I don't like that my Bosch e-bike batteries have closed-source schematics, software, and chargers (i mean really, what the fuck am I going to steal Bosch), nor that the software that runs on the bike is utterly locked down to the point where I can't even pay for a copy (it's available only to e-bike dealers and none of them have leaked it as far as I can tell), but unfortunately, I have no trust in my fellow schmuck to not accidentally or negligently build bombs when they rebuild their battery packs, nor would I trust them not to do stupid shit with the e-bike software like remove speed limiters.
I barely even trust myself to rebuild packs, and I kinda-sorta know what I'm doing, which is just enough to get myself into trouble. I still look at the two packs I have rebuilt with a side-eye, months and years on from when I built them.
I’m not going to lie, this is the first thing I would do if I could flash e-bike software.
I'm tired of being treated like an idiot consumer because someone, somewhere, fucked up their Li-ion battery.
Engineers need a union. I'm sure this was a bean counter decision and not something they wanted to do.
Battery packs can be expensive and have huge margin if you make them (mechanically) fit only 1 year of 1 model of 1 brand. Which is exactly what Dyson seems to be doing.
Designing BMS'es so that the batteries (safely) fail as quickly as possible is not hard.
Push forward, push backward, lift up cord and turn to the right
In terms of maintenance and performance the Oreck is a reliable, one-click WordPress install, and the Dyson is a few dozen fickle micro services.
I got the Oreck for like $20 on Craigslist a decade ago because it was listed as "broken." I bought it on a whim to see if I could repair it after one of the famous vacuum guy reddit AMAs. Without exaggeration, it may very well be the best $20 investment I've ever made.
I was amazed how simple it was to disassemble and reassemble. There were surprisingly few components and every single one had an appealing heft and remarkable quality.
As a somewhat funny aside: The woman I bought it from said she had three teenage daughters and it couldn't keep up. The first time I serviced it, I removed enough hair for several wigs.
Ever since, it's worked incredibly and in the rare event performance has started to suffer I've been able to service it myself multiple times over the years, and replacement parts are readily available. It's designed to be maintained. After each service it works literally good as new and I fall in love with it all over again.
Contrast that with my hand-me-down Dyson. It's awkward as all hell to store. Battery is pathetic and charging is a pain. So much delicate plastic. It clogs practically every use; though to be fair my children and animals are all filthmongers. The components feel cheap, and I can't help but feel like it's hostile to the average consumer attempting to repair it. It's deteriorated in performance even though I've used it lightly. If I had spent even a single dollar on it, I'd be so pissed.
My first confrontation with a 'Dyson Airblade Wash+Dry short hand dryer' was after paying 50ct to enter a newly modernised toilet on a Dutch railway station. I got totally splashed with water blown out of the sink, all over my clothes. Quite embarrassing to walk out a toilet like that.
The last time the battery failed we decided to buy an entire Shark cordless vacuum + accessories kit for less than an OEM Dyson battery. That shark vacuum is still going today 5 years later on the original battery.
The cost multiple of a Dyson doesn't even result in incremental performance.
The singular use case for a Dyson cordless is frequent cleaning of an uncarpeted floor in a public space (e.g. coffee shop, gym) as it does have substantially reduced noise while running.
This problem was solved before electric vacuums ever even existed. I can still remember the days of seeing these things being used in hotels and restaurants: (google non-electric electrostatic sweeper)
The suction on the dyson v12 is fantastic at max speed, so it’s great for quick carpet cleaning. I also appreciate the very quiet hardwood floor attachment. I’d recommend it to any apartment dweller that’s not cost conscious. If they are, i’d recommend a cheaper shark vacuum.
Still have that purple and grey beast. Best vacuum by a mile and still going.
And im not judging, i too was a broke college kid at one point. But it is ANYTHING but fancy. Its super cheap.
People on HN are always saying they'd pay extra for a vacuum cleaner that is repairable. Well, here it is. Put your money where your mouth is.
I've had mine for at least ten years, and when something goes wrong, I'm able to order parts, and fix it myself. The whole thing is extensively designed to be repaired, complete with little icons on most of the parts to guide to taking them apart and putting them together.
