@Aj432@RogerWilco Same for me. Main reason is that maybe these are old stock, and with built-in rechargeable battery, it might mean battery is already a few years old which means hit-or-miss on battery life. Most likely miss.
@RogerWilco For mass-market nontechies, micro is probably not a deficit issue because they still have half a dozen other things that charge via micro anyway. OTOH, knowing that micro is seldom going to handle more than 18W, that’s a big clue about charging times.
Did some searching. No replacement battery from any battery company plus it is lithium ion so don’t leave it plugged in and unattended. More stuff escaping the landfill.
@craigcush All lithium batteries can be called “Lithium ion”, that’s a generic term. It usually gets used to cover up the fact that the cheapest chemistry is being used, or the seller has no idea what kind is installed. If they were lithium iron phosphate or lithium-polymer, they’d most likely be saying so.
Plus the Amazon reviews.
After 5 months of light usage, this fan can no longer charge. It doesn’t hold the charge but it also can’t run when it’s plugged in either because it needs to be charged. I tried to look up warranty information on sharper image site and found out that sharper image is only a distributor so you only have 60 days to get refund from SI. Also, the Varnado warranty you have to ship it to them which will probably cost as much as this cost now. Should read the warranty.
@craigcush I recently had a Vornado heater replaced under warranty. I only had to email a photo of the device with the cord cut, and they sent me a new heater. Of course, this is cordless….
@craigcush Reports of early failure to recharge are often a sign that the charging and monitoring circuitry was low-spec, not always a sign of crap cell usage. To the end user, though, it doesn’t matter how it failed. It’s still usually outside their capacity to repair.
I got my Vornado by Sharper Image 12" fan today. It’s ok but nowhere near as sturdy as my Other Vornados. It doesn’t swivel down very well, so not as adjustable as my other older Vornados. 3 of which are still in use, after Years…So, with these other reviews and the price, I have to say MEH.
@ponagathos I recall that before they opened all of their mall stores in the '80s, they had some cool-looking stuff in the catalogs, but a lot of it was not so great when you could actually see the real product. Some of it was genuinely neat and well-built, but a lot of it wasn’t. For a while, they had a competitor, Brookstone, but they seem to have gone back to being mostly mail-order.
@phendrick@ponagathos Their warehouse was located about two blocks from my house where they also sold returns, open boxes, overstocks, etc. Always fun to browse their always changing selection. (My housemate snagged one of the original bread makers.)
@rpstrong Oh yeah, plus Heathkit and Edmund Scientific and the Sear’s Christmas catalog. Those rags contained all the things I wanted and could not afford when I was a kid. I would write to companies to request catalogs. Loved to get the mail and have something to dream about.
@ponagathos@rpstrong On the catalogs, yes, sometimes I would fill out the order form knowing it was all pretend and we would never mail it in.
The DAK catalog had great write-ups sometimes, often hyping things that may or may not have been important or 100% accurate. What other site might still exist today that can offer that? Oh wait, here we are.
There was actually a Heathkit store in the area and sometimes I’d make my mother drive me there. I did buy some of the smaller stuff but never the big fancy things I really wanted.
@rpstrong was that the big round breadmaker with a glass dome or something? I’m fairly certain I have one of those in my attic now.
@ponagathos@rpstrong I had forgotten about Heathkit! Hadn’t thought about them in 30 years. Oh how I wanted a Heathkit Hero 1 Robot!! Thanks for that trip down memory lane:)
@Kyeh@pmarin@rpstrong I have a Millennium Falcon cutting board if that makes you feel any better. Also a couple Star Wars coffee mugs and about a hundred t-shirts.
Looks like nobody is buying this from Amazon. Every single review there appears to be a vine customer review for a free product, and even with free (which tends to make you see something more positive than if you’d paid for it) the reviews are only … shall we say … meh.
I bought the corded version of this for $10 at the other site and on high the output it’s pretty strong air. Only problem is it can be annoying to position if it’s not on a wide surface.
I REGRET purchasing this Vornado fan after reading all the comments here about the battery dying young. Why can’t we see this thread of comments BEFORE we buy it? Maybe nothing would sell then. I feel robbed and I just bought it 2 seconds ago. I’m going to stay away from Meh. I have never got anything that I was thrilled about here.
@gen2 maybe you should learn how things work before you spend your money.
