Your pet peeve, technical or otherwise.

[coppice]

Nobody here is brave enough to futz with the bread or milk.

unless your a "budget" uk frozen food chain ,4 pints is a standard uk  container size for milk,however this particular mob  sell  2 litres,you think your saving 10p until you look closely at the label.

Well!

I had to go and check this and, to my surprise, most supermarket milk is indeed sold in pints (I had assumed litres for some reason). The exceptions, that are 2L instead of 2 pints, are third-party milks (typically organic, non-dairy, but also normal stuff). Even a well-known frozen food chain (perhaps not the one you cite) sells own-brand in pints and third-party in litres.

Of course, it can be difficult to tell which is own-brand now. Tesco, for instance, regularly creates brands whose names suggest actual farms and the like, but are entirely fake.

Note that its only the red, green and blue milk that is sold in pints. Banana milk, chocolate milk, or any other specialty product is in litres. Funky system, eh?

[james_s]

Nobody here is brave enough to futz with the bread or milk.

unless your a "budget" uk frozen food chain ,4 pints is a standard uk  container size for milk,however this particular mob  sell  2 litres,you think your saving 10p until you look closely at the label.

Here supermarkets are required to post the price per unit, but it's always in tiny print and it's shocking the number of people that don't know about it. They also use different units sometimes, deliberate I'm sure. One brand will have price per oz and another brand will have price per liter.

[themadhippy]

Funky system, eh?

Just like you can order a pint of beer,but not a pint of shandy.Still if some of our politicians get there way we'll be switching back to imperial measurements,wonder if lsd will also make a comeback.

[james_s]

Another pet peeve I've run into more and more lately, stuff that doesn't include a power supply. Several times I've bought a bit of electronic gear and opened the box to find it includes a USB to barrel plug cable but no power brick. In most cases that means I have to go buy another USB charger. Used to be everything came with its own power supply, it was all in the box, nothing extra to go get.

[AndyBeez]

Another pet peeve I've run into more and more lately, stuff that doesn't include a power supply. Several times I've bought a bit of electronic gear and opened the box to find it includes a USB to barrel plug cable but no power brick. In most cases that means I have to go buy another USB charger. Used to be everything came with its own power supply, it was all in the box, nothing extra to go get.

The assumption is customers have a spare USB port on the TV/radio/router that can drive 1.0+amps.

Try buying power tools. Battery charger and battery not included. My peeve, power tool batteries are non standard, even within the same brand and even the same brand range. Most pro battery chargers DO come with a USB port though

[PlainName]

My peeve, power tool batteries are non standard, even within the same brand and even the same brand range.

Oh yes! And to rub it in they even all use the same design but make sure the dimensions are just too off to fit together.

[themadhippy]

Try buying power tools. Battery charger and battery not included. My peeve, power tool batteries are non standard, even within the same brand and even the same brand range

Depends on what manufacturer you buy , bosch are a good example of how it can be done.

[coppice]

Try buying power tools. Battery charger and battery not included. My peeve, power tool batteries are non standard, even within the same brand and even the same brand range

Depends on what manufacturer you buy , bosch are a good example of how it can be done.

Really? "One battery for all tools within the 36V system" is an interesting statement from Bosch's publicity about their wonderful battery commonality. Of course it misses out that many of their products don't run from a 36V battery. Like the tools that need an 18V battery.

As for tools not coming with a battery or charger, the key word to look for is "bare". This seems to indicate, across makes, that no battery or charger is included with the tool.

[Bud]

Try buying power tools. Battery charger and battery not included.

Is this a UK thing? Here manfacturers offer different options. You can buy just the tool, tool with battery and charger, battery pack and charger, or just the battery or the charger. It is actually great, if i buy several tools i do not end up with a bunch of batteries i would not use.

[PlainName]

It's turning into a thing here. Presumably the manufacturers have realised a drill at half price looks good, even if the total with separately-purchased batteries is higher than the combined lot, so that's what they tend to sell.

The exception is brands like Guild who make some excellent kit and sell, for instance, the drill with a charger and two batteries rather than bare tools. The snag with them is the batteries are unobtainium, so if you need more you're going to have to buy the drill again as well.

And Guild are gits that have batteries from one model not fitting a similar but cheaper model.

