2nd Nov new lamp launch

[Noz]

A completely new lamp is being launched on the 2nd Nov. 

Can't link the picture sorry. Won't let me.

But looks die cast, and possibly looking at the curvature it might be taking an astro bottle. 

And first 100 out the window. Now a lottery of all the orders placed on the same day. Seems irrelevant to still call it first 100 when it isn't. 

What are your thoughts on what it might be? 

[Noz]

Here's a bigger picture of the teaser.

[lampfancy]

Like the idea of a more energy efficient lamp - there was a thread running a while back (which since seems to have disappeared) where we were contemplating the future of lava lamps in the age of impending climate doom and spiralling energy costs

.

With lava lamps being reliant on inherently inefficient incandescent or halogen bulbs to generate heat to run, it seems they could well soon be a thing of the past, at least in their current form.



This does raise the question of what Mathmos may be doing to adapt, since surely it won’t be lost on them that the lamps being reliant on such ‘old school’ technology isn’t going to be sustainable - the lower voltage Neo was a step in the right direction but doesn’t really go far enough.



I haven’t had any lamps on for months, with energy costs how they are It seems difficult to justify having wasteful incandescent bulbs burning for hours.




Dark times, man…

[Susan]

I agree, our lamps have been packed away for ages now, especially given they need to heat up for a couple of hours before use. I cannot remember the last time we ran one. We've considered letting our bottle and lamp collection go in one job lot, but I doubt we could find a buyer that would pay a reasonable price.

lampfancy said:

Like the idea of a more energy efficient lamp - there was a thread running a while back (which since seems to have disappeared) where we were contemplating the future of lava lamps in the age of impending climate doom and spiralling energy costs

.

With lava lamps being reliant on inherently inefficient incandescent or halogen bulbs to generate heat to run, it seems they could well soon be a thing of the past, at least in their current form.



This does raise the question of what Mathmos may be doing to adapt, since surely it won’t be lost on them that the lamps being reliant on such ‘old school’ technology isn’t going to be sustainable - the lower voltage Neo was a step in the right direction but doesn’t really go far enough.



I haven’t had any lamps on for months, with energy costs how they are It seems difficult to justify having wasteful incandescent bulbs burning for hours.




Dark times, man…

[MonsoonStorm]

Selling as a job lot in the current economy would probably be difficult.  Most of us are thinking hard about what we should spend money on.  It would be a lot of money for someone to spend on something that isn't a necessity, you'd possibly have more luck splitting it.

My lamps haven't been on for months either which is a real shame now that we are coming in to the winter months, I used to run them constantly as I love watching them whilst I'm working, they are calming and peaceful and can help me de-stress.

I really hope mathmos are adapting, I need the calmness they bring back in my life.  I'd imagine they'd need to change the formula to be able to lower the heat requirements.

[Susan]

It's a tough choice not to run them like you say, because they are calming. We went down a different route a couple of years ago now, projecting oil wheel effects instead. The good thing for us is we project the imagery on to our bedroom ceiling on an evening when we are either watching TV, reading, or just chilling. Even better with a kaleidoscope lens, but that's just our thing, plus it's instant no wasted electricity waiting for lamps to heat up. We don't have a huge lava collection now, but we don't use the items anymore.

Fireflow01 with nine bottles, six clear and white astrobaby bottles, three clear and white astro bottles, some other astro and astrobaby bottles (quite a few of them lol) One 90's brushed astro, astro vinyl, boxed unused 50th anniversary astro lamp, crestworth astro lantern and a white astrobaby. We used to have a huge collection of Mathmos lamps, both lava and glitter, but we let the majority of them go in the early 2000's.

We do have an extensive collection of different projector oil wheels and two projectors, not a cheap hobby either, but a rewarding one for us. But it's obviously a different effect to lava lamps. 

[CAPTAIN SKYWALKER]

Hello Guys,

Just to add my sentiments on the current economic mess and how it impacts our enjoyment of our chosen hobby...

I appreciate some people have dozens of lava lamps and to run them all would be quite high, but to run a couple of lamps per night for a couple of hours needn't break the bank.

Electricity is at a premium rate at the moment, true but even a large lava lamp using a 100 watt bulb (like the Lunar, or one of my own rockets) isn't as expensive to run as some people might think.

In England at the moment electricity is around 34 pence per kw/h and a 100 watt bulb is one tenth of a kilowatt (so 3.4 pence per hour to run.)

In the USA it depends on what state you live in, but taking one of the cheapest and one of the most expensive rates you are looking at less than 12 cents per kw/h in Seattle compared to almost 50 cents per kw/h in Hawaii. So a large lamp would cost barely more than one cent per hour to run in Seattle and 5 cents in Hawaii.

So, if you live in Hawaii and find it too expensive to turn your lights on, the answer is simple, move to Seattle, where electricity is cheaper...

(What do you mean, it freezing cold and snows in Seattle...? I didn't say it was a perfect solution...)

My own solution to economise is to sell one of my helicopters, turn off the underfloor heating on one of the outdoor tennis courts and switch off the electricity in the servant's quarters at night.

(I'm joking, of course... the tennis court isn't really heated.)

Meanwhile, here are a couple of more recent pics of my rockets... I tend to run two or three of them most nights. To hell with the expense, even if it costs me almost 30 pence per night (that's around 40 cents...)

[MonsoonStorm]

What about the stables though?

Heating them is quite important ;)

[Noz]

New teaser on fb and insta. 

Definitely a new Neo or baby bottle lamp. Probably Neo. Looks interesting. What are your thoughts? 

[Noz]

A candle powered neo? 

[Paul]

Something about the gap and the warm lighting still makes me think candle but the bottle doesn’t. Candle Neo is an interesting idea.

Looks like an interesting one either way.

[Noz]

I doubt a candle could heat a Neo bottle. If so it would take ages. There is a question on fb asking if there will be a new colourway and they respond that there will not. So definitely something we've already got available. I'm thinking new style lamp that uses a Neo bottle and existing 12v system.

Whatever it is I'm going to buy one. Looking forward to Wednesday. 

[lampfancy]

What appears to be an ‘open’ section of the base did first make me think it may be candle powered, but as above, this didn’t seem to stack up with it appearing to be an Astrobaby/ Neo type bottle, unless they’ve tweaked the formula, or perhaps it uses multiple tea lights.



If it does turn out to be some sort of Neo variant, then hopefully it will omit the coating applied to the glass - since surely there wouldn’t be much point including when it wouldn’t meet ‘child-safe’ requirements with an open flame or exposed bulb/ luminaire anyway.

Lack of new colourways is an early layer of disappointment, though :- |