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The best microwave I have ever owned was the cheapest one you could buy from Argos: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9174030 https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9174
by bfirsh 6y ago
The best microwave I have ever owned was the cheapest one you could buy from Argos: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9174030 https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9174030
Two dials: power and time. The time dial moved to indicate how much time was left. It went "ding" when it was finished. That was it.
I can understand the need for features that automatically calculate how long to cook the food, and so on, but if you want those features you seem to have to take a massive hit in usability. They all seem to have cumbersome button-based user interfaces like this.
- xnx 6y agoAgree completely! Even the sounds on "more advanced" microwaves are worse.
- hombre_fatal 6y agoI moved into an apartment with a high-end washer/dryer combo and was displeased to find out that it comes with a 30-second jingle every time it does anything that you can't turn off. Apparently it's ubiquitous now as I've whined about this to any visitor who hears it and they tell me theirs does it too. It seems like a show of power. "You're going to give us $4000 for some appliances and we're going to make you listen to a 30-second MIDI track each time your load is done, and there's nothing you can do about it :)"
- dragonwriter 6y agoI have recent (current model), reasonably high-end Samsung washer and dryer, and while they have a jingle like that, it's fairly easy to turn off (it's a secondary function on the control for the dryer, but even there is clearly marked so not obscure.)
- com2kid 6y agoI enjoy my LGs jingle. It is nice and distinct from the generic beep everything else gives. And there are plenty of other fans. :) https://youtu.be/Y_Up5jScFEo https://youtu.be/Y_Up5jScFEo https://youtu.be/FQdIjAVBFPM https://youtu.be/FQdIjAVBFPM
- ska 6y agomostly these are configurable to replace with a beep. Lot's of people like the melodies it seems.
- inquirerofsorts 6y agoI've pulled open microwaves and removed the buzzer. My flatmate thought I was nuts at the time but as a person often up late reheating things it's a considerate thing to do, there's no need for a device where you can't turn off the sound. Even worse when it continues making noises every 30 seconds afterwards until you open the door. RIP anyone who likes to cook then cool. Microwaves are already loud appliances, I can hear it running from the next room. Meanwhile you'll be hard-pressed to find a toaster that beeps.
- nom 6y agoWe have a microwave at work, I used it once and it took me 5 minutes do actually make it do something. It is like someone just slapped some buttons and dials and a display on there without thought and created some twisted logic just to annoy the user. I only ever bought two dial microwaves. Power and time, two variables, easy to understand and intuitive. Granted, I might try the microwave Technology Connections demonstrated [0] because it sounds like it actually works.. but no chance of getting an old model where I live... or anywhere else. 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS27feX8o0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiS27feX8o0
- rubyfan 6y agoBut your food must have been so much more enjoyable after clearing the microwave button gauntlet?
- tshaddox 6y agoThat’s a good interface, but I do prefer the slightly more sophisticated electronic interfaces that provide a single “Start/add 30 seconds” button. Those usually have other rarely-used features too, but I do 95% of my microwaving with that single button.
- roesel 6y agoBut how many times do you have to spam-press that button to heat a decent meal properly? I'd rather have a dial than having to press a single button 8 times for 4 minutes of heating. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.
- milankragujevic 6y agoI mean my microwave has an electronic dial to enter the time which increments by 5 seconds starting at 10 seconds, and a Start/Another 30s more button, so you can set it to any time very quickly. It's the cheapest model that doesn't have the physical mechanical controls.
- derefr 6y agoTo reheat a "decent meal"†, you usually need to microwave the components of it separately, since they'll have very different thermal masses. And if you're doing that, each individual component isn't going to take very long. One minute for this (2 presses), two minutes for that (4 presses). The overhead of swapping meal components in/out swamps the button-presses. Plus, if there's any sauce in any components, you'll need to be stopping the timer every 2.5 minutes to stir it around, lest you get a sauce that starts boiling/burning in some parts while still being frozen/tepid in others. † As in, "something better than a TV dinner." One of the main reasons (other than cost) that TV dinners generally have such strange/unpleasant/non-complementary side-dishes in them, is the fact that the components of the meal are chosen to all have matching reheat times. (And even then, many still have instructions requiring you take things out half-way to poke holes in plastic etc., to switch some meal-components from being both irradiated themselves while also being steamed by irradiated water, to only being directly irradiated.)
- aaomidi 6y agoYou might be interested in this video https://youtu.be/UiS27feX8o0 https://youtu.be/UiS27feX8o0
- canofbars 6y agoThe problem with this kind of microwave is the UX is just too complex. I don't want to navigate a UI to select the exact type of food I am cooking. All of my microwaves have had this and I have never used it.
- dimitrios1 6y agoSimilarly, I draw parallels here to other household appliances like a washer and dryer. For instance, the best washer and dryer you can own is a Speed Queen and they have similar simple dials.
- ebg13 6y agoThis is also the preferred style of microwave for blind people, because there's a direct relationship between mechanical tactility and performance.
