Overkill objects for everyday life • Hacker News Board

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#551

Post by tristor » Mon, May 31, 2021, 3:58 AM UTC

Wistar wrote: post #111

notatoad wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, i don't mean to say that no commercial-grade products are suitable for home use, just that you need to be a lot more careful if you're buying products for a use they aren't intended for. if you buy a product designed for home use, you can be reasonably sure that it will work in a home setting if you buy a commercial-grade product, you just need to pay close attention to what trade-offs have been made that might…

I have been, over-time, retro-fitting my home with pro/commercial-grade infrastructure items such as: quarter-turn marine-grade ball valves for the water-main; toilets, clothes washer, fridge and dishwasher; recessed sillcock valves; outdoor hose reels and hoses; sprinklers (this is a biggie as so many sprinklers are one-season junk); heavy-duty light switches; ceiling fans (the wonderful Big-Ass fans stuff); locks a…

I’d really appreciate a site like that. Light switches in particular piss me off. Every single switch sold at Lowes or Home Depot are crap and I’ve yet to figure out where to buy something that’s actually decent with proper tactility.

What light switches do you use?

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#552

Post by neilpanchal » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:04 AM UTC

cmendel wrote: post #532

neilpanchal wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I kinda disagree. These aren’t very good examples. Also the dough mixer is for restaurants, not military use. :-) Although I want one now. Here is a kitchen scale I bought. Made in Switzerland, no less. It’s bloody beautiful: https://neil.computer/notes/mettler-toledo-ml3002e-teardown/ Does that mean all consumer grade stuff is bad? No. Leatherman tools and 3M consumer grade stuff is usually great. Nalgene bottles. D…

>>Always buy generic drugs, they're exactly the same. I'm sorry to say. This is false. This will be a bit technical but often, generic drugs are a racemic mix (both L and D conformations in some mixture) where as a branded drug may be a specific conformation or specific racemic mix (e.g. 75% L, 25% D.) The issue comes from the fact that L-conformations may have different (better, worse, otherwise) effects than the D-…

Thanks TIL, I had no idea. I'll stop giving medical advice I guess.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#553

Post by yourapostasy » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:09 AM UTC

abeppu wrote: post #85

> The average consumer wants this stuff. It sells. They want pizzaz over functionality and durability. What is functionality though? What is pizzaz? When are they the same and when are they different? E.g. the famous Emeco 1006 chair, which won a contract to supply the US Navy by being thrown out a window and not breaking. It became a design classic, and now sells for $600 each. It gained a kind of following, which i…

> But is that durability especially functional for your home or restaurant environment which isn't on a warship?

If I knew it would be handed down for generations of my descendants, then I absolutely want that durability. A tremendous amount of economic and environmental harm comes from unnecessary product acquisition churn over generations at the scales of populations we're currently dealing with. If I can equip my descendants (who are likely to at best propagate at barely replacement rate with current socioeconomic trends that seem resource and energy-bound and unlikely to change until fusion or similar energy breakthrough is made) with 50-80% of their material goods throughout the stages of their lives and eliminate their capex, that is a hell of an advantage of confer compared to previous generations' patterns.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#554

Post by Wowfunhappy » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:19 AM UTC

MonaroVXR wrote: post #158

dan-robertson wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dishwashers are another example. You could buy a commercial one but it will come with no roll-out trays (you load up different plastic racks for different things and you can load a rack while the dishwasher is running) and it’s designed for an environment with lots of ventilation (you just open it when it is done and let the steam get ventilated away) which people are unlikely to have in their own kitchens. Other ite…

This is the same for laptops, but most of the people (I assume?) buy Macbooks for programming which is... kinda weird, since it's difficult to repair. Than business laptops like the Z-book, ThinkPad or insert Dell business laptop eg; Latitude 7000 series (Dell XPS isn't a business laptop from my perspective.)

