First off, a little about me. I'm new to the Café, but have been performing professionally across the US & Canada for over a decade. I'm primarily in the school show market, with about 150 such shows a year. I also perform mentalism - around 50 shows a year, as well as 50 or show stage hypnosis shows. I only include this info so readers will know my perspective of my reviews. I'm not a magic historian and do not wish to debate the merits of past versions of effects and I'm not a collector. I also have no desire to debate the fee charged. That's what the creator charges and I'm not going to second-guess them in most cases. I look at each purchase from the standpoint of, "Will this be effective in my paid shows?" "Will this prop hold up over time?" Also, I'll probably be using this paragraph again in reviews as I'm sure most Café members have not heard of me.

Sean Bogunia's Lamp / Lightbulb - The effect, depending how you present it, is typically a lightbulb on a lamp turns itself on and off, vanishes, reappears and so on on. By getting the Zombie Lightbulb in addition to the lamp, you can make the bulb float right off the lamp and light up as it floats through the air.

Cost: Lamp: $1500, Zombie Lightbulb: $450 Both: $1750 ($250 discount)

My take: This is superb! Sean makes no secret of the fact that this is based on the Zombie principle. The electronics in each unit are first rate and very reliable. Each unit comes with rechargeable batteries, which I prefer, because the cost of batteries is so high and so many magic props "eat" batteries quickly.

Because the Lamp is programmeable, you can come up with your own routine. If you've watched Sean's videos on this product, you have a good idea of the versatility. I myself have come up with three different routines, including making the lamp "talk" in code.

The lamp's angles are just fine for stage. If your audience is up close to you (as in a school assembly where often kids sit on a gymm floor I front of you) you have to take that in consideration when constructing the routine, but because of the prop's versatility, this is not a big issue.

The Lamp comes with two remotes so you can activate your unit from afar, and the Zombie foulard even includes a pocket to hold one of the remotes so you can remotely activate your lamp while using the Zombie part. This is GREAT.

Additionally, the Lamp allows you to store two separate programs, making this a fantastic prop for workers who like multiple routines for the same prop.

The Zombie Lightbulb has roughly the same angles as a regular Zombie. What's really neat about the lightbulb zombie is the fact that it "animates" that is, wiggles from side to side as it floats, giving you more movement than just a regular zombie.

Packing: Both units come with protective transport cases to protect your investment. In particular, the Lamp case is amazing tough!

Instruction: Sean's DVD instructions are very strong. Learning either of these two props is a snap. Interestingly, if you just buy the Zombie Lightbulb (as I did initially) you still get, on the DVD, instructions for both the Lamp and the Zombie Lightbulb. I asked Sean point-blank if that was to boost sales for the lamp as they are really made to go together. Sean sheepishly admitted he simply did not want to bother creating two DVDs, but appreciated the fact that I bought the Lamp AFTER I watched the DVD and found out the workings.

Bottom Line: Obviously this is not a cheap prop, but for real world stage workers, you'll love this. Highly recommended.

Cris

I forgot to add this...whenever I review a product, it will be things I have actually performed many times in front of paying clients. Just wanted to clear that up.

Cris

Although There are plenty of clips of Sean doing his routine, if you want to see someone doing it in a school show setting, here's a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He_g7e8S1......be_gdata

I got hung up a tad on the pocket move, but overall, the kids LOVED it. About 300 kids in the show.

Cris