7 ms·

> Found the millennial? The knob design is the much older one as it's purely analog. Modern microwave knobs are not properly analog. They are so infuriating -

> Found the millennial? The knob design is the much older one as it's purely analog. Modern microwave knobs are not properly analog. They are so infuriating - an analog control fiddling with a discrete setting. As you turn the knob, it will occasionally (with no haptic feedback) tick over to the next discrete value.

andi999 6y ago
but much better than the old analog knob. For less than a minute you couldnt even turn it (usually jumped back to the bell or was anything from 20s to 1min)
- alias_neo 6y ago
  This. Since becoming a father I realised how annoying our analogue microwave knob is when you just need to blast something for 20 second while dealing with a screaming child. Either it's too short and you get 2 second, or it's too long and you get 60, now you need to do your best to cool the thing down quickly In the time before baby, the analogue microwave was refreshing, now it's a nuisance.
  - jjoonathan 6y ago
    It's also a fire danger because the mechanical time wheels can lose spring tension / get gunked up just enough to stick right before they reach the end, leaving the microwave on until you notice. It wasn't a huge deal when it happened to me because I wasn't very distracted and I was making tea so it just sat there and boiled for a couple of minutes until I checked in. Under slightly different circumstances it could have been much worse.
  - nobody9999 6y ago
    >This. Since becoming a father I realised how annoying our analogue microwave knob is when you just need to blast something for 20 second while dealing with a screaming child. Either it's too short and you get 2 second, or it's too long and you get 60, now you need to do your best to cool the thing down quickly Not sure about your microwave, but mine (ca. 1996 Panasonic) has an analog knob (actually, that's the only control) for time. If I need less than a minute, I turn the knob past 1 minute, then turn it back where I want it. That pretty much always works for me. Perhaps it might for you too.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- rusk 6y ago
  Sorry this is a bit nitpicky but since this is HN ... is it strictly correct to call this knob “analogue”? The old fashioned ones were clockwork and the newer ones are some kind of digital rotary controller ... I guess if we’re describing the experience rather than the mechanism maybe just good old “knob” suffice!
  - rightbyte 6y ago
    Ye a mechanical timer is digital in its output, right? The analogue dailer could maybe be the power, but it was most likely discrete too.
- stickfigure 6y ago
  The microwave I grew up with (70s/80s) had a log-ish scale. The first quarter turn was 0-60s, the second quarter turn got you to 5 mins, etc. I don't remember the exact gradations but I remember it was very easy to get almost any time you wanted. I have hated every microwave since.
  - andi999 6y ago
    I am curious how they did this. Was it purely mechanical?
    - stickfigure 6y ago
      It was purely mechanical. Somehow I managed to find the model: https://www.ebay.com/i/203083047312 https://www.ebay.com/i/203083047312 A closeup picture of the dial: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/aogAAOSwFmZfPquw/s-l1600.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/aogAAOSwFmZfPquw/s-l1600.jpg The log-factor wasn't as severe as I had remembered, but the 0-1m angle is about the same as the 20-25m angle. It was still pretty easy to get 15s, 30s, etc. I'm sure you could do a lot better with modern digital electronics.
lsaferite 6y ago
Sounds like a UX fail to not use an encoder with detents.
- jjoonathan 6y ago
  Oh, they use encoders with detents, they just can't be bothered to make their software "fast" enough to reliably count every detent even though each detent tick lasts for millions of clock cycles.
ptx 6y ago
It can be done well. I've used one (I forget the brand - possibly Electrolux) with a wheel that does have haptic feedback on every tick and is actually very nice to use. As the absolute value increases, the increment for every tick also increases in a way that feels natural to me, so you don't have to turn it as much as you would an analog wheel for the same precision .

andi999 6y ago

but much better than the old analog knob. For less than a minute you couldnt even turn it (usually jumped back to the bell or was anything from 20s to 1min)

alias_neo 6y ago
This. Since becoming a father I realised how annoying our analogue microwave knob is when you just need to blast something for 20 second while dealing with a screaming child. Either it's too short and you get 2 second, or it's too long and you get 60, now you need to do your best to cool the thing down quickly In the time before baby, the analogue microwave was refreshing, now it's a nuisance.
- jjoonathan 6y ago
  It's also a fire danger because the mechanical time wheels can lose spring tension / get gunked up just enough to stick right before they reach the end, leaving the microwave on until you notice. It wasn't a huge deal when it happened to me because I wasn't very distracted and I was making tea so it just sat there and boiled for a couple of minutes until I checked in. Under slightly different circumstances it could have been much worse.
- nobody9999 6y ago
  >This. Since becoming a father I realised how annoying our analogue microwave knob is when you just need to blast something for 20 second while dealing with a screaming child. Either it's too short and you get 2 second, or it's too long and you get 60, now you need to do your best to cool the thing down quickly Not sure about your microwave, but mine (ca. 1996 Panasonic) has an analog knob (actually, that's the only control) for time. If I need less than a minute, I turn the knob past 1 minute, then turn it back where I want it. That pretty much always works for me. Perhaps it might for you too.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rusk 6y ago
Sorry this is a bit nitpicky but since this is HN ... is it strictly correct to call this knob “analogue”? The old fashioned ones were clockwork and the newer ones are some kind of digital rotary controller ... I guess if we’re describing the experience rather than the mechanism maybe just good old “knob” suffice!
- rightbyte 6y ago
  Ye a mechanical timer is digital in its output, right? The analogue dailer could maybe be the power, but it was most likely discrete too.
stickfigure 6y ago
The microwave I grew up with (70s/80s) had a log-ish scale. The first quarter turn was 0-60s, the second quarter turn got you to 5 mins, etc. I don't remember the exact gradations but I remember it was very easy to get almost any time you wanted. I have hated every microwave since.
- andi999 6y ago
  I am curious how they did this. Was it purely mechanical?
  - stickfigure 6y ago
    It was purely mechanical. Somehow I managed to find the model: https://www.ebay.com/i/203083047312 https://www.ebay.com/i/203083047312 A closeup picture of the dial: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/aogAAOSwFmZfPquw/s-l1600.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/aogAAOSwFmZfPquw/s-l1600.jpg The log-factor wasn't as severe as I had remembered, but the 0-1m angle is about the same as the 20-25m angle. It was still pretty easy to get 15s, 30s, etc. I'm sure you could do a lot better with modern digital electronics.

lsaferite 6y ago

Sounds like a UX fail to not use an encoder with detents.

jjoonathan 6y ago
Oh, they use encoders with detents, they just can't be bothered to make their software "fast" enough to reliably count every detent even though each detent tick lasts for millions of clock cycles.

ptx 6y ago

It can be done well. I've used one (I forget the brand - possibly Electrolux) with a wheel that does have haptic feedback on every tick and is actually very nice to use. As the absolute value increases, the increment for every tick also increases in a way that feels natural to me, so you don't have to turn it as much as you would an analog wheel for the same precision .