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Epson 8350 user Breakdown thread

Poll Results: Epson 8350 experience good and bad?

This is a multiple choice poll
  • 41% (18)
    I love the epson 8350 and never had a problem with it.
  • 4% (2)
    I love the epson 8350 and I did need to have bulb replaced a few times under warranty , less than 1,000 hours
  • 16% (7)
    I like the epson 8350 but I have had it replaced due to convergence issue.
  • 13% (6)
    I like the epson 8350 but I have had it replaced due to iris problem
  • 9% (4)
    I like the epson 8350 but I have had it replaced due to dust blob
  • 4% (2)
    I don't trust the epson 8350 because I have had to have it replaced multiple times and every time I turn it on, I pray it works.
  • 9% (4)
    I hate the epson 8350 , I have been dealing with epson support I memorized their phone number and wonder if I made a mistake getting this PJ I replaced it so many times. When it works it's good, but, gee. I'm frustrated.
43 Total Votes  
post #1 of 57
6/19/12 at 2:18pm
Thread Starter 
Epson 8350 breakdown thread.
I was noticing a number of people have gone through 4 or 5 epson 8350 in 1-2 years. Epson has replaced them. Just wondering can we a get estimate of how many times your epson 8350 broke or bulb popped. Add comments if you like.

The stated bulb life is 4,000 hours. So if you didn't get that , comment.
Known problems is iris , convergence problems, dust blobs, and very short bulb life.

We are just trying to figure out if it's just a random thing, having a problem with epson 8350 or the norm.

You can vote in a number of categories if they fit.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #2 of 57
6/19/12 at 3:23pm
My biggest frustration is that I have recommended and installed the 8350 for three friends and two have had to send it back multiple times. The invites for big games and free beer have ceased. eek.gif

Another friend has a 8500UB and hasn't had a single problem at over 3000 hrs.

Go figure.
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post #3 of 57
6/19/12 at 4:57pm
I was not impressed with the contrast ratio so returned it for an 8700ub.
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post #4 of 57
6/19/12 at 9:45pm
18 months, 1900 hours on the original bulb. No problems.
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post #5 of 57
6/19/12 at 11:14pm
15 months strong so far with my 8350 and at just over 1000hrs. I do notice when it is warming up that i have a slight green dust blob on my screen, but not noticeable when i'm watching a movie or gaming so far.
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post #6 of 57
6/22/12 at 2:46pm
This should be interesting. I'm on my 2nd one, 1st had dust blob and auto iris issue. You don't see too many people with over 1000 hours with this projector, I'm back to over 500 right now with no problems with this one.
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post #7 of 57
6/22/12 at 3:24pm
Just got my refurb replacement.

Convergence is very good - very close to my last one.

No other issues.

Crossing my fingers.
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post #8 of 57
6/25/12 at 9:44am
I have 5 8350's since Xmas 2011. The original, 4 refurb replacements and one new in box replacement. The new replacement is showing the auto iris error about 2/3 of the time we try to turn it on. Not impressed is a VAST understatement.mad.gif

Am seriously considering getting another replacement and selling it cheap just to get this out of my life. WIll replace it with something else. Maybe the Mits 4000.
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post #9 of 57
6/25/12 at 3:14pm
This is discouraging since I just bought one. I have the extended warranty and I am crossing my fingers. The guy that put mine in said he has put in tons of these and has not had a problem?? Is it the typical 10-15% malfunctioning of a product and the ones that are happy never need to report it? So what you see is mostly the complaints? I believe they have had to sell millions of this projector so you are bound to have many failure reports?

I hope I have a good one!! So far the picture quality is amazing!!
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post #10 of 57
6/25/12 at 4:43pm
Well check out my response in my thread looking for a replacement to the 8350 if you want to see my problems. FWIW I never bothered to report it to my dealer either so he probably thinks I have been trouble free. I may just let them know. They were very professional and would like to know.
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post #11 of 57
6/26/12 at 9:02pm
Well, if I could vote again I would, I already had a dust blob and auto iris issue with the first one and tonight a 2nd dust blob has shown up. 550 hours in, almost exactly where it started with the first one. I know it will just get worse.
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post #12 of 57
6/26/12 at 9:31pm
I'm on my fourth one, and I only bought mine around Thanksgiving 2011.

