Why every microwave sucks these days • Hacker News Board

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#341

Post by account42 » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 3:49 PM UTC

harel wrote: post #337

tristan957 wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If people listened to the author of the web page, it would stop an ad-driven web. Because the world continues to use Chromium skins, we are inevitably going to get some technology that ad blockers won't work on any more. See FLoC, Web Bundles, or Web Integrity. How do you all use a browser that comes up with these adversarial technologies?

Because on a daily basis, it doesn't affect me. Personally. I don't care. That's the honest answer. On days I do care, I have my means to be undetected. When the ads bother me, I switch on the pihole. Some sites don't work with pihole enabled so sometimes it's either off or I create exceptions. But I like Chrome. The convenience I get from chrome is invaluable to me. No other browser can give me that exactly. But all…

I too do not care about the environment because a litle polltion won't make a difference.

And I don't bother with a retirement fund because I make enough money for my needs right now so why care about the future.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#342

Post by 93po » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 3:56 PM UTC

harel wrote: post #280

account42 wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enjoy you advertiser-driven web.

This won't stop an advertiser driven web. Only an alternative approach that maintain provider profits. Adverts exist because we refuse to pay for every service. This doesn't offer an alternative, but presumes to know better by removing user's choice.

The internet doesn't have to be commercialized. Content like this would exist just fine without profits.

"Adverts exist because we refuse to pay for every service"

No, adverts exist largely because of poor quality content that ranks high in google and does everything possible to give readers the least amount of information in the slowest way possible. I would gladly pay to visit websites that shared a common ethical framework for cost sharing.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#343

Post by bsilvereagle » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 3:58 PM UTC

mrob wrote: post #293

hyeonwho22 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The removal efficiency of the filter is built in to CADR, so say a MERV-14 filter with higher air flow and a HEPA filter with lower air flow can have the same CADR.

The Wikipedia article does not discuss the 2 (different!) methods of calculating CADR but this does: https://frdmtoplay.com/nagivating-air-purification/

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#344

Post by hex4def6 » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 4:06 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #310

There's a big innovation I'm looking for in microwaves and I simply do not understand why nobody sells it yet: An interior IR sensor/camera that will cycle/adjust power until my food is fully cooked to a certain temperature but not above it. I don't want to pick a duration and I don't want to pick power levels and I don't want hot spots and I don't want to have to check the food every 30 seconds or 3 minutes or whate…

My parents until recently had a microwave made in 1984 that had that feature. It had a port for a temperature sensor probe that (I assume) you pushed into the food being microwaved.

I seem to recall that it didn't have a turntable, which is a pretty big negative, but probably required for a wired sensor.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#345

Post by Zarel » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 4:15 PM UTC

SAI_Peregrinus wrote: post #322

crazygringo wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+30 seconds quick start is pretty common already on microwaves. But it doesn't cover all use cases -- I regularly cook things for e.g. 15 minutes at 10% power, to defrost and warm them evenly. That's one of the main thing I use my microwave for, actually. I don't want to have to hit +30 thirty times in a row. If it's digital, I'm gonna need a number pad. I would be perfectly happy with clearly labeled time and power…

> but I'm not sure you can really make a knob that works accurately for both 30 seconds and 30 minutes. Not terribly difficult. An encoder and software to handle "acceleration". Move the knob slowly, and it steps by a small amount (say, 30s). Move the knob quickly, and it jumps by more per degree of change. My main camera lens's focus works like this, and it's great. This does require care in implementation, getting…

Yes, most microwaves with dials do in fact work like this.

Compare the the distance between 0 and 1 with the distance between 5 and 6 on this microwave:

https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-NE-1025F-Silver-Commercial-...

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#346

Post by BlueTemplar » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 4:16 PM UTC

hex4def6 wrote: post #344

crazygringo wrote: post #310

There's a big innovation I'm looking for in microwaves and I simply do not understand why nobody sells it yet: An interior IR sensor/camera that will cycle/adjust power until my food is fully cooked to a certain temperature but not above it. I don't want to pick a duration and I don't want to pick power levels and I don't want hot spots and I don't want to have to check the food every 30 seconds or 3 minutes or whate…

My parents until recently had a microwave made in 1984 that had that feature. It had a port for a temperature sensor probe that (I assume) you pushed into the food being microwaved. I seem to recall that it didn't have a turntable, which is a pretty big negative, but probably required for a wired sensor.

What if you push the sensor from the top, couldn't you still spin it ?

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#347

Post by abosley » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 4:20 PM UTC

Did 15? seconds of fact checking the blog post since, as a home owner, it seemed wrong based on my little experience researching, purchasing and installing kitchen appliances in my own home. Midea controls 90% of the countertop microwave market. Even then, Panasonic, GE and others still manufacture their own. GE, whirlpool and Samsung control the Lionshare of the US market ~ 55% AND there is some evidence that the market for microwaves is growing at ~5% per year. I think there are better examples of total monopolies out there that the author could have chosen.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#348

Post by shepherdjerred » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 4:22 PM UTC

rssoconnor wrote: post #291

huytersd wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Oh that's nice! About a year ago I was considering a 20A countertop appliance (espresso machine), but my kitchen only had 20A plugs for the fridge/oven.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#349

Post by eekwatersrising » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 4:48 PM UTC

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.

And 33 seconds is boiling molten lava.
I love how microwaves work, there’s a real art to it. 25 seconds , everything is cold but 40 seconds is boiling.
25x2 seconds , with a very short break in between the two, is not equal to 50 seconds.

Making these numbers “up” but anyone who has used a microwave with skill and attention will understand me.

Also, free tips: 1- put a moist paper towel over pizza and bread to keep it from hardening like a rock later on. 2 - microwave stale bread for a second life.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#350

Post by eduction » Thu, Oct 26, 2023, 5:09 PM UTC

smaudet wrote: post #208

eduction wrote: post #68

This is like a textbook example of Louis CK’s adage “everything is amazing and nobody’s happy.” Microwaves are great. Amazon will have a Farberware or RCA for $70 to my home in two days - including shipping! What exactly is the problem? No one has ever used them to do anything other than heat things up. I was a child of the 80s. No one ever used these supposed features the post complains are disappearing. Instant Pot…

I don't think you read the article and are probably new at life, or just out of touch. Microwaves should last for decades, this is the same type of thing that you may have heard your parents complain about "I had a can opener that I got from my mother and it just broke, the five new ones I bought same price all broke within a year". There is really nothing complex about one. It's a timer connected to some voltage equ…

> the thing falls apart every 6 months.

Where do you get this? Microwaves do not fall apart every six months. I had one that we had to replace after 4 or 5 years because we didn't clean the spills enough. We liked the quality enough we replaced with the exact same model.

You mention you think I'm young even though I said I was a kid in the 80s. I think it's actually young people who tend to romanticize old stuff. Those old microwaves were not miraculously better quality. The ones still alive today are, this is survivor bias.

The old ones were generally fine, the new ones are generally fine. They break eventually, implements exposed to the mess of cooking (liquids, steam, caked on grime) tend to, unless you maintain them, which guess what, no one does. We don't really have the time.

The best evidence that the quality is fine today is that, by the article's own testimony, people stopped improving them. If they really sucked someone would go in and make a better one and make a bunch of money. There's a reason no one is doing that.

People love to complain, today as ever.