Quick review on 'El Cheapo' UK Ebay lava lamps.

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Quick review on 'El Cheapo' UK Ebay lava lamps.

Note - I have no connection with either seller and TBH these are cheaper than I can get them from AliExpress!

Recently I thought I'd see what the cheap selection from ebay was like. To this ends I bought the cheapest I could find on Glitter lamps (50cm/19.5" Golden Rocket [eBay #292745881042, GBP8.99]) and Lava lamps (36cm/14.5" Blue - advertised as 16"[eBay #355337716396, GBP12.99] - other colours available).

Starting with the Glitter Rocket, the metal is very flimsy, when received it the base was quite bent but it straightened out pretty easily, possibly the fiddliest thing was attaching the 3rd leg with the supplied wing bolt. In operation the flimsiness of the metal is pretty much inconsequential - as long as the legs are tight it seems to sit straight and performs well. A bit slow to get full glitter flow, the glitter is a crescent shaped gold glitter which reflects nicely. After an hour or so it's going well and is definitely one to recommend - the liquid seems pretty clear now, just don't move it about too much else it's likely to break. Which brings me on to the second point about these. The bottle is rather large and will easily fill an AstroBaby and possibly a full Astro. For the price it's possibly worth getting them to refil old glitter lamps (if you don't mind the golden crescents).

Now for the Blue Lava Lamp - supposedly 16" but measures as just over 14" - doesn't match the pictures on the listing but looks like a small AstroBaby in black and is a bit more substantial on the metalwork than the Golden Rocket. As standard this ships with a 30W bulb which is probably a bit too powerful since the wax seems to sit at the top after it's warmed up. Putting ot on the dimmer it seems to run well at about 60%, although still tending towards the top. The fluid/glass doesn't seem that clear but is good enough to be enjoyable. I like the pale royal blue colour and it seems to transmit the light well - any darker and it would seem too dark overall.

To summarise, these seem to be pretty reasonable value (especially compared to Mathmos prices). OK, they're never going to be collectable but should you wish to move them on I doubt you'll lose too much on them. Also as previously mentionned, they could be used as donors to rebuild another lamp.

As far as I'm concerned, teh little Blue one will go wel with my Plasma lamp (since they're oth about the same size/colour) and the rocket can go with the rest of the rockets (need to find more space!).

Rototype.

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I should add, to put these prices in context for the American readers, the glitter rocket effectively comes in at $11.35 and the little blue lava lamp at $16.40 and these prices are including delivery.