Tint issue - first 1
Dustblob issues 2nd
convergence 3rd
perfect (or close to) fourth.
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post #13 of 57
6/26/12 at 9:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by carp View Post

Well, if I could vote again I would, I already had a dust blob and auto iris issue with the first one and tonight a 2nd dust blob has shown up. 550 hours in, almost exactly where it started with the first one. I know it will just get worse.

my big head shake that new dust blob loose when I bumped into your mount?
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post #14 of 57
6/26/12 at 11:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJPete View Post

18 months, 1900 hours on the original bulb. No problems.

So is it safe to assume you use it for only movies or gaming, and you spend anywhere from 3 to 4 hours per day?

I just bought mine 2 days ago and have used it for 8 hours the first night. I'm actually interested in knowing how many hours the users who have returned it several times, have clocked on each day. I am not worried yet, just hope I don't have to return mine anytime soon, or buy a new bulb. If I need to buy one in 12 months, I'd be completely fine with it.
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post #15 of 57
6/27/12 at 9:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archaea View Post

my big head shake that new dust blob loose when I bumped into your mount?

Ha, who knows. I would think if that were the case it would have shown up right after but I didn't see it until today. The first projector the blob came on very slow, this one just appeared and is more easy to see.

I called Epson and they are sending me a refurbished unit which of course means I'll have to send it back too. She assured me they go through a quality inspection and I told her my last refurbished unit was crystal clear focused on half the screen and completely blurry on the other half and I told her there is no way they even turned the unit on. She just gave me the, "I appreciate your concern...."

What kind of sucks is that they don't overnight now, so it will just be a longer process to get them to finally ship me a new one. I saw the post about how to get the dust blob out yourself, but I'm not opening this thing up and which will void the warranty, especially since the chances of something else going wrong anyway between now and Oct. 2013 is very high.
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post #16 of 57
6/29/12 at 9:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by slennon View Post

I have 5 8350's since Xmas 2011. The original, 4 refurb replacements and one new in box replacement. The new replacement is showing the auto iris error about 2/3 of the time we try to turn it on. Not impressed is a VAST understatement.mad.gif
Am seriously considering getting another replacement and selling it cheap just to get this out of my life. WIll replace it with something else. Maybe the Mits 4000.

Well kudos to Epson support and to my wife. After a couple of calls to higher and higher levels of support at Epson, my wife managed to get Epson to agree to refund us our original purchase price!
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post #17 of 57
6/29/12 at 11:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by slennon View Post

Well kudos to Epson support and to my wife. After a couple of calls to higher and higher levels of support at Epson, my wife managed to get Epson to agree to refund us our original purchase price!

That's good to know since I have my 3rd unit on the way now (well, eventually my 3rd, I'm sure I'll have to send back a refurb or two before I get a new unit that actually starts out working), I may end up trying the same thing.

The only problem is, I haven't heard of another projector that has the same picture quality using dynamic mode on such a large screen, but I haven't really been looking either. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
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post #18 of 57
6/29/12 at 12:55pm
Man all these problems and replacements I keep seeing have me leary of buying. I was wanting to buy one today but don't want all these issues and hassle. Problem is though that projector will be going in living room and I wanted best one for viewing with some light and these seems to be the best.mad.gif
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post #19 of 57
7/2/12 at 10:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth Indy View Post

Man all these problems and replacements I keep seeing have me leary of buying. I was wanting to buy one today but don't want all these issues and hassle. Problem is though that projector will be going in living room and I wanted best one for viewing with some light and these seems to be the best.mad.gif

You could try the Panny AR100. I saw one in person with lots of ambient light and it looked great. Comparable in price to the 8350 too if you are in the US. Here in Canada it's a few hundred more. I also heard the Benq W6000 is decent.
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post #20 of 57
7/2/12 at 10:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by slennon View Post

You could try the Panny AR100. I saw one in person with lots of ambient light and it looked great. Comparable in price to the 8350 too if you are in the US. Here in Canada it's a few hundred more. I also heard the Benq W6000 is decent.

