My review of Lava Lite's new "Designer" 32 oz. lamp

[Erin]

Received my new 32 oz. "Designer" lamp from LL today. Shipping was fast and item was packed well. Customer service was good - I had to cancel and re-order to apply a discount. No problems there. 

 

Globe color: clear/redNumbers on lamp: H4200, 11032401 D (date assembled must be March 24th, 2011). Cap has white and red sticker. 

Price paid: $34 shipped (with 10% discount)

The globe, much to my disappointment, was slightly cloudy. However, it was warm today and I really do expect that it might clear up. The clouding isn't as horrible as some I've seen, for sure. What's a little unsettling (pun intended?) is the fuzzies floating around in globe.

 
Upon first run, I can see some of these little floaties moving around in the liquid. 

 The finish is fairly cheap-feeling, but OK. Nice to see something new, I guess. I haven't owned any of the 20 oz. globes, but Autumn tells me the finish looks to be the same. The holes arount the base are a nice touch, but are a tad higher than the image sown on Lava Lite's website. 

My verdict for now? Don't buy (yet).

 

Rating as of right now: 6

I am running the lamp now for the first time. Updates to follow.

 

VIDEO of said floaties: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPQyBXKaqVM 

Day two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSlLvW0MGBk 

 

[2f8j4nfjbwyuq]

The Lava Lite Company let their products Go to China...

jonny said:

this is bad news indeed.

 i'm new here.  i own 1 lamp.  a Lava Lite Midnight series that i bought new in '96.  i just brought it out of storage a few weeks ago and thought i would like another lamp or two in the 32oz size.  but upon researching i realized that the Lava Lite company really let their product go to crap.  my research led me here.  this is a great site.  didn't know there was lava lamp collectors community. 

 

anyway, let the reviews continue.  i'm hoping for some quality 32 oz lamps in the future.  hopefully Lava Lite can get their act together. 

[bluecastlesky]

alot of my china lamps have the fuzzy floaties. My 52oz green/clear has a giant white feather sea monkey looking thing that moves around and never melted or went away, the big white FLAKES I know what you mean. I wasted 5 bucks today like an asshole at Menards getting the tiny pink/clear and SURPRISE I can count like literally 14 floaties. I'm so done, next lamp when I get a job is going to be a Mathmos.

as for that lava world woman snippy is an understatement, talk about a self righteous fake bitch. Sorry if I offend just it's appalling that they are cranking out these lamps and selling them to the general public, so sad today that kids don't even know how a lava lamp is supposed to flow and look like.

[2f8j4nfjbwyuq]

Hi,
it's a white powder that should not be in the China Lava Lamp
I have a china garnda lava lamp cloudy Could nit see wax at all
I put it in storage for 6 months I pulled it out of storage the lamp was not cloudy at all the blue was perfect, but when I turned ot on
the white particals started comming from the bottom and mixed with the liqued so sad. I have had a Clear China Granda befor I turned it on.
Mathmos lava lamp are superier!!!

[Erin]

Thanks. I thought it was, too. ;) I gave up on Lava Lite; they have no interest in improving, so what else could I do? I finally sold off the last of my China-made lava lamps this month (only had two). 

I've talked about this subject with many people (not necessarily lava lamps) - most people want a cheap product and they're willing to sacrifice quality to get it. So, from a company standpoint, they can sell 100 high-quality, well-made items at $100 or they can sell 10,000 sub-par pieces of crap for $20 and people will buy them. What option do you think profit-driven companies will choose? 

Most companies simply don't care. Sadly, the big ones don't have to. 

mr_a500 said:

Your reply is excellent - logical and detailed. The problem is that these days nobody gives a shit and everybody just wants to make their money and go home with the minimum of effort. It's extremely frustrating and annoying trying to get anyone to actually understand what the problem is and do something to fix the problem.

I've written many many similar logical, detailed and brief emails about various problems with products and services - and made it so clear that anyone with half a brain could understand what the problem is and how to fix it. Unfortunately, the person (or bot) receiving my email usually has less than half a brain and sends a pre-formed email with links to website FAQs and "self-help" web pages that have nothing whatsoever to do with the problem. After that, I usually get a moronic reply with "we're sorry you feel that way, but none of our customers have complained about this" bullshit.

[WeeboTech]

I find it interesting when people say they will pay more for quality, but are then presented with quality, back peddle and choose to go for the cheapest product anyway.

