Frequently Asked Questions

How long do (insert glow or LED prop here) last?

Do you ship to where I live?

How much will it cost to ship my order / how much will customs be?

Are glow sticks safe for children to use?

How long do your fire poi burn?

My order didn't go through, but my bank says there's a charge on my credit card. What's up with that?

What is the right size contact juggling ball for me?

How did you come up with the name Neon Husky?

Why are they called Flaming Poodles, anyway?

How long do (insert glow or LED prop here) last?
Our #1 question. Here's the data:

4- and 6-inch Glow Sticks: 8-12 hours of useful brightness. For practice or just messing about, one pair will last nicely for an entire evening's work. For performance, you may have to experiment. The glow can be seen in a dark area for up to 3 days, but they're not really interesting to look at by then. We have heard reports that you can prolong the glow by freezing the sticks. This makes good sense according to our chemistry classes but we have not tried it yet.
High Intensity Glow Sticks: 30-minute glow sticks last about an hour, but the maximum brightness lasts for about 15-20 minutes. The 5-minute Ultra Orange is extremely bright for about 6-8 minutes with a total glow time of about 11-15 minutes.
Streetlights: 3-5 hours depending on the color and the mode you choose, and whether the entire time is in one chunk of broken up (on for 20 minutes at a time, for instance). All battery-powered devices will have varying life as batteries are not always very consistent.
Glowprops (Poi / Juggling / Squiggle Glowballs, Glowclubs, Glowrings, LED Assemblies & Diffuser Kits): About 8 hours. Again, this depends a little bit on the color selected. Strobe balls will last less time due to the nature of the LEDs. We don't have accurate data yet but will post it when it becomes available.
Beaming Balls (Juggling and Poi): 30+ hours.
Astrojax, Light Wands: We don't know yet. Testing is in progress and we will update this answer when we have information.

Do you ship to where I live?
Yes! We ship all over the world. If you can receive postal mail where you live, chances are we can ship goods to you.

How much will it cost to ship my order / how much will customs be?
We ship all orders based on weight. The easiest way to obtain a shipping quote is to add the items you want to a shopping cart and let our software do the math for you.

We cannot give quotes on customs or VAT because it is impossible to keep track of all that data for every country in the world. These rates are based on the declared value of the package, and sometimes the value of the shipping as well. To get a customs estimate, figure out the total cost from us (price of your order plus shipping) and ask your local postal authority using that number.

Are glow sticks safe for children to use?
Yes. We use the same type of glow sticks you can buy around Halloween. The fluids used in the chemical reaction are mildly toxic, but under normal abuse the outer casings of the sticks will not break. We've yet to see one do this, after long months of serious whappage. If used on a soft surface such as grass, there should be virtually no risk of breakage. And kids love them!

How long do your fire poi burn?
That depends on a number of factors:

The size & shape of the poi
The amount of wick used
Age & condition of the wick
Type of fuel

Using a mixture of Coleman gas and charcoal lighter, you should expect a good burn time of 5-8 minutes or so. There are configurations where you will not see longer burn times, but you will see much larger flame. Your mileage may vary. More fire & fuel information will be added soon.

My order didn't go through, but my bank says there's a charge on my credit card. What's up with that?
When a merchant receives an order, they send a request for authorization to the bank that issued your credit card. The bank sets aside the requested funds without transferring them anywhere until the actual request is sent by the merchant's bank. Once the request is received and verified, your bank transfers the funds to the merchant's bank. If the transaction does not go through for some reason, no authorized request will be sent and the funds will be made available again in 2-4 business days.

This situation also applies to multiple attempts at payment. If you try 3 times to pay for an order (due to errors in the information you enter on our secure form) and only 1 of those goes through, the other 2 transactions will show on your bank's records until they disappear for lack of authorization.

In either case, the thing to look for is a confirmation email from Neon Husky. This email will contain an order/invoice number and a summary of your order. If you are concerned about receiving more than one order, check the totals in this email to make sure they are correct. If your payment did not go through, you should not receive an email from us. Don't forget to check your spam mailbox before assuming your order didn't go through!

When in doubt, please don't hesitate to check with us. We can tell you the status of your order and payment in a few moments.

What is the right size contact juggling ball for me?
In general, you want the largest ball that you can comfortably hold in your hand. The larger the ball, the slower it will roll and therefore the easier it is to control. For most people, this is a ball between 3 and 4 inches in diameter. The accepted "standard size" for acrylic balls is 3 inches, though nobody is exactly sure why.

How did you come up with the name Neon Husky?
Huskies are Jim's favorite animals and he wanted to incorporate 'Husky' into the name of the company. From there, the search was on for the "perfect adjective." Many options were tried, and 'Neon' was the winner. In hindsight, we like to say that because we deal largely with illuminated and shiny things, neon presents the right kind of image. If anyone would like to suggest a more interesting tale for the name of the company, suggestions are welcome.

Why are they called Flaming Poodles, anyway?
Note - Flaming Poodles are no longer in the catalog but we like to keep this question around to make the list more interesting.

It's a long and drawn-out story. The short version is that they were named in honor of a character created late one night at the Lopez Island Jugglefest in 1999. When we went to name our in-house fire props, "Fire Meteorites" didn't have enough zing to it, and neither did anything else we could come up with. Someone suggested Flaming Poodles, and the name stuck. No animals were harmed in the naming of these props.