The Great Cheap, Safe Fireworks Hunt

dcossi1

maybe the last time we get anything that good for £6.

AnthonyUK

I have been given a cosmic astra fantastic selection box of assorted garden and display fireworks as a gift,it contains:9 garden firework 5m fountains,a small sized garden firework 5m roman barrage,5 smallish sized display firework 25m fountains,2 large sized display firework 25m mines,3 medium sized display firework 25m roman candles(although the size of the candles looks like ones you'd get in a normal cat 2 garden firework selection box),a substantial size 18shot display firework 25m multishot cake,4 small display firework 25m rockets,and a small display firework 25m pinwheel. Does anybody know if cosmic astra selection box fireworks are actually any good? I've been told they are,but i'am hoping they are not just another hopeless selection that doesn't deliver on effects performance and wow factor. Also do the smaller display firework fountains/three smaller display firework roman candles/four small display firework rockets and small display firework pinwheel need the full 25 metres safety distance? I feel the two large mines and the bigger 18shot cake are heavier and are more substantial and look like they could pack more of a punch at less than 25m away,while the display fountains seem excessively windowdressed to look bigger than they actually are,the romancandles are no bigger than what you would find in a category 2 selection box,the four small rockets are ridiculous in size for cat3 and the small wheel would be completely lost on an audience at 25m. Can anyone help? The british standard rates anything that falls just outside a 5m viewing distance in product tests as a 25m firework no matter how tame or gentle it is and no matter how small or insignificant it is,surely that cannot be right? It means you have to go ott when using small caliber cat3 fireworks and have your audience be disappointed by them. It just shows you how ridiculous BS7114 is,when the european standard has things all sewn up with an 8m safety distance for garden fireworks.

dcossi1

I had a cosmic brand selection box last year and it was nothing special.Saying that,the cosmic astra cakes i had bought were good value.For the size of your selection box,the majority will prob be ok 5-8m,but give the cake , rockets , and mines a bit xtra.I dont know if its just me,but sometimes you can be too close to fireworks to be able to really appreciate the effects.

Dan2310

Still quite a while to go until Bonfire Night 2011 but, I have some good news.

Lidl will be stocking WECO fireworks again this year. I know how popular they were last year and how well they performed so I cant wait. Needless to say I wont waste my money traveling to an all round seller this year, Im planning to just get loads of Lidl stuff seeing as it easily competed with my fireworks from an all year round shop .
(Thats not to say that all year round sellers arnt brilliant, it just means that you can save money as Lidl is most likely to be a lot closer to you than a fireworks shop).

This is the email that I recieved from Lidl customer service:

Thank you for taking the time to provide us with your valuable feedback via our Online Contact Form, regarding the above-mentioned product.

We are writing to advise we do have Fireworks planned for this year and they are the Weco brand. Please be advised that this is subject to change.

We trust that you will continue to be a valued Lidl customer.

Yours sincerely,
For and on behalf of Lidl UK GmbH

dcossi1

I wonder if they will have similar stuff to last year,or will they have a new range.

Dan2310

dcossi1 wrote: »

I wonder if they will have similar stuff to last year,or will they have a new range.

Not sure on that one but I persume they will have a very similar range. Before Lidl got Weco, Aldi used to stock them and they used to have the exact same selection bag and large selection box. They carried on this for a while with the introduction of new cakes etc.

So I expect to see same selection packs, one or two of last years cakes, a new cake and maybe some new rockets as I know they wernt given the best reviews.

dcossi1

The selection packs were fine,never tried the rockets and of course we all know about carat, ipanema and firefighter,so a couple of new cakes would be great.

AnthonyUK

I set it off last week when it was dry and here are my thoughts-the 5m fountains were fair but shortlived and many of the 25m fountains didnt get particularly high to warrant the full 25m spectator distance,the mines need a good 10-12m away being pokey and powerful,the 7 shot roman barrage was good for 5m,three roman candles,four rockets and pinwheel did well at 8m away and the cake was satisfactory at 10m away. Fairish but not brilliant 3/5 it seems the more you spend on a cat3 25m selection the better value the items get. The only decent 1.4g stuff comes from epic,set a bit of it off on the royal wedding day and I was quite surprised at how good it were. Their marvel cat3 partytime selection box at 15.66 is worth the money.

x-adam1234-x

i know its a long way away from bonfire night but im thinking ahead and maybe if the fireworks were as good as last year from lidl then ill be buyin much more

x-adam1234-x

sorry for double post but i see that jtf have already got their 2011 range or almost got it because their leaflet is now coming soon. Does anyone know if JTF sell their fireworks all year round cause i went in the store about a couple weeks ago and i swear i saw the stand still up but didn't know if it was open. i ask because their is no other firework shops around me in stoke-on-trent and i need some for a birthday party