[AndyBeez]

Is this a UK thing? Here manfacturers offer different options. You can buy just the tool, tool with battery and charger, battery pack and charger, or just the battery or the charger. It is actually great, if i buy several tools i do not end up with a bunch of batteries i would not use.

It's becoming more and more common place. Buying seperates has always been more expensive profitable than buying kits. Comes down to marketing; a 34.8V pack is perceived as being more powerfull and will last longer than the 34.2V pack, right?

As for tools not coming with a battery or charger, the key word to look for is "bare". This seems to indicate, across makes, that no battery or charger is included with the tool.

Totally NUDE. Even cheapish DIY store branded power tools, which are okay for DIY use or throw away after six weeks trade use, are sold bare. So, do I get the 18V, 24V or 28V battery lump + charger, to go with the 18V, 24V and 28V tools?

I have a crate of long dead battery packs with functional tools, and another of functional tools with dead battery packs. As technical dudes we have a chance of refurbishing the battery packs, but only if those high current batteries are available cheaper than a whole new battery pack + tool + charger. As for battery packs containing Nicad and NiMH cells, the spiders now have those in another crate.

+ I should add that for the reason of interoperabilty, I'm only buying tools that come with a power lead and run off mains power. They don't need charging and keep their torque under load/abuse. I have a pet peeve about power cables always being half a meter too short and never being flexible at room temperature, but that's just me.

[IDEngineer]

Another pet peeve I've run into more and more lately, stuff that doesn't include a power supply.

That's becoming the LAW in some jurisdictions, another virtue signal to "environmentalism". Their theory is that you probably already have the exact cable, adapter, etc. "just lying around the house", not being used with anything else, so why consume the materials and energy and "footprint" to add another one to the box?

Of course, when you DO go buy a separate cable and separate adapter, they come packaged in a bunch of their own packing plastic/paper/etc. and incurred separate shipping costs and all the rest, rather than leveraging those same things in the original box. Whether this is a net-positive idea is left as an exercise for each individual reader.

[tom66]

I don't seem to have an issue here with power tool batteries.  When I bought my Bosch drill it came with two batteries and a charger, and space for those in the case.  Then, when the time came to add a small jigsaw to the tool collection, I bought it bare, and the battery is compatible.  I'll probably add a few more tools eventually.  Batteries aren't cheap and I don't need a new one with every tool, given I'm a casual DIYer at best.

What would be nice is if the EU could stop focusing on type C USB and start figuring out power tool battery standardisation - oh, that's a whole 'nother debate!

[IDEngineer]

What would be nice is if the EU could stop focusing on type C USB and start figuring out power tool battery standardisation

Ooo! Ooo! And while they're at it, they could legislate that standardized battery must be used in laptops too!

Give a politician an inch, and he'll take your wallet. And your choices. And also do something stupid like the above.

[vk6zgo]

Hadn't thought about it but it seems to be true here in the States too. Many things (soda, etc.) have moved to metric units but dairy continues to be imperial units.

Exception: Ice cream, which has been suffering with shrinkflation for years. Used to be the half-gallon was the standard unit of measure, but then they went to 1.75 liters, and lately 1.5L seems to be the new norm. It's getting so that eating an entire carton in one go isn't even embarrassing anymore.

It's 2 litre & 4 litres for ice cream in Oz!
The fancy brands go down to 750ml.

Milk comes in 1 litre, 2 litre & 3 litre, & the rarely seen 600ml.
Flavoured milk drinks are normally 600ml, on the other hand, although sometimes you see 300ml.

Some years back, Nescafe changed their large can size from 500g to 400g.
"Great!" said the big chains, rubbing their hands together!

It went over like a wrought iron hanglider, & after a few months, Nescafe quietly restored the 500g.

That was it, as far as I knew, until I was in Aldi one day, & spotted cans of Nescafe for around the same price as Coles & Woolworths sell 500g cans for "on special".
As this purported to be a "everyday" price, I grabbed a couple, & was congratulating myself on a good deal, till I noticed "400g" on the label.
Now I knew where all those unsold 400g ones went!

[vk6zgo]

Really? "One battery for all tools within the 36V system" is an interesting statement from Bosch's publicity about their wonderful battery commonality. Of course it misses out that many of their products don't run from a 36V battery. Like the tools that need an 18V battery.

As for tools not coming with a battery or charger, the key word to look for is "bare". This seems to indicate, across makes, that no battery or charger is included with the tool.

