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pyrotechnics proceedings
Jul. 5th, 2021 09:41 pmthe US has two big fireworks dealers, which i'll call RDX and spectre. they're the only ones anywhere close to me, other than the occasional stand for one of the smaller companies.
last year, there was a huge run on fireworks, because people were bored and frustrated stuck at home. so this year, i decided to get ahead of the game and buy some about a month ahead of ignition day. but because of random manufacturing and shipping problems related to the plague, my usual pricey pyrotechnics purveyor, spectre, had very little in stock then, and had ditched their usual "buy one, get one of same or lower price for free" routine. which is to say, they'd almost doubled their prices on whatever was at the bottom of the barrel. that wasn't happening.
so i picked up a few random cheap fireworks from RDX on the way home. i don't usually get fireworks from them, because they tend to pad all of their larger fireworks out with the same effect: masses of tiny silver fireworks that go "bang!". it's bright and fills a lot of volume, which we like, but it's loud, which we don't. also, there's only so many times one can watch the same effect in an evening. i hoped the smaller ones would have less padding. (videos are available for most, but not all, of both outfits' fireworks. they usually depict what happens. usually.)
eventually, spectre sent out an ad offering a 40% discount. in practice, this is the same as as "buy one, get one free", since prices rarely match. so, i head back out, not expecting much. i stopped at RDX along the way and picked up a two small fountains and an assortment of smaller fountains, since they were offering a buy one, get two sale, but only on things with matching prices, and the assortment had the same price as the other two.
spectre had gotten one of the fountains we really like in stock, and i picked up another fountain because it was cheap. how could i go wrong with a $7 fountain?
so, at this point, i had 8 fountains of varying sizes, two $1 fountains we like i picked up from a supermarket display (also a $5 one, for the hell of it), and an assortment containing 15 more, though eight of those were miniature ones in a tiny box. i doubted they would even be worth lighting. this was a prodigious pile of pyrotechnics. it ended up being a prolonged pile as well: shooting all that off took an hour.
some conclusions:
* on a pure burn-time basis, the assortment was a big win. the differences between big fountains and little fountains often turns out to be that the big ones have fancier effects and cost far more.
* on any other measure, the assortment was, for the most part, a loss. most of the fountains were dull; some were just the effect used as filler on RDX's large ones. a few, though, had unique effects, like mixed gold and silver sprays. those we liked.
the tiny ones? indeed not worth lighting. i set one off out of curiosity. the fuze burned longer than the fountain, and i've seen brighter jars of fireflies. i soaked the rest in water and tossed them.
* the cheapish ones were a mixed bag: some were ok – the $5 one was worth the price of admission – but most weren't. how could i go wrong with a $7 fountain? it proved to be extremely loud. nope.
* i wonder about ingredients supply issues in china – they're all made in china; there's only a few US manufacturers, and neither RDX nor spectre deal with them – one which promised to be all green was only green at the beginning, before ending with the usual filler. even the one we like – the quiet-burning "festival of lights" – had been reformulated, and most of its pretty colors were replaced with a strobing magnesium effect. dazzling, but not very interesting.
last year, there was a huge run on fireworks, because people were bored and frustrated stuck at home. so this year, i decided to get ahead of the game and buy some about a month ahead of ignition day. but because of random manufacturing and shipping problems related to the plague, my usual pricey pyrotechnics purveyor, spectre, had very little in stock then, and had ditched their usual "buy one, get one of same or lower price for free" routine. which is to say, they'd almost doubled their prices on whatever was at the bottom of the barrel. that wasn't happening.
so i picked up a few random cheap fireworks from RDX on the way home. i don't usually get fireworks from them, because they tend to pad all of their larger fireworks out with the same effect: masses of tiny silver fireworks that go "bang!". it's bright and fills a lot of volume, which we like, but it's loud, which we don't. also, there's only so many times one can watch the same effect in an evening. i hoped the smaller ones would have less padding. (videos are available for most, but not all, of both outfits' fireworks. they usually depict what happens. usually.)
eventually, spectre sent out an ad offering a 40% discount. in practice, this is the same as as "buy one, get one free", since prices rarely match. so, i head back out, not expecting much. i stopped at RDX along the way and picked up a two small fountains and an assortment of smaller fountains, since they were offering a buy one, get two sale, but only on things with matching prices, and the assortment had the same price as the other two.
spectre had gotten one of the fountains we really like in stock, and i picked up another fountain because it was cheap. how could i go wrong with a $7 fountain?
so, at this point, i had 8 fountains of varying sizes, two $1 fountains we like i picked up from a supermarket display (also a $5 one, for the hell of it), and an assortment containing 15 more, though eight of those were miniature ones in a tiny box. i doubted they would even be worth lighting. this was a prodigious pile of pyrotechnics. it ended up being a prolonged pile as well: shooting all that off took an hour.
some conclusions:
* on a pure burn-time basis, the assortment was a big win. the differences between big fountains and little fountains often turns out to be that the big ones have fancier effects and cost far more.
* on any other measure, the assortment was, for the most part, a loss. most of the fountains were dull; some were just the effect used as filler on RDX's large ones. a few, though, had unique effects, like mixed gold and silver sprays. those we liked.
the tiny ones? indeed not worth lighting. i set one off out of curiosity. the fuze burned longer than the fountain, and i've seen brighter jars of fireflies. i soaked the rest in water and tossed them.
* the cheapish ones were a mixed bag: some were ok – the $5 one was worth the price of admission – but most weren't. how could i go wrong with a $7 fountain? it proved to be extremely loud. nope.
* i wonder about ingredients supply issues in china – they're all made in china; there's only a few US manufacturers, and neither RDX nor spectre deal with them – one which promised to be all green was only green at the beginning, before ending with the usual filler. even the one we like – the quiet-burning "festival of lights" – had been reformulated, and most of its pretty colors were replaced with a strobing magnesium effect. dazzling, but not very interesting.