- alfanhui 6y agoI had the same. Although, i only use up to 3 minutes, so the second dial is very innacurate to my needs. Who puts a microwave on for 30 minutes!?
- drran 6y agoMe. I cook mostly in the microwave, so I program it typically to 25 minutes and more, until a meal will be finished.
- crazygringo 6y agoI'm quite fascinated... what exactly do you cook? I've never heard of this. I assume that when you cook for 25+ minutes, you're using the lowest power setting?
- drran 6y agoI cook in the microwave everything, except eggs. I have a large programmable microwave with grill and convection. Most often, I just preprogram microwave to 1) heat water for 4,5-5 minutes at max power to boil it, then 2) keep water hot for meal specific duration from 10 to 60 minutes at 30-40%, like in slow cooker. It works for a single meal, but I'm single, so it works for me. If microwave is not programmable, e.g. at work, then I cook at 60%, but it's a bit hard to guess proper cooking time and get reliable result. I will not publish all recipes there, of course. By a book.
- AriseAndPass 6y agoI'm also very curious to hear how a meal can be cooked in just a microwave. I have severe food allergies and this would be great especially when I travel and stay in places that don't have a full kitchen. Can you point me to a recipe book you'd recommend, if you don't want to post the recipes here?
- drran 6y ago
- kebman 6y agoNooo, that's way too little time complexity!
- radu_floricica 6y agoGot a new Panasonic one with grill and convection and was pretty anxious about the digital interface. But they managed to get it even better. If you ignore the extra options you just rotate the digital wheel that goes in 10s increments up to (I think) 3 minutes and then to higher increments. Then you press "start". And the grill/convection plus a slightly larger size should allow me to use it instead of a regular oven, at least for my limited needs. Still to be tested.
- specialist 6y agoEmphatic double agreement. I just want hot water. Give me hot water. (Though some kind of temperature sensor could be nice.) My second rage inducing grievance is bad cleanability. All the places dirt, scuz, grime fill up. Nooks, crannies, crevices, shelves, dials, mounts. My third grievance is bad cable management. WTF am I supposed to tuck away the power cable? How do I secure it for storage? My Vitamix blender, mixer, hot iron, instapot, sawzall, portable fans and heaters, the pre-USB-C Mac power bricks... All piss me off on the regular. The least cleanable product I've ever owned was a Samsung fridge. iFixit would give it a -2/10 rating. I can only conclude its designers and product manager had never seen a fridge before. Or thoroughly hated all fridge-kind and were exacting revenge as part of some enduring blood feud. PS- We need an iCleanIt product review site.
- jedberg 6y agoYour Vitamix should have cable management on the bottom. At least, all the ones I’ve ever seen/had have it.
- specialist 6y agoAppearances only. It's more of a mismanagement system. It'd be better if they didn't even pretend to try. I'd be ecstatic if there were exposed tines and I could just wrap the power cord. Like a typical vacuum cleaner. But it's a recessed wind up area, and you really have to force the cable in, precisely to fully hide the cable. If you don't, there's a pig tail remainder. In which case, why bother at all?
- oh_sigh 6y agoThere might be some other reason...just speaking generally since I don't know which model you're talking about, but maybe you can't do what you want because of some factor, like minimum bend radius of the power cable.
- DoingIsLearning 6y agoI would add all the unnecessarily loud and often endless beeping to the list of nuissances. I appreciate the beeps might have a purpose for accessibility but it really feels like the mute function should be active by default, rather than digging through the manual to find out how to mute it.
- drcongo 6y agoI currently have the stupidest microwave ever invented. There's a big rotary dial that turning clockwise does some weird weight thing that nobody would ever use instead of setting the time to cook. If you want to set the cooking time, like anybody who isn't some kind of psychopath, you have to turn it anticlockwise and then clockwise.
- OJFord 6y agoMine does mass-based defrosting, which makes sense to me and seems to work well. (A defrost button that is a shortcut to 270W power, then turns the usually time knob into an approx mass selector from which it presumably has some time look-up table.)
- jooize 6y ago> "ding" Once?
- j605 6y agoYes, the dumb ones just ding once.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- the__alchemist 6y agoOh, wow. I'd imagined buying or designing a microwave with this API. This is wonderful! I've heard that the terrible APIs on most microwave are due to pressure from management to increase feature count, or something.
- dkarp 6y agoI own that very microwave and agree completely. It has never made me lash out in frustration, unlike every smart microwave I’ve used. It turns out, I also have never needed accuracy to the second when reheating food.
- r00fus 6y agoI own this one [1]. Defrosting is manual but otherwise it’s the best microwave I’ve ever owned. I also expect it to last for a long time since it’s a commercial grade. Single dial for time. Single beep when done and NO other sounds. Safe and intuitive enough for my kids (inset in our island cabinet at adult waist height). [1] https://shop.sharpusa.com/medium-duty-commercial-microwave-oven-with-1000-watts-r21lcfs/ https://shop.sharpusa.com/medium-duty-commercial-microwave-o...
