On-going list of quality issues with Lava Lite lamps (post-2003 lamps)

[Erin]

I've slowed down in buying lamps over the years, but I still get tempted when I see Lava Lite put out new lamps. And nearly all of the time, I'm disappointed. 

I wanted to consolidate my experiences/posts into one thread for those who are looking to purchase "new"er lava lamps, specifically ones from 2003 and after. Most of us know that 2003 is when Lava Lite shifted production of their lamps to China. Since that time, there's been an obvious decline in quality, though many new lava lamp fans may not know the difference. I'm not going to argue about how production should be shifted back to the US, but rather send out a strong warning about the quality of most of these lamps. I will never buy a used lamp from 2003 or afterwards. I will only buy them new from places that have good return policies. 

Why am I doing this? Mostly to inform others, I guess. I will fully admit that sometimes I'll buy a lamp to run it, photograph it and then return it. Sadly, I keep far too many of them and they end up being donated or junked. 

I kinda started this topic/thread back in 2011, but I'm still buying these stupid things and they are mostly still crap.

So, here we go again, with updated data!

• July 2010. Pink/purple 20oz. lamp. First "new" Lava Lite lamp I bought. It didn't flow. Returned it the next day. 
• April 2011. 52oz.blue/white. Boring flow. Sold to a friend with a base I painted white. 
• 32oz. "Designer" lamp bought May 2011. Hazy, poor flow. Dots around base not evenly spaced. Returned to Lava Lite for refund. 
• Aug. 2011. Two 52oz. black/orange lamps from Spencers: Horrible wax. Sticking around base. Returned both.
• Sept, 2011. 32 oz. clear/yellow Clearview from Target: hazy. Horrible flow. Returned. 
• Sept, 2011. Five little 10 oz. lamps from Kmart: horrible flow. Clear though. Returned all five. 
• Aug. 2012. 32oz. Clear/red Clearview. Sold to a friend with a different globe.
• 52oz. White/Pink from Spencer's. Gunk in wax after less than 10 runs. Junked. 
• Spring 2013. Four Neons from Spencers: They were all clear and three out of the four had decent flow. Eventually, they all got wax stuck around the base on all of them. Emptied and sold the globes.
• March 2013. 32 oz. Rainbow "Colormax" from Spencers. Kept. Perfect lamp, though I only had it for a few months before I gifted it to someone. 
• June 2013. 20oz. blue/purple. Terrible flow. Attempted a drain and ...
• June 2013, 20 oz. clear/neon blue from Target. Poor flow. Sold to someone. 
• Aug. 2013. Purple/yellow Clearview from Spencer's. Good. No problems. Kinda boring flow. Sold to a friend. 
• Sept 2013. Green/black 52 oz. from Spencers: Good. Gifted to a friend. No problems at the time. 
• October 2013. Green and Pink Heritage Grandes. Gave green one to a friend. Still have pink one. Amazing flow. Clear. However, there is now gunk in the wax and the top rubber stopper is being sucked into the globe. Takes forever to heat up and flow. 
• Fall 2013. Yellow/red Heritage Century purchased online through Lava Lite. Stuck wax at top. Not great flow. Returned. 
• Dec. 2013. Clear/red Heritage wizard. Kinda hazy liquid. Uninteresting flow. Dumped and refilled with Kirk's glitter. 
• January 2014. Red/blue 52oz. from Spencer's: horrible crap in the wax/coil after a few runs. Returned. 
• June 2014, bought clear/blue "Clearview" from Target. Hazy. Never cleared. Returned. 
• June 2014. Pink/blue 52oz. lamp from Spencer's. Lava stuck around bottom of base, badly. Junked. 
• June 2014. 32oz. Rainbow Clearview from Spencer's. Boring flow and slow to get going. No other issues when I had it. Sold to a friend. 
• August 2014. "Tornado" lamp with color LEDs. So, this lamp really confused me. There was supposed to be glitter in it, but the one I bought had what looked to be "snow" like the stuff you see in snow globes. I did get a replacement from Lava Lite. The glitter one eventually came unglued from the base. I glued it back together and donated it. 
• July 2015. 32 oz. Anniversary lamp from Spencer's. Flow is so so. Everything else is ok so far. Never ran this one much. Still have it. 
• July 2015. Rainbow Grande from Amazon.com. Flow was great, but for the price paid, I wasn't willing to settle for the terrible spray job on the rainbow glass. There were imperfections and smudges in the paint job. Returned. 
• November 2015. 52oz. "Premier" lava lamp from Spencer's. Boring flow and not great spray job on globe. I think I junked this one. I can't remember. 
• June 2016. 32oz. Ombre glitter with blue metallic base from Spencer's. The glitter came clumped together. At the time I bought it, I didn't know it was a flaw. I don't mind it really, but the glitter is not supposed to stick together like this. I kept this one. You can see in the picture that the glitter is chunkier than normal glitter lamps from Lava Lite. 
• June 2016. 32oz. "Chalkboard" glitter lamp from Spencer's. Super cool. Clear liquid. Good (slow) flow. No issues yet, but it does seem as if some of the glitter is starting to clump together. 
• June 2016. 20oz. pink/purple painted globe with chrome base from Spencer's. Crystal clear fluid. Nice base and cap. Lava flow is ok, but lamp overheats after a few hours and the lava gets all bubbly. 
• November 2016. 52oz. clear/neon blue from Spencer's. Crap in the wax after 2nd run. I returned it. 
• Early 2017. 32 oz. "Northern Lights" tri-colored lamp w/ white wax. Clear, decent flow. Discovered after a handful of runs that the wax is sticking to the top and bottom of the globe. Donated. 
• Can't remember date: 32oz. rainbow glitter with gold base and cap from Target. Kinda neat, but the color of the glitter started leeching into the liquid, so I returned it. 
• Can't remember date: 32oz. red/black "Day of the Dead" lamp from Spencer's. Not my normal fare, but it's a cool lamp. Clear. Overheats easily. I don't believe there's any stuck wax on this one... but not sure. 
• 2017. Red/Yellow Custom Grande with gold base and cap. Bought this direct from Lava Lite for $80 shipped. Gorgeous flow. Clear, Beautiful lamp. No problems. Yet. 
• Oct. 2017. 32oz. "Lava Insiders" lamp. Purple (says blue) with white wax. Neat metallic speckled base and cap. Flow is some of the worst I've seen in their newer stuff. Otherwise and OK lamp. 
• Feb 2018 - Mother of Pearl 32 oz. lamp from Spencer's. Gorgeous. Too new for a review.

