Laser Life?


I have an older Pioneer Elite PD-S95 transport. It's working perfectly. Yet, I was wondering if lasers have a limited lifespan. If so, how long? Also, how often should the lens be cleaned? Thanks.
steakster
Marakanetz, The FM is so bad in Houston I sold my tuner years ago and just put a CD on repeat 24/7 to have something playing all the time....I got 61,000 hours out of the first laser which is pretty good service.....
Yes laser do have a lifespan. I had to change mine in my Esoretic P2. It's been to the dealer since october and the laser is still back order (Grrrrr). but what I can tell you is that I bought the unit 5 years ago and was playing an average of 60 to 80 hours per week. Now all I want is to find maybe a P2s or to the dealer to tell me that i had received the laser and be happy like before...
DTM
Most small lasers of the type used in A/V equipment are rated in terms of hours of use -- as an example, 5000 hours. That figure, however, is at best a SWAG, since the laser may fail sooner or substantially later. The lifespan of the laser can ber affected by a number of factors, such as how well the internal power supply is regulated (avoiding power spikes is important), the amount of heat the player is subjected to, etc.

I had an Adcom GCD-575 that worked for more than 6 years of fairly frequent use before the laser failed. I suspect that Sean can give us more accurate info, assuming he sees this post.
Just replaced the laser in my Pioneer PD-103 mechanism that G&D Transforms used in their UTP-1 transport after seven years of 24/7 use......Took almost half an hour and cost about $60......It started mistracking is all.....Never did clean it BTW.....Laser might be more for your unit, but order one from Pioneer if you plan on keeping the unit as it isn't much to install one and when they go there is no fixing it without the new part....