I suspect that 90% of the people on HN who complain about Dyson (and most other consumer products) have never owned one, and are just aping things they've read online just to have something at all to say.
Seems OK to me. I have an articulated, motorized brush head on the way. ~$51, including shipping. Pretty good considering recent inflation, tariffs, etc…
Same suspicion for me. I've owned two Dyson vacuums, and the only reason I had to buy the second was because someone stole the first one when they broke into my apartment over a decade ago. My current vacuum is more than 8 years old and has been repaired a few times doing it myself, and is still fully functional and comparable or better than most new vacuums.
Dyson makes very good products that are also beautiful. Yes, they're plastic, yes they're expensive, no they're not necessarily on paper the /best/ at their thing, but they're good, they're repairable, and they pass the wife acceptance factor.
9/10 would trash pick again. I don't think I would ever buy one new though.
It was announced a month ago and seems to handle the design criticism in this blog entry. If it works as well as demonstrated will put it in a new class of vac.
Isn't that the whole point of them? Instead of imparting enough heat energy to evaporate all of the water on your hands, they just push it off which is much faster and more energy efficient. How would they work better than regular dryers without doing that?
There might be more to the task though. What affect does it have on the user? Getting splashed with water, usually at crotch height, is a nuisance and is somewhat embarassing. The loudness of these dryers is also a nuisance, and can be downright painful depending on how many are going at the same time in a large public bathroom. Long enough for permanent damage? Probably not for the average hand-washer, but for the people who have to clean those restrooms all day, perhaps an occupational hazard.
Also, the trough shaped ones are disgusting.
* The industrial design of Dyson products is generally great. I don't think they poke you or anything like that. They even have nice affordances like all the things you can use being red. Contrast that with my terrible Shark where everything is black. Took me a good few seconds to find the bin release button. It also has an atrocious UX - a slow on/off button instead of a trigger, and an amazingly useless "smart power" feature that just varies the power almost completely randomly as you vacuum.
When I worked there all the vacuum guys were worried about Shark because their pickup is apparently better. They needn't have worried because their UX is so abysmal. Although I guess in fairness Which doesn't know UX exists.
* Some of the criticisms of the tech are valid, e.g. the hand dryers spraying water everywhere (they easily erode painted walls and now they generally install them only on tiles). But those are just flaws of the tech, they don't negate the fact that the hand dryers are much better than the standard cheap ones. He quotes the claimed hand drying time for a cheapo dryer as being close to an air blade but anyone that has ever used one knows how much of a lie that is. The washing machines did damage clothes but apparently the main reason they stopped making them was a manufacturing issue with the drum.
* I don't think anyone really believes that James Dyson is personally inventing all Dyson products now. That doesn't mean he has no influence. When I worked there (about 10 years ago tbf) he still had huge influence over the designs, especially the ones he cared about.
The one thing that is true is that Dyson won't make anything that isn't patentable because James Dyson dislikes his products being cloned so much. So even though though could make really good versions of normal products, they don't.
Also they are way too expensive. Though in fairness my shitty Shark was expensive too.
Don't buy a Shark.
No sense charging top dollar and using less than state of the art batteries.
What is "Which" in this context? As used here it appears like a proper noun.
Contrast that with the Dyson v15 which has a trigger I have to hold continuously while I twist and turn the vacuum so I can't change the grip without it turning on and off as my finger slips off the trigger or inevitably gets tired. Or the amazingly useless "smart power" feature that just varies the power almost completely randomly as I vacuum an otherwise perfectly smooth hard floor.
Or the peak of uselessness, a display to tell me how many particles of dust it thinks it vacuumed, and their estimated sizes. Because I needed to be told I vacuumed 20 million dust particles of one size but only 1 million of another size. Counted twice just to make sure.
Everything will be worker and independently owned (bootstrapped and no VCs), no patents (we don't care about clones)
Just make great product that is open has free software.
If there would be significant interest Dyson could have a direct competitor just like many other open source companies like System72 and Red Hat
Still some of the criticism holds, such as the terrible wall charger.
2earth•5h ago
detourdog•2h ago