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JustThinkin'

macrumors 6502
Oct 21, 2014
418
289
Most of you got a few minutes’ entertainment out of this product for free this morning. Meanwhile, I was having about my 200th hot cup of tea in it. I guess we both got our money’s worth.

My travel mug version has a temperature readout right on the side of the mug. I haven’t burned my tongue in months, because I check that it’s under 150 degrees before I take my first sip.


So while you got your money’s worth this morning, I’ve had my money’s worth morning and evening, all year long and still going strong.
 
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ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
6,862
11,205
Most of you got a few minutes’ entertainment out of this product for free this morning. Meanwhile, I was having about my 200th hot cup of tea in it. I guess we both got our money’s worth.

So... about 65 cents a cup for each of those 200 cups. Sounds very much worth it.

My travel mug version has a temperature readout right on the side of the mug. I haven’t burned my tongue in months, because I check that it’s under 150 degrees before I take my first sip.

Usually I can't tell whether a cup of tea is scalding hot, so I just take an enormous gulp of it immediately to find out and scald the F out of my entire mouth half the time. If I only had a device that could tell me whether my tea was hot, I'd save so much agony.
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,491
I got one as a gift. I agree it's pricey and wouldn't have bought it myself, but here I am drinking my coffee out of it. It's quite useful at keeping a drink warm. I would have preferred it to be fully operational from the device itself. I dislike having to use my phone to control the temp.

I think for as much as we have our smart phones with us on at all times, it probably makes more sense to control something like this with a smart phone. And I’m not sure also how they would integrate temperature control on the mug itself, but it’s just another gadget that we can control with our smart phones just like our lights, garage door, door locks on your house, etc.
 

JustThinkin'

macrumors 6502
Oct 21, 2014
418
289
So... about 65 cents a cup for each of those 200 cups. Sounds very much worth it.



Usually I can't tell whether a cup of tea is scalding hot, so I just take an enormous gulp of it immediately to find out and scald the F out of my entire mouth half the time. If I only had a device that could tell me whether my tea was hot, I'd save so much agony.
Obviously you believe you get more out of your opposition than you’d ever get out of the product.


But for those reading who care, I’ve found it very worthwhile. Hopefully it will last a good while. FTI (For Their Information), even if it only lasts a year, this works out to less than 15 cents a cup.

I’m grateful I got it as a gift, but I already believe it would’ve been worth every bit had I purchased it myself.
[doublepost=1554498736][/doublepost]
I think for as much as we have our smart phones with us on at all times, it probably makes more sense to control something like this with a smart phone. And I’m not sure also how they would integrate temperature control on the mug itself, but it’s just another gadget that we can control with our smart phones just like our lights, garage door, door locks on your house, etc.
On the travel mug, you simply rotate the base and tap on the logo to change the temperature or turn it on or off.

I rarely use the iPhone BT connection. It works, but it’s more trouble most of the time.
 
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B-Dizzy

macrumors newbie
Jan 29, 2008
22
10

chr1s60

macrumors 68020
Jul 24, 2007
2,061
1,857
California
I can see some of the coffee or tea nuts wanting this and that's fine. However, the price is about 50-70% higher than any ordinary coffee or tea drinker will likely pay.
 

RickInHouston

macrumors 65816
May 14, 2014
1,457
2,210
so is upgrading the capacity from 10oz to 14oz considered a bug fix? Or perhaps a security update to prevent hot coffee spilling on your crotch.

Designing a computerized coffe mug but failing at something as simple as its capacity on the first version doesn't instill any confidence that the creators of this thing have a clue

It's courage. The word you are looking for is courage.
 

warp9

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2017
450
641
$60 for an extra 1/2 inch of ceramic? I suspect they got screwed over in manufacturing negotiations.
 

PinkyMacGodess

Suspended
Mar 7, 2007
10,271
6,226
Midwest America.
Reminds me of Picard with the whole "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." line. Is the product silly? Maybe to our eyes now, but then again our grandparents likely thought the idea of having two temperatures in the same car based on driver/passenger was also absurd. No one complains now about it. I wouldn't be surprised if items of this type are common in kitchens in 50 years.

Two temperatures in the same car is 'futuristic'?

You obviously haven't driven with a woman going through menopause. She's hot, then cold, then hot. Eventually the whole car is a schizophrenic mess. Hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold...

And air currents do mix the air in the car, so eventually it's all 'beige'... :eek::D
 

wolfshades

macrumors 6502
Nov 1, 2007
485
625
Toronto, Ontario Canada
Well I guess this is where I embarrass myself by admitting I already have one of the larger mugs. Also I’m in Canada so it’s available here too obviously.

The thing is, it’s so not worth the money. It’s a gimmick and I bought into it. My advice: learn from me and don’t do a ridiculous thing like buying one.
 

