Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 156 posts

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

#61

Post by embedding-shape »

danielhep wrote: post #19
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 got a Garmin watch after being frustrated with the tech company watches lasting only hours on a charge. I charge this watch once a week and it does everything I realistically want from a smart watch: - shows notifications - tracks workouts - silent alarm clock - home assistant shortcuts

Garmin watches are great! I wish the lighter/smaller models also had solar charger, but last time I checked only the bigger "ultra-durable" ones had it, but they're not that comfortable to wear.

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

#63

Post by registeredcorn »

bilsbie wrote: post #47
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.

What kind of Robot Vacuum did you have? I had mine map the house once downstairs, and once upstairs and it's been fine navigating around stuff ever since. It comes into the kitchen area while I'm cooking and will eventually just come around for a second pass after my feet are out of the way. I have the roborock Q5+.

The only complaints that I have are:

1) I have mine set to notify me when it's done cleaning. Sometimes it will do it immediately after it's done, while other times the notification might come two or three hours after the fact. Still other times, not at all.

2) I have to clean the vacuum more frequently than I would like. That means: cutting out hairs from the "side brush" on the front of it, cutting hairs out of the "main brush" that sucks up most of the debris, and wiping the sensors clean. In fairness, I'd probably have to do the same sorts of thing with the rollers on a normal vacuum cleaner after a while too, though.

3) There's been a handful of times over a 2-ish year period where it'll go to the other room to start cleaning, and while a normal trip might take 15-20 minutes, it'll claim to be done in about 5 minutes. I suspect that blankets may have fallen on the ground or something, so it became too "blocked" to be able to clean properly, but it could be some kind of software error.

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

#64

Post by olowe »

bilsbie wrote: post #47
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.

> The old randomized ones were actually better.

Exactly. We changed from some fancy one that my boss gave me to a cheap one that you operate with an old-school (can't believe I'm saying that) infrared remote. It doesn't "think". It just works like our other reliable dumb machines - diswasher and washing machine. We don't own a regular vacuum cleaner as I just do a regular sweep with a broom when we want a thorough job done.

All other home tech gadgets friends and family have acquired live in limbo land stored in the back of the draw or on top of the cupboard, never opened or tried once but got stuck downloading some stupid app. But we can't just throw it away yet, as there's guilt around acquiring that smart tech thing in the first place even though we know there's already so much e-waste.

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

#65

Post by yakattak »

frankmatranga wrote: post #4

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro headset. Microphone quality is just worse than it should be for the $320 I paid, and the battery doesn’t last as long as I hoped. This was after reading many reviews.

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 to $200+ garbage.

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

#66

Post by [deleted] »

Aurornis wrote: post #33

I’m probably risking a lot of downvotes with this one, but for me it was a Home Assistant setup. Not really a purchase because it’s an open project, but I invested a lot of time into reading the docs and setting it all up only to realize I didn’t actually like it better than using the smart home products directly. It seems like a great option for people who like to tinker and get a thrill out of getting some cheap Al…

[deleted]

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

#67

Post by darreld »

Synology 923+. Turns out I’m the only one that connects to it in the house. I don’t actually need it. I’m now retired and really only need some external drives or some HDD’s in a hard drive docking station. I just got a docking station. I’ll grab a couple HDD’s and be done with it. Sell the Synology

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

#68

Post by moepstar »

My Apple Watch (Gen 6).

Really not getting much value out of it, despite being all-in on Apple otherwise (iPhone, Mac, AppleTV, Homepods).

I really feel like it absolutely should be more integrated into the other devices. Set a timer on the phone? Can’t see on watch. Stuff like this bugs me like hell. And I think there’s too much of it.

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

#69

Post by mingus88 »

wisty wrote: post #50
uhhhd wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Eh, our Roborock vac has been a net positive

It was “easy” to vacuum before but we never did a thorough job. All too often we just vacuum what we can see, never under the couches, etc.

Now that we have to move everything so it can complete the full map we have a much cleaner house. It encourages us to move all of the chairs, toys, etc.

Post reply on HN