Consumer Friendly Products  

also I think that more companies should sponser programs like the rebate on your empty ink carts, you get money off your new ink simply by bringing in the old cart, novel and simple
why cant more products offer simple things like this just to save US(the very people that give them their dollar) a bit of a break, how many millionaires need to scrimp and save....give back to those who gave to you

Yes but millionaires didn't become millionaires by giving it to you and me.....

Deaf "I don't really think that AA batteries". They are the perfect way about it. They are a standard cell that universally fits many many products.

Deaf "third party Battery cells". And how exactly is this better than standard rechargable AA batteries?

I love the rest of what you have to say in your post. The ink jet replacements are a perfect example. I would personally like to go back to impact printers with the ribbon. They should make them easy to re-ink the ribbon for several re-uses.

I also really like what you say about fully repairable! My altec-lansing computer speakers amp went out but altec-lansing won't offer me a replacement amp. They just want me to replace the entire unit even though there is nothing wrong with the speakers themselves!

Products should be user serviceable as well. They seem to want to design devices so that it is impossible to get into them without destroying them and that blows! NOT CONSUMER FRIENDLY!

I still prefer Lith ION

that is why I don't want AA
Lith-Ion lasts longer and works harder as a power source, as for third party products, I have several controllers and mem cards for my game systems, thy work just as good at a third the price, some times less
I think that they should make a universal battery cell, I do agree with rechargable batteries, but again, Lith IoN is better for high need devices, like some of the new cordless phones that use higher frequncies and store alotof data(phone numbers and such)
and they can hold their charge for a long time with out needing to go back to the base
AA batteries are cumbersome and a hassle, and if they die in the middle of an important phone call that doesn't help anyone
so yeah go third party products and go rechargeable AA, at least for things I would have to use them in anyways
no offense lolo

sorry for the terrible type 'O' s my little girl was yelling the entire time I was typing, very distracting

Are Lith ION batteries expensive? Can you get them in the AA build? The only think I am after is a universally compatible product. If it fits everything that is what I am after. But expense is a factor too. So many devices already use the AA configuration that I like it because it is a fairly universally compatible size. I don't really find them cumbersome.

I am sure you could build one that size and electrical capacity, it wouldn't be very hard, I was thinking more like those batt packs for RC cars, ya know
something that works in many devices as a power source, but it could be removeable and work in alot of different things, would be handy for high yeild devices, like my damn digicam
I would use a AA lith Ion
lith ion are known for those small Hearing Aid Batteries, but they are in alot of other things cellphones and such

related resource: hearing aid devices

wildguy "cordless phone costs you about $40.00"

My GE with caller id cost me $15.00! I don't know where you shop but I suggest you look elsewhere. Now if that $40 unit would last a lifetime without needing new battery packs that cost $15.00 each I WOULD BUY IT!

wildguy "It is called disposible inventory when something wears out you chuck it in the garbage and buy a new one."

I hate that whole concept. We are filling up our landfills and destroying our planet when we could be making products that make much more sense and are designed to last for a very long time!

wildguy "if you had to send that tv out for repair it would be gone for months"

Then this product was a bad design in the first place and should never have made it to market! My father ran his TV repair business by coming to the customers home and fixing the TV on the spot! Didn't take months at all!

wildguy "well 99% of the repair people and the company don't want to fix the unit as it costs more to have it fixed than to replace it"

again... that is stupid. My father ran his own TV repair business back in the day of tubes instead of solid state. A repair on these units generally meant just replacing a tube which was a relatively cheap fix. There is no reason why this same concept could not be applied today. The Air Force does this in all their equipment! I know as I was a tech in the AF and a repair generally just meant replacing a socketed module! Again and inexpensive fix compaired to throwing the whole thing away and replacing it.

wildguy "companies are getting filthy rich from it while retailers and consumers are taking the heat."

And this is exactly what this discussion is all about. We need changes in the thinking of big business to fix this problem. And it can be done if CEOs will consider living on a little less then millions of dollars a year!

wildguy "most people won't pay more for a product even if it offers more warranty, and better durability."

I WOULD! In a heart fricking beat! I would much rather pay $1000.00 for a product that will last a lifetime then $50.00 for the same product that will only last a year at best!

