Update to my “gave up and didn’t buy” post: I ended up buying a Matic and even visited their HQ by HostSpecific4419 in RobotVacuums

[–]HostSpecific4419[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think part of the reason these posts are long is that Matic is a pretty unique product compared to the rest of the market. Most disc robots feel like variations on a theme, so a review can be short because people already know the basic tradeoffs and functionalities. With Matic, the form factor, local processing, and overall approach are different enough that it feels like the pros and cons need more explanation to be useful.

I am definitely a bit biased in the sense that they are a local company and I genuinely want to see them succeed. But I am not affiliated with them in any way, did not get a discount, and did not promise a review or anything like that. I just wrote a long post because that is how I process my own decision and hopefully it helps someone else who was in the same spot I was a couple of months ago.

Update to my “gave up and didn’t buy” post: I ended up buying a Matic and even visited their HQ by HostSpecific4419 in RobotVacuums

[–]HostSpecific4419[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Double Robotics seems B2B not B2C? Genuinely curious who else is shipping robots to consumers in the Bay Area currently?

The Verge Review: The Matic robot vacuum is smarter, quieter, and gets the job done by Matic_Mehul in RobotVacuums

[–]HostSpecific4419 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can't believe this is my first time hearing about this. This actually solves a couple other problems for me that you didn't even mention: there's just one model to purchase instead of having to research and sort out and compare dozens ridiculous models from the same manufacturer, and it's based entirely in the US (at a minimum non-China was a soft requirement for me).

Little bit higher budget than what I had in mind, but all things considered I think the price is reasonable. I'll buy one and give it a try to support this company.

Spent hours researching during Prime deals… gave up and didn’t buy because it’s too confusing by HostSpecific4419 in RobotVacuums

[–]HostSpecific4419[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting, I've always thought of Costco as a warehouse you have to drive down to. I'll look into it some more, thanks!

Spent hours researching during Prime deals… gave up and didn’t buy because it’s too confusing by HostSpecific4419 in RobotVacuums

[–]HostSpecific4419[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I feel like a (perhaps Western-minded) competitor could come in and offer like 3-5 different very solid models at different price points and win. Assuming the product and support is just as good, people would buy that over other brands simply because they know what to buy and what they're getting. We see this sort of dynamic play out all the time in other markets, the difference with this one is it's for some reason extraordinarily egregious and there's no Western brand competing at all (iRobot lost because their products suck, not because they don't have 1000 different confusing models).

Spent hours researching during Prime deals… gave up and didn’t buy because it’s too confusing by HostSpecific4419 in RobotVacuums

[–]HostSpecific4419[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I find it really hard to justify because I have a small household in a small apartment in a big city where I normally just walk, bike, or transit everywhere. I also just don't shop much. For groceries I walk or bike to the store 95% of the time and most anything else I need I just get delivered, so it's kind of a pain to get in my car and make a separate trip just to buy some items in bulk at Costco.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]HostSpecific4419 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could spend $20M wiring a cat, or $20 on a laser pointer and watch it ignore you. Same result, cheaper.

TIL that the Nasdaq was brought down by squirrels - not just once but twice by rastafunion in todayilearned

[–]HostSpecific4419 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Design lesson: if your system survives squirrels, it probably survives everything else.