I guess it's part of human nature.

Erin said:

I've talked about this subject with many people (not necessarily lava lamps) - most people want a cheap product and they're willing to sacrifice quality to get it. So, from a company standpoint, they can sell 100 high-quality, well-made items at $100 or they can sell 10,000 sub-par pieces of crap for $20 and people will buy them. What option do you think profit-driven companies will choose? 

[Derek Hyde]

I'll throw in my 2 cents here, a bit late, but I'm new here.  I bought three new lamps and didn't realize they were made in China.  Was wondering what the hell was wrong with them.  One was the orange liquid/black lava, one was blue/yellow and one was purple that lit up pink.  The orange/black one was so dark it wasn't visible.  The other two were cloudy and lame.  Now I know why they are like they were.  Ending up giving all three away. Total crap, awful stuff.  I'm also not getting anymore new ones. 

[Erin]

Smart move. ;-) I sold/returned all mine. They were just depressing as shit to look at. Sad this is, most people don't know the difference between the new stuff and the vintage. 

Derek Hyde said:

I'll throw in my 2 cents here, a bit late, but I'm new here.  I bought three new lamps and didn't realize they were made in China.  Was wondering what the hell was wrong with them.  One was the orange liquid/black lava, one was blue/yellow and one was purple that lit up pink.  The orange/black one was so dark it wasn't visible.  The other two were cloudy and lame.  Now I know why they are like they were.  Ending up giving all three away. Total crap, awful stuff.  I'm also not getting anymore new ones. 

[Derek Hyde]

Depressing to look at sums it up perfectly.  They really are. The last new lamp I had purchased was before they moved to China and I was expecting the same thing. 

[jonny]

It's a shame there isn't a source to buy decent,  brand new, minty fresh lamps.   Used ones are ok, but nothing beats a brand new lamp that's never been operated before.  I'm glad a found a brand new lamp from the 90's on ebay for a decent price.  We can only hope Mathmos gets their US operation going soon and hopefully their lamps haven't gone to sh!t as well.

[Erin]

Seriously, I wrote that because it's exactly what I was thinking every time I looked at them. My collecting kinda went like this: got a mid-90s 32oz. US-made Lava Lite for free and fell in love. Got a brand new 20oz. purple/pink - returned it the next day. Joined OozingGoo. Read a BUNCH of stuff on lava lamps. Bought 70 more "vintage" lamps. Bought a few more "China" lamps towards the end of my 1.5 year shopping spree and every time I looked at them, I felt so disappointed. Since I knew what Lava Lite USED to be, looking at these new lamps WAS depressing. I returned or sold ALL of them. I didn't want a single one in my house. They are embarassing to look at if you've seen a proper 90s lamp flow (or 80s, 70s, etc). 

mr_a500 said:

"Depressing as shit".... how poetic. ;) I can't get that statement out of my head now. I was just looking at my Made in China lava lamp, thinking, "Man, this is depressing as shit."

Erin said:

They were just depressing as shit to look at.

[Erin]

I like the idea of minty fresh lamps. :)

Mathmos... meh. Who knows when that'll happen. 

jonny said:

It's a shame there isn't a source to buy decent,  brand new, minty fresh lamps.   Used ones are ok, but nothing beats a brand new lamp that's never been operated before.  I'm glad a found a brand new lamp from the 90's on ebay for a decent price.  We can only hope Mathmos gets their US operation going soon and hopefully their lamps haven't gone to sh!t as well.

[Autumn]

Yep... I see lava lite brand lava lamps at the store and sigh. I see them at flea markets, on craigslist, and on ebay. They are always cloudy, every single time. Most of them look like crap, either the liquid or wax is faded and stuck to the side, or they have clouded up so bad you cannot see anything. I just dont get how they are still in business. If a restaurant has bad food, they eventually go out of business. If a lava lamp company makes bad lava lamps, they somehow stay in business for 10 years.

mr_a500 said:

I've become a believer in Erin's (now famous) "depressing as shit"™ philosophy: if it's depressing as shit to look at, replace it with a good older one. I've just bought my third copper Crestworth Astro to replace my awful Made in China lamps.

The only two Chinese lamps I'll keep are the purple liquid ones that have a nice red glow in the dark. They're still "depressing as shit" to look at in the daytime, but the red glow is good lighting if you want to keep your night vision in the dark.