Amazon Fire Tablet, one of the only things I've ever returned.
100%. Ours has become so inexplicably slow it’s wild, even after factory resets. The Amazon OS experience is also terrible. It sits unused.
Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
121–130 of 156 posts
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#122Any home tech gadgets. Robot vacuums, smart lights, smart thermostats, internet connected TVs and appliances, most kitchen gadgets especially if they require power. None of it lives up to the hype and it's all e-waste in a couple of years if not sooner.
Robot vacuums are the worst. I have to help it every thirty minutes. And anytime I close a door or move something it wants to create a new map. The old randomized ones were actually better.
I've had the same issues until I got top of the line Roborock. It never loses map and almost never gets stuck, washes itself with water and drain connection.
I'd rather not buy a Chinese brand but here we are...
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#123Google home, nest thermostat, Alexa, roomba, Apple Watch, iPad. GHome consistently gets worse voice recognition or usability. Nest has many notifications to enable eco modes making me uncomfortable in own home. Alexa terrible voice recognition. Roomba kept getting stuck, errors. Apple Watch useless versus oura ring even if steps aren’t as accurate. iPad usage not worth the cost. Either get a laptop full featured or a…
I hated Google home too. I switched to Home Assistant and was amazed at how much better it was. I don't use any voice recognition though, so I can't speak to that.
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#124By far the most disappointing for me has been the Roomba x2. I love the concept and when the first one didn't live up to the hype I somehow convinced myself the newer version surely had the bugs worked out. Neither lasted working in my house for longer than a few weeks. Not because they were broken but I spent more time dealing with them than I did just vacuuming. Haven't tried another robot cleaning device since.
Roomba i9. Its predecessor (can't remember the model) lasted for 12 years and its random cleaning algorithm was great. I only bought the i9 because the old ones battery stopped charging and there were no more replacements. It was not smart and worked perfectly via infrared remote. The i9 tho, let me tell you: you can't place it farther than 2m from the router because otherwise it loses WiFi permanently. 2nd battery within 5 years. IRobot demands an account login for every use of the app. I ask you, why would I login to an app? This is a robot, I press button and machine goes brrr - anything more and I get irritated. When it's done, it beeps. Sometimes directly after, sometimes 2 hours after, sometimes in the middle of the night. The cleaning is nowhere near as complete as the old, random algorithm. I will never buy IRobot again.
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
The appeal is that they are highly adjustable across a bunch of dimensions. Did you fiddle with all of the controls when you tried it?
So are a lot of chairs at a fifth of the price. I gave them a quality evaluation and have had occasion to sit in them for long periods at client sites. I am all for spending for quality and generally am a BIFL type consumer, but these chairs just don’t carry the value for me.
I don't think there is one chair at a fifth of the price or even half the price that is as adjustable. Please post one if true, as I'd love to have such a discounted feature.
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m actually surprised I didn’t hit this problem. My 3D printer has been wildly useful. I seriously thought it would be another fad hobby that I drop immediately. But now I’ve gone as far as learning 3D modeling which I never really expected to do. I actually have more projects going on than I have printing capacity for sometimes. I wish I had perfect advice for getting the most out of it. Maybe this one will help: r…
> A triangle-shaped piece to guide the extending kitchen sink sprayer hose so it stops getting caught on stuff under the cabinets Holy hell that's genius. I know what I'm printing tomorrow! :D
Haha yep! Literally just an extruded triangle, taped to some cabinetry with painter’s tape.
The weight would get caught on some cabinetry piece. Now that piece is made to intersect more gradually with the triangle.
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#127Any home tech gadgets. Robot vacuums, smart lights, smart thermostats, internet connected TVs and appliances, most kitchen gadgets especially if they require power. None of it lives up to the hype and it's all e-waste in a couple of years if not sooner.
Can't speak to most of those but smart lights are pretty nice. I made sure to buy zigbee ones so that I'm just tied to home assistant which even if it goes out of business will still work with whatever binaries I've downloaded already (as well as it works locally so I can control them during internet outages). I'm sure somebody else can explain why you should get Thread or Matter nowendays but I never bothered to lea…
Zigbee + Home Assistant is the best future-proof combo
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Gaming headsets, especially the expensive ones were a trap I fell into for a long time. They’re overpriced for sure, quality varies but they usually last a few years. They’re always all so uncomfortable too. I broke out and ended up getting a DAC/AMP, some good cans and a mounted microphone and I’ve never looked back. I miss the wireless part a little, but taking the headphones off to get up is a cheap price compared…
Bah, my Epos H3PRO is still going strong after 4 years and the build and sound quality are excellent.
There’s definitely exceptions. My GSP 670s were the best quality cans for sure. But the headset itself was super uncomfortable for the price.
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#129Bought the Audeze Maxwell headset earlier this year and I returned it almost instantly. It’s extremely heavy and uncomfortable, the sound is not that good and the mic is trash.
Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?
#130Apple Watch. I'm not even sure when I last wore it, but it was at least 18 months ago. Slighly laggy remote control for my phone, with widgets a little too small for my finger to reliably hit. When I do proper long walks, the battery reliably dies on me during the walk.
I switched to the Ultra 2 about a year and a half ago and the battery life is excellent - I don't have to charge daily, I can run or hike for several hours while listening to music or podcasts being streamed from the watch. It actually allows me to carry my phone much less, since the watch can make/take phone calls too & let me pay for things. The battery life on the apple watch I had before this one, was really abysmal though.