Yeah I thought about that one but have read its black levels aren't near as good as the 8350's. With CEDIA only a few months away I'll probably just wait and see what's coming out in fall.
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post #21 of 57
7/2/12 at 11:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by carp View Post

That's good to know since I have my 3rd unit on the way now (well, eventually my 3rd, I'm sure I'll have to send back a refurb or two before I get a new unit that actually starts out working), I may end up trying the same thing.
The only problem is, I haven't heard of another projector that has the same picture quality using dynamic mode on such a large screen, but I haven't really been looking either. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Well, I got the refurbished unit today. As expected it's a complete turd. The focus ring doesn't turn at all no matter how much force is applied. The fact that they say they quality check these is joke, the aren't even turning these on. They don't overnight anymore so it takes a lot longer to deal with too.

I've never read about a single refurbished unit that actually works.

I'm on hold right now, total call time over 30 minutes.
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post #22 of 57
7/2/12 at 12:04pm
Ok, just got off the phone. They are going to send me a new one this time and it will be overnight.

This is how it happened the first time too, they were set to send me a second replacement (this is after being transferred to "level 2" and I asked if I could get a new one since it seems all the refurbs don't work properly. They gave me the stock answer, something like they have no control over that and have no way of knowing etc. Then they put me on hold, come back and say, good news we will be able to ship you a new unit.
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post #23 of 57
7/2/12 at 3:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by carp View Post

Ok, just got off the phone. They are going to send me a new one this time and it will be overnight.
This is how it happened the first time too, they were set to send me a second replacement (this is after being transferred to "level 2" and I asked if I could get a new one since it seems all the refurbs don't work properly. They gave me the stock answer, something like they have no control over that and have no way of knowing etc. Then they put me on hold, come back and say, good news we will be able to ship you a new unit.

Its a shame (with Epson) for producing such low-quality 8350. I saw your room pics and its awesome. I myself am considering the 8350 but with all the trouble posted here I hesitate to order this model. I am leaning towards the Panny AR100U. But not sure yet...
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post #24 of 57
7/2/12 at 5:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevinmscs View Post

Its a shame (with Epson) for producing such low-quality 8350. I saw your room pics and its awesome. I myself am considering the 8350 but with all the trouble posted here I hesitate to order this model. I am leaning towards the Panny AR100U. But not sure yet...

Thanks!

Well, if you do go with the 8350 just know going in you will probably have to go through the hassle of replacement. The good thing about it though is getting a new bulb everytime. I would be around 1200 total hours since I put 600 hours on each unit, but now I'll be back to 0 hours.

Of course, that doesn't work forever. The warranty is 2 years and then after that I'll be out of luck. I'm just hoping I can find a reliable one in that time span. If not hopefully there will be a projector that will be a nice upgrade for around the same price.
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post #25 of 57
7/3/12 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by carp View Post

Thanks!
Well, if you do go with the 8350 just know going in you will probably have to go through the hassle of replacement. The good thing about it though is getting a new bulb everytime. I would be around 1200 total hours since I put 600 hours on each unit, but now I'll be back to 0 hours.
Of course, that doesn't work forever. The warranty is 2 years and then after that I'll be out of luck. I'm just hoping I can find a reliable one in that time span. If not hopefully there will be a projector that will be a nice upgrade for around the same price.

The one thing im NOT willing to take is that "hassle" plus the downtime of shipping back/forth...
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post #26 of 57
7/3/12 at 1:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevinmscs View Post

The one thing im NOT willing to take is that "hassle" plus the downtime of shipping back/forth...

Don't blame you at all. I'm currently on hold again with Epson, the new projector I received today will not focus the upper right corner and lower left corner at the same time.

So, to sum up:

1st: worked fine until green dust blob appeared around 500 hours, also auto iris problem message started appearing at that time

2nd: refurbished unit, half the screen totally out of focus other half focused

3rd: new unit, worked fine until green dust blob appeared 500ish hours in

4th: refurbished unit, focus ring wouldn't budge

5th new unit, top right corner and bottom left corner won't focus at the same time. Not nearly as obvious as the 2nd projector, but when computer image is up it is easier to see that both corners can't be focused.

