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Why every microwave sucks these days

moth.monster

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Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#231

Post by baal80spam »

mackeyja92 wrote: post #111
ForkMeOnTinder wrote: post #11

As a chronic comparison shopper, this is a first-world problem that's near and dear to my heart. I think the reason microwaves (and appliances in general) suck is because comparison shopping is so hard. I wish I could get a list of all microwaves and filter by criteria such as: - Does the +30 seconds button start cooking immediately, or do you have to also press "start" afterwards? - Does it beep every 30 seconds aft…

Most microwaves have a mute setting. Often it’s set by holding 1 for 5 seconds. Varies by brand and model of course. Definitely worth looking up if it bugs ya!

Do most of microwaves have such a setting? I've never seen one.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#232

Post by jacknews »

Nursie wrote: post #82
ericpauley wrote: post #10

The worst part about this article for me is that there is a reason for some people to buy new microwaves. Inverter microwaves (yes, these have been around a while) have become far more broadly available. This is a worthwhile upgrade for many users.

Yep. We moved house recently so do fall into the articles “no reason to buy one except…” But when we started shopping we were pleasantly surprised that there had been at least two major developments in the tech since last time I bought one. First, an inverter gives you actual power-level control instead of the old-fashioned on-off modulation. Second, flat-bed models have rotating emitters so you no longer need that r…

"Second, flat-bed models have rotating emitters s"

Now that's interesting, how do they work - is it a rotating waveguide? I see an hour or two of web 'research' ahead.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#233

Post by Krutonium »

kevincox wrote: post #147
Arainach wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dare I ask why? Analog dials for time are imprecise, frustrating, and I've seen far more of them break than any electronic component in home appliances.

Very quick and easy to turn it to where I want and precise time isn't very important on a microwave. Idealy the scale wouldn't be linear so that you have more accuracy under 1min and more range available.

Disagree. The perfect amount of time to cook my favorite brand of Hot Dog in the Microwave is exactly 12 seconds. Shorter and it's too cold, longer and it starts to split.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#234

Post by mnky9800n »

I wanted a table top oven, my flat doesn't have room to have a built in one. At the shops it was impossible to find simply an oven. Everything was some kind of oven, rotisserie, smoker, steamer, microwave, air fryer contraption. They all wanted 500+ euros for the honour of owning such a device. There were no knobs or buttons. Only a touch interface with dozens of icons with no description as to what they did. And when you use them, they seem to use all of their functionality with some kind of optimization routine to cook whatever it is you fancy. Finally I did find a simple oven (simple meaning, it has one function and that is too be an oven). But it shouldn't be so difficult.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#236

Post by samplatt »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #202
lb1lf wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Siemens oven wanted an Internet connection on first power up. I fired off an E-mail to Siemens, stating that there was ONE feature which could tempt me into granting it access: NTP support. Much to my surprise, I got an enthusiastic reply from an engineer stating that this would be rolled out in a future firmware update. Fingers crossed.

thinking of internet of things - I would expect ntp was top on the to do list for anything wanting to be on that.

I would assume that it usually IS a feature on the top of a list... but then they actually start to work on it, and a new fresh set of young developers get exposed to the nightmarish clusterfuck that is datetimes and networking, and then it eventually gets rejected.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#237

Post by samplatt »

gobins wrote: post #18
ForkMeOnTinder wrote: post #11

As a chronic comparison shopper, this is a first-world problem that's near and dear to my heart. I think the reason microwaves (and appliances in general) suck is because comparison shopping is so hard. I wish I could get a list of all microwaves and filter by criteria such as: - Does the +30 seconds button start cooking immediately, or do you have to also press "start" afterwards? - Does it beep every 30 seconds aft…

The Samsung microwaves, although with good build quality, are notorious for having a very bad UX. - The buttons don't give have tactile feedback. - Setting time is very confusing. - You have to press multiple buttons just to start. - If you want to cancel/clear timer, you have to press multiple buttons again.

How is Samsung so bad at software in every single division they own? It's amazing.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#238

Post by az226 »

hyeonwho22 wrote: post #117
ChainOfFools wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kind of review you're looking for is what Consumer Reports is, (or at least used to be, as I'm not sure of the current state of things,) famous for. Because it's a paid subscription, and all of the items they review are actually purchased from retail suppliers who have no knowledge that Consumer Reports is the buyer, they can take their time and do very thorough comparisons incorporating tests of real world usabi…

I got a CR subscription to look at air filters. For good air filtering you really only need a hepa filter ($20) in front of a fan ($20), but CR only analyses the performance of brand name products ($200).

Next time try your library. Many offer free access over the web.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#239

Post by vanderZwan »

teo_zero wrote: post #195

I wonder how much the author has traveled abroad, because when TFA mentions "the world", I don't recognize what I see here where I live: I've never found a pocorn button, for example, or moisture sensors, not even in the good old times. And Instant Pot is completely unknown, Covid notwithstanding.

Yeah, I wonder if this is a US specific problem, because there seem to be plenty of "stable" established household appliance companies in Europe that are perfectly happy living on the margins of products that only get bought when the old model fails.

In this particular case I bought a simple "one knob for power, one for time" model at the local Swedish supermarket for the equivalent of about fifty dollars (because it was in the discount) just a few years ago. It was during covid times so it can't have been more than three years. It works fine, precisely because it's dumb.

They don't sell that model any more, but another local chain has the equivalent for (at current exchange rates) about 90 dollars[0].

[0] https://www.clasohlson.com/se/Fristaende-mikrovagsugn-vit/p/...

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#240

Post by jedberg »

ForkMeOnTinder wrote: post #11

As a chronic comparison shopper, this is a first-world problem that's near and dear to my heart. I think the reason microwaves (and appliances in general) suck is because comparison shopping is so hard. I wish I could get a list of all microwaves and filter by criteria such as: - Does the +30 seconds button start cooking immediately, or do you have to also press "start" afterwards? - Does it beep every 30 seconds aft…

Buy a Panasonic. They seem to care about user experience. Beeps once, +30 starts it, and they're the only one with an inverter, so you can do a true 50% (unless I'm in a huge hurry I always cook at 50% for double the time, and it seems to come out much better).
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