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Why every microwave sucks these days

moth.monster

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Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#291

Post by rssoconnor »

huytersd wrote: post #176
shepherdjerred wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a 20A microwave is probably something you'd want to supervise pretty closely Aren't standard microwaves 15A? Wouldn't a 15A -> 20A microwave just be 33% more powerful? Is that a dangerous jump? I know very little about electricity

If I’m not mistaken 15A is a standard residential wall outlet with 14 AWG wires. 20A isn’t that much more but since it’s not standard, I think it would require a higher gauge of wire such as 12 AWG and an updated breaker. I don’t know much about electricity either

20A is now standard in kitchens[0]. For example, when I moved in, all my kitchen outlets were 20 amps. The sockets look like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NEMA_5-20R.svg

[0]Requirement: Provide at least two 20-amp, 120-volt circuits to supply power to GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) electric receptacles for countertop and eating areas. -- https://www.thespruce.com/kitchen-electrical-code-basics-182...

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#292

Post by uxp100 »

Cool, I just bought a microwave that is so much better than the one I had.

Things better about the modern microwave: It heats food faster despite the same power rating. It has a higher CFM vent which is noticeably better than what I had before at getting cooking gasses off my stove. It has a brighter stove light. The panel is completely blank aside from the time when not in use. (I find all the buttons kind of mentally disruptive, odd maybe.) The buttons are kind of annoying capacitive things, but other than that I’m very positive on it.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#293

Post by mrob »

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).

HEPA filtration only matters if you have a clean side and a dirty side. Most air filters exhaust clean air into the same room as the intake, so all that matters is clean air delivery rate [0]. It's often possible to get better clean air delivery rate using higher flow through a less restrictive non-HEPA filter.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_air_delivery_rate

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#295

Post by mrbigbob »

bambax wrote: post #212
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…

> comparison shopping is so hard Yes, but it's much worse than it needs to be. When searching for hard disks on Amazon, if you search for "hard disk 8 tb" for example, Amazon will suggest the following criteria on the left side of the page: Hard Disk Size 4 TB & Above 3 TB 2 TB 1 TB 501 to 999 GB 321 to 500 GB 121 to 320 GB Up to 80 GB Really? What is the point of this? How can it not do better?

Amazons search as you are aware has been notoriously bad for many many years at this point. i find that the diskprices website is very helpful when searching for hard drives on amazon. https://diskprices.com/

If you dont want to use amazon https://www.pcpartpicker.com has a good section to search and compare hard drive sizes/pricing

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#296

Post by pornel »

solardev wrote: post #40
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.

What do they do exactly? Just operate on a variable power level, without cycling on and off?

It's a good keyword to search for a microwave that isn't the same $15 hardware as all of the other ones.

I don't care about the variable power, but found an "inverter" microwave without the rotating plate, which cooks evenly without it of course. It has more internal space and is easier to clean.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#297

Post by b112 »

dagw wrote: post #288
theshrike79 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really doesn't matter whether you heat your food for 28 or 32 seconds.

No, but 10-15 seconds vs 30 seconds is a huge difference in some cases. 15 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to room temp. 30 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to melted.

While I know this is a bit crass to say, there was a time where people just knew how long things took, via internal clocks.

It's a skill like any other, which of course has vanished, much like reading maps and math in head.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#298

Post by bonton89 »

bambax wrote: post #212
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…

> comparison shopping is so hard Yes, but it's much worse than it needs to be. When searching for hard disks on Amazon, if you search for "hard disk 8 tb" for example, Amazon will suggest the following criteria on the left side of the page: Hard Disk Size 4 TB & Above 3 TB 2 TB 1 TB 501 to 999 GB 321 to 500 GB 121 to 320 GB Up to 80 GB Really? What is the point of this? How can it not do better?

My conspiracy theory is Amazon search is intentionally bad to make their ads more valuable.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#299

Post by Arainach »

dTal wrote: post #285
Krutonium wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

For such a short amount of time, you could count the seconds - or note how far the turntable rotates in that time. Even with a digital dial, I doubt I would take the time to input 12 seconds - I'd just whack the +30 second start and stare at it for 12 seconds.

>Even with a digital dial, I doubt I would take the time to input 12 seconds - I'd just whack the +30 second start and stare at it for 12 seconds.

...which is far easier and more consistent than trying to counting seconds in my head.

It's also more repeatable and transferrable when someone else is cooking the same thing and asks me how long I heated it for.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#300

Post by Arainach »

b112 wrote: post #297
dagw wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but 10-15 seconds vs 30 seconds is a huge difference in some cases. 15 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to room temp. 30 seconds will take butter from fridge temp to melted.

While I know this is a bit crass to say, there was a time where people just knew how long things took, via internal clocks. It's a skill like any other, which of course has vanished, much like reading maps and math in head.

Much of the progress of civilization has involved tools that turn things from skills which require focus into things that are automated. It frees the mind to focus on other, more important things.

I could also just have an "on" button I have to hold, count seconds in my head, and stop when I think it's done, but thankfully no one is advocating for regressing UI quite that much....yet.

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