What's the worst piece of tech you've ever bought?

[Katzenfreund]

We usually talk about the best tech that's available. But for every great product on the market, there are a multitude of terrible alternatives, some of which we occasionally make the mistake of purchasing.

What comes to mind right now is an impressive looking short wave radio I bought as a student, when I was on a tight budget. It was widely advertised with words such as “The word in your palm”. Well, it could only get local stations with some noise, and pure noise for anything distant. Fortunately, it was bought from a reputable shop that gave me my money back. I even understood I wasn’t the only dissatisfied customer. But one thing came out of it: I learned back then not to believe ads.

 

[NavyRet]

Ha. The worst thing I ever bought was an Apple cube computer. POS. I took it back the very next day. Never even considered anything Apple after that.

 

[StevenK829]

To date, the biggest POS I ever bought is the ASUS T100TA Transformer.
It is a mini windows tablet (10.1") and keyboard combo. Very attractive unit,
comes with windows 8.1, and can be used as a tablet, or a mini laptop when
coupled with the keyboard, which has a USB 3.0 connector. That makes loading
files onto it very easy. It has a 64gb ssd, and a Micro SD slot. EVERYTHING
you could possibly want. You've been waiting......here it comes.....
This POS for no reason gets stuck in a "self repair loop" that you can't get out of.
The only "fix" is to let the unit wipe your HD and re-install windows. It reverts to
it's "out of the box" condition. ASUS is NO HELP. Have not found any fixes online.
Lots of folks affected, but no cure. AVOID this POS if you are thinking about
getting one.

 

[Tesla100]

The crappiest thing I brought was a Sata caddy, for my spare drives.....Damn thing has never worked.

 

[kiwi1960]

Where do I start????

I bought a smart phone... doesn't matter the make or model, its a popular one, but I am now of the opinion that they are all a waste of time...

I use it as an alarm clock.... it works well enough!

I then bought a smart watch..... how the hell can you work on such a tiny screen.... its in the drawer now and not looked at since.

these are only two examples......

 

[Katzenfreund]

^ ^ ^
Good examples kiwi. I just use a plain vanilla mobile for my calls and messages. It’s cheap and simple to use. For photos I have a compact camera and for surfing a full screen, full size keyboard, tower desktop computer. Not even a laptop, my lap is reserved for my cat.

As for a smart watch…well, it’s predictable it will be tiny and fiddly. You didn’t think like a cat before buying it.

 

[chrasna]

It's really a toss-up, because I seem to buy a LOT of crap.

I bought a bluetooth earbud thing for my phone. it's supposed to be the caddilac of bluetooth. Jawbone Era.
It loses connection all the time, has a hard time pairing, and everybody bitches that I sound like crap when I use it.
Now I just don't bother answering the phone if my hands are busy.

-Chris