...why I went to so much trouble to fix it!
One of my favorite gifts this holiday season was a large mug that keeps my coffee or tea hot. I wish the battery lasted longer, but there are a bunch of really nice features:
- It doesn't require an app. That would've been a show-stopper for me, because who wants a piece of tableware that won't work without an app? I don't care whether it's within a tenth of a degree of 140°F; I care that it's warm enough.¹ It's bad enough that my oven won't let me use the features I want unless it's connected to Wi-Fi. Someone desperately needs to be fired.
- It has LEDs that show the battery level, both when it's charging and when it's heating. They eliminate unhappy surprises.
- It has 4 settings (Warm, Hot, Piping, and off) that do exactly what you'd expect, and a single pushbutton at the bottom cycles between them. The button is opposite the handle, which makes it easy to press when you're holding it. Of course, the hotter the setting, the shorter a charge lasts, but I'm perfectly happy with the warm (lowest) setting.
- It has just about the best-designed mechanism I've seen to show the current setting and temperature. One of three white LED bars along the bottom of the mug lights to shows the mode. A line of dots just below shows the temperature: First the leftmost one flashes as the mug begins to heat. It becomes steady when it reaches the Warm temperature. If you've set the Hot or Piping mode, the next one begins to flash as it continues to heat. More LEDs turn on as it warms up until they reach the mode LED, at which point the temperature is just right. If you've poured hot liquid into the mug, or if you change to a lower temperature setting, the dots will extend past the selected mode LED. The last dot will flash to let you know it's still adjusting, and they'll turn off one by one until the temperature is right.
Things I Would Change
- The silliest change would be to offer a left-handed version, or better, an ambidextrous version with LEDs on both sides. As it is, I need to remember to pick it up with the "wrong" hand if I want to see the temperature.
- I'd move the battery-level LEDs near the others. They're directly opposite the handle, which makes it awkward to check them when you're holding a full mug. It's also awkward to position the mug on the charging coaster with the handle directly away from you, so you can see when it's charged.
- I'd love to increase the operating time. I'd be more than happy if it were a bit larger and heavier in order to make room for a larger battery. And I can't help but wonder if it could be smarter about turning the heater on and off to conserve power.
- The charging coaster could be shaped to fit the mug more easily and securely. It's just a bit of a nuisance that the mug doesn't automatically position itself properly when you put it on the coaster. This could be achieved by making the area with the contacts higher, or by sloping its rim differently to guide the mug into place.
- Saving the worst for last, I discovered too late that the charging pins seem to be the weakest point on all self-heating mugs, not just the brand I chose. The pins are spring-loaded to make contact with terminals on the underside of the mug. That's perfectly reasonable in theory.² But in practice, they tend to get stuck and never spring back up. Poking at them, trying to adjust their position with a needle, and doing the Herbal Tea Dance all failed for me. And with one of the pins unable to contact the mug, it was impossible to charge the battery.
To their credit, the vendor offered to replace the coaster. The new one arrived in just a day or two, and it works perfectly. So I'm happily drinking hot beverages again... and I had nothing to lose by dissecting the old one.
Details in the next post.
¹I'm also one of those people who cooks by ear, if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor. How much sugar? "Some." How much salt? "A pinch." How much butter? "More than that!"
²That's the difference between theory and practice: In theory, there is no difference.
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