My Epson 8500UB bulb just exploded after 6 months (872 hours)!

Let us know what they told you. If they have only to replace another lamp or to get the unit fix because of the broken glass.

I'm on the fence about the 4000 vs. the 8500. This is the kind of thing that is pushing me towards epson... I have a HC-400 now which is working great, but I have the upgrade bug.

Do you get to keep the old projector as well? Hmm, two projectors for the cost of a replacement bulb?

That is some amazing customer service!

-Sean

Let us know when you will receive your new one. I hope everything will end well for you. Thx epson support.

What I can't believe is the 5 hours a day (every day) usage for six months. How do you have time to use a projector for 5 hours a day ever day?

Stay away from the 8100 unless you like replacing bulbs often. Their lamps explode in WAY less than the advertised 4000 hours of usage. Check around, you'll find lots of people reporting failures in 30 to 800 hours. If you push, they'll replace the bulb even though officially the warranty is for 90 days on the bulb, but make sure they send the right one, because they'll make you return the wrong one before sending the correct replacement if they screw it up.

Bulbs failing early is not limited to the 8100. ANY projector can have a bulb fail early. There are many reports in this and other forums.

I agree with Sheridan1952. Every projector bulb can explode at any time.
I also noticed that the Epson issue seems to be higher than others competitor.

What I like is.. if my bulb explode pass the warranty i know epson will change it because they know that a few of their bulb has a issue. They will even send you a new projector.

If your bulb explode in a competitor. if you are out of your warranty they will ask you 400$ for it !

I'll rather change my bulb 2-3 time until I get a really good one for free than paying 400$.

What I hope now.. is after my 2 years warranty with my 8100 that the bulb issue will be fixed.

Mine just did the same thing yesterday. It got a little dim, then an hour later POP. I haven't opened the projector up yet. I'm afraid to look...

580 hours on my 4000 hour bulb.

Worse yet, I misplaced my support card for Epson. Hopefully going from the ground up won't be too painful.

This doesn't instill me with great confidence in this awesome 4000 hour bulb...

Yeah right....4000 hours....

That was a joke when they slipped in their ads. If they really believed it they would give a year or 2000 hour warranty. They don't, so you can draw your own conclusion about how much they believe their claim to 4000 hours.

If you're correct in your assessment orion, there's a word for that:

Fraud.

All the review sites that put the 8500UB up against the Panasonic cited that bulb as a critical difference between them.

At least I can say their service is good. They overnighted me a whole new projector with new bulb. It should be arriving today, actually.

Well, you can knock a few points off their customer service.

They told me a new projector, and then shipped me a new bulb.

I guess I'll be cleaning out the projector myself and trying the new bulb out.

I sure how the popping bulb didn't damage the rest of the projector.

I'm guessing this is the same Bruno from AW & QW right? Small world...

Like you I also keep the same name on all the forums. I have alot of different hobbies but unfortunately I'm not an expert in any of them. So I tend to read the forums quite a bit but don't have the knowledge to contribute anything meaningful...

I've posted on AW here and there but not sure about QW. I've been wanting to come to the meets for years but it's a bit of a drive from Brampton, I will come out one day though and meet all the AW/QW regulars.

P.S. The S4 is clean & slick!

I'm glad you posted this. I think I need to give Epson a call.

My first 8500UB had the red line issue when it was a month old, so they replaced it in March. Last night, the lamp started getting visibly dimmer and I ended up having to use dynamic mode to even see an image by the time I shut it off. It had 1048 hours on it.

I put in a new lamp today and it looks fine.

Epson is sending me a free replacement lamp. Worst case, I at least have documentation that it killed a lamp in 4 months on file, in case it does it to the next one.

Great service, other than the pain of talking to level 1 support.

Didn't you say they put a hold on your CC for $1900? Now how are you to return the PJ if they did that. Better find out. I have an Epson too and nearing this countdown to typical bulb explosion. So, I'm real interested in how this turns out.

My 8500 had a lamp go out just around 600 hours back in March. Epson sent me a replacement lamp and I was back in business. On Wednesday the lamp started going very dim and then yesterday it went completely out. When I was on the phone with tech support I checked the hours on the replacement bulb. It was just shy of 600 hours as well. Epson support was very good about this and said they would send a replacement projector (should be here Monday) since I've gone through 2 bulbs in around 7-8 months. I'm hoping the replacement projector takes care of this short bulb life issue.

I know the projector has had relatively high usage (1200 hours over the 7-8 month period). Is there something in our usage model that could be contributing to this issue? The lamp mode was set to THX. I don't think I changed any of the other settings. We also allow the projector to go through its normal shutdown/cooldown process.

I haven't read much on the 8100 lamp issues. I guess I should do some more research to see if the same issues are carrying over to the 8500.

Hi Don,

When I exchanged my 8100, they put a hold on my card for $1400. However, the hold came off after 3 days, before I sent the unit back. Not really sure how that worked.

Jay

The replacement warranty is great, but I would rather they just made better projectors. I just got my 4th 6100 today. After 2 hours of viewing, it overheated. The other three had picture issues, but they never overheated. I sure hope the 5th time's the charm.

Replacement 8500ub came this afternoon. Back up and running

I hope this one works out better.