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At what point does a product last "too long"? It seems that designing an expensive lamp and marketing the fact that it lasts 37 years seems kinda...dumb. First

At what point does a product last "too long"? It seems that designing an expensive lamp and marketing the fact that it lasts 37 years seems kinda...dumb. First there is the issue at the business level. Returning customers are the easiest and cheapest sells...but if your customer only buys a product every 30+ years...not great for business. Then there is the technology. Why make something last that long with current technology when in 10 years or less, something more efficient and "better" will come along. I'm not sure many people can even keep track of a lamp over that long. Between moving, things breaking, etc.

apalmer 11y ago
Well, one point is purely as a marketing tool. I doubt very few of these lamps will ever last 30+ years, due to moving, accidents etc, and probably dyson doesnt either. however its effective to say that in marketing. Outside of that, people expect certain pieces of hardware to just 'work' forever. Generally they don't expect a lamp to ever 'require' an upgrade. Yes it will probably be replaced for some reason in that timespan, but not generally due to 'failure'
kardos 11y ago
>First there is the issue at the business level. Returning customers are the easiest and cheapest sells...but if your customer only buys a product every 30+ years...not great for business. This exact line of thinking has created scads of products that suffer from the opposite problem -- products that are kind of cheap and need to be repurchased every couple years, overall costing several times more than a good product would and generating several times more garbage. > At what point does a product last "too long"? It seems that designing an expensive lamp and marketing the fact that it lasts 37 years seems kinda...dumb. Well it is somewhat dumb because nobody believes it will last 37 years, partly because of the "everything is junk these days" effect that we've come to expect, but also because it comes with a two year warranty.
makomk 11y ago
The LEDs last 37 years (well, 154,000 hours). I have a feeling that, for example, the capacitors in the power supply won't last that long. I also notice that they only provide a 2 year limited warranty. (LED lamp lifespan tends to be limited by other components failing in general, unless you get dodgy LEDs or do something really screwy with the cooling.)

apalmer 11y ago

Well, one point is purely as a marketing tool. I doubt very few of these lamps will ever last 30+ years, due to moving, accidents etc, and probably dyson doesnt either. however its effective to say that in marketing. Outside of that, people expect certain pieces of hardware to just 'work' forever. Generally they don't expect a lamp to ever 'require' an upgrade. Yes it will probably be replaced for some reason in that timespan, but not generally due to 'failure'

kardos 11y ago

>First there is the issue at the business level. Returning customers are the easiest and cheapest sells...but if your customer only buys a product every 30+ years...not great for business. This exact line of thinking has created scads of products that suffer from the opposite problem -- products that are kind of cheap and need to be repurchased every couple years, overall costing several times more than a good product would and generating several times more garbage. > At what point does a product last "too long"? It seems that designing an expensive lamp and marketing the fact that it lasts 37 years seems kinda...dumb. Well it is somewhat dumb because nobody believes it will last 37 years, partly because of the "everything is junk these days" effect that we've come to expect, but also because it comes with a two year warranty.

makomk 11y ago

The LEDs last 37 years (well, 154,000 hours). I have a feeling that, for example, the capacitors in the power supply won't last that long. I also notice that they only provide a 2 year limited warranty. (LED lamp lifespan tends to be limited by other components failing in general, unless you get dodgy LEDs or do something really screwy with the cooling.)