New to Goo - Noob questions inside!

[Erin]

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!

[Brian]

hi
welcome to the goo!
i'm not feeling great so i'm not gonna answer all your questions, only number 2
they won't sell directly but electric planet will ship
click here for a link
if price is no object, there are a couple i'd like....
also, think geek has fireflows on sale
click for thinkgeek

[Autumn]

1. There are many lamps on ebay right now, just search for "lava lamp" and you get plenty of results. People are always listing lamps and I am always checking ebay for good deals(chances are if you saw a cheap one get put up and bought out quickly that was me). But I have noticed currently there arent many good lamps.
Heres a $25 buy it now lamp.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Retro-Lava-Lamp-/280536998552?cmd=ViewItem&...

Here is an old model lamp but the globe color is faded.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-lava-lamp-/120600257070?cmd=ViewItem&p...

A $40 buy it now midnight starship
http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Telstar-rocket-Lava-Lamp-blue-yellow-bott...

If you want a real old lamp try this one. It could be from the 70's or 80's.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-RETRO-60s-70s-GOLD-AND-RED-LAVA-LAMP-Gr...

There are many lamps out there but there are things to look for. Dont buy anything made by lava world that they are currently selling, its all junk. Look for deals, dont buy expensive lamps. Most lamps you can get for under $20 on ebay if you wait long enough, Although lamps like starships are really hard to get cheap.
What I do to find the cheapest lamps is check flea markets, antique stores/malls, yard sales, and craigslist. I have gotten a lot of good deals this way but you have to put a LOT of time and effort to find something. I have gone to 10+ stores in a row and come up with nothing.
The best piece of advice I can give you is save a copy of this chart.
http://oozinggoo.ning.com/forum/topics/new-lava-globe-list-color

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS get the cap number before you spend money on a globe you want. Pictures dont always come out right and you can screw yourself if you wanted a clear/yellow but you got a blue/yellow that faded and lost its blue color. Sellers dont know what they have 90% of the time.

2. Already answered. Also I have not done a conversion so I cant help much.

3. There are lots of knock off lamps made in china. They are hit and miss but they come out with interesting shapes and designs . I have about 15 china lamps that all look different, I have even redone a few with custom lava kits.
You should also check into goo kits. They dont sell lamps but they sell the lava and liquid to make a lamp. So make sure to get a cap number and match it with the chart. Just ask the seller for the "big numbers on the cap".

[Erin]

Thank you so much for your replay! Thanks for the link to Electric Planet. I'll look into that. I'm hoping I can get some kind of cheap adapter for my Mathmos, but I know *nothing* of voltage in US vs. Europe, so I'll have to do some research.

I did get a reponse from Mathmos today:

"I am afraid we are not able to ship lava lamps to the USA, as we do not have licence to sell those products on American market."

Never hurts to ask, right? ;)

[Erin]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is all very helpful. I did see those lamps on eBay. I'm kinda picky about what I want right now and those starship ones don't interest me. As much as I hate to admit it, anything with a gold base turns me off, too. I just don't like gold! LOL This may all change as I learn more about the lamps. :)

Thanks for the link to that chart. The lamp I received yesterday has a #24 on it. Any thing else I can tell by all the #s on it? It has a big 24 and then 990911T 090999A. My co-worker thought it was about 7 years old.

Again, thanks for your post. Very helpful!

[Erin]

I'm going to be looking into this. I wonder if there's just a simple adapter I could plug a Mathmos into. I'd really like to have just ONE Mathomos. :)

[Erin]

Good to know. That's the next thing I want to look into: cloudy lamps. I would have never guessed that the weather had anything to do with it!

So, will all cloudy lamps EVENTUALLY settle?

Great, so now I should wait! But I'm so impatient and want another. There are really none for sale locally here.

Thanks for your advice. I appreciate it.

[Erin]

That is GORGEOUS! The lava looks more like gel. How did you do that?

[Keith]

The string of smaller numbers indicates date and time of manufacture. The first 99 is the year, so the lamp is 11 years old. I am not sure of the others in the sequence, it's either September 11th or November 9th, followed by the time of day (or batch number, not sure)

[Erin]

Oh it would be cool if it was November 9th! That's my birthday!

[Brian]

fresh lava will look kinda translucent like that.
it goes away, unfortunately....

[Erin]

Well it looks gorgeous! I am going to look into filtering. I will have to get a cheap lava lamp to mess around with.

Lava lamp #2 will be picked up today! Another Lava Lite...we'll see how old when I get it. Only $10.

[Brian]

wow. really? i thought it faded much faster! crazy....