Overall, quality is still crap, I think. The liquid seems to be clear, which is great, but flow is mediocre and nearly all lava lamps I get suffer from wax that stucks to the side of the globe around the bottom.

On the plus side, the bases and caps are good, and despite a lot of people not liking the "wrapped" bases and caps, I think they're kinda neat. 

Unfortunately, with all the issues I have, I don't tend to buy many of the new ones that come out. 

Your mileage may vary, however. 

I'm fairly sure Lava Lite headquarters has a picture of me somewhere labelled "worst customer ever" as I am rarely kind when talking about that company. 

[Claude J]

Out of most of the newer lamps, I found this one to look the best.

Although it is still balls of lava (It was too hot),  the color gradient/contrast effect is the best I've seen in awhile.

P.S. It does stand to reason (Physics) that the larger the lamp, the better the flow,. due to the bigger mass.

However there is no excuse for defective products

[Erin]

Some of the newer 32oz ones look amazing, but they just don't stand the test of time. It's very rare that I have a perfect lamp.  I know I am insanely picky compared to most collectors. Once I have a lamp where the wax is sticking to the glass, I no longer want it. My Northern Lights lamp was gorgeous - clear, decent flow, but sure enough, after 10-15 runs, wax was sticking to the bottom and the top of the globe. And once that happens, it will not unstick.

I'm willing to bet most lamps do this, but most don't care/don't look at the globe that closely.

[MattMJB0188]

Agree with you 100%, Erin.  Funny how the 32oz globes from the mid '90s still hold up strong nowadays. 

[Erin]

I have lamps from the 70s, 80s and 90s that have held up well. The new stuff is just junk. If you don't have the formula perfected, they are just a waste of money.

[Claude J]

yup/
I have two gallon pickle jars of vintage goo

Worth more than gold to a collector

Goo kits stuff just isn't cutting it nowadays

[kero48]

Claude, the alien lamp you have, I bought one on sale a few weeks ago. Wasn't bad, but being regoo'd this weekend. With the good quality of the green coating on the bottle, shake make for a nice lamp once done.

[Claude J]

mine flowed ok, just got hot fast, then went bubbly

once i dimmed it down, it flowed better

B Careful on overheating the coating ok?

[Erin]

I was at my local Spencer’s tonight. They had about 12 lamps or more running. Some glitters. All the globes I picked up that had lava had wax stuck badly around the base. All the glitters has glitter that was clumped together. Honestly, it was sad to see. They just looked like crap. I didn’t buy anything. 

[Zachary]

My custom red and yellow grande was crystal clear with gorgeous flow. It now is full of bubbles in the wax and has gone cloudy! This is the last lamp i buy from them! Oh and i bought the 52 ounce purple glitter they had at spencers and just after about two runs the glitter has clumped together at the top!

[Erin]

The wax will go from semi-transparent to opaque after a few runs. That's normal and not problematic for wax. Now, if the liquid is cloudy, that's a different story.

[Gijzzz]

I would say buy another Brand  like Mathmos.

I have bought some vintage ones and they are good and stay good.

I they were rubbish the previous owners would have tossed them away long time ago.

They are produced in England and even their previous brand Crestworth keeps its value.

Here in the Netherlands all the China-produced lamps  loose their value when sold  but the  Mathmos and Crestworth even gain value over time and thats for a reason.  Quality. Better buy one good item than a lott of  cheap produced  Chines items  that only dissapoint you and are a waste of time, expectation and money.

Dont know where Lava lite produces their lamps  so correct me if i am wrong but  your story is no advertisement for them.

Where do they produce their products?

[Erin]

Oh, I know about Mathmos. I have a few of them. Stunning lamps. But the shipping alone is killer, price-wise. 

Lava Lite shipped their production to China in 2003.

I own several vintage Lava Lite lamps and they are spectacular.