Best Lava Lamp?
A video that no one asked for, which took an unreasonable amount time to make.
Imagine if you will, a lamp that takes all morning to get up and running but can only be used once per day. Then to this, add in the logistics of trying to demonstrate four different colours of liquid in this lamp.
Amongst all this there was the usual off camera drama of life, including a very unpleasant day in a hospital which not only caused disruption on the days before but some recovery time afterwards. When all this gets added together you have a very long production period for a very simple video, about very little.
But for those who were enquiring about when the next video would be out - the answer is today (on Patreon anyway).
In an ideal world I’d have a brand new video completed every day and it’d be better than anything you’d ever seen before. But as I’m sure you’re aware it’s not an ideal world. I really am trying my best, it’s just that I’m prone to failure. I will be starting afresh on the next video tomorrow, but this time I’ll definitely be avoiding anything that takes a day to create ten seconds of timelapse B-roll footage.
Hope your weekend is going well - take care and have a good one.
Comments (77)
I know it's not a lava lamp but getdigital.de now has a tornado lamp
I have seen these on display in a shop but they were rather underwhelming, once it was up and running nothing changed from then on. I suppose I like a bit more randomness in my tat.
I've had a TARDIS console one for years the wife bought me and only recently have I started getting a lot of use out of it by...using a smart plug and having an automatic lava lamp show most days of the week started already for me when I get home.
My Astro had been going strong since 1997. Only one new bottle. Quality.
Another thing I never really had any interest in until Techmoan shot a video on it...
@TechnologyConnections has a couple of lava lamps in his background, and he doesn't worry about the continuity. I think you should embrace it. Only neophytes will think that you make your videos in a single take 🙂
I've said it multiple times, much of what you do is right up my alley (audio/video formats). However, you have the ability as a presenter to get me to watch and learn about something I have no interest in and will never own a model of (lava lamps). Don't sell yourself short when it comes to being a compelling host. Well done, as always.
I think Big Clive may have done something like this.
Re: continuity - in Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon, with the scenes lit entirely by candlelight - it's pretty funny to see just how much the lengths of the foreground candles keep changing. If a perfectionist like Kubrick could get away with it - I'm sure you'll be fine!
I reckon Mat should lean into the lack of continuity, just to trigger the YT comments section. Could be good for a laugh.
Always been fascinated by lava lamps, now I am thinking of getting one. Would be great to see the „Neo“ in action; the rocket style lava lamp looks great as well. Thx for this video! Great job as always.
I had two a very long time ago and love them still, the problem is is the light bulbs ere getting hard to find and did not last that long.Plus I Use to let them run 24-7 as they were lamps in my bedroom. I did not realize that they were made orginally made in the UK. Might have to get one again!!!
I (well, my ex) has had a few... let's call them "lava-style" lamps over the years, and they were never quite right. They either looked cheap, or the lava didn't work properly, or they just broke. Every one of them eventually ended up in the bin. Now that I think about it, had she known that Mathmos was still in business, she could have bought just the one lamp (and maybe an extra bottle) and spent less than she did on crappy knockoffs over the 25 years or so we were together!
Well I love them. Definitely make me think of my childhood, disobeying my mums orders to not touch it and burning my fingers. But, the one I have now is nowhere near as hot. I like to see them 🌋
The first time I saw a lava lamp was on an episode of George & Mildred. Nobody I knew when I was a kid had a lava lamp irl.
I went from not knowing about a tea light option, to loving the idea, to feeling let down by the results all within the timespan of this video. What a rollercoaster!
If you were to demonstrate the other kinds of lamps from them, you should get them sent by them as a sponsored thing. The last thing you said feels like a good slogan "If you are gonna get one, get the original". Nice video and now it made me want a lava lamp again.
In the New Year sales, I bought a lava lamp from Dunhelm for a mere £6. Clear liquid with blue lava. In fact they had dozens to get rid of. And ALL clear liquid with blue lava. Clearly a job-lot no-one else wanted. It's a lot smaller, with a small bulb, not like your ones, I'm not sure of the type though. Looks like the size of the top of a thumb. The top of the lamp has got a beer bottle type cap on it, rather than a screw top. And yes, the '"Don't Drink" warning! The Mathmos ones obviously look far better, and rather embarrassingly, I've not heard of the company. I can't have the tealight version as I'm not allowed candles in rented property, but I'll have a good look at the site. The name reminds me of the late Maplins (as in the electricals shop, not the holiday camp from Hi-Di-HI!)
