The good:
This light up gadget (can't really call this a lamp) looks awesome whether turned on or off. It truly does resemble a sculptured piece of art. The red electric light show inside the glass will dazzle your eyes. It's a bit memorizing to watch. Your eyes are immediately drawn to it. That alone makes it worth the price.
Now for the bad:
The base is thick and black (basically ugly, an eye sore), nothing like the lamp itself. I found away to hide it behind a leather chair with just the glass top part showing. However the on/off switch is easily accessed but there is no dimming control. This thing is either turned on or off, no inbetweens.
Also, (this is important) part of one side of the lamp, near the slender center, either on one side or the other, doesn't light up simultaneously. I contacted Lumisource and one of their representatives stated this is normal. Apparently, the gas inside needs room to expand to move freely. So, it's not quite like the picture depicts with both sides simultaneously lit up at all times. BUT it does switch back and forth so it's not that big a deal. It's still very cool.
All in all 4 stars, one star deduction for the pic misrepresenting what the actual product does. Namely, light up on both sided simultaneously at all times.
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Practical considerations: the cord length is about 5-6' and the size of the pedestal itself should not be ignored (the picture is dark, and so the black base is easy to skip over by eye.) Aesthetically, I would have preferred a more diminutive base, so as not to distract from the lamp itself. *shrug*
If you've ever played with one of those spherical plasma lamps (where arcs of pulsating sparks follow your fingertips on the round plastic surface,) you can probably imagine how these lamps look. The light flickers and pulses at the base, with the effect being more muted at the middle & top.
As stated in the item description, there is a simple on/off switch on the base. This is not a knob, and so you can not select the "sensitivity/frequency" of the flickering light (as you can with the spherical lamps.)
However, you can still trace your fingertips along the lamp surface and have the blue and red arcs follow your finger from the base to the tip. Most of the lamp remains lit without such contact, but if a patch falls dark between the base and the pointy tip, you can coax the light back to the unlit segment by hand.
It's too dim to be truly considered a lamp, not as much fun to play with as the spherical plasma lamps to be counted a toy, and too mass-produced and plastic-y to be counted a sculpture. That being said...I like it anyways. I use it as an accent piece and it's more or less what I expected. I hope it has a decent lifespan.
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These lamps are very cool. I ordered several different ones as christmas presents for all kinds of people. Just one thing thoughyou have to open the box and make sure it works before you wrap it up. This particular lamp worked fine but i guess they have some kind of gas inside that can leak out the base. Out of the six i ordered online, there was one that didn't work. Still, they are great and unusual gifts to give or recieve.
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I purchased this for my adult son. He mentioned the other day that he really missed a fun light similar to this that he had as a child, so of course I came to Amazon. Now an adult, this is perfect for him. He works very hard, and because his company is in the middle of a major move, he has been working 7 days a week, 16 hours a day. He basically comes home and goes to bed. I had already purchased a timer from amazon, and hooked this up to it so that it would be on till he fell a sleep, and a while after. He doesn't have to turn it off. Nice soothing motion with a subdued light, on the night stand next to his bed. No electrical noises! Received it yesterday, so he had it on last night. He fell asleep right away, and slept so soundly, that he was almost late this morning, he's usually the earliest one at work. I really think that this is a very soothing night light for anyone of any age. I do recommend a timer if used for this purpose.
I read the other reviews about it not working, or being uneven. The instructions are not very clear pictures. You must put the unit into the base, and twist, to lock it into place. Then if the gases inside are not to your liking, just put your finger in the place that needs more gas and the gas will follow your finger. The motion inside does change over time, so don't get frustrated. This is a very beautiful sculptural soft light, and looks to be made very well. Nice long electrical wire, easy to plug in.
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Looks very cool and very fun to play with. its not to big and we use as a night light sometimes. love it.
