Nothing makes me happier than when a friend of mine starts bragging about their new 75″ TV. It gives me the opportunity to use one of my favorite TV-size humbling lines — “oh, you measure in inches?”
That’s right, with projectors we measure in feet! I’ve got a 10.5 ft. screen at home and the corresponding projector cost me a lot less than a 75″ TV would have.
But then a couple years go by and one day you notice that the projector starts “turning off” after a few minutes. A likely symptom of a dying projector lamp.
You hop onto the manufacturer’s website, ready to order a new lamp. Find your exact replacement lamp model and “smack”, the price is $300+ for a new lamp!
The good news is, there are a good number of non-OEM (aftermarket, if you will) lamps out there for a fraction of the price.
The trick is to check on Amazon and find a non-OEM lamp that fits your model projector. Browse the Questions section of the Amazon listing to see if other buyers had good results with your specific projector model.
I personally have a Sony Bravia projector that I’ve been happy with for the past 9 years. In all fairness, the $300 bulb I first purchased lasted about 7 years (over 6000 hours).
Though, I did purchase my current non-OEM lamp almost 2 years ago (almost 2000 hours now) at just $40 and it’s still running strong!