It's a moot question as most of us will run out of hours on current lamp after 1-2 years. There is a worry about lamp not firing up 1 year later but with NEC great warranty policy, I would not worry that much. There may be some detriment in firing up a bulb for short period and the risks of changing bulb (introducing dust into optics, dropping bulb, soiling bulb with finger print, jarring bulb (weakening filament), etc. I'm leaving mine alone in the closet as I don't want to mess with perfection. If my bulb won't fire, I'll yell to NEC until I get a replacement and I'll bet they'd honor it as I'll have my reset counter on my PJ and extra used bulb with purchase receipt of my PJ and bulb a year ago to prove it. They probably can tell if a bulb is new or not by looking at it as used bulb may have stains on glass. Thus if bulb looks new and does not fire along with a used bulb, receipts, and PJ counter of 0 hours, I'd bet NEC will honor the 6 mo. warranty. This is a company that will send you a 2.5K brand new PJ BEFORE receiving your bad one for 36 hour warranty service--granted with credit card on hold. Thus, I think their policy is to trust the consumer as we may buy more things from them in future. Overwhelming odds are that it will work just fine like the regular bulbs in your closet 1 year from now

Stop worrying and enjoy your PJ.