Permalink Reply by Erin on August 12, 2010 at 8:04pm
Most people here seem to prefer the LavaWorld (Lava Lite lamps or Mathmos lamps (myself included), but I say get whatever lamp you like! The only ones I would caution you stay away from are the new lamps from LavaWorld. They outsourced to China in the early 2000s and the quality is poo.
Permalink Reply by Dawn on August 12, 2010 at 9:53pm
I find lamps as cheep as $3.00 for a103 1973 Centurys And I bought a Aristocrat for another $3.00 today and $4.00 for a wierd lamp.Some times I come home with 4or5 of them I have to stop!!!!!
Permalink Reply by Erin on August 13, 2010 at 7:14am
No guide...just lots and lots of reading on this forum. Like I said above, most people in this forum in the US buy Lava Lites and older made by LavaWorld/Lava Simplex or whatever they've been called over the years. A lot of people in the UK buy Mathmos lamps. Mathmos cannot sell here in the US, so we can't buy direct, but there are a few people/companies that will ship them.
Your best bet is to buy used on eBay/thrift stores/garage sales. I would start doing some reading on the history of lava lamps and you'll find out about how the companies were formed and get a chance to understand what's available and what to look for when buying a lamp.
I have a few of these lamps and they are not bad. But $10 would be about the most I would pay. One thing to consider is that they are a little bit top-heavy and not as stable as other lamps with a broad base.
They were made by NOBO (No Boundaries) and had decent flow quality. However, as mentioned above, you really shouldn't pay more than $10.00 for one. No Boundaries has actually produced some pretty cool novelty lamps in the past, they did in fact sell them at walmart before Hot Rock and the latest wave of "LavaLite" shit flooded their shelves.