Mitsubishi XL1550U and XL2550U Projector Warranty, Summary

Mitsubishi XL1550U and XL2550U Projector Warranty

I love exceptional warranties. Sadly most buyers pay far too little attention to the warranty of projectors. (I can tell this by how few people read the warranty pages of our reviews, compared to the other four pages).

Well, you made it here, and that's good, because, the Mitsubishi warranty on these two projectors is about as good as it gets.

Not only does Mitsubishi provide a 3 year parts and labor warranty on both the XL1550U and XL2550U, but they provide their ERA (Express Replacement Assistance) for all three years. (US only)

That means that if your projector fails under warranty, call Mitsubishi (888-307-0309), and they will overnight you a replacement! I'm not sure of the cut-off times, but most likely as long as you call by about 2pm (Pacific time), on a business day, you should have the replacement projector the next business day. Mitsubishi (like most offering similar replacement programs) qualifies that as if a replacement is available. Based on my many years owning a large projector reseller, (and a Mitsubishi dealer), it seems rather rare that companies with this type of package, fail to come through.

There are only a few other manufacturers that even offer overnight replacement, and most restrict it to the first year. Epson is particularly good with two years warranty and 2 years of replacement, but that pales by comparison to Mitsubishi's 3 years + 3 years replacement.

Finding a better warranty than the one provided on these two Mitsubishi projectors should be a major challenge, as off the top of my head, I can't think of a better warranty available on projectors in this price range.

Mitsubishi XL1550U Projector Review: Projector: Summary, Pros, Cons

For the summary page, I'll stick to the review projector - the XL1550U, and not mention the brighter XL2550U, which we did not review.

Overall, the XL1550U is a well designed, and very functional projector. It has some real strengths, and a couple of things that differentiate it from the pack. That said, when pricing is considered, along with a couple of tradeoffs I'll mention below, it remains a very good projector, but not one exceptional in any truly important way, that merits it receiving our Hot Product Award.

Please understand, the XL1550U is in a class of projectors where there is a huge amount of competition - a lot of "me too" products. And, while the XL1550U does have a few unique things going for it, it is still a fairly typical projector.

Let's start by summarizing the strengths and weaknesses:

Mitsubishi XL1550U Projector: Pros

Mitsubishi XL1550U Projector: Cons

• No hardcopy manual - only on CD-ROM (in convenient PDF format)
• Standard zoom lens has limited range for a projector touted as designed for installation, making it more likely that users will need one of the optional (expensive) lenses
• Expensive from a pure lumen standpoint - smaller portable projectors offering similar power (but no lens options), and perhaps less other features, are often significantly lower priced
• Maintenance: Filter is recommended to be cleaned every 100 hours - while this is typical for 3LCD projectors, most DLP projectors do not have filters requiring cleaning

Mitsubishi XL1550U Projector: Typical Capabilities

• Menu system overall (would have been rated a "pro", but for lack of sub-menus), thus requiring toggling through options you can't see, until you bring them up
• Lamp life in full power mode
• Documentation, actually overall better than average, but missing some useful details.
• Control Panel

Mitsubishi XL1550U Summary: Competitive Info

Again, this is a very solid projector. The value proposition, however varies significantly based on usage. If you need a basic ceiling mounted projector, the XL1550 is a bit expensive for the lumens it delivers, even considering that it has networking.

If you need to mount the projector, and the standard lens works for you, good deal. If you need one of the other lenses, then the price almost doubles. Here's where the value proposition gets murky. Because of the limited range of the standard lens, you might find you need the (not particularly) wide-angle lens, or one of the long throw lenses. However, if the standard lens is close to what you need, but won't work for you, then it's very likely you can find a competing projector with a standard zoom lens with more range, that will meet your needs. In such a case, the XL1550U ends up being very expensive.

To give you just one example, consider Epson's new Powerlite 6110. It's MSRP is $400 higher ($2899) but for that, you get a 3500 lumen projector (instead of 3100), and you still get networking, and a long life lamp (4000 hours vs. the Mitsubishi's 5000 hours at low power, and 3500 vs 2000 in high power). The zoom lens, however, is 1.6:1, rather than 1.27:1. Based on comparing their lens throw charts, the Epson standard lens starts wider angle than even the wide angle optional lens can achieve, and it covers the full range of the standard lens, as well as half of the shorter of the two long throw lenses. Thus, the Epson has far more placement flexibility with its standard lens.

As an added bonus, that Epson supports closed captioning - something relatively new for business projectors. But then most projectors have a few things going for them. Another is Epson offers filters that have a longer life.

On the other hand, the Mitsubishi projector offers an extra year of warranty, and overnight replacement. Also, it is both smaller, and lighter (The Epson is five pounds heavier.)

Lastly, the Mitsubishi is far, far quieter, being much quieter in full lamp mode, than the Epson is in low lamp mode!

Trade-offs, just like I said. The lens throw, however, is probably the real reason it was decided not to give the XL1550U our Hot product award. It really was a close thing.

Bottom line: First, the image quality is excellent, overall, no issue there. If the XL1500U works for your application, with the standard lens, it is a serious contender that needs to be near the top of your shopping list, especially when you consider the awesome warranty. If, though, you want to mount the projector but the standard lens just doesn't quite cut it for you, then other similar projectors may end up being a much lower cost solution. In fairness, Mitsubishi's lens prices are fairly typical, and the projector is one of the least expensive to offer interchangeable lenses, so if you really do need a long throw solution, that no ones standard lens can cover, then the Mitsubishi starts looking very low cost.

Interfacing, like image quality, is a real strength. For example, that more expensive Epson is close in terms of inputs, but lacks a digital input (DVI or HDMI).

In summary - the XL1550U is well endowed with features, well designed overall, and has some really excellent things going for it. Whether you need a 3000 lumen projector for installation, or local travel, the Mitsubishi is a solid choice, with a world class warranty!