What are the worst tech purchases you or your family have ever made?
I watched a video recently and wanted to know what other have bought over the years.
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An out of date, yet new, drawing tablet. Obsolete at the touch of a finger…
Tablet - it was a middle ground that I never found a use for
If I’m out and about, I’m not dragging the tablet with me and will just use my phone.
If I’m home, I’ll use the computer.
I’m not saying that tablets are bad or useless, they just aren’t for me.
Same. Got a tablet when i changed mobile operator.
Only good use i found for it was to look recepies when cooking.
I actually get a lot of use out of my tablet, mostly for reading manga and comics. Sometimes for books too
During Covid I ordered a little screen replacement kit from a cheap Chinese company, and they said it was delayed due to Covid, so I was trying to be patient, but then the company disappeared. Unfortunately, I was too patient and the six months went by so I couldn’t reverse the charge. Only time I’ve ever gotten scammed, and I was pissed because I had even looked them up before I ordered and they seemed to have decent reviews until after and everyone was calling them out. I don’t know if they were legit then collapsed during covid or they put a lot of effort into looking legit with fake reviews. Lesson learned I guess.
Mother bought a pair of “light therapy” glasses many years ago from a Russian quack site. It was basically a pair of blacked-out safety glasses with ~8 LEDs for each eye and a button cell to power it all. All circuitry and wires fully exposed and visible. You’d set your program and it would cycle through different colors for a predetermined time. Also came with a knock-off Chinese iPod and some gas-station headphones, preloaded with “relaxing sounds from nature.” You were expected to lay there for 30 minutes with your eyes closed as it did its thing. This cost around 600€ in 2019. What an absolute scam.
Anything Samsung. The appliances fail fast (TV & washing machine in my case), and the smartphones are constantly getting more and more enshittified (speaking as a long-time customer since the 1st Galaxy S all the way to S23).
Replaced my samsung phone with a unihertz Atom – Definitely not for everyone, but I love it. With samsung I’d gone from my phones never breaking to two phones that seemed to jump out of my hands and crack if you looked at them funny, so I gave up on the brand and looked for something small and rugged. I swear I could chuck the Atom off a building into concrete and it’d be fine. I do wish there was a newer version to update the software, but you get used to the older interface pretty quick. Hopefully Unihertz will go back to the atom series and make one with linux software, but I was thinking of just buying another and seeing if I can install linux.
I got a SG fe 20 last one. Moving to pixel.
- First generation Samsung Android Watch (Just plain useless)
- Asus Transformer TF101 Tablet (Bloated UI)
- Acer C720 Chromebook (a bit better after installing Xfce over ChromeOS)
- Fiio M11 DAP (it’s chunky and I just never use it)
All three different aux to usb-c adaptors I have bought…
The “best” one was the cheapest aliexpress one.They are generally pretty terrible unless you get a full on expensive portable DAC.
Not sure if it qualifies as tech, but a hybrid water heater. Was twice as expensive, sometimes provided only luke warm water and finally the compressor gave out prematurely. Should have just bought a normal one.
What makes it hybrid?
Gas and electric components
Actually, this is not the case at least with regards to the one I owned. The “hybrid” part was that it had a heatpump attached that was more efficient that standard electric heating in some circumstances. Mine worked OK, so I wouldn’t put in my worst buys, but the electricity savings were definitely exaggerated by the sales rep.
Zip drive
Cheap chinese Android tablet that was supposedly 8-core 16Gb ram. It’s an absolute piece of shit, I think my S4 has more juice. It’s a paperweight now after the Ali seller disappeared.
Vr Headset.
Worth it to play Half Life Alyx and 3D Skyrim.
But was it worth $400?
Skyrim is terrible in 3D. I can barely hack and slash normally, and I’m supposed to do it while disoriented and facing the wrong direction. Even with my coward play style of sneaky mage with uncapped runes, it’s too much of a pain to do anything other than stare up at the sky.
I bought a Wii U. It had some good games at the time, but Nintendo’s strategy over the last 10 years has just been to rerelease those games with better performance and new content. I wish I’d just waited.
Dude, a WiiU is worth it for Nintendoland alone. Throw in the Windwaker remaster and you’re set. I don’t think you lost out 😎
It’s also a Wii with HDMI.
We just found and resurrected our Wii U, the kids play it more than the Switch now.
It’s a fine retro game console especially when you mod it but it definitely didn’t live up to expectations
I’m not sure if they count is a “tech purchase”, but I bought all new Samsung appliances in my previous home (washer, dryer, refrigerator, and dishwasher). The washer and dryer failed catastrophically within 6 months, the dryer drum cracked and shredded a whole load of clothing into confetti and the washing flooded my kitchen and ruined my cabinets (it was a weird house layout). The refrigerator just had random parts dying over and over (water dispenser, lights, sensors, ice maker) until it finally died at the year mark. The dishwasher made it nearly to year two before the control panel died and the replacement part was more expensive than an entire new unit. Never again Samsung!
We just moved into a new house and it has all Samsung appliances. So far so good but I’m concerned.
If you’ve ever made a cell phone or a TV I will NEVER buy your appliance.
Got “burned” by a Samsung induction stove. Never again.
I came in here expecting Samsung hate, and I am not disappointed. They’re like 13% of South Korea’s GDP, they should make shit that lasts longer than a year!!
You don’t get rich by selling something people only buy once…
That being said I have a Samsung oven that’s about 12 years old now and still works perfect aside from one element doesn’t trigger the “burner on” light, but the “hot surface” light still works, so I’m not overly concerned.
Samsung used to be awesome up until, say, 10-15 years ago? Then they just got so big and quality just went off a cliff
I have a Samsung flat screen from 15 years ago, the thing is a tank and won’t die. A new Samsung flat screen is lucky to make it 5 years tops
This is interesting to me… I’ve had two sets of Samsung wash and dryer, over the span of about 15 years now. Only replaced the first ones because I didn’t want to move them across country.
I found them easy to work on and get parts for general maintenance… maybe I’m just lucky?
gaming motherboard that is too new for my system and has this stupid bug on some driver that my internet cuts off randomly
fuck samsung!
Their appliances are garage. They aren’t even overpriced, they shouldn’t exist because of how big of pieces of shit they are.
They should be parked on the street for how garage they are!
you park your garage on the street?
Interesting! Our washing machine is turning 10 this year, hasn’t skipped a beat, yet.
