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No we're both away so empty house.

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Fri Apr 06, 2018 1:14 pm
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davrosG5 wrote:
You do usually get a discount on your insurance if the property has a working alarm, even if it is just for deterrence.
Which is hardly worth it from a cost point of view.
The real need is to put off burglars. When my parents were burgled last year, the alarm went off as expected. The CCTV from next door showed that they were only in the house three minutes. They hardly had time to take anything.

Annoyingly the alarm couldn't protect them from someone nicking the lead off the bay window roof earlier this year (as they never entered the house to set it off). :evil:

I would never say we're safe, but I think we're not a prime target because:
1) We have an alarm when quite a few houses on our street don't.
2) Our back garden is open and overlooked by several houses (from the next street that goes off at a right angle). There are other houses nearby that offer them more seclusion while they try and break in.

The only issue we have at the moment is the lack of gate to stop them coming up the side of the house. That's why we leave the whillie bins there as a psychological barrier (it can easily be removed as a physical barrier).

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Mon Apr 09, 2018 4:18 pm
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Caz is correct though


Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:05 am
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Why is the build quality on everything so crap these days?

When my mother married, she got an electric mixer as a present, it lasted her from the mid-60s through to the mid-2000s, around 40 years. The same for the fridge, washing machine and furniture... You bought products for "a lifetime".

The furniture I bought in the mid 90s lasterd about 7 years. I bought a cheap sofa in Germany in 2009, it broke in 2012 and we replaced it with a high end sofa set (2 mechanical sofas, with recliner function), those broke towards the end of last year, so we have ordered a new sofa. We have decided this time to go for a cheap-to-midrange sofa, because, although the more expensive one had more functionality, it hasn't lasted 5 times longer than the cheap one, in fact, for 5 times the prices, it has lasted 1 year longer! So what is the point in getting a high-end product? Value for money will therefore, probably, be in the midrange, where there is enough comfort, but no luxury, but the product will last just as long as the high-end product.

There are some exceptions, I tend to buy high-end keyboards and they tend to last fairly well. But most products these days seem to be built to fail in a couple of years.

Some things, like TVs, fridge, freezer, washing machine etc. I expect to last at least 10 years, when not 20 or more, but reports on many washing machines, for example, seem to point to them failing just outside of the 2 year guarantee! My daughter bought a Benko when she moved out, 3 years later, it failed and the repair costs were high enough, that she bought a new machine (from another company)...

Now we are moving towards IoT and people are talking about security updates in months! Months! These are often on devices that are replacing something that has been in place for decades! Smart light switch, replacing a 50 year old mechanical switch? 2 year guarantee and security updates for a year, if you are lucky! What sort of state is that going to be in in 50 years time? I bet the control servers will be offline in 3 years at the outside, forcing people to replace them!

This is an item that has gone from surviing, generally, at least half a cenutry, if not more to something that fails after a couple of years! How is that a step forward? Good, if it cost a tenth of the price of a mechanical switch, you could at least perform an ROI calculation that would make it look sane, but they cost much more and last a fraction so long. That is more electrical waste, more money thrown down the tubes and more effort required to continually replace the damned things!

Where is the benefit from IoT?

I can turn on the washing machine, when I am not a home... Great, but who is going to fill it up, or hang up the clothes when it has finished? I still have to be there for that (and our last 3 washing machines have had timers anyway, so we can "program" them to start at lunch time and be finished when we plan to be home). The same with lighting, why do I need to turn it on when I am not there? Because I am on holiday and want to give the impression that the house is not empty? I have 20 year old timer plugs that do that already...

As far as I can see, IoT doesn't currently offer anything sensible for the consumer, apart from being lazy and not having to stand up to turn on the light, just more expense and more junk polluting our environment, because it no longer lasts...

And I am a tech junkie, I always looked forward to advances in technology. But we seem to have reached a pinnacle in computing, for the moment, and manufacturers are just looking at ways to keep the gravy train going, instead of actually innovating and providing something new and wonderful. Computers are commodity items, whether we are talking about PCs or smartphones. That means lower volumes and lower margins, because the devices aren't improving as much each year that the consumer "needs" a new device after a year or two. A 10 year old PC is still "fast enough", if it is given an SSD, for most every-day tasks. This years smartphone is a little faster than last years, but only in benchmarks and unless the manufacturer starts to throttle them, for example the Apple fiasco earlier this year, where the devices were throttled to "protect the longevity of the battery charge", whether the battery was charging poorly or not, or the Android "bit rot" that causes them to slow down, like the old registry problems on Windows PCs.

Google also only supports 2 generations of hardware with updates, for example. Older devices will get security patches for 3 years, but only the current 2 generations will get OS upgrades. Their IoT initiative is only promising updates for 3 years. Only Microsoft seems to be thinking mid-term, with a 10 year guarantee for security updates on their IoT platform.

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Tue May 29, 2018 8:07 am
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Aaaand breathe...

I do agree though. There's often very little point in buying 'high end' stuff these days from the point of view of longevity. And yeah, the IoT stuff largely leaves me cold.

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Tue May 29, 2018 8:35 am
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big_D wrote:
Why is the build quality on everything so crap these days?


From what I've read there's built in obsolence and also stuff that's cheaper to produce so more profit. When I bought my house, I read up on washing machines. Turns out that a £200 washing machine in 1980 would now cost £1000. But you can get a cheap washing machine now for £160. That's about £35 in 1980. Although washing machines are easier to manufacture with modern technology, they also tend to be more flimsily built, and harder and more costly to repair. My Bosch washing machine cost £400. If the bearings went, I'd need a new drum assembly (£200) plus pay labour to fix it - almost the cost of a brand new machine. Hence why these days people chuck things and replace them rather than repair them.

