Lamp just blew in my KF-50WE610 after 5 years 8 months. Don't mind paying for a replacement lamp because I love this TV, but I want to make sure the replacement lamp last as long. Sony charges $200 compared to $78 at one online retailer.
Question - Is the Sony lamp that much different. Should I expect the same reliability from the OEM part, or would I just be taking my chances with any bulb not supplied by Sony. Looking for others experiences.
Wow, what a few hours of research will find. It is pretty obvious that the OEM compatible lamps are inferior. I am not an expert and I take everything on the internet with a grain of salt. But it is so evident that there are many inferior lamps on the market. This is a billion $ industry. The problem is that the technology used to build these lamps is very advanced. These are not just light bulbs.
If you are reading this because you are considering a OEM compatible replacement bulb, consider this - The reputable retailers that sell the cheaper OEM compatible lamps have disclaimers that you are buying an inferior product and they provide a link to the original manufactures product, which, of course they sell as well. Point is, these retailers sell both and they clearly state that the OEM compatible bulbs don't come close to the originals, either in out-of-the-box quality or life. There seems to be an agreement that the cheaper bulbs last about 1/3 the time, except you would pay more than half the price. Makes the decision to spend the extra money pretty easy to make.