Stupid product designs.

[Locut0s]

So I've just come across one of the stupidest design decisions I've seen in a long while.

A customer just returned an LCD that he bought for wall mounting. It was an LG 20in monitor with Vesa mount holes. However the neck of the the monitor stand was attached to the monitor and was NOT removable. At first I thought we just didn't know how to remove it but a quick Google showed that it was permanently attached... Who the fuck designs a monitor with a Vesa mount that has a retarded stand sticking out of the bottom that is not removable!?

Let's hear some of your stupid product design stories.

 

[IronWing]

Mammals' naughty parts. Who put the pisser in the playground?

 

[mwtgg]

Shake Weight

/thread

 

[IronWing]

Shake Weight

/thread

It's a fine product. The name is what's wrong. Shoulda called it "Hasbro Goatse Maker".

 

[Locut0s]

Mammals' naughty parts. Who put the pisser in the playground?

Sorry what? These are products?

 

[IronWing]

Sorry what? These are products?

Everyone has a price. PM me for details.

 

[us3rnotfound]

Wow, do you remember the model of the monitor? I gotta see this.

 

[Locut0s]

Wow, do you remember the model of the monitor? I gotta see this.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=37...ustomerReviews

I work at NCIX. Here's a Newegg customer review saying the same thing:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005123

2nd customer review from a Mr "CP"

"
-The biggest problem for me. I figured I'd just wall mount the thing so I wouldn't have to deal with the stand. Turns out that the base stem (not the flat removable part of the base) is permanently attached to the unit. So you can either wall mount the screen with the ugly stump sticking out of the bottom (or dragging on the desk, as mine is doing now) or hack it off with a saw.
"

Which seems to be 100% true from my experience with it. Now maybe you can remove the neck by taking the whole back cover off the monitor, I don't know. Still that's one shitty design.

 

[borisvodofsky]

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=37...ustomerReviews

I work at NCIX. Here's a Newegg customer review saying the same thing:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005123

2nd customer review from a Mr "CP"

"
-The biggest problem for me. I figured I'd just wall mount the thing so I wouldn't have to deal with the stand. Turns out that the base stem (not the flat removable part of the base) is permanently attached to the unit. So you can either wall mount the screen with the ugly stump sticking out of the bottom (or dragging on the desk, as mine is doing now) or hack it off with a saw.
"

Which seems to be 100% true from my experience with it. Now maybe you can remove the neck by taking the whole back cover off the monitor, I don't know. Still that's one shitty design.

You know, most of these cheap monitors are rebranded stuff, so many times they're just toss togethers, with very little thought.

but honestly, you can't catch every little detail, that would cost too much R&D.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

It's removeable without destruction; it just requires tools and skills people do not normally have.

Heaven forbid someone would have to take the thing apart...

 

[Locut0s]

It's removeable without destruction; it just requires tools and skills people do not normally have.

Heaven forbid someone would have to take the thing apart...

By that standard no product in the history of man kind was ever defective or poorly designed.

The point is that it should be easily or relatively easily removable, like with a few screws. Otherwise they shouldn't have bothered to place a Vesa mount on it in the first place.

 

[Fallingwater]

By that standard no product in the history of man kind was ever defective or poorly designed.

While you do have a point, I wish people would at least try to fix their stuff, instead of just complaining loudly and and expecting the industry to cater to their every whim.
People are too scared to tinker with their devices. You don't need to be an electronics guru to undo screws, open a gadget up and do basic things like removing stands or replacing batteries. But no, better to toss it and get another one...

This is why I'm a hardware hacker. When something doesn't work right, I take it apart and make it work right. I wish more people did this - currently, 99% of those who see my hacks go "but, wouldn't it have been better to buy another one?".

*sigh*

 

[xanis]

While you do have a point, I wish people would at least try to fix their stuff, instead of just complaining loudly and and expecting the industry to cater to their every whim.
People are too scared to tinker with their devices. You don't need to be an electronics guru to undo screws, open a gadget up and do basic things like removing stands or replacing batteries. But no, better to toss it and get another one...

This is why I'm a hardware hacker. When something doesn't work right, I take it apart and make it work right. I wish more people did this - currently, 99% of those who see my hacks go "but, wouldn't it have been better to buy another one?".

*sigh*

I don't "hack" my devices, but I'm not afraid to open them to tinker/fix stuff. For example, my laptop's hardware wasn't meeting my needs, so instead if buying a new one I installed a bigger, faster hard drive and more RAM. When I tell people they act surprised and call me a "techno-wiz". I might have above-average knowledge of stuff like that, but all I'm really doing is following tutorials and *carefully* playing around with stuff until it works.

