am currently using an Epson EX-71 projector which promises a 5000hrs lamp life in eco mode. I have currently run more than 1350hrs.

Earlier I had an NEC projector (bought as used one), in which Lamp life was coming close to end of life, however there was no degradation in light quality. Subsequently its motherboard conked off and then I disposed it.

 

[diplomat]

the life of bulb mentioned in spec is exactly when the lumens reach half of the rated full capacity, does not mean u cann't use it after that
many keep continuing to use after the life, as half of lumens in many such model is more than enough for home viewing..
hope this makes u comfortable a bit...

 

[vinay]

In Delhi, there is a shop which sells replacement bulbs ranging 10/15,000 rupees, one can do a goggle search to get their contact details, though i have not dealt with them but they have too much of a range, ideally it is better to import.

In recent months there has been 2 or 3 member's who have imported the bulbs and it seems they are happy.

I do not think a bulb can last as long as 5000 hours in normal mode so 6500 seems to be far fetched. In general i believe a bulb will last around 2500/3500 hours in normal mode.

With my earlier Hitachi projector, i think the bulb did around 3000 hours before it gave in.

V.

 

[Saket]

In Delhi, there is a shop which sells replacement bulbs ranging 10/15,000 rupees, one can do a goggle search to get their contact details, though i have not dealt with them but they have too much of a range, ideally it is better to import.

In recent months there has been 2 or 3 member's who have imported the bulbs and it seems they are happy.

I do not think a bulb can last as long as 5000 hours in normal mode so 6500 seems to be far fetched. In general i believe a bulb will last around 2500/3500 hours in normal mode.

With my earlier Hitachi projector, i think the bulb did around 3000 hours before it gave in.

V.

Nice info vinay & diplomat. Now what diplomat says is that the life indicated in hrs is when the lighting power reaches half of the specified lumens. This means that a projector with 2000 lmns will still give out around 900-1000 lmns after say 3000-4000 hrs? & for how long? & if that is the case, then it is still brighter than LED pjs available?
@vinay: when your hitachi gave up @3000 hrs, was it completely dim or was it somewhat working?

 

[just4kix]

The typical bulb life of most projectors is 2000-3000 hours. Some claim 6000+ hours. But these hours are typical test conditions, perhaps continuous usage (?), uniform power settings, etc. It will be useful to check dedicated projector testing websites. In Indian conditions, I would say that the bulbs will last about 80% of that, but I could be wrong.

Speaking from experience, even the 2000 hours is good enough because projector is something that you will watch on weekends, etc. Definitely not everyday. So assuming 8 hours per week (which is high in my opinion), this results in 250 weeks or 5 years!!

The typical cost of bulb is $450 to $550. It is quite safe to order bulbs from Amazon, provided that they will ship to India. On EBay, I found the price to be too high. Best way is to buy it yourself when abroad or request a friend to bring it for you.

 

[Staxxx]

If it helps, I can confirm that my bulb was working fine at 6,700 hours. I use a Sim2 c3x. I had the bulb replaced by the service center abroad last month. However, there was a contact in Mumbai who said he could guide me on the phone to do so. Sometimes you can just change the bulb, sometimes you need to change the cage which is trickier. The contact person was Shantanu Reddy and the email was [email protected].
Hope this helps.

 

[canchi]

I have an LED LG HS201 projector, in use for the past one and a half years, no problems. Have been promised that the bulb will last for more than 20,000 hours and that would work out to be more than 20 yrs, if I use the projector for 3 Hrs a day, every day in a year !

 

[saurabh459]

Generally, the avg cost of the Bulb in a PJ is around 25-30% cost of the Projector. I read online, that only 20% of PJs go over 1000 hrs. The manufacturers estimate of 3000-5000 Lamps hrs is down right marketing rubbish. At the end of the day,it is a bulb,it can go off any time!!If you keep it in a dust free room,power down correctly,it would go a long way in increasing its life of the lamp

 

[vinay]

The projector was working fine, the next day it just did not beam, the technician told me that the bulb is no more alive, i do not know how far it is correct.

V.

@vinay: when your hitachi gave up @3000 hrs, was it completely dim or was it somewhat working?

 

[yrk1969]

Generally, the avg cost of the Bulb in a PJ is around 25-30% cost of the Projector. I read online, that only 20% of PJs go over 1000 hrs. The manufacturers estimate of 3000-5000 Lamps hrs is down right marketing rubbish. At the end of the day,it is a bulb,it can go off any time!!If you keep it in a dust free room,power down correctly,it would go a long way in increasing its life of the lamp

I don't think 1000hrs is correct. Mine was rated at 3000 in Eco mode and was very well working at 2000+ hrs before I replaced with new one.

 

[vinay]

The information is not correct towards the bulb cost or be it's life duration.

It is often not possible to keep the room dust free, precautions can be to cover the projector and clean filter once or twice a year, if the need be get is serviced in a year once.

It is true the bulb life may get hampered big time if power down is not done correctly due to power failure or in a hurry to shut it down, while a air condition will help the projector to maintain better especially in hot climate cites or for longer duration usage with not proper planning for viewing or putting it off and then on in quicker time. If one is living in the Himalaya's then hot climate is not a issue, some of these cites do not even have a fan hook, so one can imagine how cool is the city.

V.

Generally, the avg cost of the Bulb in a PJ is around 25-30% cost of the Projector. I read online, that only 20% of PJs go over 1000 hrs. The manufacturers estimate of 3000-5000 Lamps hrs is down right marketing rubbish. At the end of the day,it is a bulb,it can go off any time!!If you keep it in a dust free room,power down correctly,it would go a long way in increasing its life of the lamp

 

[m.a.sara]

Just a couple of queries on the bulb life.

- Using the bulb for long hours (say more than 3 hours) is a good idea or a bad idea? Does it decrease the bulb life bcos of too much load/heat on it?
- Also if i switch on/off the bulb many times (say 3-4times/day, either immediately or after 1 or 2hrs non usage), does it affect the bulb life too?

 

[just4kix]

Constant switching on and off reduces life of any electrical/electronic equipment more than continuous usage. For bulbs this is even more so. At the same time continuous usage of projector for 4 hours or more should be avoided as far as possible.

 

[inshadesofgrey]

here's a pretty informative article on the Life of a Projector Lamp

The Life of a Projector's Lamp | Home Theater and Projectors: The Technical Side

 

[vinay]

It is great to know that the bulb ran fine till a whooping 6700 hours, which brand and model number was the projector of?

V.

I can confirm that my bulb was working fine at 6,700 hours. I use a Sim2 c3x.