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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?

#81

Post by brailsafe »

Matias Sculpted keyboard. I definitely didn't expect it to be good, and since I got the first shipment, reviews didn't exist yet. Now they seem to accurately describe its problems.

Although it was a decent effort, their overall build quality is pretty cheap, and it's not good enough to recommend. I took a chance on their 2nd revision and it was at least good enough to keep for periodic use, but it really isn't worth buying atm. Half of the spacebar stops working nearly every day and I need to reset it

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

#82

Post by reaperducer »

brailsafe wrote: post #81

Matias Sculpted keyboard. I definitely didn't expect it to be good, and since I got the first shipment, reviews didn't exist yet. Now they seem to accurately describe its problems. Although it was a decent effort, their overall build quality is pretty cheap, and it's not good enough to recommend. I took a chance on their 2nd revision and it was at least good enough to keep for periodic use, but it really isn't worth…

Matias Sculpted keyboard… Although it was a decent effort, their overall build quality is pretty cheap, and it's not good enough to recommend

I concur. I thought I'd save a few bucks by buying the Matias keyboard that looks like the Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad. After all, there are thousands of people on the internet who swear that Apple's prices are disconnected from build quality. It turns out the chattering masses online are wrong.

The Matias keyboard lasted all of a year. I ended up replacing it with the real deal from Apple, which is still going strong six years later.

More often than online "experts" would have you believe, you really do get what you pay for.

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

#83

Post by Terretta »

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

The Ultra battery lasts a couple or three days.

The pulse, EKG, and blood oxygen are first rate.

Get a Titanium band (why doesn't Apple sell this?) and use a square design screen and it's a dress watch:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091H8D561

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

#84

Post by Terretta »

Aperocky wrote: post #12
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 solved the battery problem with an ultra, but I couldn't solve what is consistently off heart rate monitoring. It now feels almost unusual for it to get the heart rate correct. And I'm not talking about off by a few or feeling off. I'm talking about full on max heart rate when I'm doing a easy run or 1/2 and 1/3 off which is impossible to miss.

Heart rate weirdness is usually watch band, but sometimes skin property.

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

#85

Post by reaperducer »

lesuorac wrote: post #40
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.

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…

smart lights are pretty nice… I made sure to buy zigbee ones

The connectivity doesn't matter when it's the actual filaments/LEDs that burn out after only a year or two.

Even buying a big name like Sylvania doesn't help. I had eight Sylvania smart bulbs burn out or go into endless flicker fits in under a year. They're all in a landfill now.

Of course, that's better than when Feit Electric sent out a firmware update that deliberately bricked all of its smart bulb controller boxes with nothing more than an e-mail telling people it was done. (This was before Apple Home or Google Home existed.)

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

#86

Post by eudamoniac »

kcplate wrote: post #17
admissionsguy wrote: post #9

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

I never understood the appeal of these. Last time I went chair shopping I sat in a ton of different chairs including these and they were middle of the road in comfort and at the top end in price.

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?

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

#87

Post by bradlys »

reaperducer wrote: post #85
lesuorac wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

smart lights are pretty nice… I made sure to buy zigbee ones The connectivity doesn't matter when it's the actual filaments/LEDs that burn out after only a year or two. Even buying a big name like Sylvania doesn't help. I had eight Sylvania smart bulbs burn out or go into endless flicker fits in under a year. They're all in a landfill now. Of course, that's better than when Feit Electric sent out a firmware update th…

I haven’t had this issue at all and I’ve had some of my Philips Hue bulbs for close to ten years.

Mind you, one would expect them to work for a long time considering they’re (probably) the most expensive on the market.

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

#90

Post by beingfit »

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 love my Apple Watch (it’s a few years old) and depend on it everyday to track things and keep me motivated to exercise and move. I do have to charge it for nearly an hour everyday, though like others have said I would prefer longer battery life (as opposed to getting a bigger and more expensive one like Apple Watch Ultra).

I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that it’s changed my life for the better. At the same time, I personally know people who have it but aren’t used to it or don’t use it for what it does best.

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