My understanding is that the way to generate new sales is to ensure new products breakdown and need to be replaced at more frequent intervals. If you sold every household a well-built washing machine in year 1, you'd have no new sales for 20 years. How are you going to make more money? Make them so they last a reasonable length and then ensure they continue to buy new machines. With companies owning several brands (I think Bosch, Neff and Siemens are all produced in the same factories, ditto with "cheaper" brands), you can be reasonably sure people will buy another one of your brands.



big_D wrote:
Where is the benefit from IoT?

I think IoT is still in its infancy and has yet to take off, hence still being viewed as a novelty.

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Thu May 31, 2018 8:22 am
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The problem is, if something breaks down after 2 - 3 years, I'll not buy from that brand again...

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Thu May 31, 2018 11:32 am
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Got 110,00 miles out of my ten year old Nissan Micra before it started costing serious money.
My last car, a Totoya Corolla lasted 13 years and had 195,000 miles when we sold it. It was very reliable. Didn't even need to replace the clutch until 174,000 miles. Around the same time we replaced brake caliper, and the AC hadn't been topped up in years, so didn't work. But other than that it was rock solid. It's the main reeason why I went for Toyota again with our current car.

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Fri Jun 01, 2018 7:29 am
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l3v1ck wrote:
My last car, a Totoya Corolla lasted 13 years and had 195,000 miles when we sold it. It was very reliable. Didn't even need to replace the clutch until 174,000 miles. Around the same time we replaced brake caliper, and the AC hadn't been topped up in years, so didn't work. But other than that it was rock solid. It's the main reeason why I went for Toyota again with our current car.

Pretty much identical here, if you replace "Toyota Corolla" with "VW Passat". The other reason I still own a VAG car (Audi A3 now) is because, despite some pillock rear-ending me at ~60mph while I was stationary, my whole family walked away with barely a scratch.

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Fri Jun 01, 2018 6:37 pm
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I've toyed with the idea of getting rid of my Golf GTI for a few years now and I just keep it going. I bought it pre-registered in 2008, on PCP with every intention of replacing it once the PCP deal was completed. I didn't like the new GTI after that so I decided to pay off the balloon at 3 years and sell at 5 years. But I'd since spent money on upgrading it and even by 7 years it was doing well with no major problems. It's now 10 years. It has been serviced every six months (and any additional work required at that point), and has passed through every MOT without problems.

What do I replace it with?

I originally wanted 4WD because of the snow/icy weather we sometimes get, plus the additional grip in the corners. But because no one was buying the Golf R, VW put some good deals on PCP (you could get one for £250pcm with little deposit), now every man and his dog has one. Ditto with the Golf GTI - I've seen loads about. I wanted a BMW at some point but unless it's an M3 (which I used to dream about owning), it seems a bit pointless because almost every car on the driveways in our area is a BMW, or an Audi. And an M3 is out of my price range, especially now I have a mortgage.

So for the time being, I'll probably keep the Golf GTI. It costs around £1600/year (2xservice, road tax, MOT and insurance) which is £130pcm. Which is still better than any PCP deal.

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Mon Jun 04, 2018 7:29 am
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Day three of putting up the shed. If I'd known the instrcutions were in German and there isn't an English version available, I might not have bought it.

In fairness, if I'd known it was made of tin foil, I probably wouldn't have bought it either...

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Mon Jun 25, 2018 10:34 am
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I suppose you've already tried to google the shed and see if there instructions in english?
Or maybe see if google translate will help?
Or contact seller?

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Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:13 pm
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cloaked_wolf wrote:
I suppose you've already tried to google the shed and see if there instructions in english?
Or maybe see if google translate will help?
Or contact seller?


I have tried searching, but had no luck finding an English version.

I have contacted the seller. They sent me a PDF copy of the instructions. They are also in German.

Google translate has been a help, sort of. Here's a nice example...

Google Translate wrote:
Tip: Screw the roof elements one after the other. Imagine yourself a ladder as an aid to screwing in the middle of the shed, with it screw the upper row of screws out of the interior can. Make sure that your ladder is secure!


Imagine yourself a ladder? I would much rather use an actual ladder, if it's alright with you! :shock: :lol:

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Mon Jun 25, 2018 12:25 pm
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Woran liegt das Problem? Deutsch ist ja ganz einfach! :lol:

Google Translate is terrible, although it is slowly improving.

The German <-> English translations have always been on the dodgy, when nicht downright dangerous side!

It translated "do not open the case, high voltage inside" to "das Gehäuse öffnen, Startstrom drinnen" (Open the case, high voltage inside").

Or "do not open the case, no user serviceable parts inside" to "das Gehäuse öffnen, nichts drinnen" (Open the case, nothing inside").

Just the sort of instruction you want in your handbook for a 3000€ device! :lol:

I had written the handbook in English and had to translate it to German in 2 hours... After picking myself up off the floor from laughing so hard, I translated it by hand over 2 days and told the boss he'd just have to accept that it took longer to do the job properly.

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Mon Jun 25, 2018 1:20 pm
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F***ing DART charge rip-off. Pure greed. Ramping the charge from £2.50 to a £70 fine if you don't pay by the end of the next day is just profiteering.

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Tue Jun 26, 2018 5:29 pm
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