6th: gets here Friday
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post #27 of 57
7/3/12 at 2:55pm
your fifth one must have been my third cause I had the same problem on one I returned. Bottom left didn't match up with top right when focusing. Top left and bottom right seemed fine. wink.gif

I'm glad they are giving you a new one. They must have just decided you were a picky customer and were just going to forever send those things back until you got one perfect. I would od the same. My fourth unit (refurb) did come back fine and is still working well --- for now.

Luke will have to come over and set it up one more time. biggrin.giftongue.gifwink.gif
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post #28 of 57
7/3/12 at 3:33pm
Thread Starter 
I think as more and more people look into this thread and respond to poll, the true picture will show more clearly about the problems with the epson 8350.

The reason people up till now have not been more pissed is because it is not "public" all the problems the epson 8350 has.

Why?

Because epson doesn't want it to be more public, they do this by immediately sending replacement unit and epson will go beyond the stated 90 days on bulb and give FREE bulb replacements for 2 years. Epson will not argue with anyone because it would PISS PEOPLE OFF and alert others to the problem.

Epson is doing what Microsoft did with the early xbox 360's that had overheating issue. At first MS said it was user fault that unit had overheating issue. Then later said only a few percent have this problem. Then later stated that YES there is problem with overheating and they also "extended the warranty to 3 years". MS then set about to change the insides of the 360 and have many versions until they "fixed" the problem.

I'm not sure if epson is doing the same with the 8350 changing the parts or bulb company.

People that are defending the epson 8350, be aware that that was also done when people first reported overheating issues with early 360 consoles. Later as it happened to more and more people then ONLY did it change the mind of people defending their beloved xbox 360. Then when it finally happened to early supporters, then they got PISSED in MASS and MS chanced stance from USER problem to Manufacturing Problem.

The difference between epson and MS is that epson is bending over backwards to replace the units and at first MS blamed the User and wouldn't do anything about the problem. So epson is smarter than MS. But the fact remains, do you trust your epson 8350 after 2 years? Don't defend something that could bite you on the behind. If there is a "problem" with the unit, find out NOW , so you can get epson to "extend warranty for more the 2 years like MS extended warranty from 1 year to 3 years on known defective units.

Realize even TODAY, epson WILL NOT POST that they have 2 years on bulb, they will not put it in writing because they don't want to alert people, but will do it only if you research epson 8350 in forum rooms and see they did it for others. Imagine that their are many people that don't come to forums and don't know they have extended the bulb warranty, they are just buying NEW bulbs not knowing that epson would replace them free.

Now just as the xbox 360 is a GREAT console, so is the epson 8350 a great projector, but it has problems like the early 360's had.
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post #29 of 57
7/3/12 at 3:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by carp View Post

Don't blame you at all. I'm currently on hold again with Epson, the new projector I received today will not focus the upper right corner and lower left corner at the same time.
So, to sum up:
1st: worked fine until green dust blob appeared around 500 hours, also auto iris problem message started appearing at that time
2nd: refurbished unit, half the screen totally out of focus other half focused
3rd: new unit, worked fine until green dust blob appeared 500ish hours in
4th: refurbished unit, focus ring wouldn't budge
5th new unit, top right corner and bottom left corner won't focus at the same time. Not nearly as obvious as the 2nd projector, but when computer image is up it is easier to see that both corners can't be focused.
6th: gets here Friday

Yikes!! And I thought I had crappy luck with projectors.smile.gif A buddy has owned one of these for over a year now. No returns or exchanges. Now that I think about it. He did mention getting the Iris warning message. He's just too lazy to send it in. lol
With the dust blob issues, if I were you I would go with a sealed design the next time around. My environment is too dusty to consider any thing else.
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post #30 of 57
7/3/12 at 4:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archaea View Post

your fifth one must have been my third cause I had the same problem on one I returned. Bottom left didn't match up with top right when focusing. Top left and bottom right seemed fine. wink.gif
I'm glad they are giving you a new one. They must have just decided you were a picky customer and were just going to forever send those things back until you got one perfect. I would od the same. My fourth unit (refurb) did come back fine and is still working well --- for now.
Luke will have to come over and set it up one more time. biggrin.giftongue.gifwink.gif

How many hours do you have now? I can't believe you actually got a refurb that works, I don't think I have seen that before.
Yeah, the one I had today wasn't bad, in fact with just tv or blu-ray I think it would have taken me awhile to notice it. Is that how yours was?
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