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Why every microwave sucks these days

moth.monster

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Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#41

Post by hattmall »

paranoidrobot wrote: post #28
citizenkeen wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally all those things are discoverable if you buy in a store. Edit: I maybe should have clarified "appliance store", rather than big box. But there are three appliance stores within ten miles of me that sell appliances. Not Home Depot, not Wal-Mart. Appliance stores. The refrigerators and ovens and microwaves are all plugged in and you can try any of them. The only thing you can't try is the gas ranges. This is…

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.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#43

Post by lazide »

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?

Correct

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#45

Post by udia »

Instant Pot died primarily due to private equity greed, not because of Instant Pot reliability.

In 2017, Cornell Capital bought the company for a total $500M of which $300M was financed by debt. Then 4 years later in 2021, it refinanced and added on debt, bringing the total debt to $535M. $245M was immediately paid out to shareholders as a dividend. Cornell Capital got paid back all the cash it invested in the company's acquisition, and then some. In 2023 due to high interest rates the company was no longer able to service its debt, costing the company ~$50M a year, and the company had to file Chapter 11.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#46

Post by solardev »

resolutebat wrote: post #27
tptacek wrote: post #3

This is basically a blog summary of Amanda Mull's Atlantic story from this summer: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/06/insta...

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...

Interesting, I have a Midea white labeled window air conditioner from Costco and that thing is SUPERB. Extremely quiet, cold, smart, all around just a fantastic device. I wonder why their microwaves are so bad

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#47

Post by QuarterReptile »

Well, my instant pot is a piece of junk. I got it ca. 2019 to replace my worn out rice cooker, and within 2-3 years the control dial failed. Now I have to spin the dial at a wide range of speeds while various pushing on, pulling on, and whispering incantations to the stupid thing. Worth making extra waste to replace? No, but it sure makes me mad that I need 90 seconds to set the cook timer.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#48

Post by dalyons »

civilitty wrote: post #38
Waterluvian wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want a microwave with an analog dial for time and a switch for low, med, high. They can keep the computer.

I was looking for a microwave with two knobs a few years ago and finally found one. Unfortunately it was one of the most expensive ones in the stores: https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/microwaves/bmo850.ht... Biggest annoyance is that it's 1500W so any time I'm microwaving packaged food I have to scale down power to 70-80% to match the wattage on the package.

I bought this one for the same reason , two simple knobs , no BS keypads and presets. It was expensive but I love it, more than I expected.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#49

Post by natch »

solardev wrote: post #42
natch wrote: post #33

As far as I'm concerned there is only one microwave on the market worth buying. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074RCGYLB ONE dial. One. Zero buttons. Perfect. It does not have a turntable, but it's never needed one.

Why doesn't it need a turntable?

No idea, it seems to cook things pretty evenly, but if I'm say pre-cooking potatoes for 6 minutes before frying them, I do manually turn every couple minutes to be sure. If you want a turntable this is not the one for you, but the ease of the turn-and-it's-on UX destroys any other concern here for me.

Re: Why every microwave sucks these days

#50

Post by solardev »

lazide wrote: post #43
solardev wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Correct

I don't understand why that is dramatically better than cycling? Isn't the overall energy input into the food roughly similar over time?

It's not like microwaving gives great texture or browning to begin with?

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