The strange term used in Oz is "skins" for the basic tool without battery & charger.
If you already have the compatible battery, it is a reasonably good saving.

I have an "El Cheapo" drill called an "Ozito", which I bought "in a hurry" for a job which became "urgent" after I farted around re-celling a Ryobi battery pack, only for the charger to fail.(most unusually, the transformer died).
If the Ozito only lasted for that job, it would have been worth it, but the bloody thing is still hanging in there, whilst the Ryobi & its battery pack are languishing in the "probably never get done" list

[rdl]

I bought a Samsung A03s from AT&T in July. Got home and found it had no charger. It had a USB cable though. Too bad it was type C which none of my computers have.

[james_s]

My peeve, power tool batteries are non standard, even within the same brand and even the same brand range.

Oh yes! And to rub it in they even all use the same design but make sure the dimensions are just too off to fit together.

This has bothered me too, although in reality it's probably easier said than done to make it a standard. Tools have widely varying power requirements and they improve from generation to generation. Even among the same brand there are often different voltages used and sometimes multiple capacity batteries are available. The battery requirements would have to be made pretty rigid in order to be interchangeable, especially from a liability aspect with chargers for lithium batteries. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but I don't think it's as easy as a lot of people assume. At this point though battery tech might be approaching the point where it would be feasible, but then it would also result in there being yet another incompatible battery that everyone would have to buy new tools to use.

[james_s]

I bought a Samsung A03s from AT&T in July. Got home and found it had no charger. It had a USB cable though. Too bad it was type C which none of my computers have.

Yeah I don't really have anything with USB-C either, I did finally pick up some USB-A to C cables so at least I can use my standard chargers. The only thing I have around with USB-C on it is my work laptop, it doesn't seem like that standard ever really took hold, it's rare that I see anyone using USB-C for anything other than charging Macbooks with the included charger.

[james_s]

Is this a UK thing? Here manfacturers offer different options. You can buy just the tool, tool with battery and charger, battery pack and charger, or just the battery or the charger. It is actually great, if i buy several tools i do not end up with a bunch of batteries i would not use.

This is how it is with Makita. The thing I've noticed though is it's usually way cheaper to buy the bundle and then sell the extra charger and battery on ebay than it is to buy the bare tool.

[SilverSolder]

I bought a Samsung A03s from AT&T in July. Got home and found it had no charger. It had a USB cable though. Too bad it was type C which none of my computers have.

Yeah I don't really have anything with USB-C either, I did finally pick up some USB-A to C cables so at least I can use my standard chargers. The only thing I have around with USB-C on it is my work laptop, it doesn't seem like that standard ever really took hold, it's rare that I see anyone using USB-C for anything other than charging Macbooks with the included charger.

I use tiny adaptors that convert from Micro USB to USB-C, so I can keep all my legacy stuff a little longer...   basically, until a majority of the devices are USB-C, which is almost guaranteed to happen now that it is a legal requirement.

[Kyrad777]

When you are updating the firmware on a gadget ( radiacode 101 ) and windows interrupts it to tell you that your machine isn't "Windows 11 Compatible". 

#1, I didn't ask if it was

and

#2, I now have a $400 paperweight because of it. 


I hate windows more and more each day.

[rsjsouza]

Seriously, F%$&*@! Windows 10 and 11! I had these issues back when I tried 10 for the first time (2015?), uninstalled and never looked back.

[Bud]

Who was that idiot who designed windshield wipers on Toyota Camry 2020 ? To raise the driver side wiper you MUST SHUT THE ENGINE OFF, then move the wipers control to a specific position and wait a few seconds. 
Really, Toyota? 

[IDEngineer]

Sadly not the first time I've seen that. On many cars you have to start the wipers, then turn off the engine when the wipers are mid-stroke so they are accessible for blade changes. I understand it, it's a tradeoff between frequent asthetics vs. infrequent blade changes. Not completely irrational.

The one that gets ME is when they fail to design the wiper hinges so the blades can be locked in the up position, away from the glass. This is especially common on rear wipers. THAT has no rationale whatsoever. There are plenty of times that you need to keep the blades off the glass, such as doing a full clean of the glass or during below-freezing temperatures to keep the blades from freezing to the glass and damaging the wiper edges. Even if the "mid-stroke engine off" trick is necessary, you still want the ability to lock the wipers up off the glass to ease blade replacement. Utter insanity.