.............. as a reliable microwave oven nowadays?

About 4 years ago my wife and I got rid of a 35-year-old, heavy, bulletproof Panasonic microwave (that cost $1100 new) and bought a "modern" Panasonic model NN-SD767W.

In short, the "modern" unit has had several problems that I have been able to fix, but now there's an H98 error that usually means that the magnetron has to be replaced. I'm not going to put another cent into the piece of crap.

So, as my first sentence states, is there a reliable microwave on the market today and, if so, what is it?

Thanks.

 

I bought a West Bend in Walmart maybe around four years ago for about $35 and it’s still working fine and I’ve not had any problems with it, knock on wood.

 

I can't really say. My microwave at home is over 10 years old and the one at my office is about 6 years old. The office one is a Walmart cheapie and the one at home is nothing special but they both still work fine.

As a child I remember the original Amana Radarange with mechanical dials. It was probably purchased in '75 or '76 and I remember my folks using it up into the mid 90's. I think it was still working when they got rid of it when they remodeled their kitchen.

 

When I worked for Waste Management back in 1994, a lady had put out an Amana microwave on top of her trash can. This was a high end microwave. So, I decided to take it home & see if it would work because I didn't have one. When I got it home, I put a cup of water in it & it boiled it. So, I decided to keep it. We used that thing for about 20 years. It finally shorted out & we threw it out & bought something from Wal Mart which lasted about 4 or 5 years with no issues. We bought another home & it was about 1/4" too tall to go under our cabinet. So, my wife bought an exact model (except a bit smaller) at WM.

So, if I wanted to spend $1000 on a microwave, it'd be an Amana.

 

The Amana commercial line is very good.
Amana microwaves are now manufactured by the appliance mega giant Whirlpool.

Historically Panasonic has always made a decent product.
I have a GE that's over 20 years old and still going strong.

 

Don't expect any current models to be as good in terms of longevity to be as good as the old ones. Like almost everything else, a new innovated product will be over designed at first, then as experience and technology gets better it will be cheapened to just meet design parameters.

 

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Today my wife and I bought a Master Chef 1.1 cubic foot microwave. It has a door handle which you grab onto to simply pull out and push in the door, rather than the more famous brands that have a perfectly flat front, no door handle, and a button that you have to push to sort of pop the door open -- one of the sources of trouble on our new-looking Panasonic that we booted out of our vehicle at the eco station today.

Another problem with the Pana was a ridiculous variable-response knob that you had to turn to adjust cooking time. It was completely unpredictable. The $139 unit we bought today has a simple keypad with several common present times and a cook timer that allows any number of seconds or minutes to be entered in just a couple of strokes.

If we get 5 years out of this unit, we won't be out that much dough.

While I'm typing, at the eco station there was a huge dumpster that one could walk right into, dedicated to all kinds of faulty electronics . A good portion of the space was taken up by new-looking microwave ovens that, in a different, saner world, could probably be easily and cheaply fixed if parts were cheap and readily available, rather than melted down or buried in a land fill (right along with all kinds of designed-to-fail-in-just-a-few-years "modern" appliances such as refrigerators, water heaters, washing machines, etc. etc. etc. What A WASTE OF RESOURCES, LABOR AND MONEY! Madness. Utter madness.

Again, thanks for the advice, guys.