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O Holy Crap

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Re: O Holy Crap

#251

Post by Gibbon1 »

theK wrote: post #46
vages wrote: post #4

Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. The single juicer that lasts 70 years may be the only one of its kind to last that long, the others from the same production year being left to rot and rust in a landfill. That being said, I definitely believe that planned obsolesence and unintentional bad quality is a plague on modern consumer items. I am lucky enough to ha…

I'm really rooting for getting the onslaught of rubbishware to end but don't see the right to repair laws making a dent there. Those laws are engineered to make it possible to repair complex, expensive things. Dealing with intentionally misengineered things that are trash cheap is a completely different discipline.

My solution is handle this through enforced long warranties. And require muni waste transfer stations to back charge manufacturers for broken appliances under warranty

AKA: Your dishwasher dies and you send it to the dump. They'll look it over document the failure and back charge the manufacturer for the retail price.

Re: O Holy Crap

#252

Post by listenallyall »

function_seven wrote: post #235
taylodl wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People forget things used to cost a lot of money. I remember when our family bought our first color TV set back in the early 70's. You can buy a 65" HDTV set today for the same amount of money - and that's in today's dollars which are significantly less valuable than the dollars in the early 70's! That TV didn't last 20 years - it was a huge hassle continually testing and replacing tubes. Meanwhile I bought a 55" HDT…

I remember asking for a color 13" TV for Christmas back in 1988 I think? For months I would grab the Sunday paper and pull out all the ad inserts looking for the perfect TV. It had to be cheap; I didn't want to ask for anything crazy. I finally found one that was under $200 and showed it to my parents. It was some unknown brand. It wasn't "Cable Ready", and it still had separate tuner knobs for VHF and UHF. I didn't…

> $400 for a 13" TV, in 1988. That's $1,000 in today's money. A 75-inch 4K TV.

Those 1980's tvs could display Knight Rider, Miami Vice, The A-Team and Moonlighting natively, without the need for any kind of streaming service.

Re: O Holy Crap

#253

Post by jemmyw »

user3939382 wrote: post #105
somehnacct3757 wrote: post #94

I just don't see it. My pens and my matchsticks work fine. My gloves are still gloves five winters later. Potato peeler, peels potatoes. I think the author doesn't understand that there's a tier of disposable goods for just about everything and if you don't shop wisely you'll take some of it home. Appliances for example: don't buy them from web pages and don't listen to Wirecutter. This is just letting marketers tell…

> there's a tier of disposable goods There are some product categories for which no strong options exist. For example, contemporary, top-of-the-line Kitchen Aid mixers have intermittently been produced with plastic motor parts. Go look at the reviews for sewing machines. Klein tools, which have historically been super high quality, made in USA, has started mixing in cheaper made in china products. Chippewa boots (War…

When it came to mixers I got a large Kenwood over a KitchenAid because it has a 10 year warranty vs 1 year for KitchenAid. People claim that modern Kenwood mixers aren't as good since manufacturing was moved to China, but if they're still standing by the products with a long warranty then they can't be that bad.

Re: O Holy Crap

#254

Post by bumby »

eternityforest wrote: post #167
mikepurvis wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree, but I think the issue here comes with a typical phased design process: - Mechanical: "Here's the physical specs, no need to account for A, B, or C, as it's been handled in software" - Electrical: "Here are the physical constraints and electrical spec. No need to account for X, Y, or Z, as it's being handled in software." - Firmware: "You need to handle A, B, C, X, Y, and Z, but if you run out of time or d…

The other issue I see is when mechanical and electrical don't actually give firmware the data or control they need. You'll see stuff like a lack of battery level monitoring, or relays without current sensing. I'm not sure why we don't do things the other way, have firmware people present at every step. Some things can't be fixed later. If mechanical puts a weak link gear designed to fail before the motor, firmware mi…

Completely anecdotal, but my experience was that a large amount is attributable to systems engineers and project managers not having adequate software background. Invariably, this leads to software rigor being deprioritized or with just little oversight. After all "it's just software"

Re: O Holy Crap

#255

Post by jemmyw »

mschuster91 wrote: post #248
jemmyw wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The old model was impossible to clean. Did the designers never meet a cat? I've got two sure microchip cat doors. They've been reliable. Same problem, hard to clean. When one of our cats figured out how to break through the door sure sent me a 3d printed plastic part that clipped on over the latch. I think their customer care is pretty good.