Then we as consumers should rally against stores like Walmart, Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Target, Source, Staples, Futureshop, and many many more, their CEO's are the ones that are buying the materials here in north america and having it sent to Japan, China and Korea to have it made, putting thousands of people out of work and putting China and Japan as the largest exporter in the world. When we shop at the box retailers we get low prices, low grade products and in other words garbage, back in the day United States and Canada were the 2 largest employers in the world, we had factories for all the majour brand companies, product were built on our soil and yes they cost much more then than now but like you said they lasted and anyone anywhere could fix them, and for a decent price...things today and not meant to be repaired...simple as that, why...because that is what we as consumers wanted to make our lives better....something cheap, quick, and readily replacable...we want fast cars, fast food, quick cash and no effort, when I was growing up my family fixed everything from the car to the tv. Today kids can hardly tie there shoes, and that is the way they want it, they do not want to have to fix anything.

As you said you only paid $15.00 for a cordless phone...I paid $39.99 for mine 7 years ago, and it never used a battery yet...I have 2 $15.00 phones here and they are both in need of batteries but they will never see them.

wildguy I really liked a lot of the things you said in this post and I gave you a plus! I am very miffed at Goodyear for outsourcing to Poland and China! I find it so amazing how much money we put into these countries, putting food on their tables and they turn around and cheer when terrorists crash airplanes into our buildings! I agree with everything you said and I don't like how society has moved into this lazy rut. We sit in a line at the fast food place instead of parking our cars and walking forty feet into the store to the totally empty counter!

Then there are those companies with that offer us those plastic things we swip at the stores to pay for the products we buy (I would call them by the normal name but the last time I did that myLots automated systems screwed up my post in a big big way. Don't want that to happen again so I can't say those words) anyway the last few times I called for customer service on those I always end up talking to someone in either Indonesia or India who can not seem to speak english good enough to be understood! You ask to talk to their supervisor but they are just as bad... so you ask to talk to someone who can speak english but it seems they don't have anyone like that! They should be employing us here in the states to help with the unemployment situation instead of making the CEO rich. I do think they could do it without going out of business! But they are greedy!

I am glad to hear you will keep your $40 phone! I have been doing some special treatment of my $15 phone in the hopes of making those rechargeable batteries last longer. The problem with many of these rechargeable phones is that they put super cheap chargers into them that are not smart enough to know when to stop charging the batteries. So the batteries often fail due to overcharging. What you need to do is let the unit get much closer to depleting the batteries and leave it on the base for say 12 to 24 hours in a cool place. Heat is another enemy of the battery. Overcharging and letting them heat up too much shortens the life of the battery. So then it gets to litter our landfills while the company rakes in the profits from replacement batteries so they can make a CEO richer just because he is a smart guy who knows how to make the company successful.

If he was so smart wy didn't he think about the guy filling his pocket rather than how to double line it so it won't rip??
I refuse to go to walmart, and I only use target for diapers(I got kids so I gotta get um somewhere)
I ussually shop online for things or go to a small town store, I don't like to shop at the big chain grocers, I like Ideal and the other little guys, and I always try to spend my money in as many places as possible so as to not conform to one business. I agree, I would pay as much as it costs to get good products that last and last, but they don't make good stuff anymore, its all crap
I can't get a decent entertainment stand because fiberboard is so much cheaper to the companies that retail furnature, I can't get a decent nonstick pan, because they are too cheap to give me a real coating of tephlon, it's all BS, I would pay more but they want me to buy the bull, so they make it as hard as possible to get the good stuff at what would be reasonable price, and even the cheap stuff is getting cheaper and cheaper to make and more aand more expensive to purchase
I have an old stero from the 70's(my mom used it through college) and all it needs it tuner twine and a new fuse, other wise it works fine, on the other hand I have a dvd/vcr combo that won't play dvd's anymore and it screws up when I am using the vcr side, and it isn't even 5 years old
I have plenty of cassettes that still play great(even vinal albums) but most of my CD's are too scratched to play, it seems the newer it is the shorter it lasts, what's next?, it'll be broken when I pull it out of the box???!!!???

and what about all those "great" cell phones that cost less than a nickel to make yet they charge me 250 bucks at the store for this POS that isn't going to last 5 inutes around my kids, let alone my normal usage??
I have gone thru alot of cellphones simply due to poor construction, I now buy them based on a simple checklist, including wieght, I find the heavier the cell phone the more durable, take one of those 80's phones, you could throw it under a semi and still use it for years after that

I have seen some 'Universal' power adapters that did a fairly good job of covering the gamut of devices. Offering multiple voltage choices and a variety of connectors. I repeat fairly good job, not all of them. Especially with the cell phones now. Talk about some special connectors to charge them!

