4 ms·

Its not even a new product. Convection ovens have been a thing for years. But because standard toaster ovens and convection ovens look so similar people thought

Its not even a new product. Convection ovens have been a thing for years. But because standard toaster ovens and convection ovens look so similar people thought they were the same.

nwienert 4y ago
It’s much faster than most convection ovens as they existed, and so I think still smart to differentiate.
- AnotherGoodName 4y ago
  Only due to the small size though. That's literally it. You know what a larger air fryer is called? It's called an oven.
  - nwienert 4y ago
    The fan is much stronger too, so not literally it. Changing two of the most significant parameters gives it entirely new utility that ovens didn’t and don’t capture. In effect it’s closer to a microwave meets an air sous vice. Much quicker heat up, much more even heat dispersal. I have a convection oven too that’s the same size, we use the air fryer 5x more often and it’s almost entirely due to the fan not the size. Cuts cooking time in half comparatively.
  - dragonwriter 4y ago
    > Only due to the small size though. I think its not technically size at all, but: (1) Heating output relative to size, and (2) Fan capacity relative to size, and a less contribution from (3) Arrangement of heating element and fan.
    - klinquist 4y ago
      >I think its not technically size at all, but: "It's not due to the size because they didn't shrink /all/ the components equally." :)
      - dragonwriter 4y ago
        I suspect shrinking all the components equally would preserve some of the effect, because my intuition without spending too much time is that there are scaling effects that would work that way. But, I’m mostly saying that its not inherently the case that a small convection oven would have the advantages of an air fryer, and, a major reason for the name “air fryer” for the product categoriy is because countertop convection ovens without those advantages already existed, because they were optimized for other goals, so just calling them “countertop convection ovens” would have sent the wrong message to buyers familiar with the existing category.
nerdawson 4y ago
That's why marketing works. If they called it a micro-oven, it would be too similar in consumers' minds to appliances they already own.

Its not even a new product. Convection ovens have been a thing for years. But because standard toaster ovens and convection ovens look so similar people thought they were the same.

nwienert 4y ago

It’s much faster than most convection ovens as they existed, and so I think still smart to differentiate.

AnotherGoodName 4y ago
Only due to the small size though. That's literally it. You know what a larger air fryer is called? It's called an oven.
- nwienert 4y ago
  The fan is much stronger too, so not literally it. Changing two of the most significant parameters gives it entirely new utility that ovens didn’t and don’t capture. In effect it’s closer to a microwave meets an air sous vice. Much quicker heat up, much more even heat dispersal. I have a convection oven too that’s the same size, we use the air fryer 5x more often and it’s almost entirely due to the fan not the size. Cuts cooking time in half comparatively.
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > Only due to the small size though. I think its not technically size at all, but: (1) Heating output relative to size, and (2) Fan capacity relative to size, and a less contribution from (3) Arrangement of heating element and fan.
  - klinquist 4y ago
    >I think its not technically size at all, but: "It's not due to the size because they didn't shrink /all/ the components equally." :)
    - dragonwriter 4y ago
      I suspect shrinking all the components equally would preserve some of the effect, because my intuition without spending too much time is that there are scaling effects that would work that way. But, I’m mostly saying that its not inherently the case that a small convection oven would have the advantages of an air fryer, and, a major reason for the name “air fryer” for the product categoriy is because countertop convection ovens without those advantages already existed, because they were optimized for other goals, so just calling them “countertop convection ovens” would have sent the wrong message to buyers familiar with the existing category.

nerdawson 4y ago

That's why marketing works. If they called it a micro-oven, it would be too similar in consumers' minds to appliances they already own.