LovingTeddy

Suspended
Oct 12, 2015
1,848
2,153
Canada
I am actually have the first version, and I find it incredibly useful. I don't drink my coffee fast and I'm in an environment where I get pulled around a lot and I was coming back to my desk to cold coffee. This keeps my coffee hot all morning. Sure it looks like a gimmick and useless product to most of you, but it's a niche market and works perfect for some people's lives #firstworldprivilage lol

You know, when coffee is cold, Microwave it for 30 second... perfectly hot again... LOL...
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
You know, when coffee is cold, Microwave it for 30 second... perfectly hot again... LOL...
Or use this and you don't even have to worry about it. It's kind of like saying, you know, when you want to change the channel, go up to the TV and use the buttons on it, and the channel is changed, LOL.
 

MrGuder

macrumors 68040
Nov 30, 2012
3,026
2,012
Ok who put my $130.00 mug in the microwave and then the dishwasher? I hate when that happens.
 

Mac 128

macrumors 603
Apr 16, 2015
5,360
2,930
It is a neat concept but, IMO, unnecessarily complicated and overpriced.

I have one of those heated coasters that let you adjust the temperature at 1/5 the cost of this. And it works with basically any mug I put on it.

Sure, I don’t get Bluetooth or iPhone connectivity but is that really worth the price? I don’t know, maybe for some.

Heated coasters generally continue to heat such that the temperature is constantly rising, cooking the coffee so that it’s burnt in short order. After a certain point the coffee can either become too hot, or undrinkable, especially if you’re unable to drink it for a while, due to work, or other distractions.

Then there’s the issue of transportability. The great advantage of this cup to me, is that I can walk around the office with it, take meetings, drop by a colleagues office, chat by the water cooler, and when I get back to my desk it’s still the perfect drinking temperature.

I can’t imagine going to a meeting carrying a mug and a heated coaster, looking for a place to plug it in, which probably means stretching a wire across the pathway to set it on the conference table. I’d look like an idiot.

Or just buy a good flask for $9.99 and keep your beverage hot all day.
Added free bonus: it can also keep a beverage cold all day.

Every time you open a thermos, it loses heat and the coffee cools off. Not to mention the coffee starts off too hot to drink, and after a period of time of repeatedly opening it to sip, the coffee drops below an acceptable drinking temperature. It also denies the drinker of inhaling the aroma with each sip, unless they remove the top, in which case all the heat convects quickly out of the container just as it does with any mug. And, when it cools off, it can’t be microwaved. There are other issues as well.

The $10 insulated mugs of which you speak are made in China with no quality control — the metals can and do contain high amounts of lead and other toxic elements which leach into hot acidic beverages. I have an insulated coffee mug which I throroughly researched, and cost me almost $200. I love it for surfing, camping and hiking, but it still suffers from all of the other issues I raised, which is why I don’t use it at the office, or around the house.
 

Krayzkat

Suspended
Apr 22, 2011
754
1,353
I have an idea. Why don't 'we' invent a microwave stick, so that you can sip your cold coffee/tea/beverage of choice, and keep it in your mouth. Then you simply get the microwave stick out and heat up the cold beverage in your mouth until it reaches the desired temperature.

Obviously, the microwave stick (that i will call iBoil) will be Blutooth enabled and have wireless charging etc too
 

Mac 128

macrumors 603
Apr 16, 2015
5,360
2,930
The 10oz one is good, mornings can be hectic here sometimes and the coffee sits out for a long time. This helps it stay warm. But a $50 price jump for 4 ounces is excessive.

I would probably pay it. I’ve been asking for this since I first received my 10oz mug as a gift. It barely holds the average 10oz pour from a Kuerig pod, and 8oz is really too little to warrant the use of the mug’s features. I found I spilled it too easily if filled to the rim.

The other two issues I have which I wish they’d fix are the charging saucer needs to be waterproof, something I’d also pay more for — it’s silly it’s not for obvious reasons. And, I wish the walls of the mug were slightly thicker to better mimic a ceramic mug. There’s just something about the way it feels against the lips that takes some getting used too over a regular mug.

so is upgrading the capacity from 10oz to 14oz considered a bug fix? Or perhaps a security update to prevent hot coffee spilling on your crotch.

Designing a computerized coffe mug but failing at something as simple as its capacity on the first version doesn't instill any confidence that the creators of this thing have a clue

Not really, there’s a lot of factors in a first generation product that have to be addressed — price point, size of the battery, ability of the technology to reliably heat a beverage and maintain a target temperature. 4oz may seem like a minor increase, but it’s almost half the original capacity of the first gen mug added to it, requiring a larger battery, or better power management, and the ability to account for temperature density across an addition 4 Oz of liquid. So it wouldn’t be a surprise at all, that they didn’t offer a larger ceramic mug from day 1. And it doesn’t surprise me that the second mug costs more. I’m not sure what market this was designed for originally, but almost everywhere else in the world, coffee is consumed in smaller volumes than the US, so perhaps that was a factor as well.
 
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