We are not talking about cell pones, we are talking about cordless LAN phones, and they do make ones that take AA batteries, the debate is why won't they make decent phone batteries, or just good phones, you should read more before you make a statement like you know

We are not talking about cell pones, we are talking about cordless LAN phones, and they do make ones that take AA batteries, the debate is why won't they make decent phone batteries, or just good phones, you should read more before you make a statement like you know

Thanks! I am still keeping my eyes out for such a product. I currently have a GE $15 dollar one. I actually have a second one and rotate the batteries. I try to run them down before charging them and then I make sure they don't sit on the base and charge too long. Usually 12 to 24 hours should be good. Some people just keep their phones on the base all the time and if the phone has a cheap charger that doesn't detect when the batteries are charged they can then be damaged by the overcharging and need to be replaced sooner. They are always overpriced when you go to get them replaced and that is upsetting for me.

mine is on the charger right now, and I am sure it is fully charged(I just don't want to look for it all the time)
maybe they should have a timer on the charger so when it has been sitting for a while it would turn of the electricity
might save some people the hassle
and maybe prevent charger overheating, which can lead to a fire

If your phome has Nickel Methyl Hydrate batteries the charger will no hurt them they are the ones with a memory in the battery that allows it to protected from under and overcharging. Most $15.00-$20.00 phones come with a NiCad battery pack which has to be completely dicharged before recharging, and shouldn't be left on charge. Nickel batteries are available for purchase at any hardware or electronic store and are made for cordless phones, however they are more expensive and last 5 times longer, but they will not work with a phone that uses Nicad bateries as the charger base will not charge the battery, it has to do with the electric pulse charge the base puts out, Nicad's pulse is different than Nickel's.

That is exactly what it's all about...money...and yes my friends is doesn't matter what we want we are still going to buy the crap the put in front of use...why...because we really do not have a choice...we can say that the stuff we buy at store x is garbage and go to to y and buy their stuff but in the end it is as much garbage as the first purchase...again this goes back to supply and demand, we want it and the companies have it..and unlike years gone past where there were only a few retailers out there competing for business, now there are thousands of money hungry companies that will push and sweet talk there way into your wallet...most of these companies have so many sub companies that it doesn't matter what brand you buy you are still buying junk...
Remember when for instance you would buy an RCA tv or a GE cordless phone, or even a Black and Decker coffee maker...you knew you were getting a good name and brand. now you in the world knows what you are getting...but I promise you that 99% of what ever it is was not made buy the company name on the box....

Example....and question who makes Honeywell Air Cleaners and heaters...not Honeywell although they are known as the largest manufacture of these products....

For the guys out there who makes Delta power tools the third largest manufacture of power tools? What about most of the Skil, Ryobi and other brands....

The list goes on.... and within lies the problem we are not buying what it says on the box...even if it say made in America, or Canada.

So spateo our goal here should be to NOT buy products from the companies that make products that are not in the customers best interests. If EVERYONE did this they would have to make stuff we want or go out of business. But it would take a lot of people with the same kind of mentality to make that happen. Problem is most people just don't care about these things. If I had capital I would be seriously interested in starting a company whose main credo would be the consumer friendly product. We would make products that make sense, will last and that people who care about quality, serviceability and low cost of ownership, like me will appreciate. I would expect such a company to do well.

I agree, it is not about what the offer it is about what we buy, if we didn't buy it they wouldn't make it
the fact that enough people don't think aobut where it came from or what the person is doing with the money they gave up is a major problem
Most people don't think about the corelation between a lack of fresh water in some countries and the Coke they buy ten times a day(Coke gets alot of it's water from countries with privatised water systems)
or that their shoes were made by kids, or people enslaved by meager wages, and when that company finds someone to do it cheaper, they have no money at all
you are getting crappy products because you don't care how cheap it is made, or who gets hurt in the process, and the company keeps growing and growing, as long as you get a phone for 15 bucks

people used to learn as much as they could about something before they bought it, so they wouldn't waste their money on junk, but you go to the store and buy what ever based soley on price and features, dumb really dumb

