h a l f b a k e r yNo, not that kind of baked.
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When I was deciding on a new vacuum cleaner, I found the choice
very hard to make, being confronted with so many options, prices
and mixed messages. I decided that the best method was to think
about this problem the other way round. ie which were the ones to
definitely avoid?
With this in
mind I went to my local recycling centre where giant
skips (known as dumpsters in the colonies) were filled to the brim
with all kinds of segregated post consumer materials, including
one full of appliances.
I asked one of the helpful attendants "which vacuum cleaner do
you get in here the most?" Without any hesitation he laughed and
told
me the answer, adding "somedays the skips are full of those bloody
things." I now at least knew which one NOT to buy.
This brings me to the idea publishing a league table based on the
monthly totals of the contents of these skips. It wouldn't be that
hard to do either, just a matter of logging in each item as it was
dropped off and compiling the data.
Extra detail would liven up the whole process i.e. a brief reason
for disposal? For example: my friend's washing machine was
destroyed when a rat got inside it and was electrocuted after
chewing through a wire. (true story)
Cheesoid
http://www.youtube....watch?v=B_m17HK97M8
"cheddar status... ten days to use by date!" [xenzag, May 04 2009]
[link]
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I like it but have a caveat: what about trends and built-in obsolescence? I spend quite a lot of time examining the contents of skips and what people abandon is often in good working order but just outdated, for instance CRT monitors and TVs. Also, when products fail, do they tend to fail in the same way? I suspect they do, but if not, there's a free source of spare parts. |
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Age of product would be a good category. ie there is nothing strange about replacing a 10 year old computer, but other items should last much longer. |
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The oldest computer in this house is three decades old. |
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This is brilliant and should be done. Correcting it for factors
such as reason for disposal would give an improvement, but
would add complexity. [+] |
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No, [po], sadly i have never owned a Speccy. It's a Tandy Color. They can be induced to run OS9, it seems, which is one of the things which i've never quite got round to. |
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//They can be induced to run OS9// |
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With only marginally less difficulty than training a goldfish to answer the phone. |
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Just upgraded my virus scanner and applied this very principle by searching for "best-candidate-name bugs, problems". Lowest skip activity won. And actually the Google skip version of this idea would work too. |
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//With only marginally less difficulty than training a goldfish to answer the phone.//
Ah, my next project. |
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You also need to correct for popularity - for example, if a certain model of vacuum cleaner has 50% of the entire market and the dump guy says that they are being thrown away by the hundred, they may still be a far more reliable vacuum cleaner than average. In fact, you should also correct for intensity of use - if a certain model of vacuum cleaner is favoured by people with dogs and small children it may appear less reliable but will, in fact, have had to cope with more demanding usage conditions. If the dump extracted diagnostic information from the vacuum cleaners' computers and graded the discarded cleaners according to market share and age of the cleaners, the aggregate tonnage of dust collected, mean and median particle size collected and aggregate duration for which the cleaner was operated with a over-full bag, then you'd be able to make an informed choice. |
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You mean vacuum cleaners have a computer? For what purpose do they use it? I think it's a good time to repost "cheesoid", one of my favourite comedy sketches of recent times. (see link) |
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Have you heard their sketch 'Baddies'? It was for the Secret
Policeman's Ball... very funny. |
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Vacuum cleaners only have a diagnostic computer in the imaginary world inhabited by my annotation, but there's a lot, potentially, that a vacuum cleaner computer could do. |
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Model year and visible wear & tear need to be noted. If the bins are filling up with a model that's 10 years old and beat to hell it might be a sign that it's a very good brand. Also be prepared for protests from manufacturers who will complain that it's not a fair method of comparison. |
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That's not my fishbone, by the way. |
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There is such a thing as a robot vacuum cleaner and that does contain a computer. |
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The point of this is that the centre that I visited has very broad cross-section of users. The particular model (I won't name it) is a recent addition to "Vacuum world"; has been hyped into orbit by advertising; has a high design profile; a reputation for reliability and toughness, so I would expect them to NOT be skip fillers. |
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I get your point, Xen, and I think it's a good idea. I was just
recommending some additions to the service that would make it
more accurate and user-friendly. |
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The general approach I take on this is (where I have the time and am not prohibited by expense) I'll try to research the industrial market. Products created for Professional/Industrial use tend to avoid the flashy plastic swooshes and nuances added by the 'design' department and focus on pure, unadulterated function. |
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As soon as something is created for the "consumer" market, you know it's going to be a watered down, flashy, shazam, toy-type product that's going to be marketed by sitting on a shelf in a flashy box, rather than poured over by interested professionals who's living depends upon the chosen item's ability to perform its intended function - industrial models also tend to conform to standards in terms of fittings and componentry. |
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So, if I were buying vacuum cleaners, and wanted to get a reliable one, I'd probably Google "Industrial Vacuum Cleaner" and research that side of the market a little, rather than wasting time fiddling about in the consumer side of the market. |
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//rather than poured over //
sp. "pored", shirley. |
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//poured over// ahem...yes - it's a common benchmarking test, you take an appliance and pour a cup of tea over it to see how robust it might be under that kind of rigorous treatment - the results of these tests are then published in industry journals which are in turn studied by interested parties. |
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Said tea didn't suddenly start calculating improbability, did it? |
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