YES! More lava lamps please
Excellent video as always Mat! Loved the Time sponsored by Accurist/G-Shock too, gave a little chuckle. I missed having a lava lamp as I always had them as a kid so this video has inspired me to purchase my own Mathmos Astro! Violet liquid with orange lava :)
Going down the rabbit hole of exactly what is a tea light, I found the nice estimate at https://www.quora.com/How-much-energy-heat-does-one-standard-tea-light-candle-produce that a tea light candle produces about 34 Watts of energy which is close to the output of the halogen bulb. If that is correct then presumably there is a difference in the proportion of convection and infra-red energy that accounts for the candle's dismal performance, plus the halogen bulb has a reflector to send the radiated energy in the right direction. It is almost as if modern technology is more efficient than just setting stuff on fire :D
A friend of mine gave me a lava lamp over twenty years ago. It still works! Only the once vibrant dark blue colour of the liquid has now faded to a slight blue tint, but there is no cloudiness whatsoever. Even the original bulb is still in there. I hope it lasts a long time, because I have no idea how to open the device without destroying it.
Those lava lamps are quite good. ALF from the Nostromo captured on timelapse was hilarious and a bit frightening at the same time. Another video from the lava lamp series wouldn't hurt. This one was quite entertaining. Thanks!
Those little candles vary. The originals were Nightlights and were taller and contained very slow burning wax - hence not much light or heat. Later the Tealight came along and were shorter and ran for a much shorter time but with more light and heat, often used in aroma therapy burners. BUT they vary a lot on composition so if you can get the tall type but with faster burning wax you should be able to get faster action and longer run time. We used to buy the tealight version by the hundred for church use but have now switched to LED ones - no good for your purpose :)
Those battery powered tea-lights are everywhere now. Restaurants love them and especially places like Cruise ships where naked flames are banned.
Great video Matt....you inspired me to order a lava lamp to use in my mancave! I was not so keen with the prices of the Mathmos lamps at around £100 each, so I found on Amazon a perfect example for £20. Arrived today and am very impressed. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004FN817W?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
Nice! Also, the volcano lamp I liked best in your video- seems to be only available in Britain.
Thank you! Now I can generate secure passwords while watching your videos.
Hi, Mat, that's fun. I have a feeling Mathmos should be pronounced Matmos. The name comes from the film Barbarella. https://youtu.be/C_N7ggu7mvc?si=CeEjGbLuAocY-eRy&t=35 You can see why the company chose that name. :-)
It seems like in the internet age they’re happy to pronounce it as it’s written otherwise I suspect whoever owns matmos.com would get all their traffic. https://youtu.be/Q88DD943850?si=hGfaguaFx2VHHLjL&t=112 Although I suspect they own that domain too.
Good thing I bought my Mathmos a few weeks ago (yellow fluid, orange lava) before the Techmoan-effect is kicking in after the video release ;) Giant lava-lamp video? YES, please!
To avoid continuity errors with the lava lamp, film it, and then use the background TVs to have a lavalamp video on the shelf. Do you think people will notice?
Then I’d have continuity errors with the TV. I appreciate the vote of confidence that I am able to string two words together without messing up, but the reality is that every time you see a cut to b-roll, that’s another take, there’s often two or three behind each overlay.
Do not count your hospital and sick time as being part of the production period.
I had a Mathmos Telstar lava lamp for around 10 years, before passing it on to a friend who really liked it too.
Did you know that Mathmos Factory in Poole, has the W3W address as lamps motion risen https://what3words.com/lamps.motion.risen
Now that's a way to monetize W3W
For me, the videos you do on things you have a personal interest in instead of items that feel more like you are required to review them because they just fall in your wheelhouse are the best videos. I’d rather see you gleefully purchase novelty shelf items instead of a new tape player that has to use an app to work and contains the same rehashed internals we’ve seen hundreds of times. In short, I’d like to see a followup video between the new lamp and the jumbo lamp. I didn’t know lava lamps came from the UK, you taught me something.
I'm interested to see the neo and the smaller candle ones - if they heat up quicker I'd seriously think about buying one
I suspect I'm not representative of the wider YouTube community, but I'd love to see a giant lava lamp. I got irrationally excited watching the time-lapse videos.
I’ll see how the video does and if it shows the potential that a follow up would earn back enough to pay for a giant lamp then I’ll give it a go
Videos taking a while to make isn’t a failure, it’s one of the reasons I respect your videos, and support you here on Patreon!
Following the volcano lamp vid, we definitely need this! Surely they’re gonna be better; and without watching the vid yet, surely Mathmos will be the original and the best? The hardest part will be choosing a favourite colour combo! Cue Austin Powers exultations!
Take all the time you need! ❤️
Good choice with the clear liquids. I bought a Purple - Red bottle and even with an electric bulb it was too dark to see the flow properly. My last purchase, which I have yet to try was the limited edition Clear - White.
Unfortunately the giant ones only come with coloured liquid options. I think yellow and orange might be the best of these.
Family friends had one in the 1960s. If you took the top cover off, it revealed it was a Tree Top brand orange squash bottle.