if you don't know go out and learn, there is no excuse for ignorance

As a retail worker I can tell you this... it is unbeleivable how hard it is this day and age to actually get a decent made product...I get customers all the time that ask me about the difference between 2 or 3 of the same looking products..price and warranty are the only main difference, doesn't matter who made it, but when I tell customers that, they just look at me and laugh saying who needs all that warranty I never hardly use it...so they take the cheap item with no warranty and in 2 weeks I am fighting with them because they say I sold them a crappy product.....why because the price was cheap...if they had of done there homework and researched the product and taking my information they would have gotten a good item, remember you as a customer buy maybe one of a certain item a year, I as a retailer sell 1000 a year so I could tell you what is good and what isn't, what I see returned a hundred times and what isn't...that is also another thing..retailers don't work on commissions so if an employee at a store is selling you something at a higher price they are not doing it because they are making more money but they are doing it to save you some money and them some grief in the long run...matter of fact, most stores make more money on the low price products than the higher priced ones.

So now I wonder what it is going to take to get the US back on track and into making a product that won't end up in the landfill next year! We are destroying our planet fast enough without the wasteful depleting of resources just to make a buck. I would so like to see us turn the situation around on this planet so that it will still be in good shape for generations to come with all the planet and animal species still here. This should be a major focus in our daily lives.

they make many types of swing, including ones that plug in
if you still need one look online, I am sure even they company that yours is from would have a more suitable model for your needs
I just use a baby bouncer, it has three songs it plays, and it has massagers in the backing to rub baby's back while they sit there(my 18 month old loved it when she fit in it, so much in fact that she still tried to sit in it though it is now her sisters seat)
I think more people should look at the products they intendo to buy to make sure they are getting the best overall value for their money, a plug in model costs a little bit more, but you don't have to use batteries, or maybe you could have invested into rechargeable batteries at the time of purchase

speaking of crappy tech toys(from an earlier post) I put brand new ghetto batteries in my digi cam, and got ONE that's right ONE picture taken and the batteries are so dead I can't take anymore, let alone check my pics on the camera, that is stupid, I am going to get a lith ion camera, they usually have better Pixal rates anyway, as they don't have to dumb down the camera to make it better on juice, plus i don't want to carry around a pack of batteries just to take pictures, so for now I am just using my old walgreens camera, at least it gets free film so........

BTW lolo, I didn't think mamy people would be responding to this, did you??

Deaf omega I tried using regular alkyline batteries like Dorcy and everready in my dig camera and like you said I never even got a picture with them the camera just sucked the life right out of them..I then bought energizer and duracell and those batteries lasted a long long time, took over 250 pictures with flash on one set of energizer's.

I am getting some high endurance batteries tomorrow, just so I can finally use my camera, and no I have to get a new exspensive lithium battery because after 2 and a half years te one in my film camera died, but it's all good, as I am getting Twilight Princess tomorrow as well, YAY for the soothing effects of a new zelda game, YAY again!!!

So now I have something else to post on mylot but my bame is still delayeed and I never got it, have to wait till the 14th, grrrr
so I got FF3 for my ds, YAY!!!

Sounds like you will be happy for a few days! Cool.

I am already halfway done with FF3 and I still hav efive days left before I can get zelda, but I will still have to wait for xmas to play it
Games are another place I think they need to work more on, movies too
I hate these dime a dozen medias out there now, games these days are all generic, and movies are so predictable I can already sum the film just by viewing the previews. I wish they would stop putting out so much crap and actually produce more quality in these things, movies would be better if they spent the budget on story and not special explosions, and games could be better in almost every way, I watch things get better and better and then they sudenly just stopped, and quickly reverted downhill. WHY
if you can make a game better you should make it better, release it when it is perfect

We seem to have something in common. I like trying to squeeze out as much use out of everything that I can. I hate throwing things away unless it really is trash.

During my quest for this product I have been told by salespersons that they do exist, at least at one time if not still.

it is a cool thing out there
although I hear they have a replacment for lith Ion now too
it is made from beet sugar, they will be out in five years or so, and they hold 5 X's the juice, I assume this means that I can get one for my PSP and not have to stay at home with it all the time


speaking of being home all the time.......
I called ya dude, and you were out for a walk
you should call me soon, or email a good time to hang out soon(in the next two weeks)
I have some projects I am working on(if you haven't seen my newest postings)

catch ya later lolo