Mathmos Neo Review

[George]

Mathmos Neo Review

The new Mathmos Neo has been released and mine has just arrived. Gotta say I'm really impressed with the new lava lamp Mathmos has released which is designed by Jonathan Coles.

It has contemporary, minimalist and sleek design, the polished chrome base is super shiny and of high quality, it is heavy and sturdy. I just love how it has that floating space age look to it.

 

The lamp is super simple to put together, you slide the bottle into the top of the the frame, lower the bottle with the frame together to position it and lock it into the base with the screw and key provided in the box. Mathmos also included fixing points on the base of the lamp. You can add two screws to mount the lamp to a hard surface to avoid knocking the lamp over. I find this to be another great feature, especially if you have kids or a large dog running around.

Mathmos have redesigned their lava lamp, it now consists of a 12 Volt/20 Watt Halogen bulb which is now powered by a transformer. The cable plugs into the transformers cable and the transformer can be placed out of sight. This reduces power and heat which makes the lamp safe for children. To add to the safety, Mathmos has also changed the design of the bottle. The bottle is now coated in shatter proof glass and the base of the bottle is thicker than the standard Telstar/Astrobaby bottles and is also molded for the Neo base.

You can change the bottle and use the Telstar/Astrobaby bottles or even the glitter if you wish to change the colour of your lamp which I think is the best thing Mathmos did for it's range. There are an abundance of colourways now especially if you have any older bottles in your collection.

Once the lamp has heated up,which to my surprise did not take too long with the 20 Watt bulb the spiking starts .

Love how the Blue/Violet bottle gives off a pink and blue glow from the wax.

Mathmos have made two versions of the Neo. There is a chrome plated Zinc Alloy and Copper plated version.

I will be purchasing the copper version as it looks great with the Orange/Yellow bottle.

I absolutely love the frame around the bottle, when you spin the lamp around you can change the viewing angle of your lamp. You can view it front on or sideways or even backwards to reveal the double window in which the frame creates. 

Overall I find the lamp beautiful and of very high quality. It is a bespoke lamp which would be the centre of attention of your room. I'm really impressed with the craftsmanship and design of the lamp.

The photos of the lamp do not do it justice, you have to witness it's presence.

The Neo creates atmosphere and ambiance and screams for attention....it's just really fucking nice! 

If you wish to purchase the new Mathmos Neo, you can order it from www.mathmos.com. I highly recommend it.

George

[George]

Now that I have been using my Neo especially with the older bottles for a variety I have found the best way to run them. Have tested different light bulbs to see which is best for the lamp.

The Neo bottle does have a different formula compared to the older Telstar/Baby bottles.

To get the best flow on the older bottles I have changed the light bulb to a 25 Watt version compared to the 20 Watt bulb that it comes with.

I found the flow to be much better and more active, also it takes less time to heat up and you get a more snaky flow, especially if you are in a colder environment.

On the new bottles it can cause overheating so it's best to use on the older bottles.

Hope this helps anyone that wants the best out of their older bottles.

Warning - Do not try any other light bulb higher than 25 Watts, it will not work and may damage the lamp/transformer. Do not change the bulb if you have children that can access the lamp as the 20 Watt bulb it comes with makes the lamp child safe.

[Bohdan]

This is great to know as damage to the transformer would not be good.

[George]

I believe the transformer may be capping the amount of wattage that the lamp can produce.

I also tried a 35 Watt light bulb as I could not find any 25 watt light bulbs.

The 35 Watt light bulb would flicker and the lamp would become inoperable. to avoid any damage I removed it right away.

Once I sourced the 25 watt light bulb I was able to run the lamp without any issues, it is only 5 watts more than the original lamp which appears to be fine.

I understand this would be a safety feature so people would not use the wrong light bulb or to use a much higher wattage light bulb which would make the lamp overheat. After all they did make this lamp to be child safe.