Those easily repairable laptops are also significantly thicker than my 11" Macbook Air.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#555

Post by frankus » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:22 AM UTC

IgorPartola wrote: post #341

I will postulate an opposing view to TFA: Quality consumer goods are better in two key areas. First, they are replaceable. I don’t want a military grade mixer in my kitchen if getting a broken whisk or motor on it is going to require me hunting all over eBay for the specific part hoping it’s available. I was very excited at one point about the idea of getting a commercial dishwasher that can run a load of dishes in l…

Commercial-grade dishwashers (or at least the ones we foolishly installed at an office I worked at) are also more about sanitizing than removing caked on food or whatever. You can probably get away with putting unrinsed glasses but plates are pretty questionable if they'll get clean.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#556

Post by 99_00 » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:24 AM UTC

megablast wrote: post #421

bartread wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one needs to be a bit selective here. About 8 years ago I bought the cheapest catering/professional microwave/combioven I could get my hands on. I did this because I got tired of consumer units with overcomplicated UIs designed (apparently) by unregenerate misanthropes, rotating dishes that are a pain in the ass to clean, overzealous bleeps that go off every 30 - 60 seconds after a cycle is finished, peeling…

> About 8 years ago I bought the cheapest catering/professional microwave/combioven I could get my hands on. I did this because I got tired of consumer units with overcomplicated UIs designed (apparently) by unregenerate misanthropes, rotating dishes that are a pain in the ass to clean, overzealous bleeps that go off every 30 - 60 seconds after a cycle is finished, peeling enamel, corrosion issues, and that are too s…

I've never seen a microwave with a temperature anything.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#557

Post by ValentineC » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:28 AM UTC

ateng wrote: post #515

ValentineC wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand: if you drink 1-2 cups of coffee a day, and don't mind putting in some elbow grease — a manual grinder like a Comandante or Kinu often produces much better grinds for the same price, since money can be allocated towards a better burr set instead of a motor. I've had a few friends whose only experience with a manual grinder was a Hario Skerton or its clones, and get turned off manual grinding because…

Life hack: link your manual grinder to a drill. Now you have a automatic grinder that’s reasonably priced and have a superb burr. Have not tried this myself but I was told by a professional this is way cheaper and better than any automatic grinder below USD$1000, if you’re spending around $200 for a top end hand grinder

I hear an electric screwdriver works too. :)

Grinding coffee beans manually helps me get that little bit of arm exercise though.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#558

Post by ValentineC » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:30 AM UTC

ip26 wrote: post #373

ValentineC wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand: if you drink 1-2 cups of coffee a day, and don't mind putting in some elbow grease — a manual grinder like a Comandante or Kinu often produces much better grinds for the same price, since money can be allocated towards a better burr set instead of a motor. I've had a few friends whose only experience with a manual grinder was a Hario Skerton or its clones, and get turned off manual grinding because…

I was ready to go all-in on manual grinders. But their supply chain completely evaporated in the pandemic, and I could not find one I wanted anywhere . For months. That ended that.

What brands were those?

It looks like 1zpresso and Timemore are readily available, at least, and the 1zpresso JX Pro is top-of-the-line.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#559

Post by akiselev » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:37 AM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #528

spockz wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome idea! How do you distinguish professional vs overpriced normal stuff? For example, Festool, Makita, and DeWalt offer awesome products but are very pricy. All the tools from the DIY shops are rubbish. Things from Bosch are slightly better. But these are all expensive. Meanwhile, the tools from Lidl around €30-50 price point are quite cool.

I find a useful indicator is to look at factory out of warranty repair pricing.

Or resale value, which is also a great proxy for longevity. Festool stuff, for example, has been damn near impossible to get for several months of the pandemic and I've seen used Dominos going for more than new MSRP.

Re: Overkill objects for everyday life

#560

Post by abawany » Mon, May 31, 2021, 4:43 AM UTC

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #403

hutrdvnj wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's annoying and will interrupt your work much longer, especially if it's something that could have been easily fixed in e.g. a Thinkpad. Even more so, if it's your own device.

I have to disagree. One of the reasons I've used Macbooks for work for ages now is if something goes wrong, I can just pop over to the apple store and have a replacement within about 30 minutes. Don't even have to restore, can just target boot my backup and be back working immediately, and can save the restore until the evening. I've had one instance where this saved me 5 figures easily (wasn't even the macbook's fau…

This didn't work out for me in spite of going to the apple store: I was told to drop off my laptop. They then proceeded to 'lose track' of the machine and I eventually got it back after nearly 5 weeks and multiple escalations with 'customer support'. This is a 6 month old mbp pro 16" from work with applecare.