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

Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

dynomight.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

501–510 of 723 posts

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#501

Post by leguminous »

Wirecutter seems to make a big deal of the fact that the IKEA purifier doesn't use a "true HEPA" filter. As far as I can tell, neither does the Blueair purifier that is one of their top picks. Blueair claims to use "HEPASilent Ultra," while carefully avoiding claiming that their filter meets HEPA standards.

> HealthProtect™ is equipped with HEPASilent Ultra™, our most advanced filtration technology ever. Every component is uniquely designed in Sweden to provide the maximum performance and energy efficiency. This patent-pending technology combines electrostatic and mechanical filtration to remove 99%⁴ of bacteria and remove dust, pollen, dander, mold, VOCs, and odors. HEPASilent Ultra™ delivers 50% more clean air⁵, uses 55% less energy and has a 10% lower noise than traditional true HEPA filtration⁶.

https://www.blueair.com/sg/healthprotect-family-page.html

As an aside, for air purifiers and some other items I've found the energy star site useful:

https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-r...

There are actual measurements and you can sort by several categories. The manufacturers submit the measurements themselves, but the tests are at least supposed to be standardized. And they actually display the wattage used by each purifier. The electricity running costs can make up a large portion of the total cost of ownership of an air purifier if you have it running consistently.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#502

Post by QuinnyPig »

screye wrote: post #349

Wirecutter is like Leetcode interviews. The goal is not to find the 'best' option, but minimize false positives under intense time-pressure. Their recommendation is usually the 8/10 solid option that you can blindly buy and be moderately satisfied with. In the process, they drop out or misrepresent other comparable options, but their final recommendation is never shoddy. This is in stark contrast to other reviewers l…

I find that the Wirecutter is awesome for things I will never go into stupendous depth for on my own — like spatulas. For anything more serious than that, it has increasingly been on the decline for years.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#503

Post by biggc »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #82
mrkwse wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will be interesting if LMG can pull off what Linus is aiming for with the massive investment in a laboratory environment. There are huge parts of the tech market where the most critical reviewing you can find is anecdotal accounts of if the reviewer liked a product or not (or the more clinical reviews are drowned out by the anecdotal noise).

I'm hopeful for LMG's lab too. It's still a bit of a gamble, but from the sound of it the company is set up such that they can review products in an objective, data-backed way and tank any blowback from manufacturers that occurs as a result. It's much more focused on enthusiast computer hardware, but Gamers Nexus[0] is doing good things in this space too. Their style is much more dry and data-dense than LMG's though,…

I appreciate the depth of gamer’s nexus, but their videos are like watching someone read an Anandtech breakdown.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#504

Post by AviationAtom »

hypersoar wrote: post #51

The Wirecutter is a highly flawed review site, but at least it's a real one. There are vanishingly few left for general consumer products. There's WC, Consumer Reports, and what else? They've seem to have all been killed off. When I'm researching some category of product, I feel lucky if I find any professional reviews written by people who have actually touched the thing they're reviewing. I know we've all had the e…

Don't forget about the huge amount of paid reviews now too!

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#505

Post by hirvi74 »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #82
mrkwse wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will be interesting if LMG can pull off what Linus is aiming for with the massive investment in a laboratory environment. There are huge parts of the tech market where the most critical reviewing you can find is anecdotal accounts of if the reviewer liked a product or not (or the more clinical reviews are drowned out by the anecdotal noise).

I'm hopeful for LMG's lab too. It's still a bit of a gamble, but from the sound of it the company is set up such that they can review products in an objective, data-backed way and tank any blowback from manufacturers that occurs as a result. It's much more focused on enthusiast computer hardware, but Gamers Nexus[0] is doing good things in this space too. Their style is much more dry and data-dense than LMG's though,…

There is no denying that "Linus (Torvalds) Tech Tips" would not be extremely entertaining though. I would love to see him just go off on everything. :)

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#506

Post by librarianscott »

mattacular wrote: post #81
hypersoar wrote: post #51

The Wirecutter is a highly flawed review site, but at least it's a real one. There are vanishingly few left for general consumer products. There's WC, Consumer Reports, and what else? They've seem to have all been killed off. When I'm researching some category of product, I feel lucky if I find any professional reviews written by people who have actually touched the thing they're reviewing. I know we've all had the e…

Consumer Reports used to be good but it seems to have gone through change in management or something because now it is indistinguishable from the avg SEO spam site.

Nonsense. As a non-profit founded in 1926 with 50 testing labs and partnerships with outside labs, the proof is in the test after test after test after test that is unbiased and, more importantly, the criteria and testing methods are always available and reproducible! So when you don't agree with their rankings you can at least agree that there methods are clear, not based on SEO, not based on spam, not based on money, and pro-consumer.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#507

Post by p1necone »

fartcannon wrote: post #474
p1necone wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LTT very clearly demarcates which videos are sponsored and which are not.

How do you know that that's everything? It's just taking their word.

Do you have even an ounce of evidence? You're being ridiculous.

You can't just sling mud baselessly and expect people to take you seriously.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#508

Post by fartcannon »

simondotau wrote: post #499
fartcannon wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who loathes Apple, I disagree. But I do agree that there's basically no place to get a trustworthy resource on Apple. Because, for the same reason I don't trust Linus, money is involved.

It is unreasonable to expect any one source to be consistently reliable. The "trustworthy resource" is multiple sources with diverse views. Combine your LMG diet with some Rene Ritchie, Hoeg Law, etc.

Diversify your trust portfolio. I like it.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#509

Post by arsome »

applecrazy wrote: post #468
TheBozzCL wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, that assumes the TV will behave and not connect to open networks, or use companies' mesh networks (like Amazon Sidewalk), and that they'll never include their own SIM cards. Granted, none of this has happened yet... but when it happens, I'll start busting open my devices to disconnect any and all antennas.

That's terrifying and I hope this isn't a default.

You already have to do it with cars, only a matter of time before these sorts of solutions start creeping in to other products.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#510

Post by WhitneyLand »

hypersoar wrote: post #51

The Wirecutter is a highly flawed review site, but at least it's a real one. There are vanishingly few left for general consumer products. There's WC, Consumer Reports, and what else? They've seem to have all been killed off. When I'm researching some category of product, I feel lucky if I find any professional reviews written by people who have actually touched the thing they're reviewing. I know we've all had the e…

On the continuum between “highly flawed” and imperfect I find WC to be generally good intentioned and skewed more toward the latter than the former. Is there something that keeps it from thus threshold in your view?
Post reply on HN