Colossus Lamps available!

[Charlie]

Found oozinggoo.com when I was looking for ways to repair the Grande I picked up at CostCo a few years ago.  It's one of the Chinese made ones that has gone extremely cloudy and ceased to flow (going to try replacing the fluid one of these weekends). 

It was here that I found out about really big Lava lamps.  I was bowled over by videos of the  Colossus lamps and really want to see if I could get one, I couldn't find them available anywhere so I wrote LavaLite.  I wanted to let this group know what I got this from Lava Lite today:

We have a special promo on the Colossus for serious buyers.   This will be the last time the Colossus will be seen.

Please see attached promo sheet with pricing included.

If you are interested please contact on my direct line at 630-496-6663.

 

Best regards,

 

Susan Michaels

Customer Service Representative

LAVA LITE

630-496-6663 direct line

[e-mail]

www.lavalite.com

Sadly these prices are outside of my discretionary funds, even though they include shipping.  I post it in hopes that someone here may be interested.

 

[Ben]

That's not a bad idea. If we are running a 250w at 45-55%, a 150w at 80-100% would be about the same, right? Let us know how that works!

[Al Chemysto]

Just put in the 200w bulb Susan sent out to appease everyone. It has a week to perform as advertised or else I'm requesting a globe exchange or steep partial refund.

[Al Chemysto]

I think the reality is that globes are being "recycled". Some one complains it runs too hot, it gets returned and repackaged as "new" and put back into "replacement" stock for some one else to try. IF this is a temperature thing and this lava is so fickle odds are some lamps will work perfectly in SOME environments and but not others so you can be damned sure these globes aren't just being chucked into the trash as defective

Phishy Lava said:

When I ordered mine in mid March, Susan said the only color choice left was blue/yellow. NOW there are red/clears? That's what I really wanted!!!!   :'(

Ben said:

Jim, what color combo is yours? Phishy, I got the impression they are holding a few globes for this reason. Has anyone attempted to buy one lately? The original plan was to openly offer them for sale at the first of last month if they didn't all sell all of them to gooheads. That was a month ago, so I'm assuming since they still have some, maybe they held a few back for replacements. I was in the same boat--I wanted to give this globe a chance to come into it because I love the P/Y, but I also didn't want to miss a chance to get a replacement. After all, my goal isn't to get a refund, I want a working colossus! I'm just guessing, though. But you may be stuck with a different color if you need a new globe. Susan said the choices were red/clear or blue/yellow. No more purple/yellows :-(. Check with her; she's been good to me.

[Phishy Lava]

Well, for the record, Susan told me again on Thursday that the only color left is blue/yellow. No red/clears have magically reappeared. I wish they had. 

[Phishy Lava]

How long is "record time"?

I just bought two of these.   :-/

Critter said:

I've tried these lamps, they won't work for long, they burn out in record time because they are designed to be run facing down.  They over heat when faced up and especially within the confines of the lamp base.  I've talked with the specialists at Norman Lamp about the matter and they are looking into finding some type of substitute bulb that will generate similar heat levels and have a decent life span.  I'm not hopeful.

[Ben]

I honestly don't think they would do that. Susan mentioned something to me about having their tech people examine & test the bad globes, implying these returned globes would never see the light of day again. I can't see them spending the huge money on shipping a returned/refurb globe as part of a new colossus package with a high likelihood of an unhappy customer and the expense & labor of dealing with another potential return. That would likely mean more shipping costs. You would think a returned globe would never see the outside of the LL HQ again based on the shipping costs alone. Are they really making any money on these? I doubt it. They probably just want their warehouse space back and to cut their losses.

[Phishy Lava]

This makes sense. Oh well. 

I wonder how/why these bulbs are working for Autumn.  :(

Critter said:

 I called Norman and they said that it was possible they are a bad batch but it was more likely because they are being run socket down. These bulbs are meant to run in a ceiling can which lets heat flow away from the bulb/filament end and they stay cooler that way. Norman told me that they will over heat when run as we are running them and shorten their life span. I am getting some more info from Norman early next week I will post what I find out from them.

[Al Chemysto]

I've actually been inside their warehouse. They have TONS of wide open space. They don't manufacture anything in Elk Grove Village it's purely storage and distribution
Ben said:

 They probably just want their warehouse space back and to cut their losses.

[Autumn]

I don't know why mine are working either. I have had my lamp on for 3 days now. It only overheated once and came off the coil because the room it was in got warm. Sometimes the wax does flow off the coil, but it always corrects itself pretty quickly. Other than that no issues. 

Phishy Lava said:

This makes sense. Oh well. 

I wonder how/why these bulbs are working for Autumn.  :(

Critter said:

 I called Norman and they said that it was possible they are a bad batch but it was more likely because they are being run socket down. These bulbs are meant to run in a ceiling can which lets heat flow away from the bulb/filament end and they stay cooler that way. Norman told me that they will over heat when run as we are running them and shorten their life span. I am getting some more info from Norman early next week I will post what I find out from them.

[Ben]

Right, but do they really want all that old stock to continue sitting around for years, whether they have the space or not? If they sold them at cost including shipping they could call it a day and move on, and that's probably what they are doing. Money sitting in the bank is better than money sitting in boxes. I would bet the few returns they get are inspected, run by the tech peeps, and if they run as they are supposed to, great. Set those up as displays in the LL offices or break room. The rest don't work? Keep them for employees to tinker with. You can't resell headaches; they will just come back to haunt you.

As for the failure rate: They started with 60-70 lamps. How many of them were bought by Oozinggooers? Probably a good number of them since it wasn't advertised. How many of us have had problems? Ten of us, maybe? To unload all of that new old stock will probably be worth it to LL in the end, even if they have to do some refunds. They've got money in their pocket that they didn't before. I have faith that Susan will make you (and me) happy one way or the other. They are better off financially by unloading them even with a few refunds rather than having them sit around.

I just want an operational Colossus. If I have to get a partial refund and goo kit the SOB, I will. This Colossus is not leaving my house without a fight!

[Deb]

Atta boy Ben! This made me smile. :)

Ben said:

I just want an operational Colossus. If I have to get a partial refund and goo kit the SOB, I will. This Colossus is not leaving my house without a fight!

[Kirk]

Same experience here.  Y/P and P/P seldom get stuck now, unless room is too warm.  R/C continues to perform flawlessly regardless of room temp, and I also have it on a 200w Norman bulb.  I'm really enjoying these lamps!  :>)

I am interested in what Critter finds out from Norman though, too.  Thanks for working with them for us, Critter.

Autumn said:

I don't know why mine are working either. I have had my lamp on for 3 days now. It only overheated once and came off the coil because the room it was in got warm. Sometimes the wax does flow off the coil, but it always corrects itself pretty quickly. Other than that no issues. 

Phishy Lava said:

This makes sense. Oh well. 

I wonder how/why these bulbs are working for Autumn.  :(

Critter said:

 I called Norman and they said that it was possible they are a bad batch but it was more likely because they are being run socket down. These bulbs are meant to run in a ceiling can which lets heat flow away from the bulb/filament end and they stay cooler that way. Norman told me that they will over heat when run as we are running them and shorten their life span. I am getting some more info from Norman early next week I will post what I find out from them.