As you’ll see, there’s not a ton of variety out there in terms of form factor and price ranges. With the specs out of the way, it’s time to dive into our specific picks. The best lava lamps: Reviews & recommendations Generally speaking, we recommend something simple because once the novelty wears off, you might regret spending the extra cash to get the fancier lava lamp. Extra featuresĪgain, these are novelties, so some models will pull out all the stops to keep you entertained and set themselves apart from a sea of similar products. Those painted on the outside may lose a bit of their luster after regular cleanings, but they’ll look more vivid in the meantime. Some add dye directly to the wax and liquid, while others use neutral substances inside and paint the outside of the container. It’s worth paying attention to how the companies add the color to the lamp. None of them are particularly subtle, though, so if you’re looking for something to complement your Kanye-style all-white living quarters, maybe it’s time to get a regular lamp. Others tone it down just a bit and give off more of an ’80s art deco vibe. Some lava lamps embellish their look even more by adding glitter and other fun pollutants into the mixture to liven up the light show. That’s usually correct but it’s not always the case. The phrase “lava lamp” typically evokes an eclectic, psychedelic color pallet akin to what you’d find at that store in the mall that always smells like patchouli. Most of the time, you’ll find that the height refers to the total height so the actual glass area (which companies typically refer to as the “globe”) will be shorter than that. Larger lamps contain more liquid, which requires more heat to get things moving. Obviously, you want something that fits in your space, but you’ll also want to consider how patient you are when you’re waiting for those globs to start their dance. Lava lamps typically stand between 12 inches and 2 feet tall.
There are a few things to consider before you decide on the best lava lamp for you, however. Lava lamps are largely a novelty and you should keep that in mind when comparison shopping. For that, you want a useful desk lamp, or perhaps the best LED strips to give your room that Twitch streamer vibe. We’ll be blunt: Lava lamps aren’t the most sophisticated kind of ambient lighting you can add to your space. In addition to our hands-on experience, we considered user impressions and spec comparisons to pick the best possible models. We chose models that were reliable, attractive, and most importantly, affordable. We’re not going to pretend that we’re lava lamp experts, but we did go out of our way to actually spend some time staring deeply into these colorful tubes.
So, if someone calls your lava lamp “stoner decor,” casually inform them that it’s simply a shrine to the elegance of fluid dynamics. It cools down as it gets farther from the heat source, which causes it to contract and sink back down to the bottom-where it starts the process all over again. Wax sitting on the warm bottom of the jar heats up and becomes less dense, which causes it to travel to the top of the lamp. The wax and oil/water are immiscible, which means they won’t mix, similar to how oil and vinegar remain separated in a salad dressing bottleĪ simple light bulb sits below the glass enclosure and heats up the contents, but it does so in an uneven way.
#Classic lava lamp sarasota series#
The glass container holds a series of wax blobs suspended in a liquid like water or sometimes mineral oil. Look at a working lava lamp and you’re witnessing an elegant example of a scientific concept called a convection current. Best glass: Lamp 2700 Lava 14.5-inch graffiti globe.