 

[feralkid]

While you do have a point, I wish people would at least try to fix their stuff, instead of just complaining loudly and and expecting the industry to cater to their every whim.
People are too scared to tinker with their devices. You don't need to be an electronics guru to undo screws, open a gadget up and do basic things like removing stands or replacing batteries. But no, better to toss it and get another one...

This is why I'm a hardware hacker. When something doesn't work right, I take it apart and make it work right. I wish more people did this - currently, 99% of those who see my hacks go "but, wouldn't it have been better to buy another one?".

*sigh*

Agree, however many companies won't honor warranties if a product has been taken to pieces.




Not that it ever stopped me.

:sneaky:

 

[Perknose]

Sorry what? These are products?

Yes. They prove the ecclesiastical theory of Unintelligent Design.

 

[Golgatha]

Almost as dumb as my Samsung 22in HDTV needing a VESA mounting kit to attach it to an aftermarket monitor stand.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-WMB190...1655384&sr=1-1

I had to get some nuts and bolts from the hardware store to get it properly mounted too. Wish I had known this up front. If I hadn't gotten such a good deal on the TV itself, I'd have returned it for having such a retarded and non-standard design.

 

[saratoga172]

Agree, however many companies won't honor warranties if a product has been taken to pieces.




Not that it ever stopped me.

:sneaky:

Don't ask don't tell?

 

[Fallingwater]

I don't "hack" my devices, but I'm not afraid to open them to tinker/fix stuff. For example, my laptop's hardware wasn't meeting my needs, so instead if buying a new one I installed a bigger, faster hard drive and more RAM. When I tell people they act surprised and call me a "techno-wiz". I might have above-average knowledge of stuff like that, but all I'm really doing is following tutorials and *carefully* playing around with stuff until it works.

This is exactly what I wish more people would do. There are lots of tutorials, and many are very easy to follow, and if you have opposable thumbs you really have no excuse to not grab a screwdriver and just do the procedure yourself. But no, they go "I know nothing about this, I can't do it" and don't even try.

Agree, however many companies won't honor warranties if a product has been taken to pieces.
Not that it ever stopped me.

We europeans pay more for our electronics, but we get a 2-year warranty by law. This is a good thing for most people, but it's a very bad thing for me - I usually void warranties long before two years, and would definitely prefer the american system, where you get your 2 months of standard warranty and can pay for more if you require it.

 

[CZroe]

How about all those products with security seals that only cover one corner or side so you could still open it and just use the seal sticker as a hinge without damaging/removing? Most manufacturers learned to cover a screw a long time ago, but I still see it every now and then.

 

[dullard]

would definitely prefer the american system, where you get your 2 months of standard warranty and can pay for more if you require it.

It is better than that. Most Americans have credit cards that give a free 1-year warranty on top of the manufacturer's warranty for everything they buy. So, if it were just 2 months, we actually get 14 months. Yet, few of us know that little fact.

 

[Fallingwater]

How about all those products with security seals that only cover one corner or side so you could still open it and just use the seal sticker as a hinge without damaging/removing? Most manufacturers learned to cover a screw a long time ago, but I still see it every now and then.

In most cases, external stickers are only there to discourage the user from opening the device. Most manufacturers honor the warranty even if the sticker is off, provided the case isn't mauled and the internals look OK, because the sticker might have come off simply due to friction with whatever surface the product contacts during normal use (say, the inside of a pocket for a portable media player).

A much more effective form of warranty seals are those godawful cases that can't be opened without aesthetically ruining them (I'm looking at you, Zune 80). The repair places have a machine that puts levers in all the proper places at the same time and pops off the cover easily, but the amateur technician has to make do with flathead screwdrivers, knives and spudgers, and the resulting mangled case acts as a "I've been tampered with" warning to the repair people.

 

[lxskllr]

They're also good at hiding screws. I've broken some cases by forcing them, not knowing it was a screw, and not just overly aggressive clips :^S

 

[Fallingwater]

I just go with my finger over every sticker I can find. Worst I've seen so far was a Philips speaker that had its screws under a decorative plastic doodad on the front. I'd already broken out the Dremel and was in the process of sawing through the first corner when I got a flash of intuition, removed the doodads, and sure enough there were the screws... in my mind I imagined them sporting trollfaces.

 

[Barfo]

lulz

 

[Kommander_Kink]

Nothing more retarded than the Chrysler Sebring, to change a burnt headlight bulb you have to remove the entire left (or right) side exterior fender, plus some engine parts.