It's my own stupid fault. I see cheap lamps and I get excited. Every single one I bring home is disappointing. I don't know why I even bother. If I get one that's clear, the flow is crap (well, they all flow like crap). Residue on the bottom. Residue on the inside of the glass. Horrible flow. Cloudy. Hazy. Overheats quickly.
They're all getting returned...except one I'm keeping to test out pinholes on the base.
My very first "new" China Lava Lite. Got this summer of 2010. It didn't flow. Returned it the next day.
Next up, my China blue/white. Sent the base to Mike (blindfaith) this week. Globe is clear, flow is boring:
I think we all remember this one. I wrote up a huge thread about it. What a shame. Returned for full refund to Lava Lite.
Orange/black 52oz. Horribly cloudy. Residue on inside. It was nasty to look at.
Exchanged for this:
^^ This one is clear, but has gunk in the coil/wax, which I just discovered this week:
Bought five of these for $8/each. The blue/white wouldn't stick to the coil, the purple/red was so cloudy you couldn't see through it. I returned those two. I might keep the remaining three for experiments or glitter, but they are pretty depressing to look at (pretty awful flow):
Lastly, I purchased this at Target last week. A little hazy, residue on the inside and the flow, well, you know the story...
I know I'm an idiot for even buying them, and it's weird how I try and justify keeping them ("well, they're not THAT bad" or "I could use this for parts") but that's a pretty sad reason to keep something that you don't like.
I've been running these off and on all weekend and each time I look at them, they just disappoint me.
No point to this thread...just wanted to share my thoughts. Friends don't let friends buy Lava Lite, right? ;)
*sigh*
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lol, Erin, when you live 90 miles away from anything but wallyworld you make excuses to go sometimes.
Erin said:
I did read it - and your experience is a typical one, sadly.
USA lamps almost always clear up. I'd never drive that far for a new lava lamp, ever. They're just not worth it. Stick to eBay and vintage and I think you'll be much happier.
True, but I guess I just have so much experience with these new (and often bad) lamps that I wouldn't drive that far for one specifically!
I bought a rainbow clearview last week I like the colors and liquid is crystal clear. However the wax level is low and the flow has improved but still not the best but overall I still like the lamp. My teal and neon orange clearview that i bought over the winter has low wax also. I wonder why LL is skimping on the wax?
I bought a classic silver base/black lava/clear liquid at kmart a few weeks back only because it was on sale for 8.79, lol!!! I do like the silver base, and it flowed a bit interesting for a few days, now it just shoots what look like 8-balls from a pool table up!! I'm thinking of putting a dimmer on it just for kicks to see if I can get it to be interesting once again, or it will get stuck in my bedroom as one of my "not so great" night lights!!! that I never stay away to watch anyway, lol!!! I'm really not liking the flow of any of these new lamps. My new 52oz pink liquid/white lava is just "OK". Nothing like "wow, look at what that just did"!! it's just "OK". but I keep it because I like the bright color!!
ooops, forgot to add, that the black classic and the 52 oz pink are clear, thank god, because I simply CANNOT stand looking at that forbidded HAZE!!!
Thanks for the info. I might pick up a non clear view Colormax. Ugh I hope its ok. Havent bought a "China" in a long time. I collect classic LL, and I know the quality these days is crap. Again, thanks for the info.
Thom, do yourself a favor if you can.....if you can go to a local Spencers or buy from a place where you can open the box and inspect the lamp. Now as far as flow, you can't do much to test that, but you can at least look at the clarity and also you will be able to tell if it was shook during transit. I went up to Spencer's to replace 2 52 oz Neons that I fried on my own account by leaving them on too long, but I literally had the spencers guy open up like 6 boxes and EVERY purple neon had messed up globes!!! There is like all these "scuff" marks on the inside of the globes. Even the guy sad they were horrible. So I felt bad and had him open up my 52 oz pink/clear and that was nice, so I bought that one. They are having a lamp sale and I believe it is still on. Now I don't know if Target or Walmart or Kmart will let you open them, but it you live close you can take them back at least. I would not recommend to anyone to buy china on line. It's risky. Oh and the spencer's sales guy did say that a lot of his returns are from online sales wherein the lamp comes cloudy due to it being shaken in transit. There was a pink/clear lamp that he opened where the white wax was literally "shredded" looking and I said NO WAY that was def shaken.........
LL just needs to bring back the USA formula problem solved! But I doubt that will happen.
It's a corporate world now in the states......unfortunately I doubt that too!!! Ppl just don't look for quality anymore. They want to buy cheap because the economy warrants that, but there are just some things that quality has to come first and when it doesn't then we see what is happening with our beloved lava lamps......it's sad....
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