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Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

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Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#41

Post by Aurornis »

RebeccaTheDev wrote: post #27

Nest thermostats. They were an endless source of frustration for me.

Nest started out great for me as an early adopter.

The recent iterations are just frustrating. The apps are laggy. It’s always prompting me to join an energy savings program no matter how many times I say no. We had to disable the home/away detection because it went from working well to thinking we were away 5 times per day.

Nest stands as my example of a product that went from great to terrible through complete mismanagement and customer neglect.

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#42

Post by bilsbie »

EspadaV9 wrote: post #30

Not sure I'm at the regret stage, but the 3D printer has been sitting mostly unused, and I'm not sure that'll change. There have been a few things that were good to print, but mostly used to print fidget toys for the kids and their mates.

I’d use it all the time but the workflow is obnoxious. Download a model, manually run the slicing software. Load it onto a usb. Plug it into the printer.

If I could click print from my phone I’d be running it constantly.

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#43

Post by circuit10 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #20

Any 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.

I like my smart light, though I only use it to turn the light off without having to get out of bed

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#44

Post by mattacular »

RebeccaTheDev wrote: post #27

Nest thermostats. They were an endless source of frustration for me.

My Nest works great other than the app trying me to get to change my account to Google, which I just close out of every-time. Basic functional UI and works as billed. The unit itself has a nice sturdy feel to it with a very intuitive wheel-and-click interface. It's the only smarthome thing I have besides Hue lightbulbs

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#45

Post by impure »

The MacBook Pro with Mini-LED has this terrible vignette effect. I do not understand how no one mentions it, it’s completely unacceptable at this price point. Also any backlit keyboard that isn’t shine through. Also linear switches but maybe that’s a preference thing.

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#46

Post by Aurornis »

harddrivereque wrote: post #32
ben_w wrote: post #3

Apple 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 wanted to buy my so an apple ultra watch, is it a bad idea? It seems like a perfect thing that someone doesn't need that would.make a nice present

My suggestion would be to start with a refurbished or last-gen normal watch on sale. See if they like it. Upgrade to Ultra a few years later if they do.

It’s a hit or miss product category. My wife and I like ours and most of my friends like theirs, but I have a couple friends who got a smartwatch and then never liked it. Would be a shame to buy an expensive one for someone who doesn’t even like it.

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#47

Post by bilsbie »

SoftTalker wrote: post #20

Any 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.

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#48

Post by Aurornis »

tgdn wrote: post #6
ben_w wrote: post #3

Apple 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 cannot agree more. The battery not even lasting a day is what prevents me from using it. When I want to go for a run with it, it's always out of battery.

My Apple Watch is now so old that it’s unsupported by new WatchOS, but the battery still lasts a day without problem. It probably helps that I disabled the always on screen. Lasting all day has never been a problem, though.

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#49

Post by Xcelerate »

admissionsguy wrote: post #9

Aeron chair - nothing special, could have done with a 10x cheaper ikea chair

Interesting. I agree with most items on this page as overrated, but with an L5-S1 disc herniation, the Aeron is about the only chair I can sit in for an extended period of time without hurting. Then again, I haven't tried dozens of office chairs, but at least for me it was worth the purchase cost.

Re: Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?

#50

Post by wisty »

uhhhd wrote: post #37
SoftTalker wrote: post #20

Any 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.

So true, why is that whole sector so bad?

People want to spend money to fix a problem that fundamentally requires effort on their part, not tech.

Vacuuming is actually the easiest bit of cleaning a house IMO - getting the floor clear (if you have kids, or out of control hobbies, or are just lazy or a bit of a horder) is hard.

People aren't stupid, they kind of know this. But just like buying expensive gym equipment they think that a new toy will incentivise them do the hard bits.

"If I buy a new gizmo I'll finally start cooking healthy delicious food" is a great pitch.

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