this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2024
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Even as an iPhone guy, I’ll say that their consumer electronics are just fine. Very good, even.
But their appliances are crap. Apparently, they used to be quite good, but once they got a bug up their ass about sticking a bonkers amount of tech into them, they started cutting costs on build quality, so they just don’t last more than a few years before parts start crapping out.
Companies like LG and GE are much better at balancing tech, quality, reliability, and price points.
I can't stand "fancy" electronic appliances. I hate all the musical beeping and half the time the panels don't even recognize my finger taps. It makes doing chores more frustrating than it already is.
We recently bought a fixer-upper and have had to replace a bunch of old appliances. I told my husband the simpler/cheaper the appliance is, the better. Knobs over digital displays.
The only time I like the newer digital versions is with microwave ovens.
I hate to break it to you, but even with the knobby versions, it’s still electronic under the hood. But I know what you mean about the annoying bleeps and bloops. Again, though, the Samsungs were always the worst offenders in that regard, omg…
GEs make little noise, and LGs are pretty low-key. Whirlpools and Maytags just beep a couple of times.
When I bought my house it came with an induction stove.
I thought it was pretty great being able to boil water in 2 minutes.
It was a GE profile, and it just suddenly mysteriously failed on me. Kind of sucks, it wasn't that old of a stove, maybe 5 years.
The board that it needed to have replaced cost $1,700.
So I said fuck that, I went and bought a Whirlpool induction stove. $900.
It has worked really well for the last year and a half, but the one thing that I truly and honestly despise about it is that the controls are capacitive touch and that means instead of flicking your wrist and setting it on medium heat you have to hit a button to turn on the stove and then hit a different button three or four times to adjust it down to medium heat and it doesn't always respond to the button touches.
If I end up having to buy a stove again in the future, it's got to have a knob on it. It's such a tiny thing but it's so fucking annoying.
I’ll say this about GE appliances, until they were bought by Haier in 2016, they sucked too. But once they were bought out by Haier, their quality improved remarkably, and so did their customer service. They’re pretty great now.
I’ve had exactly two dishwashers completely stop functioning in my entire life. Both were GE post Haier and within the last 6 years. Also had a Haier made GE microwave completely fail.
I replaced the microwave (and the matching stove) with Samsung and haven’t had one bit of trouble with either.
I thought I had just gotten a lemon, but three separate failures within a couple of years has really soured my opinion of them. I was a lot more worried about the Samsung appliances I bought, but they’ve been a dream.
Note: I am not recommending Samsung appliances, at all. I got an amazing deal and fully expected them to fail shortly after the warranty was up. I've had to repair several of my friends and family’s washers, dryers, and refrigerators. Samsung’s poor reputation is well earned, I just got lucky
Of course they've been electronic for decades, but lately it seems they have overdone it so the thing actually becomes less convenient. Kinda like in cars.
And some of the high-end models yes, but there’s still a wide range available with different levels of “functionality.”
You should check out Electrolux. They make some really nice laundry appliances without any smart features at all. They’re great.
My husband and I literally just unwrapped a new Whirlpool washer.
enjoy!
Have you ever rebuilt and repaired old electrical appliances? An old microwave with a turn dial timer is most certainly not electronic. Electrical sure, but not electronic.
Those only basically have a mechanical timer dial, high voltage transformer, high voltage diode, magnetron, light, fan, turntable motor, fuse, and some safety switches for the door.
Absolutely nothing electronic about them, they're as dumb as an old-school toaster, they just happen to use high voltage to generate microwaves instead.
i'm not referring to old appliances
Well, generally speaking, most people discussing the benefits of appliances and stuff with turn dials are referring to older/simpler appliances, back before they started adding in unnecessary electronics and 'features' and stuff.
I've never actually seen any microwave with a turn dial that has any sort of electronics in them, those are all built almost identical in schematics, aside from different sizes and wattages.
i don't know why you'd assume that. lots of current/new appliances are still made with dials and knobs. in fact, most are.
also, you're the only one here discussing microwaves. so far, others and myself have been discussing refrigerators and laundry appliances.
OP mentioned microwave ovens in the comment that you responded with "I hate to break it to you..", so yeah guess you missed something there.
i guess you missed the part when i said "i wasn't referring to old appliances," because you're only talking about old microwaves.
and since you're clearly just here to troll and argue. i'm blocking you.
bye.
I think his point is that older and simpler can't be equated like that, because new simple appliances are still electronic, not electromechanical anymore.
New appliances still don't need to have 'smart' technology to work, but where the hell do you purchase a new air conditioner these days that doesn't require an app to operate?
Seriously, you can't even find a dumb air conditioner anymore, at least not in my area.
That was just the first step in enshittification, when they broke from available manuals and standardized parts. Now you gotta have a WiFi connection and online account to even access a new air conditioner, washing machine, etc.
The stores don't even offer dumb appliances anymore. There's no reason that a microwave should even exist online, especially after the borked update that bricked many of them with a bad firmware update that was meant for a food steamer.
Does that sound familiar? It should...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YEZCySVQHEU
Strangely, that sounds quite similar to CrowdStrike Falcon.
Fuck planned obsolescence, and fuck everything being connected online all the time, especially auto updates!
They still make them, just limited models for consumers and commercial use like apartments. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Amana-3-5-cu-ft-Top-Load-Washer-with-Dual-Action-Agitator-White/1003201568?
They still produce them in limited models. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Amana-3-5-cu-ft-Top-Load-Washer-with-Dual-Action-Agitator-White/1003201568?
Get commercial washer and dryer, Speed Queen, on the used market.
A used model will cost as much as a new Samsung consumer model, but it'll last far longer and has replaceable hardware inside.
We literally just today unwrapped a new Whirlpool washer. I'll keep that in mind next time though.
it will also tear your clothes apart while using 3x the water and power as a newer model LG or GE without an agitator
no thanks!
Right, right.
Because commercial laundromats don't have to pay for water or energy.
Pray tell, how would a washer tear your clothes when they're the same washing mechanism as a consumer model - a tub with paddles on the sides.
Donyour clothes get torn at the laundromat? Not seeing how they'd stay in business if that were the case.
Right, because I want to pay a huge amount for water and power like a commercial laundromat does. Lol.
I love it when people argue with me like I don’t do this for a living.
I don't know if it's still an issue, but their older TVs were riddled with bad capacitors: https://www.cnet.com/tech/home-entertainment/samsung-settlement-warrants-older-tvs-with-faulty-capacitors/
I still have one of their HD TVs from like 2012, and it has bad capacitors and periodically resets itself, but I've never had it fixed 😅