(1) apparently these comments WERE UP at the time you made the purchase, you just hadn’t bothered to look first
(2) "2 seconds ago "
Then you had another 59 minutes to cancel your order. There was a cancel button on your order confirmation.
@pakopako@phendrick Election Day as a Federal holiday might be possible, if the people with the money actually cared about getting a 95%+ turnout. A whole week? Nah, never happen. OTOH, if we went over to paying the elected officials enough to be a decent return for the work while banning all of the bribery, so that enough who ran for office would be the ones who were actually interested in doing the job well, maybe we’d get solid candidates instead of narcissists, greedy power-seekers, and system apparatchiks. This, too, will never happen.
Specs
Product: Sharper Image by Vornado Refresh 01X Rechargeable Fan
Model: FA1-0195-43BB
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Price Comparison
$66.99 at Amazon
Warranty
2-Year Vornado
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Aug 19 - Wednesday, Aug 21
Conundrum number 2!!
hmph… micro usb in 2024.
@RogerWilco not a fan?
@RogerWilco yeah that’s what I saw and was instantly put off by, no thank you! (╬☉д⊙)⊰⊹ฺ
@Aj432 @RogerWilco Same for me. Main reason is that maybe these are old stock, and with built-in rechargeable battery, it might mean battery is already a few years old which means hit-or-miss on battery life. Most likely miss.
@RogerWilco For mass-market nontechies, micro is probably not a deficit issue because they still have half a dozen other things that charge via micro anyway. OTOH, knowing that micro is seldom going to handle more than 18W, that’s a big clue about charging times.
Rechargeable 1 time. Then what?
@phendrick Boom! The Inquisition!!
@phendrick @yakkoTDI No one expects the Spanish inquisition!
@phendrick Then you buy the 0NX upgrade kit and keep recharging for N more times. (Value of N not specified.)
(Dusts off old dad jokes book)
This deal blows!
Did some searching. No replacement battery from any battery company plus it is lithium ion so don’t leave it plugged in and unattended. More stuff escaping the landfill.
@craigcush All lithium batteries can be called “Lithium ion”, that’s a generic term. It usually gets used to cover up the fact that the cheapest chemistry is being used, or the seller has no idea what kind is installed. If they were lithium iron phosphate or lithium-polymer, they’d most likely be saying so.
Plus the Amazon reviews.
After 5 months of light usage, this fan can no longer charge. It doesn’t hold the charge but it also can’t run when it’s plugged in either because it needs to be charged. I tried to look up warranty information on sharper image site and found out that sharper image is only a distributor so you only have 60 days to get refund from SI. Also, the Varnado warranty you have to ship it to them which will probably cost as much as this cost now. Should read the warranty.
@craigcush thank you for the info. Very helpful.
@craigcush
Isn’t that how most warranties work?
@craigcush I recently had a Vornado heater replaced under warranty. I only had to email a photo of the device with the cord cut, and they sent me a new heater. Of course, this is cordless….
@craigcush Reports of early failure to recharge are often a sign that the charging and monitoring circuitry was low-spec, not always a sign of crap cell usage. To the end user, though, it doesn’t matter how it failed. It’s still usually outside their capacity to repair.
I’ll buy the fan if you can sell me that boat too meh
I got my Vornado by Sharper Image 12" fan today. It’s ok but nowhere near as sturdy as my Other Vornados. It doesn’t swivel down very well, so not as adjustable as my other older Vornados. 3 of which are still in use, after Years…So, with these other reviews and the price, I have to say MEH.
Anyone remember when The Sharper Image catalog was actually cool?
@ponagathos I recall that before they opened all of their mall stores in the '80s, they had some cool-looking stuff in the catalogs, but a lot of it was not so great when you could actually see the real product. Some of it was genuinely neat and well-built, but a lot of it wasn’t. For a while, they had a competitor, Brookstone, but they seem to have gone back to being mostly mail-order.
@ponagathos And do you remember Drew Kaplan’s gorgeous DAK catalogs?
@ponagathos @rpstrong Yep. And those showed some great marketing.
@phendrick @ponagathos Their warehouse was located about two blocks from my house where they also sold returns, open boxes, overstocks, etc. Always fun to browse their always changing selection. (My housemate snagged one of the original bread makers.)
