Re: USB microscopes for very small SMT

Joel Koltner wrote:
"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:pZj_k.9394$c45.64@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Buying simple things is becoming tougher as well. For example the number of toasters without chips in them is dwindling.

But the quality of toasters has improved significantly with microcontrollers: I remember as a kid, it was uncommon to find a toaster that would let you run through multiple pieces of bread without them getting lighter and lighter on each cycle, until by the 4th or 5th cycle the entire toaster was so hot it would only "toast" for, say, 10 seconds before popping up the bread again even on the darkest setting.


Our first family toaster was the kind where you had to open the sides "just so". Then the slices would flip. If you did it wrong and wedged it smoke would come out. It had no thermostat. The tool you used to determine slice tan was on your wrist and said Timex or something on there :-)


To some extent this was probably due to our buying cheap toasters... we probably went through a half-dozen sub-$20 toasters until my mother one day bought a nice Braun unit... but of course in the store you have no way of knowing how good the toaster really is, regardless of the price.


Braun used to be good. But we found their coffee makers didn't last more than 1-1/2 years lately. So why spend extra for a name brand anymore?


Today most toasters just don't have this problem anyway. It's a case where while, sure, 25 years ago there certainly were good toasters, there was also a lot of crap... whereas today I believe that dirt-cheap microcontroller-based toasters perform just about as well as the best anachronisms you might sitll have around.


Until shortly after the warranty expiration date ...


We have a gourmet coffee maker in repair right now. I don't think the mfg makes any money on this repair considering it's $30 inclucing both ways shipping. What had croaked? The electronics. Of course.

They perhaps didn't do much torture testing before they started selling it. I've worked at several places where, if the widget worked at room temperature, you shipped it... and let your customers tell you -- via warranty exchanges! -- thaat it didn't work so well in, e.g., Alaska or Arizona.


From an engineer's POV this thing isn't designed right IMHO. But supposedly makes good coffee. Died on its first run :-(

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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