ChrisP

Fired my stash last night and had quite a crowd over. VERY impressed with pretty much everything, had a great time, and luckily it stayed dry and wasn't remotely windy so that was a bonus :-) Lots of cheers from the crowd and a massive round of applause when the last few had gone off so that was a massive buzz and made it worthwhile!

Review of (most of) my fireworks (BRAND, SHOP, PRICE):

Cakes

Liberator barrage pack (TNT, Aldi, £19.99) - This was quite good to start off with but nothing special, the 100 shot missile cake (Plasma Attack) was quite good, although one of the smaller Cat 2 cakes (can't remember the name, a whilstling one) provided us with the evening's only real 'hairy' moment as it fired a shot into the crowd. Luckily no-one was injured but it did give everyone a bit of a start. Overall not bad at all to start off with, but if I wanted another small barrage pack again I'd probably go with Night Star's Barrage Blast over this.

25 Carat (Weco, Lidl, £6.99/2 for £12) - As everyone has already said, very good cake for a supermarket, big, loud (for 1.4G) bursts and a real crowd pleaser. Hope Lidl stocks these next year, might have to get some if they sell them again at New Year!

Ipanema (Weco, Lidl, £6.99/2 for £12) - Another great value cake, nice comet tails and large, loud bursts and another real crowd pleaser. As above, would like some more for next year so may have to see whether they're being sold at New Year as I'm paranoid Lidl will go back to TNT next year.

Fire Fighter (Weco, Lidl, £9.99) - By far my favourite of the three Lidl cakes this year, more expensive than the other two yes, but better. Three stages - started off with comets, then turned into loud bursts of colour and finished with some nice big bursts and crackles. Another real crowd pleaser this one, great stuff.

Proton Bomb (Night Star, local seasonal, £7.99) - now I was very impressed with this indeed, I know it's not supposed to be like the old spec Proton Bomb (which I never witnessed as I have only really got into fireworks in a big way since the new regs came in) but it's a nice cake in itself. 16 loud bursts of colour (loud for 1.4G standards, probably louder than 25 Carat/Ipanema) fired two at a time. Would definitely get this again, very pleased :-)

Magnum Force (Majestic, Epic, £5.82) - Really liked this a lot! I think this was the first firework of the night to get an applause, simply brilliant for the price and very very impressive for a 1.4G cake. I do think that the performance differs somewhat from the video on the Epic website, though, so perhaps it's changed since that video was made? Despite that, really good firework for the money and definitely one I'd get again.

Cheeky Cherries (Fireworks International, local specialist, £10) - Cheeky Cherries never fails to please the crowd - it's a beautiful firework and one I'll get every year for as long as it's made. Amazing finale of sky-filling crackles.

King Cobra (Oriental, Epic, £6.45) - small 25 shot cake (1.3G) that really packs a punch. Very good value for money and probably the most noticeable fallout of the night - there was orange debris falling from the sky for quite a while after this finished which was a beautiful effect and made me glad that I adhere to the manufacturers' safety distances as otherwise it would have been falling on the crowd!

Mexican Firecracker (Night Star, local seasonal, £22.50) - Wasn't too sure what to expect from this one but I was quite impressed with it. It was basically a very loud screeching rapid-fire missile cake that really pleased the crowd. Not sure that £22.50 is a great price but then I'm judging it against Epic prices! Would probably get again as it's something a bit different (well, different from all the other cakes I had anyway!).

Dark Thunder (Oriental, Epic, £12.45) - Brilliant cake, absolutely HUGE bursts, bigger than anything else I fired. A real crowd pleaser which I'd definitely get again. I really cannot stress enough how big the bursts from this thing are.

Quick Fire (Paramount, Epic, £12.45) - Short but sweet. 16 shots fired 4 at a time, huge bursts, stunning effects, a real crowd pleaser and would definitely get again despite the short duration.

Magneto (Paramount, Epic, £22.45) - 36 shot, large and long-lasting palms. Big fan of this, so was the crowd, although some of the shots burst a little low to the ground for my liking.

Screaming Spiders (Epic, Epic, £29.95) - Well, what can I say, absolutely STUNNING. Best firework of the night by far and received a huge round of applause. Brilliant stuff, and would probably not do a display without it again for as long as I can get hold of it. Felt like a professional display.

Rockets

Cocktail of Rockets (Weco, Lidl, £6.99/2 for £12 for pack of 8 rockets) - Well, I thought the 4 rockets labelled 'Monster Bang' were very good indeed for small 1.4G rockets, but the other 4 were dreadful and evoked much laughter from the crowd to the point that I was a trifle embarrassed. I think I would buy this pack again if Lidl stocked it next year but let off the 4 rockets that weren't labelled Monster Bang beforehand and keep the other 4 for my main display.

Terminal Velocity (TNT, Aldi, £9.99 for pack of 16 rockets) - Well I have to say I'm very glad I listened to everyone's recommendations regarding this pack as I was very impressed indeed with these small Cat 2 rockets. Obviously they're not going to be anywhere near as good as the Epic rockets but they are very good value for money, with effects that were good enough to get some 'oohs and aahs' from the crowd. If Aldi stocks these next year then I'm getting them! This pack proves that new spec supermarket rockets *can* be good.