- GuB-42 6y agoI had one of these, too inaccurate. The one I have now, a higher end model with plenty of features and auto-stuff. But it is actually simpler when used as a basic microwave. It has two big buttons: start and stop. If you press start, it sets the timer for 30 seconds and runs at max power. If you press the button when the microwave is running, it adds 30 seconds. If you want more precise timing, you can also preset the time using + and - buttons and set the power with the "power" button. Then press start. It also has a nice safety feature. The microwave will refuse to turn on if you didn't open the door recently. This is to limit the risk of running it empty, which can damage it. From my experience, it is an actually useful feature and not an annoyance. So, 3 improvements over the "two dials" interface: easier for the most common case (30 second start), more precise timer when you need it, and an added safety feature.
- MertsA 6y ago>This is to limit the risk of running it empty, which can damage it. It's always struck me as odd that just about every microwave out there will put a couple of thermal cut offs in there but none of them have any kind of microwave intensity sensor to actually detect when the cavity is empty or presenting too low of a load. Even the naive approach of just adding a weak antenna and attenuating the crap out of it would seem to be cheap enough in added parts at least for "luxury" brands and it would not only protect the microwave from damage but also allow fine power level control based on actual intensity instead of just total load.
- userbinator 6y agoThe very first microwave (1967) had two dials, a coarse and fine timer (and they are additive): https://www.radarange.com/fullsize/RR1PanelFull.JPG https://www.radarange.com/fullsize/RR1PanelFull.JPG
- adrianmonk 6y ago> too inaccurate Yeah, I pop popcorn all the time. After enough iterations, I've learned that 2 minutes and 22 seconds is the right amount of time. A longer time risks burning, and a shorter time won't pop as many kernels. With a knob, I don't think I'd be able to dial in 2:22. So I'd have to stand there and monitor it the whole time instead of being able to walk away. And microwaves are supposed to be convenient.
- m0zg 6y agoThat actually looks amazing to me. Add a popcorn button, and I'm sold.
- AriseAndPass 6y agoI see (and agree) with the appeal for simplicity in microwaves. But having owned microwaves of both types, I did really like the ability to precisely set/see the amount of time a microwave program would run via a digital display. I found lots of these time dials imprecise, especially for <90 second jobs.
- fireattack 6y agoI agree that 99% of people are not going to use all these fancy functions, but wattage and volume still matter. The one you linked seems a little bit too small for me (I use a 1200W one).
- andrewxdiamond 6y agoCoincidentally, technology connections just did a recent YouTube video on microwaves that might be of interest to you. https://youtu.be/UiS27feX8o0 https://youtu.be/UiS27feX8o0
- aidenn0 6y agoPower dial is the most useful; I think buttons are good for time though, particularly since 10s can make a big difference in a microwave.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- garyrichardson 6y agoMy current microwave (a Miele) has the time dial. It's not as simple as the Argos, but I basically don't touch buttons on it otherwise. If only it didn't have the clock built in. My second best microwave was a Samsung. It was terrible in the way all Samsung products are EXCEPT it had a "sound off" button so your microwave didn't wake the whole house when it finished cooking your 1:00am burrito. After about 3 years (standard for Samsung products to become garbage) it stopped working and I replaced it with the 3 year newer model that didn't have the volume kill switch.
- crtasm 6y agoThankful for Samsung models here in the UK, the only brand I could find that let you disable the beeps (hidden behind a button combination but detailed in the manual).
- axiolite 6y agoThose mechanical timers were bad. I remember having to turn them way up and then down, and their timing drifting and needing compensation. Sharp still sells commercial microwaves with a dial, but it's digital and so just works, like the Sharp R21LCFS.
- m463 6y agoMy microwave has "sensor reheat" which I like quite a bit. But all the rest sucks, and I would love two analog dials. (one exception: I would not like a mechanical analog countdown dial, the kind that ticks)
- kwhitefoot 6y agoI have a 850 W Moulinex that I inherited from my mother thirty years ago. Same interface as your Argos one, still going strong except for the interior light.
- kalleboo 6y agoI could never go back to a non-sensor microwave. I have no idea how long time anything should take to reheat in minutes and if I had to do it manually I'd be bound to mess it up. Requiring the user to know how long time some random food should take to reheat is BAD ui. I just press start on our microwave and it heats it up to an edible temperature. Press the up or down arrows to change the goal temperature. There's another button for defrost that goes slower. It's 15 years old so not exactly high technology.
- thelastwave 6y agoThis is the style I have. I bought it last year, first microwave oven I have ever purchased.
- dusted 6y agoThis, just commented the same over at HaD.. The currently best microwave UI is two dials, one that winds up the mechanical timer, one that selects the duty-cycle of the magnetron. Funnily, I found this really expensive, but slightly broken microwave in the trash some months ago, and fixing it up with my own controller is still on the to-do list.. (sure, I could easily afford to buy a new one of the same model, but I could never make myself spend that kind of money on a microwave)