Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
I was just at my dad's laughing that he was on the second microwave of his life(his current one is a Panasonic from about 1996) and I've been through 6.
Most of them are now made in the same few factories with the same fatal flaw. Three contact switches are mounted on a plastic holder to detect door closure and latching. They must all be in agreement for the microwave to start. The plastic holder has been cost reduced to within a nanometre of functionality. As the plastic parts wear, the likelihood that one switch holder flexes enough to make contact after the other two increases. When that happens, it doesn't just do something rational like fail to start. No, because a logic chip costs pennies and they are not going to do that. Instead it sends line voltage to all three switches, and whichever are closed fuse(essentially welded by the voltage and heat). These switches cost a few bucks, and you can replace them, but if you don't find the right plastic holder, it just keeps happening. Most people don't even go that far and just throw it out.
Anyway, after discovering this I found Toshiba uses a different factory and I hope a different method. 1.5 years and still working...but it did cost more. I'll be OK with that if it lasts.
Oh hey, it's a bit cheaper now.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09NR71NPW
It does have the buttons setup for quick restaurant style orders, so some might not like that. |
We've got the Panasonic 4-in-1 model and it has been pretty good, but I agree with the safety feature overkill. Trying to pop some popcorn and I realize more than a few kernels were still unpopped, so I put it back in, but got thwarted by the "hot inside, please wait" control lock out. Which of course doesn't give you any indication of how long that will take, just have to keep guessing.