Tomahawk (Fireworks International, local specialist, £20 for 5 rockets) - Did not know what to expect of these as had heard nothing about them and could not find any test videos on line. They were OK, but nothing special, and at £20 for 5 not very good value at all. They were probably on a par with the Terminal Velocity rockets but disappointing considering they were so much more expensive. They also had a nasty habit of descending quite a way before bursting, with one bursting only a few metres above the ground. Would not get again.

Heat Seeker (Marvel, Epic, £7.95 for 5 rockets) - Well, what can I say, favourite rockets of the night by far. Loud, deep booms with some huge bursts of colour. One of them pretty much filled the entire sky above the garden. Amazing value for money at less than £2 a rocket and I wish I had bought more packs of them. I really cannot recommend these enough.

Panther (Absolute, local seasonal, £44.99 for 2 rockets) - Hmm, now these were nice rockets; they went a very long way up and gave a big, nice burst. However, I don't feel that they were good value at over £20 a rocket - I would much rather have spent the money on more of the small/medium Epic rockets, which is what I intend to do next year. So, overall, good rockets but I don't feel they're worth the asking price.

Other

Phoenix (Standard, Sainsbury's, £10) - One of only 2 items I bought from Sainsbury's this year (don't generally like Sainsbury's fireworks but feel it's become a bit of a tradition to try out a couple of their pieces!). Really nice fountain actually, started off with an impressive 'jelly bean' style effect (like last year's 'Halo' fountain, and presumably Kimbolton's Jumping Jelly Beans but I've never seen that) and then went on to produce a few more different effects, such as a nice crackle. Good fountain, quite long duration, OK value for money but not outstanding.

Sizzler (Standard, Sainsbury's, £5) - Fountain/mine combo, the other piece I bought from Sainsbury's this year. Started off with a nice crackle fountain and then finished with what was basically 6 small/medium mines in a row. Nice firework, pleased the crowd, pretty good value for money, would get again if it's sold next year.

Turbo Wheel (Night Star, local seasonal, £3.99) - Quite a nice Catherine Wheel but not particularly long lasting. Would probably get again as I feel it's reasonably good value for money at £3.99, despite the slightly disappointing duration.

Fiery Eye (Brothers, Epic, £5.45) - Wonderful Catherine wheel, the best I've ever seen. Incredibly fast spinning and had a long duration. The only Catherine wheel I've ever used that's got a round of applause - this is definitely one to get again!

Gold Collection Master Mines (Black Cat, Epic, £9.99 for 2 mines) - Best mines I've ever used, the first one was simply stunning with great, big bursts. The second was also great but not as good as the first. Would definitely get again but last time I looked on Epic's website it was no longer listed so perhaps it's no longer produced? That would be a great shame.

Silver Rain (Night Star, local seasonal, £14.99) - Large cone fountain, similar to Kimbolton's Mammoth Cone. I like this a lot but it didn't burn for quite as long as I remembered the Mammoth Cone burning, and I didn't feel it was especially good value for money at £14.99. I'd probably get it again but wouldn't pay any more than £10 for it.

<br />I hope your neighbours are aware of this  <img src='http://www.pyrosocie...fault/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /><br />

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Hehe. Well, the nextdoor neighbours are invited so there's no chance they'll be in their garden. As for those living in the house that backs on to mine - well, they're never usually in their garden anyway but I'll check and warn if they are ;-)

Nice selection chris p are you actually setting these off in the garden in the photo it dose not look a big garden my garden is bigger than the one in the photo but would be scared setting off stuff like you brought would it be ok

Yeah I think the photo is a little bit deceptive, though, as the garden goes back further than the lawn you can see in the pic, and I'll be setting the big stuff off right from the back (the other side of the pagoda you can see in the picture). All the spectators will be standing well back on the patio close to the house. The garden's almost 100ft long so just pushing it for the 25m safety distance but it's always been OK in the past.

I went into Matalan yesterday and they had no knowledge of the BrightSpark system :-( They did sell the Launch Kontrol system and replacement E-Fuses but not the BrightSpark ones. Very frustrating. I will keep an eye out on eBay and I've also found this website that looks as though they do them but not sure when it was last updated. I found another website that was selling the packs of replacement E-fuses for about £9.99 for 5 but charged £25 p&p so I instantly disregarded that option.

Anyone know why the second fuse might not have ignited? I looked at the clips afterwards and the second one just looked as though it never went off (still yellow wire inside). I really hope it was just a dodgy clip and not a problem with the system itself. Well, I'll find out on Sunday I guess - if it doesn't light the second firework in the sequence again then I'll take the system back to the shop (which, as far as I could tell, doesn't sell the refill packs).

I tested it out tonight on five small fireworks but for some reason the second one did not ignite - all the others did, though. Has anyone else ever experienced a similar issue? Could it be a problem with the kit or might it just be that the fuse failed to ignite, even though the device itself was functioning?

Does anyone know whether the manufacturers are still around? Their website is allegedly www.brightspark.co.uk but it doesn't seem to exist. I'll keep an eye on ebay for refill packs!