[yoyohello13]

I recently won a water bottle in a raffle.

It looked nice, stainless steel, big (probably 2 liters). When I unwrapped it, I saw a QR code that said "Instructions." Weird, why would I need instructions for a water bottle? Then I saw a large rubber plug in the bottom.

I realized with horror, it's a bluetooth enabled heating/cooling element controlled by an app I'm supposed to download. The heating element is huge, takes up half the volume of the bottle. So now this water bottle:

1. Needs power. 2. Needs an app. 3. Has less water capacity.

All so it can just do the same thing as a normal insulated bottle and some ice cubes.

[neilv]

> a normal insulated bottle

Anyone who hasn't already experienced a good vacuum-insulated water bottle, you're in for a treat.

Warning: Normally, when you pour hot coffee or tea into a mug, it cools significantly within a minute. But put it in an insulated bottle for the first time, and it might surprise burn your tongue half an hour later. (Or maybe I was the only one who didn't anticipate this.)

[godelski]

  > might surprise burn your tongue half an hour later.

A *good* vacuum-insulated bottle should be able to do this 90 minutes later. I have some non expensive ones that will keep my tea hot for over 10hrs. Not warm, I mean hot. Even a cheap $10 thermos brand thermos will do at least 6 hrs. They even frequently have cups as caps. I'm sensitive to heat and always need 5 minutes after pouring it into the cup, hours after making my tea.

We're so good at keeping liquids hot it's crazy. If you can't either drink your liquid in 10 hrs or get to a microwave within that time, you're looking for a pretty niche product and a self heating bottle isn't it.

[jamiedumont]

I have a small flask - about the volume of a cup of coffee - made by Kinto. It can deliver those surprise burns hours after filling. It’s almost too good, and has been relegated to long road trips or post-surf coffee where I know it’ll be >3 hours before I want to drink it.

A large vacuum bottle with ice cubes on a hot summers day is hard to beat too.

[bryanlarsen]

If you want to burn your tongue many hours later, prewarm the bottle by filling with boiling water before filling with your coffee.

[hooverd]

I swear my Zojirushi travel mug defies the laws of physics.

[bell-cot]

Reminds me of the first time I had a car with a slow-motion-open glove box.

Maybe that's cool, if you're showing off how Old Money fills the hours of their do-nothing lives? Vs. if you have a job, a family, and often too-few hours in your busy days? NO. I don't travel in a horse-drawn coach paced by footmen, either.

[bdcravens]

When I wash my car, I push the seat forward and backward to vacuum. I like having electrically adjustable seats, but that's one time I'd prefer the older-style lever. Similarly, I saw a self-defense video where if someone hides in your back seat and puts something around your neck, you can lean the seat back QUICKLY in an escape maneuver; impossible with electric seats.

[vaidhy]

I think if escaping from garrotting is something you should consider when buying a car, you are better off sitting in the backseat and let someone else drive you around :)

[bdcravens]

Better to have the knowledge and never need it :-)

[ConfusedDog]

Probably a heating element to reheat the coffee or tea. I have recently considered need something like a reheating lunchbox so I don't have to use the office microwave which is always gross. I just carry a huge Zojirushi insulted water bottle for my hot water need. I don't want to lose any water capacity...

[lm28469]

> Probably a heating element to reheat the coffee or tea.

People reheating coffee and tea should be put to jail

[ToucanLoucan]

Why not just clean the microwave? Your coworkers would probably appreciate it.

[sejje]

That's gotta be someone else's job!

--everyone

[ToucanLoucan]

I mean yeah but if you clean it, they won't think that. And if you mention you cleaned it, they'd be more inclined to do it in the future.

And, worse case scenario, you spend like 5 minutes occasionally doing it and now have access to a clean microwave, without needing to buy more e-waste and encouraging the production of cheap, stupid things like a water bottle with a heater in it.

[inetknght]

> if you mention you cleaned it, they'd be more inclined to do it in the future

Alternatively, if you mention you cleaned it, they'd be more inclined to say that you're the one who cleans it.

[ConfusedDog]

When I got this job years ago, this microwave is beyond cleanable... I think everyone is just avoiding it at this point and go across the building to use a different microwave, which is also pretty gross tbh. I thought about cleaning it, but then again I don't wanna, you know, die.

[godelski]

I'm very much a "fix it yourself" kinda person but I might yell at you if you said this to me. Why? Because I'm cleaning up after you. Why don't YOU clean YOUR mess? Maybe it's one person creating most of the mess (Pareto is a bitch), make them do it. Or we pay cleaning staff, pay them more to do it, I'm sure it's less than you're paying me to do it. It's probably cheaper to buy a new microwave every month than pay me to clean it lol

You pass responsibility to someone who isn't responsible. You don't recognize this function repeats and people become over burdened. Sure "It's not a big deal" but that's in isolation. That's one time, one task. These things don't just add up, they compound

[the_snooze]

>1. Needs power. 2. Needs an app. 3. Has less water capacity.

It's like someone looked at The Homer [1] and thought "that's solid engineering sensibility."

[1] https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/The_Homer

[buttercraft]

It was the rack and peanut steering that sold me on it.

[bdcravens]

I don't know if I'd want that in a water bottle, since most high quality ones will maintain temperature for a long time. That said, I love my Ember "smart" coffee mug which keep coffee hot despite being open air. At the same time, I don't use any of the smart features. You can tweak things via Bluetooth, but I just keep it in default mode (ditto for my Oral-B iO9 toothbrush)

[xg15]

It's a horrible product, but it also sounds like a fun thing to reverse engineer and possibly use in some maker project (without the app, of course).