@rpstrong Oh yeah, plus Heathkit and Edmund Scientific and the Sear’s Christmas catalog. Those rags contained all the things I wanted and could not afford when I was a kid. I would write to companies to request catalogs. Loved to get the mail and have something to dream about.
@ponagathos @rpstrong On the catalogs, yes, sometimes I would fill out the order form knowing it was all pretend and we would never mail it in.
The DAK catalog had great write-ups sometimes, often hyping things that may or may not have been important or 100% accurate. What other site might still exist today that can offer that? Oh wait, here we are.
There was actually a Heathkit store in the area and sometimes I’d make my mother drive me there. I did buy some of the smaller stuff but never the big fancy things I really wanted.
@rpstrong was that the big round breadmaker with a glass dome or something? I’m fairly certain I have one of those in my attic now.
@pmarin @ponagathos Yes; it was the R2D2 design ethic.
And yes; it worked quite well.
/showme an r2d2 breadmaker
@ponagathos @rpstrong I had forgotten about Heathkit! Hadn’t thought about them in 30 years. Oh how I wanted a Heathkit Hero 1 Robot!! Thanks for that trip down memory lane:)
@pmarin @ponagathos @rpstrong I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I have an R2D2 Instant Pot.
@JWhirly @rpstrong The robot was second for me after building a computer. Also one of those HAM radio kits.
@Kyeh @pmarin @rpstrong I have a Millennium Falcon cutting board if that makes you feel any better. Also a couple Star Wars coffee mugs and about a hundred t-shirts.
@pmarin @ponagathos @rpstrong This is my only piece of Star Wars merch!
@JWhirly @ponagathos My dad was a kit builder and an audiophile. I grew up with a killer system that included:
The speakers were built from scratch; everything else from kits.
I also built a few Heathkits in my time, culminating in an 8-channel, single stick R/C system.
[The only time I didn’t fall out of the sky was when I was running a Cox .09 powered air boat on the creek.]
Yeah… I am going to say it is a much better idea to spend 10 more dollars and get the Koonie or any other Opolar rebrands from Amazon.
Looks like nobody is buying this from Amazon. Every single review there appears to be a vine customer review for a free product, and even with free (which tends to make you see something more positive than if you’d paid for it) the reviews are only … shall we say … meh.
I bought the corded version of this for $10 at the other site and on high the output it’s pretty strong air. Only problem is it can be annoying to position if it’s not on a wide surface.
Please post a wind spirit song.
@edsa
/youtube wind spirit song
@edsa
/showme wind spirit song
@mediocrebot nice foot, but on the wrong leg?
And I guess a finger got caught in a fan?
@edsa @phendrick
@edsa @ripper69 I take umbrage at that comment.
Can it make a margarita?
Actually, with the right know how and proper modifications with additional accessories… I would say this certainly could make a margarita.
I REGRET purchasing this Vornado fan after reading all the comments here about the battery dying young. Why can’t we see this thread of comments BEFORE we buy it? Maybe nothing would sell then. I feel robbed and I just bought it 2 seconds ago. I’m going to stay away from Meh. I have never got anything that I was thrilled about here.
@gen2 maybe you should learn how things work before you spend your money.
(1) apparently these comments WERE UP at the time you made the purchase, you just hadn’t bothered to look first
(2) "2 seconds ago "
Then you had another 59 minutes to cancel your order. There was a cancel button on your order confirmation.
No sympathy here.
@gen2
/giphy boo hoo
@gen2 I hope you put more thought into deciding whom to vote for to run our country, before regretting it later.
@gen2 Consider yourself lucky - you got a free IRK with your order.
@phendrick that is, as always, a very big ask
(This is why I keep pushing for election week as a federal holiday)
@pakopako
a very big ask
Shouldn’t be!
@pakopako @phendrick Election Day as a Federal holiday might be possible, if the people with the money actually cared about getting a 95%+ turnout. A whole week? Nah, never happen. OTOH, if we went over to paying the elected officials enough to be a decent return for the work while banning all of the bribery, so that enough who ran for office would be the ones who were actually interested in doing the job well, maybe we’d get solid candidates instead of narcissists, greedy power-seekers, and system apparatchiks. This, too, will never happen.
/showme handsome necessary squirrel
handsome
squirrel
necessary
I had much higher hopes for this output.
@Perkalicious But it IS very handsome.
@Kyeh the handsomest