Glass quality of new lamps - Lava Lite vs. Mathmos

[Verax]

Hi all - I'm pretty new to the scene.  I've had a 1997 blue/white lava lite rocket ship since I bought it new, and have loved it.  I decided a few weeks back, that I REALLY love watching it, and thought "I'm going to get some more!"  I picked up a few cheap ones from Amazon, but they are all awful!  

So, I went and got a 52 ounce new Lava Lite from Spencers.  The fluid, lava, and flow are fantastic, but the glass is really bad.  Is this normal for new Lava Lite glass?  Is Mathmos better?  There are so many imperfections that it really detracts from the lite.  I've attached a picture, and all those little white specs are bubbles in the glass, not a single spec of dust on the outside.  I'm really disappointed.  :(

[VOXul]

Welcome Brian, fellow goo head! I will start by saying that you appear to be lucky to have good flow and fluids in your new lamp, nevermind bubble free glass, haha! We have all noticed that Lava Lites attention to detail might be lacking as of late since they have outsourced production to a Chinese factory. There seems to be either bad flow, cloudy fluids or bad glass involved with most lamps coming from them these days. Grandes seem to come out a bit luckier on having those symptoms as well as the heritage line (though the smaller heritage lamps seem to be sub par as well).

That is a dark color combo to have massive amounts of glass imperfections too, it does really take away from the light show. I have an older USA purple/blue combo that has that issue x2 in comparison to yours so that has always been a slight issue with their glass. I have 2 Mathmos lamps, a Jet and an Astro, and these vessels are absolutely flawless, not a single bubble. On the other hand I have many Lava Lite globes that are spot on but it seems to be more prevalent with their manufacturing.

If you are looking for top notch lava we will suggest go Mathmos when possible. If you do go Lava Lite we suggest aiming for lamps that were built before the China outsource in 2003. Details on spotting the differences and identifying the manufacture date of USA lamps, check this thread out. Most of us are pretty informative, especially the long timers on OG, so we are happy to help (I am nearing a year on this forum, pales in comparison to others, HAHA)Again welcome, may your lava flow bright!

[Verax]

Thank Vox!  That's what I was afraid of.  I think it's time to get some Mathmos on their way!  :)

[Carol]

I redid a beautiful violet which is now my day lamp because i swear you can see the Milkey Way in it!!!! It's really god awful!!!