I wish you all the best. Gastroscopy is far from pleasant. I've had both ways done several times in the past, and I prefer them utilising the other end. :) Oh, I had cataract surgery done last week. Now I can see properly with my left eye again. :)
Of course after seeing this I now have an impulse to get a lava lamp. Just checked out the Mathmos website and the Astro models are going for £95.00. I wonder how much tariff is added for shipping to the US? Could be prohibitively expensive, plus I'd need a power transformer. There are knock-off versions available in the US of course, but there's just something cool about having "the real thing." (Yes eBay has Mathmos lamps, but priced from $250 to $550). Well, we'll see.
I think this is why a few people in the US were suggesting that I was missing out given that I resided on the same island as the Mathmos factory.
I'm surprised that Mathmos didn't have an LED ring in the candle base. It could be USB powered or have a built in battery. They could even have addressable LEDs to create effects and colours. I feel a future project coming on.
That’d make a lot of sense. Get that soldering iron out. You could even sell after market upgrade kits.
Just Another Excellent Techmoan Video! You have taken a do-very-little item and made it interesting. Get yourself healthy, good sir. Don't worry.... we'll wait for you.
It's 2026 I'm surprised the electric lamps don't have timers interesting video never the ins and outs
Whatever may be happening health-wise your sense of humor remains in good working order.
I’m fine - it was just camera down the throat stuff, apparently it should have happened as a follow up in May or June. It was just a long unpleasant day and then the next day I wasn’t in the mood for anything.
• 🫤 I'm glad to hear that a recovery followed a hospital visit and hope that all is well now. • Ooh, the design on that box is really groovy. Very nice. • The first thought I had when I saw the pink worm creature forming in the lamp is, 'it looks like the facehugger in the tank in Aliens.' And then you mentioned the Nostromo - best laugh of the month. • Our new product, Lava Cola - Sweet Hot Taste 😅 advert: https://i.postimg.cc/44tnJP1Q/Sweet-Hot-Taste-20260131-090629-0000.png • The lava lamp looks great on your shelf. Have a good weekend and take care. 🤍
Mmmm! I'm jonesing for some Lava Cola after seeing that ad!😁🤮😵 Making a homemade lava lamp from a used wine bottle like Alec from Technology Connections did is about the only way to make a roundabout claim that you've drunk the contents of a lava lamp. Now I'm wondering if you could make a lava lamp from an old-style glass Coke bottle?
I used to love lava lamps, but suffering from PTSD after I dropped one on tile floor some years ago. Maybe a tip for another video - can you explore some wire management solutions?
My wire management could terrify a bomb disposal expert.
I really like the effect, but the whole hassle with waiting until they work and the heat they produce... Thank you very much for the video, showing all the pros and cons! If you do the other types as well, I'll be watching again :-D.
The heat could be quite nice in winter. I don't think I'd use one when the overnight temperature is around 30C.
Great Video. The Vinyl ones for a while were a JV with Rega (of Rega Planar fame). I got my 21 year old daughter one last year when they announced them as she remembers the Mathmos one her Mum & I had 20 years ago when she was little.
I’ll tell you how my weekend’s going: It’s -5 (-20c), I just paid over $900 for my last month’s electric bill, (all electric house), and I’ve woken up this morning to frozen pipes, (no water). But, on the positive side of the ledger, I’ve still got electricity, to watch YouTube videos… and… I only thought you guys gave us Shakespeare and the Magna Carta. But also, the Lava Lamp? My mind is feeling like one of those lamps after a few hours heat.
With that electric bill I’d recommend staying away from these too.
I will watch you talk about basically anything that takes your fancy (and indeed have, given some of the videos on the channel). You're a compelling orator, and the work you put into each video is always appreciated. Take care.
Been wanting one since I was wee but they all looked cheap and nasty nowadays. So glad to see a comparison video.
Video watched, he heads off to steal his daughter's forgotten lava lamp, then to Amazon to look for that (fake?) flip clock and fantastic-looking G-Shock.
That clock is some kind of Google voice assistant thing, unfortunately during my initial test the clock display auto blanked when I’d left the room - hence the swap over to an analog one half way through.
There is also glitter lava lamps. They are also quite nice and start working almost immediately.
yes i had one as a teen, its been considered and not discounted yet.
We're all built to fail, not a worry, carry on tech moaning.
Really busy day, lots of people demanding my time, feeling grumpy. Then Techmoan posts. Great! Everyone else can just *@&* off and wait 😁 This is me-time, my self-care. Put on the PC monitor, finish my lukewarm Costa, and chill for 25 mins. Mat, Techmoan is an oasis of calm in a sea of chaos. Even if you posted one video a month (or six months), it would still be worth the wait. Take your time, look after yourself first, and we'll welcome the videos. Not sure the bank manager feels the same, but oh, well 😁
Damned right. *sip*
You will clearly get a copyright strike for this. How dare you use magenta! It belongs to Deutsche Telekom.
Looking forward to this, saving for our prime Saturday night viewing.
I like a lava lamp - its relaxing to watch.