my 2 cents on lava world lamps

[lava jay]

im new to collecting and ive recently bought a 52 oz blue liquid white wax china lamp and after 4 to 5 hours about 3/4 of the wax would stay at the top called lavaworld and the cust service person told me that was normal when it is not i feel that they just dont care about making a high quality lamp i think they they are only thinking about the bottom the line the cost but the american made lamps i have seen had a nice wax flow to them and didnt do that t ried frosted bulb and dimmer switch and still had issue it seems that they have so many issues with china lamps and i havent heard a lot of issues with the american lamps it seems in america we dont have a lot of choices to to go down to our local shops and buy a high quality lamp lava world should take note of mathmos and crestworth they build high quality lamps are are a piece of furniture instead of something you only want to have in your dorm room thanks for your time jay

[Keith]

From what I have seen, "china" lamps from other companies don't have as many problems as LavaWorld china lamps! The question for LavaWorld is "why is your quality lower than cut-rate motion lamps?" I have 5 china made lamps from other companies that flow just fine, although one has crud from a bad coil in it. LavaWorld did not make quality a priority when they moved production to China - they reduced cost so they could sell lamps to kids, who would get bored with them and throw them away. Quality lamps can last a long, long time. They have been relying on their name to sell lamps, but it is now catching up with them.

[www.6-ft-under.com]

Preach on Jay!
We all feel you pain on the junk made by LW now!
The crap they turn out now is made for kids, not collectors.
"Bert"
6-ft-under.com

[Kris]

I have a feeling Spencers is not going to carry LW lamps anymore. The online store only has 3 colors in stock. The stores themselves don't seem to be restocking either.

[Kris]

Sad part is, I remember going in there for something back in the 90's and seeing the HUGE wall of lava lamps. It was a build your own setup. Tons of options - literally. Now the lava lamps they do have are about 5, the same colors for the last few years and have been remanded to the highest shelf in the store. Pretty sad.

The store itself seems to cater to sex stuff now mostly. Adult oriented gag junk. Very little is what it used to be years back sadly.

[www.6-ft-under.com]

Sorry to be ignorant....but what is a Tiki Lava Lamp?
I'm curious....
"Bert"
6-ft-under.com

[Roger Stenstrom]

Yes I have not herd of Tiki Lava Lamps. What do they look like?

Roger

[Kris]

I was wondering the same thing and found this yesterday - http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=12159&am...

Pics are midway down. It appears to be a tiki base lava lamp.

[www.6-ft-under.com]

OMG! Those are fugly!
I think that I will just go without....ugh!
"Bert"
6-ft-under.com

[Scott]

H

How about this one?  I've built several and can't keep them in stock!  TiKi's are back!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260810024336...

[Tim Gill]

About Lava Lite - basically from what I have heard there has been a new owner / CEO of lava Lite and the new management didn't really like lava lamps or had any passion for them so  decided to cut costs. They moved production  to china and  also cut the decent ranges that they made in the 80's - 90's (i.e. the ceramic series, phycodelic swirl, electric series etc). When the move first happened it was kinda ok as the formula and the quality didn't differ too much. However as time has gone on they have made further cuts - messed up the formula trying to save a fue bucks, low quality of the globes, reduced the coil size..... the list goes on.

During this time they also decided to stop production of the colossus (even though they were selling like hot cakes) and put money into pointless advertising and marketing - which just doesn't make sense.

The thing is that this is all kinda back-fired as peace lamps have a better flow then Lava Lite lamps and customers and shops are getting the message that they shouldn't waste there money on there lamps.

As for the collector series, I think there attempt at that was the designer series which did create a lot of interest on hear but when a review was made we realised that it was the same old rubbish just trying to look cool.

The thing is now is that lava lamps weren't what they were - in the 80'-90's LL and Mathmos weren't afraid to try new and cool things (especially LL) and they were doing well from it. It seams that no one wants to mass produce big lamps or funky designs, I say bring back the 90's when there was plenty of funky stuff.

However saying that I think that lava lamps are going through a lot of change - Mathmos may or may not be interested in making bigger or more funky designs but they seam to be modernising lava lamps. - From a space and furteristic idea of the 80's to sleek and stylish grown up items of the modern home. - But is that really what we want or the collectors / enthusiasts want?

[Charles]

"During this time they also decided to stop production of the colossus (even though they were selling like hot cakes)"

 

 

....really?

[Tim Gill]

Apparently they were selling well in the UK, I am not too sure about the US though. However I am glad they have stopped it now as considering the Granda's if they made them now then they would probably be a nightmare to sort out.