New to Goo - Noob questions inside!

Hello all! I just received a lava lamp today after asking everyone I know if they had one. It's a Lava Lite blue liquid, yellow goo and it's about 7 years old. Plugged it in and all works well. I've been researching lava lamps all week now and I've got some questions I just can't find answers to. Anyone who can help me out, well, I'd love that.

I'm looking to add about two more lava lamps to my collection, but before I just go out and buy the first few I can find, I need some answers!

1. Why aren't there many "old" lava lamps on eBay (in the US)? I've looked through 16+ pages of lava lamps for sale and there are so few old ones. Even the ones that are from the 90s seem to be kinda rare. When I look through all the old ads for lava lamps, there looked to be quite a few models and colors, but there are scare on eBay. Did they not survive?

2. I want a Mathmos lamp. They seem to be better quality and all the reading I've done tells me to stay away from new Lava Lite lamps as they are now manufactured in China and seem to have problems. Will Mathmos ship to the US? Price is not an issue, but can I just get some kind of converted for the plug and be good to go, or is there more to it than that?

3. Are there any other players in the lava lamp world right now besides LavaWord and Mathmos?

I'm not looking to pimp my lamp or hack anything - I just want a good, working lava lamp that will last me a long time. Thoughts?

Anywho, thanks to anyone who responds. Nice little community here! :)

Happy lamping!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Erin on July 29, 2010 at 12:00pm

I'm really enjoying my new lamp! I can't wait to pick up my other one tonight. :)

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Permalink Reply by Autumn on July 29, 2010 at 2:46pm

I used to hate glitter lamps until I got one, now I have 5. I honestly dont see how anyone couldnt like starships but thats just me. The gold bases are also nice, I think every lamp made in the 70's has a gold base. I dont think you will truely appreciate them until you have held one in person. They definitely have a "classic" feel to them. I think you should get at least 1 kind of everything, if you dont like them someone else will surely buy it from you.

Blue/yellow is a very unique color combination. That is why its my favorite lamp. I have 4 #24 globes now. I also have a 52 oz blue/yellow but the lava does not look green because there is so much lava not as much light makes it past the lava so it actually looks blue/yellow with a hint of green sometimes.

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Permalink Reply by Brian on July 29, 2010 at 2:50pm

i'm not sure the one in the auction suggesting it's from the 60's or 70's really is. it looks very similar to one i have from the 90's.
i could be wrong, though

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Permalink Reply by Erin on July 29, 2010 at 2:52pm

The yellow lava always looks green when this one is running. I attached a pic in this thread somewhere.

I would like to get a few different kinds of lamps. Right now I'm after a Mathmos and a few other LW combos (the USA made ones).

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Permalink Reply by trav whitmer on July 29, 2010 at 3:37pm

My lava was super clear like that when it was new, too. But I run it every day (every work day) so it looks more solid now instead of the translucent gel look.

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Permalink Reply by Kongar on August 6, 2010 at 9:59pm

I went through a bunch of china's and got disappointed. I then bought Mathmos lamps from electric planet - very happy with the purchase. They are expensive with the shipping, but they are nice. You can search through the forums and find information about rewiring the lamps. I rewired mine and it really wasn't that hard (I say that but I understand electricity so...)

Basically, I've found Lowes has what you need. The most important and hardest piece to find is the white ceramic socket that the bulb plugs into. Check out the second page of this thread for a picture of that socket.

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/converting-mathmos-astro-for...

Ceramic is good because it handles the heat, and you're looking for that particular socket type because it will snap into the base of the mathmos lamp. You can find plastic ones that are darn close to that, but you'll find they don't quite fit right, and are often a bit too tall. I used a dremmel to shave the metal washer thingamabob, and that ceramic one snapped right in. The rest was gravy - buy a lamp cord and a clicker switch of your choosing. Black to the copper screw, white to the silver screw (if both are the same color wires - don't worry, just hook them up any old way), on/off switch on the black line, use a GE #71695 lightbulb, and enjoy your rewired lamp.

If you (or anyone else) wants help rewiring - feel free to send me a message and I'll help ;)