Best place to buy projector bulbs

[rriley84]

Hey everyone!
I want to know where you all purchase your replacement projector lamps from? My church has bought from Projectorquest.com in the past, but they seem a little pricey on a couple bulbs compared to AMatterOfFax.com.

[Esoteric]

I am partial to me. But I sell only OEM lamps, no knockoffs.

[Stever]

Mike is correct ONLY buy OEM lamps otherwise you can be in for a big dissapointment.
Not the least of which is voiding waranties. I can tell hundreds of horror stories on clone lamps

[wogster]

Originally Posted by Stever

Mike is correct ONLY buy OEM lamps otherwise you can be in for a big dissapointment.
Not the least of which is voiding waranties. I can tell hundreds of horror stories on clone lamps

While projector bulbs are not cheap, they also aren't something that you need to buy all the time. Our projector is 2 years old, the lamp is rated 1900 hours, there are about 800 on it, even though the bulb may be expensive when it needs to be replaced, we can budget for that. Although 3 years from now when we need to replace that bulb and filter, the church may decide that it's better to simply dump that projector for a newer one with more features.

[dmot]

Originally Posted by wogster

While projector bulbs are not cheap, they also aren't something that you need to buy all the time. Our projector is 2 years old, the lamp is rated 1900 hours, there are about 800 on it, even though the bulb may be expensive when it needs to be replaced, we can budget for that. Although 3 years from now when we need to replace that bulb and filter, the church may decide that it's better to simply dump that projector for a newer one with more features.

You won't make it 3 more years. Bulbs get dimmer with time and ours get borderline at about half their rated life.

[wogster]

Originally Posted by dmot

You won't make it 3 more years. Bulbs get dimmer with time and ours get borderline at about half their rated life.

That's good to know

[dmot]

Originally Posted by wogster

That's good to know

The problem is that your bulb gets dimmer so slowly that you will fail to notice it until one day someone points out how ridiculously dim it is. I invite friends over who don't go to my church to tell me what they think. They don't know what it was like in the beginning but they at least can tell me if it is getting distractingly dim.
(distractingly??? )

[wogster]

Originally Posted by dmot

The problem is that your bulb gets dimmer so slowly that you will fail to notice it until one day someone points out how ridiculously dim it is. I invite friends over who don't go to my church to tell me what they think. They don't know what it was like in the beginning but they at least can tell me if it is getting distractingly dim.
(distractingly??? )

Were supposed to mount it from the ceiling, once Building and Maintenance get their act together. I was thinking we should actually put in a new bulb and filter, at that time, so we don't have any issues with it for a few years. It comes out of B&M's budget, not mine, and they are not receptive of the idea. Of course I will be the one to get the complaints, and they are the ones that will be going up there to change it.

[Johnnycat]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

I am partial to me. But I sell only OEM lamps, no knockoffs.

Mike, I will get you a list of what we need, we have 12 projectors.

[Esoteric]

No problems. Sounds good to me. Was just giving the OP a heads up because my prices are usually more than online retailers (who sell mostly knockoff lamps). Some people are shocked when I give them a quote for a $400 lamp and then they look it up online and see them for $130.

[wogster]

Originally Posted by Esoteric

No problems. Sounds good to me. Was just giving the OP a heads up because my prices are usually more than online retailers (who sell mostly knockoff lamps). Some people are shocked when I give them a quote for a $400 lamp and then they look it up online and see them for $130.

Related question, do unused bulbs have a best before date? I was digging around in some stuff the other day and found a spare projector bulb new in box, it was written on it purchased May 2008 (probably when they bought the projector). It's an OEM lamp, when we hang the projector I was thinking of putting this one in, and ordering another as a spare. A couple of people, including one of the deacons mentioned that the projector doesn't seem as bright as it should be.