Bulb America

Bulb America is a great source to find hard-to-find bulbs. I've used them twice to replace a bulb in a rear projection TV. Their prices are almost unbeatable. However... they charge a lot for shipping which is ridiculous in today's world of online retailers. I paid for USPS 3 day priority shipping. This was on a Friday. I was happy to receive an email later that day that my order had "shipped." It turns out that they printed the label but it had not been delivered or picked up by USPS at all so it hadn't really shipped. That was misleading. And then nothing happened over the weekend which is understandable for Sunday but I expected it to move on Saturday. Nope. And then Monday was a holiday so that is excusable. And then Tuesday morning I check it again and USPS predicts it will arrive on Friday... 4 days later. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I gave them every excuse for its delay including a weekend and a holiday and it's still arriving late. And I essentially had no choice but to use the lowest shipping cost which was the 3 day priority because all the other faster shipping options cost almost as much as the bulb itself. Unfortunately, I will probably use them again if necessary because other websites that offer free and RELIABLE shipping charge much more for the bulb. Bulb America undercharges on their costs so they can overcharge on their shipping and then don't seem to appreciate fast customer service. The extra cost of using other online retailers might just be worth it. Use a calculator before purchasing and weigh the costs of time and shipping before giving into the questionable service standards of this site.

Bulb works flawlessly. It was difficult to install, though. The screw hole alignment was ever so slightly off, had to curse and finagle to install (installing upside down standing on my sectional sofa). I know it was the bulb housing because as one point I quit trying to install the new bulb and reinstalled the old bulb. The old one went back in without a hassle, proving it was the screw alignment in the housing and not installer error.
The rating for the bulb is for initial quality, since its only been installed but a few days. The picture quality was equal to the factory bulb. Will update at a later time. Couldn't pass up such a great price. Normally I would suspect that there just couldn't be such a big difference in the prices. But what made me decide to take the chance was that, "it's just a light bulb", it shouldn't cost $250. Heck, it shouldn't even cost $60!
Update, this is two years later. The bulb lasted me a year, just as long as the original factory bulb. When that one went out I ordered a second bulb, but gave me trouble after 2 weeks so I ordered another one. When I got that one, just for kicks, I reinstalled the one that went out, and surprisingly it worked! It's possible the projector was at fault and not the bulb and when I turned it off and powered it back up it fixed itself. I will continue buying these bulbs. I may order real soon even though I don't need one immediately because I'm assuming the tariffs on Chinese goods are kicking in now or in December.