What is the worst consumer electronics purchase you ever made?

[panteragstk]

I've purchased so many different things over the years it's hard to say which ones were bad purchases and which ones should have been good products, but simply aren't.

My current Pixel 4 XL would be one of those. It should be good, great even. It isn't. At all. Glass back makes the phone slippery as hell and gestures don't work with a damn with a case on. At $900 it should have been great.

I have a $200 speedometer calibrator that won't program my truck, that's annoying, but I haven't had time to call customer support yet.

My office receiver was a victim of the Onkyo HDMI issue, but it got fixed for free, but for years I was pissed at the HDMI acting up, but it wasn't horrible, just irritating. Been perfect since I got it back 4 years ago.

I bought a jeep compass that was a POS, but not the same topic.

My PC motherboard has a USB bug that just happens to ONLY affect people with my VERY specific configuration. Of course I'm one that has issues.

Other than that I try to make few purchases on a whim. I research EVERYTHING to death. Having sold electronics helped too since I got to see so many early products that were terrible. Early adopters are beta testers that have to pay. No thanks.

 

[XenoChron]

Probably doesn’t qualify as I actually didn’t buy it at the time but I demoed what I thought was a sweet pair of speakers at a premier audio reseller in high school (80’s) and loved them. Save up some cash and brought it up and had the speakers all set and while my friend loaded them in my car the guy told me the price. It was TWICE what I thought it was supposed to be. I couldn’t understand it. Of course the price they gave me was for ONE speaker!!! Who the heck buys one speaker I said! I was furious and slightly embarrassed. Made me feel like A real neophyte. Funny story now though.

Oh and I did buy an Apple Newton!


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[Auditor55]

Another funny thing about audio in general, seems like when you're young it's all about your car and when you get older it's about home audio. At least that's how it went with me. My car stereo is a joke, lol. Stock, of course.

I can't take poor car audio, I usually get rid of the stock car stereo. I love listening to music while driving probably more than I do in the home.

 

[Auditor55]

I've purchased so many different things over the years it's hard to say which ones were bad purchases and which ones should have been good products, but simply aren't.

My current Pixel 4 XL would be one of those. It should be good, great even. It isn't. At all. Glass back makes the phone slippery as hell and gestures don't work with a damn with a case on. At $900 it should have been great.

I have a $200 speedometer calibrator that won't program my truck, that's annoying, but I haven't had time to call customer support yet.

My office receiver was a victim of the Onkyo HDMI issue, but it got fixed for free, but for years I was pissed at the HDMI acting up, but it wasn't horrible, just irritating. Been perfect since I got it back 4 years ago.

I bought a jeep compass that was a POS, but not the same topic.

My PC motherboard has a USB bug that just happens to ONLY affect people with my VERY specific configuration. Of course I'm one that has issues.

Other than that I try to make few purchases on a whim. I research EVERYTHING to death. Having sold electronics helped too since I got to see so many early products that were terrible. Early adopters are beta testers that have to pay. No thanks.

I usually study and research purchases before making a decision. I usually keep the electronics I purchase for a long time. I typically don't make poor decisions because 95% percent of the time I purchase from a place without a return policy so I can undo a bad decision.

 

[snakeeyes]

The AppleTV 4K I can use as a coaster. I bought 2 of them and a 3rd one was a sign up gift.

I replaced with a 4K Firecube and a pair of 4K Firesticks.

I may have use for these yet. Yesterday I got Apple Music Atmos setup on the Apple TV 4K.

 

[ddjr]

I lived in Denver years ago(go broncos!) And was swindled by a guy who owned a little audio store. Auto audio. He swore that all components were made in the same factory, and the only difference was the faceplate. So I bought his Pyramid brand junk, believing it was really Alpine equipment with a different faceplate etc. Started my Saab on fire! I think his name was Avi ancel. I'm sure he's passed away by now so I don't mind using his name. Kit and kaboodle, I bought a receiver, speakers, subs, amps, loads of junk. Live and learn...

 

[XenoChron]

I can't take poor car audio, I usually get rid of the stock car stereo. I love listening to music while driving probably more than I do in the home.

Amen to that! Can’t stand a crappy car audio system. Miss my ok’d conversion van from decades ago that was all decked out with some nice sound.


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[davidscott]

Another funny thing about audio in general, seems like when you're young it's all about your car and when you get older it's about home audio. At least that's how it went with me. My car stereo is a joke, lol. Stock, of course.

Totally agree. I usually listen to sports talk radio in my car these days.

