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Why every microwave sucks these days

moth.monster

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Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#241

Post by NLips »

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).

For best filtering, place the filter so air is “sucked” through by the fan, rather than “pushed”.

(Quite possibly what you meant; I just found “in front of” easy to interpret in either way)

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#242

Post by fomine3 »

jpalomaki wrote: post #127

Couple of things I'm now looking at microwave: 1)inverter 2)no rotating plate. My understanding is that with inverter the microwave can actually adjust the power instead of doing the on/off/on/off cycle you get with the cheap ones. I guess the rotating plate is there, because it's hard to distribute the microwaves evenly inside the oven. Some time ago I tried to find one without the rotating plate, but the only ones…

Inverter and no turning table is a common in Japanese microwave market. I think these are obvious improvement over basic one. My third preference is to have infrared temp sensor, but it's still not so common except highends. Panasonic tend to have it.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#243

Post by foul »

trimethylpurine wrote: post #210

You've done what looks to be a sincere job of blaming capitalism while complaining about a manufacturing monopoly hosted by a self proclaimed communist party. That is to say, for me, your example paints a dark picture of communism being weaponized against capitalism through the exploitation of well meaning globalist agenda. Trust in good foreign relations, in this example, has allowed a foreign bad actor to skirt aro…

Naivety is an aspect of economics when the globalization/dropshipping dynamics comes at play. For a lot of Western brands it's cash in, cash out, just some worries about sales-related personnel and maybe (not in this domain) some R&D. Unless you want to treat stories like Amazon and its sellers or rise of brands like Xiaomi/Mi as a cost optimization, in that case you're right that naivety goes entirely out of the field of view.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#244

Post by pests »

hattmall wrote: post #41
paranoidrobot wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do stores let you operate these kinds of things where you are?

Yeah, any appliance store will. Not like a walmart, but also they probably will, at the very least you could buy it and return it, but just go to an appliance store or even lowes. They will have lots of floor models open and active and will help you set up to test anything else you want because the salesmen are paid on commission.

I think people are so conditioned to the modern lack of customer support from companies (or the strict adherence to "policy) that simple things like this are overlooked. Literally just asking them to plug it in before you buy it... is forgotten by most people. If it's not a secice written on a sign then it's must be impossible right?

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#245

Post by bryanrasmussen »

samplatt wrote: post #236
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

this implies that at some point NTP won't be implemented anywhere because the fresh sets of young developers are too delicate to handle the problems of various older technologies that everything depends on?

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#246

Post by softskunk »

I have a combination oven that I bought from MediaMarkt (European electronics retailer) a few months ago, since the small studio I live in didn’t come with one. It has microwave, grill, convection and standard heating options. The controls aren’t particularly intuitive but it works fine and seems to be of decently high quality.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#247

Post by fomine3 »

clausecker wrote: post #97
resolutebat wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that that article is only about Instant Pot, and this one is (mostly) about microwaves. I for instance had no idea that a company called Midea existed, much less that it's now a near-monopoly supplier of shitty OEM microwaves to the world. Here's hoping my indestructible Toshiba keeps on ticking, since looks like Midea swallowed them too in 2016. https://www.midea-group.com/our-businesses/smart-home/toshib...

Last time I checked it was a duopoly now. One company is Midea, the other is Galanz. However, some companies (like Panasonic) still make their own high-end microwaves.

Here in Japan, four major electrics brands (two are now Taiwanese/Chinese owned) still actively develop their original microwave oven combo. https://kakaku.com/kaden/microwave-oven/ranking_2115/

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#248

Post by Nursie »

jacknews wrote: post #232
Nursie wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Hehe, do report back, I don't think I know myself!

From what little I do understand, there's some sort of rotating emitter arrangement under the flat bed on the bottom of the microwave. Panasonic say -

"In the case of Turntable style microwave ovens, the microwaves were emitted from a fixed antenna that is located on the side of the cavity. These emitted microwave will then bounce around the cavity. With microwave ovens that use flatbed technology, the microwaves are emitted from a rotating antenna located underneath the ceramic base of your microwave oven."

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#249

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

It's fascinating to me how many people here yearn for a simple set of controls. Two dials, maybe physical not digital. I feel the same way.

I can't remember if it was in "The Design of Everyday Things", or "The Inmates are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive us Crazy", but a story is recounted about trying to buy a usable video recorder.

He assumed that the expensive ones would have solved the UX issues (like being able to set the time correctly!), but no. The more expensive ones had control interfaces for all kinds of useless functions and were incomprehensible. He just wanted something easy to use, and ended up buying the cheapest model.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#250

Post by fomine3 »

atonse wrote: post #24
willcipriano wrote: post #12

I'd like to see a Zojirushi microwave. I feel like they could make one that seems a little magical and worth the upgrade.

I got excited when I misread this thinking they had one already. Their thermoses are so amazing. In fact, they’re so good that I often have to keep the lid open cuz my coffee stays too hot for too long.

They entered to the market recently (maybe JDM). I've considered to buy it but finally not, due to it's expensive. https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B0B7GZ3DCG/
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