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Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

dynomight.net

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Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#521
post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phones and anything Apple are reviewed to oblivion. There are some incredible consumer product review YouTube channels out there too.. The Best one imo is project farm ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vO3UX4oEnZI ). If you're into headphones, Crinacle's site/YT are on a completely different level than any other review site I really hope LMG does videos in these styles with their lab

Project Farm is pretty great. Got great advice for water filters, car wax, and drills There really are brands out there that charge 200% more for a shittier product to just get carried by brand recognition alone.

And I love the test rigs PF devises. Some really clever ones like the oil wear tester in his most recent review.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#522
post #19

Protip: you can turn a box fan into an incredibly effective air purifier[0] (particle measurements in thread). The one they show is pretty elaborate, using 4 filters and some construction, but you can also use a single filter and slap it on the back of the box fan and have similar results. The air purifier industry is more about aesthetics than it is function. 0. https://twitter.com/LazarusLong13/status/1425517352624…

Is that a "pro" tip ?

Otherwise Vacuum Wars channel had an entertaining test on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QT8SQjp-y0

The channel is great in general for everything vacuum. As far as review goes they put a serious effort in them. The brief foray into air cleaners was a great parenthesis.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#523
post #514

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…

The sites I've found to be at least making an honest evaluation are: choice.com.au (Australian context, Aus version of consumer reports) Their reviews just seem to miss the mark sometimes, but at least you can count on the fact its an honest take so you can kind of pick specific facts from the reviews and take them as true, maybe don't rely on their overall recommendations though. funded through magazine/web subscrit…

I also subscribe to choice. They do lots more than product reviews. They have general guides on how to get the best use out of products, mystery shoppers reviewing customer service, tools to compare health insurance, etc. The reason I stay subscribed is they campaign about consumer rights issues which actually cause industries as a whole to change, e.g. bank fees. They also have the shonky awards which usually gets a bit of media attention each year, where they shame companies for poor behaviour, quality, outright scams, etc. I think of it like a lobby to help us consumers out, which we need more of. Too often we are listening to the advice of the industry bodies that represent the companies rather than the consumers.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#524
post #70

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…

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).

The big problem with most YouTube review channels is that they're reliant on the vendors to provide them with free test units and other forms of access in order to grow their channels, and Linus is no exception.

I actually came across a "why I'm shutting down my channel" video a while back in which the host showed emails from the company whose product she was reviewing (it was a drawing tablet or something like that) pressuring her to show the product in a more favorable light.

It's so hard to tell who's actually objective in those review videos and who's censoring themselves at the request of a vendor.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being open about when you are in a sponsorship "relationship" is not something that earns you an internet cookie, it's required by the FCC https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/sponsorship-identificat...

You would be surprisingly sad to learn the number who do not even attempt to do this, and the "marketers" that encourage it.

It's absolutely rampant on any social media platform, and most blogs. I'm guessing it's extremely rare anyone is prosecuted for violating the disclosure laws. Some choose to do it to keep their viewers trust, but one big problem as platforms go all-in on algorithms, it's less about having a trusting audience and more about doing what you can to get random videos/posts picked up by the algorithm, regardless of content.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched a few of these a while ago and I can somewhat see why they’re popular as they have this fast-paced data-dump look-at-all-this-testing format but I didn’t really think they were very good. I thought many of the tests were likely poor metrics for actual quality and that results would therefore be misleading. A stupid example would be trying to measure how much torque a Phillips head screwdriver can apply befo…

It's a myth that Phillips screws designed or intended to cam out at a certain torque. Not least of all because, the correct amount of torque varies wildly by application, even for the same fastener. I'll agree that Project Farm's videos can be a little formulaic and my least favorite thing about the presentation is that he shouts instead of talks. However, he's WAY ahead most YouTube tool reviewers because he does NO…

To that last point, that's why we have AvE and his BOLTR reviews.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#527
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The air purifier industry is more about aesthetics than it is function Well, sure, to a point. I could make my own air purifier (like the one you link) but it looks awful. I would not want that in my home. So yeah, aesthetics do matter. Its not the only thing but it is a factor.

I think the point is that aesthetics matter to you but not a lot of people care if they have a box fan + air filter stashed away in their bedroom for a cheap airfilter. Maybe if it was more prominent in the living or guest bedrooms?

Where to put air purifier is also important (but depends on situation). So design is a bit important to put on good place.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#528

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any TV is stupid if you don’t connect it to the Internet.

I haven't bought a TV in about ten years and I've started shopping recently, knowing I'll probably have to get one soon. What I'm interested in, knowing I'll probably have to do this (smart TV with no internet), is what the out-of-box experience is without internet. Will it have preloaded ads that will never change because it can't download new ones? Will there be huge gray boxes where the ads should be in the UI? Wi…

From personal experience, Roku OS TVs (TCL mostly) have a very good non-internet user experience, with a dedicated mode for being a dumb display. WebOS (LG) is decent. Tizen (Samsung) ones are okay, although the one I have is from before they started putting ads in the menus so I don’t know if there are placeholders. None of them have disabled any features or nagged me, or tried to sneakily connect to the internet. Google/Android/whatever-it’s-called-this-year TV (Sony) might not even be usable without internet, I’m not sure. It’s also terrible.

Generally, firmware updates on modern TVs are used for creating bugs and performance problems, rather than fixing them. They also add advertisements. Don’t ever connect it to the internet, and it’ll be fine.

Re: Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

#530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m pro-choice - does this mean that I think every fetus should be aborted?

No, that would mean you support each woman who wants to have one and you probably shouldn't tell them it offends you if they do. Especially if they depend on you financially and you can break up with them without consequence.

I interpret it closer to being pro-choice while hoping to not personally need an abortion. Unions form when workers feel they aren't being heard and aren't being properly represented. Having a union form at your own company is an indication that you failed your employees in one way or another. You can be pro-union while hoping to personally never need one or have to sit across the table from one.
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