> The old model was impossible to clean. Did the designers never meet a cat? The new one isn't much better tbh... > When one of our cats figured out how to break through the door sure sent me a 3d printed plastic part that clipped on over the latch. I mean, my cats are smart enough to open doors, cupboards and drawers, but how on earth can a cat break through a cat flap?! Brute strength?

He's a big cat. There was a little gap at the bottom where the latch came up into the door. He would get his claws under the gap and then he could wrench it open. The clip on part covers the gap. I guess they have enough people with that problem to have designed a fix but not enough to update the product.

Re: O Holy Crap

#256

Post by gibspaulding »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #55
lordgroff wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of shopping wisely and, at least sometimes, of spending more money up front. People always reach for the smelling salts when I tell them how much my (hand) coffee grinder cost, but that thing is almost certain to outlast me.

I've got my selling salts, please tell me which coffee grinder you own? And by the way, since the topic of "where do I find the good stuff" keeps coming up, why is there no site that is your one-stop recommendation destination for finding quality appliances, tools? We all know we can no longer trust Amazon reviews. Consumer Reports has been around for ages but I don't feel they've kept in lockstep with the changing t…

/r/buyitforlife is a decent start if you don't mind Reddit.

Re: O Holy Crap

#257

Post by jackcosgrove »

My parents' home has a boiler that dates from 1959. It still works great. Now boilers are well known to be durable, but every HVAC tech I've spoken to has said the new ones aren't expected to last sixty years.

Meanwhile a comparable modern gas furnace lasts at best twenty years.

I long for the time when I can start buying quality goods that last. As it is with small children a lot of stuff has to be disposable because the kids will destroy it. I'm talking couches, kitchen tables, etc. Small children are incredibly destructive!

Re: O Holy Crap

#258

Post by schwartzworld »

vages wrote: post #4

Be aware that survivorship bias may fool you when comparing the quality of new and old items. The single juicer that lasts 70 years may be the only one of its kind to last that long, the others from the same production year being left to rot and rust in a landfill. That being said, I definitely believe that planned obsolesence and unintentional bad quality is a plague on modern consumer items. I am lucky enough to ha…

For me, it's no replaceable batteries. Anything with an internal battery has a finite span of usefulness. There's no real excuse for making batteries inaccessible, other than forcing people to rebuy.

A great example is Tile, little tracking tags for your keys. I bought one, and in a year the battery died, just in time to get an email from the company offering a 10% discount on a new one.

Re: O Holy Crap

#259

Post by phaedrus »

Regarding the short cords on appliances, my mother (retired) has actually taken the time to call up at least one appliance manufacturer and give them an earful about kitchen appliances whose cords don't reach. The manufacturer had the gall to try to tell her this is "what consumers want" and they're saving her the favor of having a cord that could tangle or be dangerous.

So her kitchen features appliances plugged into orange extension cords.

I had a German-made burr coffee grinder that died after a few months of use. When I went to repair it I found an approximately 2"x3" circuit board packed with components including relays, optoisolators, chips, and capacitors. I replaced that entire board with a single honking big momentary toggle switch.

Re: O Holy Crap

#260

Post by matth3 »

mikestew wrote: post #161
oblio wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Carrot peeler? What nonsense. Back of a knife does a fine job. It does, but it's both slower and less safe than one of these things, if you know how to use it right: https://www.ikea.com/nl/en/p/ikea-365-vaerdefull-potato-peel... Personally I'd recommend that style over the "default" peelers that look like this one: https://www.ikea.com/nl/en/p/ikea-365-vaerdefull-peeler-blac... The vertical one is much faster.

The 2nd one is "default"? In the U. S., I don't I've ever seen a peeler that wasn't like your first link. That, or I just never recognized the second link as a peeler. Looks kind of like a cheese slicer to me. :-)

Whilst simultaneously realising the absurdity of the topic, I feel compelled to say how much easier the second style is to use - a thought I've oddly had more than once.

I like to cook with my child, they were able to peel carrots at age three using one, albeit with me holding the carrot!

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