Original, Branded Compatible, and Compatible Lamps

At Hotlamps we sell original lamps only. There are three distinct product categories in the market: OEM Lamps, Genuine Original Lamps and Compatible Lamps (also known as Copy Lamps.

OEM Lamps

These are products produced by the original manufacturer of the projector. They are made to a high standard. Hotlamps sells original lamps for all major projector manufacturers.

Genuine Original Lamps - GO Lamps

These are similar to Kingston memory for your PC or ScanDisk memory cards for your digital camera - they are a Genuine Original high quality replacement option which is not compromised on quality and at the same time will work flawlessly in your machine. Often slightly cheaper than the OEM product, however the high quality levels are still maintained.

Our GO Lamps range is endorsed by the world's leading manufacturers Philips and OSRAM. The range is put through strict quality checks, the bulbs are identical to those that you will find in the OEM lamps. The quality checks include: Beam Performance, Ignition, Voltage, Appearance, Connections, and Runtime. All lamps are manufactured to ISO9001 standards. Each Genuine Original Lamp is bespoke designed to ensure great performance levels and not to infringe on any copyrights.

We offer an amazing 180 day warranty against lamp failure across the GO Lamps Range.

For more information about our GO Lamps range click here

Compatible Lamps/ Copy Lamps

Compatible/Copy lamps are often supplied in brown boxes with no branding or manufacturer markings. This un-branding can often mean a non-regulated company has produced the goods. Do not expect to see warranties, nor can the quality of the products be guaranteed. Often the products are not manufactured to high standards (such as ISO9001). High risks can be associated with these products (Please see below for a full explanation of risks). Hotlamps does not endorse the sale of these products.

We believe our customers should be offered the choice of original and Genuine Original lamps. We believe in empowering the industry by providing quality products and allowing our experienced customers to make their choice accordingly.

The risks of compatible/Copy lamps that are not verified include:

• Health and Safety: Projector lamps are made by a highly complex design and manufacturing process. This process uses hazardous chemicals within the glass which are under immense pressure and can generate substantial amounts of heat. Poorly manufactured projector lamps could pose a safety risk to our resellers and their customers.
• Performance: The quality of a projector lamp directly influences a projector's ability to accurately replicate colours, brightness and contrast levels. It is important that any projector lamp used is designed specifically for that projector to ensure the highest image quality.

Identifying a fake/non-verified lamp:

It is not easy to identify an original lamp from a Compatible/Copy lamp. Here at Hotlamps you don't have to worry about what you purchase as we only sell original Lamps.

The trade needs to be aware that Compatible Lamps are widely available on the market. Below are easy ways to identify these products:

• Price: If the price of a projector lamp looks just too good to be true it probably is! Ask if the lamp is an original and check its warranty.
• Module/Housing or Bulb?: Pretty much every OEM and Genuine Original Lamp on the market come supplied as a complete module. This means you can slot the lamp into the projector in seconds. If you buy a bulb that needs to be fitted into an old projector lamp housing then you must be prepared to spend time with a screwdriver to swap the lamps over. This can take considerable time and does not ensure the final product is up to the correct quality standard. Please note that Sharp do provide both lamp modules and bulb-only versions on some of their projector lines.
• Description: Any product that says, "Compatible with" or that has a generic description such as "120 watt" could mean the product is not an original.