Are products designed to fail?

GetRealBabe

cepheus wrote: »

People tell me my printers fail frequently simply because I use them seldomly. I might go several weeks without printing anything. I use compatible ink to keep costs down, this is the other reason often cited.

Hi

I didn't use my Canon MP810 for six months and it still works. I'm using both compatible and Canon cartridges at the mo and will use only chipped compatible when I run out of Canons.

Do you think that compatible ink cartridges cause printers to fail?

GRB

cepheus

Probably not, Canon say it is the quality of the ink, it could be true, but they would say that at the prices they charge! my versions are unrefillable as well now.

Ben84

cepheus wrote: »

Ive been advised this elsewhere, how often do these have to be serviced or toners replaced, refilled etc. I don't use my printer much, I'm thinking of doing without one and using the library

My laser printer has never been serviced, I just feed it paper and toner, and it has been fine. I've got a Samsung ML-1250 which is a fairly cheap model, and pretty old now too. I did upgrade the memory so I could print very large files (several hundred pages with graphics), but that's all it has needed.

They're good if you use them a lot like I do as the toner goes a long way (about five reams of single sided text for mine, but capacity varies), and just as good if you don't use them often as the toner is dry inert dust. It doesn't degrade, dry out or block up inside the cartridge or worse the printer. I refill the toner drum about once a year with a kit off eBay, which costs about £4. The old Samsung printers are really easy to refill too. A lot of home users can go years between changing the toner though, I'm a very heavy printer user. Laser printed text is also much sharper than inkjet, and it's waterproof too.

If it ever breaks down I'll buy another laser because it's reliable and very cheap to run, but possibly a colour one as they're pretty affordable now. I'd like a duplex too as it saves paper and makes print outs more compact. When you have as much paperwork in the house as I do, realising a duplex would have halved it is significant.

Poosmate

I have a Toshiba microwave (model ER-761) which is OVER 23 years old! It's older than some of my friends!!! lol

I bought it second hand for £60 23 years ago. It broke down once (about 15 years ago) and I got it fixed for £80 (I think) but at that time microwaves of it's calibre were still retailing at over £260 so it was worth paying that. It broke again recently (about 10 years ago) and cost me £40 to get fixed it was still worth it as the retail price by this time was about £150. I know it's living on borrowed time now, the light no longer works and sometimes it will start on it's own when I shut the door. Spooky! I always turn it off at the plug now when it's not in use - just in case!

My washing machine (Servis Easywash 800) is 15 years old and is still going strong. I've had the pump replaced once (under warranty) as it broke a few days out of warranty and a few days before Christmas (thanks Servis/Indesit). I only paid £199 for it (new). Well I actually bought an Indesit but Curry's sold the Indesit between me paying for it and them delivering it so they gave me this Servis citing that Indesit make Servis washing machines.

My Epsom C40 printer still works a bit (I think), it's about 10 years old but I rarely use it. I know that last time I used it I had to give it a jolly good clean first!

Can anyone beat a 23+ year old microwave still working? lol

Poo

cepheus

I think my Gloworm boiler is as old as the house around 30+ years. At the major servicing and cleaning of the flue back in 07 the gasman told me it would only last a year or so (he wanted to fit a condensing boiler in for 4K). He gave me a CO monitor just in case but that broke within a year.

The fridge-freezer is at least 19 years old probably much more.

Baird TV (not his original!) was probably more than 20 years old when I dumped it, but you could still get a decent picture and sound, remote was rather difficult to use though.

On the other hand Low energy lightbulbs seem to last about 2 years on average! Electric supply seems to fluctuate.

Ben84

Poosmate wrote: »

Can anyone beat a 23+ year old microwave still working? lol

That's a good microwave, but I'm lucky to have some very old appliances that are still in everyday use too. I have a PYE record player from 1972 that works great, but did get a full overhaul about two years ago by being cleaned inside and many parts replaced. I also have a marantz CD player from the early 80s that has never been repaired, but is waiting for some work on the power supply as it needs a capacitor replaced. It works ok, but crackles a bit when you first turn it on and will get worse if I don't have it repaired.

I also have a russell hobbs electric coffee percolator from about 1970 that gets used a lot, and a very old electric food mixer that must be similar age. I have a bakelite hair dryer that must be about 50 years old, but that gets little use, only when the weather is very cold. Thinking about cold weather, and not sure I'm so enthused about this one, I have a gas back boiler and fire from about 1980 that still work very well but are probably the reason the north sea gas fields are getting depleted.

Certainly, there must be a lot of very old appliances out there still in regular use, and I have quite a few more I haven't mentioned, but I look at a lot of the stuff for sale right now and seriously doubt it will last as well as some of my things have.

lightisfading

Our microwave is definitely from the 80s though couldn't say exactly what year. It's never been repaired, and in fact has been abused pretty well by a house full of single blokes!

Googlewhacker

Mankysteve wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence


When designing a product. They dilperatly plan how to get
you to replace the item. Most use one of these two

1. By useing customer marketing imformation they deigns there
products to fail after a set time while not upsetting the customer
so they come back and buy the same brand of product


2. Style obsolance they deisgn a product to be very stlyish now
but in full knowledge that in 12 mounths time they'll come out
with an even more stylish version. Apple are master at this one.

Excuse the bad spelling no spell checker on uni pcs and iam too lazy to type out in word. :-)

I think you read to much on conspiracys....

paulwf

Googlewhacker wrote: »

I think you read to much on conspiracys....

I personally really like the American cars and bicycles produced between the wars in the art deco style. Before that mass produced consumer goods were plain and certainly with bicycles there was no need to upgrade, the lavish styling brought in helped to create trends and fashions giving people a reason to change. We've now ended up with clothing fashions that may only last a season creating constant demand for new clothes.

Even before the iPad went on sale people were speculating what would be changed in version 2, and people are talking about waiting for the second generation version. There is some evidence to suggest that a camera was planned for the iPad but it was pulled late in the design process leaving the space and slot behind for it. There is a reasonable chance the camera was pulled so that it could be added to version 2 and create demand for the new product. I would imagine a fair few companies think 1 or 2 product generations ahead and don't release everything at once.

Googlewhacker

paulwf wrote: »

I personally really like the American cars and bicycles produced between the wars in the art deco style. Before that mass produced consumer goods were plain and certainly with bicycles there was no need to upgrade, the lavish styling brought in helped to create trends and fashions giving people a reason to change. We've now ended up with clothing fashions that may only last a season creating constant demand for new clothes.

Even before the iPad went on sale people were speculating what would be changed in version 2, and people are talking about waiting for the second generation version. There is some evidence to suggest that a camera was planned for the iPad but it was pulled late in the design process leaving the space and slot behind for it. There is a reasonable chance the camera was pulled so that it could be added to version 2 and create demand for the new product. I would imagine a fair few companies think 1 or 2 product generations ahead and don't release everything at once.

I agree on this point and it is just good business, however I do not believe that the vast majority of companies design their products to fail