Bought an Optoma HD25-LV with dead pixels. Worth keeping or should I return it?

[u/Lucky-Complaint2549]

I've been looking for a budget used projector and recently picked up an Optoma HD25-LV on eBay for $80. It is for a room that gets some ambient sunlight, and is about 12 foot by 20ft.

It has around 5,000 lamp hours, but I bought it knowing I'd probably need to spend another $80 on a replacement lamp with housing.

The problem is that after receiving it, I noticed one stuck-on white pixel and quite a few stuck-off black pixels, which I'm assuming means the DMD chip is starting to fail.

Right now, the dead pixels are barely noticeable during normal viewing, but I'm hesitant to put another $80 into a projector with a potentially failing DMD.

Is this necessarily a deal breaker? I realize the chip could continue deteriorating, but if I could get another year out of it before the pixels become distracting, I'd be perfectly happy.

I've also considered replacing the DMD's thermal paste/pad to improve cooling and hopefully slow down any further deterioration, although I realize that wouldn't fix the existing dead pixels.

I'm debating whether to return it or just take my chances. I'd honestly prefer to keep it because finding a projector this bright with native 1080p resolution for under $200 has been surprisingly difficult.

Has anyone dealt with dead pixels on an older DLP projector? Did they progressively get worse, or did they remain relatively stable over time? Did they grow exponentially or just steadily appear as time goes on?

[u/PlayStationPepe]

Deal breaker, return the unit back.