 

[Eppie]

Factory car audio has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 20 or so years. It's a much tougher sell now for 3rd market systems, and not just because the factory systems have auto-navigation. We have a Ford Freestyle (cross-over SUV) and a Jeep Grand Cherokee and both vehicles have mutli-speaker systems designed for that specific vehicle and the Jeep even has a sub in the back. Both provide more than enough bass for my taste and vocals are clear as day. A retailer would be hard pressed to convince me to upgrade either system for the difference it would make. The Ford is older so only has a 6 disk CD/DVD changer, but it is MP3 compatible so if I burn MP3s onto a CD I can get hundreds of songs. The Jeep has a hard drive and I've loaded over 1,000 songs onto it. Takes days to go through all of the material once and a USB port allows access to extra material. The aftermarket seems more targeted at those who want custom systems with bass shaker cabinets, but I'll admit that I've been out of the loop for a while.

 

[panteragstk]

Factory car audio has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 20 or so years. It's a much tougher sell now for 3rd market systems, and not just because the factory systems have auto-navigation. We have a Ford Freestyle (cross-over SUV) and a Jeep Grand Cherokee and both vehicles have mutli-speaker systems designed for that specific vehicle and the Jeep even has a sub in the back. Both provide more than enough bass for my taste and vocals are clear as day. A retailer would be hard pressed to convince me to upgrade either system for the difference it would make. The Ford is older so only has a 6 disk CD/DVD changer, but it is MP3 compatible so if I burn MP3s onto a CD I can get hundreds of songs. The Jeep has a hard drive and I've loaded over 1,000 songs onto it. Takes days to go through all of the material once and a USB port allows access to extra material. The aftermarket seems more targeted at those who want custom systems with bass shaker cabinets, but I'll admit that I've been out of the loop for a while.

I do agree that car audio is leaps and bounds better than it was from the factory, but the factory UI and everything that goes with that on a lot of vehicles is where the aftermarket was 5-10 years ago. My aftermarket deck in my truck is much faster than the one in my wife's car and they're only around a year apart when it comes to manufacturer date.

I've used brand new vehicles that are still way behind when it comes to factory radios, but they're harder to change out now that they control everything under the sun and are weird non standard sizes. Changing them out doesn't make sense, but they've still got a ways to go.

 

[Auditor55]

Factory car audio has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 20 or so years. It's a much tougher sell now for 3rd market systems, and not just because the factory systems have auto-navigation. We have a Ford Freestyle (cross-over SUV) and a Jeep Grand Cherokee and both vehicles have mutli-speaker systems designed for that specific vehicle and the Jeep even has a sub in the back. Both provide more than enough bass for my taste and vocals are clear as day. A retailer would be hard pressed to convince me to upgrade either system for the difference it would make. The Ford is older so only has a 6 disk CD/DVD changer, but it is MP3 compatible so if I burn MP3s onto a CD I can get hundreds of songs. The Jeep has a hard drive and I've loaded over 1,000 songs onto it. Takes days to go through all of the material once and a USB port allows access to extra material. The aftermarket seems more targeted at those who want custom systems with bass shaker cabinets, but I'll admit that I've been out of the loop for a while.

With a factory system like that, I probably get rid of it. However, most aren't like that. Most of the time you get some generic audio system.

 

[Kleinst]

With a factory system like that, I probably get rid of it. However, most aren't like that. Most of the time you get some generic audio system.

When I was in high school I put a Alpine in my car with subs in the trunk and infinity speakers up front. It was great. I do agree that the factory systems in cars these days are WAY better than before. I replaced the system in my Yukon and I'm really not sure how much better it got although I now had bluetooth which my old system didn't have (old truck).

But I wonder how much $ is required aftermarket to beat a good factory system these days. Probably a LOT and not sure it's worth it.

 

[rnatalli]

I once purchased an Apple Mac Mini back when they were Power PC only to have Apple release the Intel version 5 weeks later. I should have checked into this in advance as I would have waited had I known.

 

[panteragstk]

I once purchased an Apple Mac Mini back when they were Power PC only to have Apple release the Intel version 5 weeks later. I should have checked into this in advance as I would have waited had I known.

Oh damn. That's rough.

I bet there are a lot of intel mac guys that feel your pain.

 

[Eppie]

I agree that auto makers do need to improve the interface on these systems. My boss had a Cadillac with navigation and they used an icon based interface instead of simple text or text with icons. If you wanted to search for nearby attractions you had to tap the Statue of Liberty but the car was sold in Canada. That interface was horrible. I've always been one who could figure out how to use tech without the need of manuals but that particular system was baffling and it was a bloody expensive car.

 

[sterling shoote]

Marantz 3800 Preamplifier. Even after two returns for repair during warranty period the unit came back with a noisy left channel. I sold it and purchased a Sony 5450.