Mathmos Astro Metallic

[Lamp Addict]

So I just broke down and bought a yellow and a red Metallic Astro.  I wanted to hear people's thoughts on them and start a little discussion.  Thanks!

[MonsoonStorm]

I have both

My thoughts:

• They are best when they are the only source of light in a dark room as other light sources will highlight the outer metallic coating making it harder to see the lava
• They kinda suck in the summer!  It needs to be dark for you to see them and if it's not dark until 10-11pm then they are kinda pointless!  I haven't been able to appreciate mine fully due to this.
• The yellow is *much* easier to see than the red, the red is quite dark
• when you can see them the effects are beautiful - the lava is reflected on the inside, but due to the angle of the bottle the reflections are offset rather than a mirror image so you can see all sorts of cool patterns

Basically, I do love them, but they feel somewhat useless at the minute because nights are short (and getting shorter).  You can barely see them during the day time.

[Lava_Head_UK]

The coating bubbled & flaked off of my Blue one and this happened all over the bottle not just the bottom rim where it makes contact with the base. I never rotated it once it was in its base & you shouldn’t either. Good luck I hope you enjoy it. 

[MonsoonStorm]

Interesting.

What sort of timescale for the bubbling to start happening?

I know the coatings are delicate, I do believe they changed them somehow also between the runs though.

Will be interesting to see how they hold up.

[john]

I've got both new ones and the coating is perfect on mine but I handle these with care they scratch like anything so I don't keep mine out offen, can't say I had bubbling myself but early days 

[MonsoonStorm]

I must admit the finish appears flawless on mine, so perhaps that was the biggest change

You are right about the yellow, it is visible in daylight, I just had it in a room with a lot of windows when I first turned it on! (almost like a conservatory)

It would be nice to see more colours (especially to replace the red, given it's limited visibility), my concern though is their determination to sell them as only lamps.  I really don't need any more bog standard chrome bases!

Jezza said:

The newer ones are partially see through and I have the yellow and red ones. They are much better than the originals. But still not perfect. Mine have minor scraches and very small bits missing in the reflective coating. The yellow is lovely and bright even in daylight, the red quite hard to see. Would like to see a white one or a main release for the orange. 

It will be interesting to see what improvements have been made since they have been out of stock. 

[Lava_Head_UK]

2 arrived scratched replacements bubbled after about 3-4 months so gave up on the idea of owning some. 

MonsoonStorm said:

Interesting.

What sort of timescale for the bubbling to start happening?

I know the coatings are delicate, I do believe they changed them somehow also between the runs though.

Will be interesting to see how they hold up.