electronics instruction books

[farmbif]

maybe its just me but over the past few years I got a few new fangled electronic devices, a bore scope, a go pro, and a new car radio and all these things came with basically tiny instruction pamphlets that I need a magnifier to even read and then they really dont tell much as to what all the buttons and screens do or how to operate functions that pop up when you push those buttons. i feel like I need to go back to school or something to learn how these kinds of things operate and learn ability to use them properly.
am I the only one that has difficulty figuring these things out?

[contender1]

I feel your pain.
What I hate is buying something,, and it not even having an instruction manual at all. Just a little basic thing that says to go "online to download the owners manual."
Cheap so-n-so's. Won't even print a real manual.
And it's not easy to have a manual on a computer,, and need to set up a device in a vehicle.

[Bmi48219]

Yes, the ‘Online Owners Manual’ is a new low in customer care. We replaced our Dishwasher last year. The new unit came with an installation manual but the user’s manual is only available as a download. And this was an expensive (to us) unit. When I called customer service they said it was meant to limit virus transmission.
Even worse, odds are 50:50 the technical writers that composed the Manual have yet to master the English language.
Same goes for the ‘scan this symbol to see our menu’ BS. Nothing like trying to read a two inch by three inch menu because the restaurant is too cheap to regularly print and sanitize menus.

[Winger Ed.]

No, it happens to us too.

For problems with modern age electronic stuff- I have gone to "Plan B".
We call our 20-odd year old niece.

[Electrod47]

No, it happens to us too.

For problems with modern age electronic stuff- I have gone to "Plan B".
We call our 20-odd year old niece.

Ah, Come on WingerEd You probably been using her since she was 14 yrs old. My grandson scooped me when he was 12. So much for raining down wisdom from the elders.

[Scrounge]

maybe its just me but over the past few years I got a few new fangled electronic devices, a bore scope, a go pro, and a new car radio and all these things came with basically tiny instruction pamphlets that I need a magnifier to even read and then they really dont tell much as to what all the buttons and screens do or how to operate functions that pop up when you push those buttons. i feel like I need to go back to school or something to learn how these kinds of things operate and learn ability to use them properly.
am I the only one that has difficulty figuring these things out?

I've got an 8" Samsung tablet computer that I have a 500gb microSD card in with most of the stuff I need on it. If I find I need something else, I download it to the desktop, the Moto G7 phone, or the Samsung tablet, and move it where I need it. I've been taking that tablet, or one of it's predecessors to class with me for the past several years, with downloaded plans for the school projects and some of my own. Finished the class in precision manual machining May 10th, 7 years and 3 months after I started it.

I agree with you that it sucks for them not to include a manual, or drivers, or other info you need, but as long as you can get the stuff, and save it, I do like having the digital versions. Saves a lot of time feeding stuff through a scanner.

Bill

[ulav8r]

Have been using Android cell phones since 2000. Week before last I finally found out how to paste an item from the clipboard. Did not find instructions anywhere oline, just trial and lots of error. Only have one app that I know how to copy from to the clipboard.

Also learned about 2 years ago how screen captures were done on a cellphone. Had a belt case that would cause screen captures to occur as I put my phone in it. After asking how to do a screen capture, I figured out how to reduce them. Went from 2 or 3 a day to one every 2-3 weeks.

Have searched several time about using Android to do various things an d had little luck in finding instructions.

[Half Dog]

Isn’t it amazing how small the letters can be printed?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

When DVD recorders with hard drive storage, came out (the replacement for VHS recorders), I had to have one. BTW, they were short lived, due to the switchover to Digital OTA transmission and the advent of DVR services and online/on demand streaming.

Anyway, the user manual I got with the "Polaroid DVD recorder with hard drive" was massive. IIRC, it's the last large paper manual I ever got with a electronic device. It was like 200 pages, all with necessary content to understand all the features and it had complete point to point instructions for everything. When I sold the Polaroid to a friend, I told him how complex it was to use and understand, and I sold it cheaply, as to include the caveat that I will not be on call to help him figure it out. He said fine, that his son will help him. He never did figure it out. Years later, this topic still comes up in conversation.

One neat feature of this Polaroid, was you could input video from any analog source (including home movies) into the hard drive, then edit it, then burn it to a disc. I guess that sort of thing is easy to do, with a computer and the correct software. But it's impressive to do with a $200 DVD recorder.

[georgerkahn]

maybe its just me but over the past few years I got a few new fangled electronic devices, a bore scope, a go pro, and a new car radio and all these things came with basically tiny instruction pamphlets that I need a magnifier to even read and then they really dont tell much as to what all the buttons and screens do or how to operate functions that pop up when you push those buttons. i feel like I need to go back to school or something to learn how these kinds of things operate and learn ability to use them properly.
am I the only one that has difficulty figuring these things out?

I can add the instructions on (primarily over-the-counter) meds equally as bad with instructions in the teeniest font they could print with. (Of course the warnings to lactating women, etc. are quite large) A few years back I asked my wife to get me some more cough syrup, to which she retorted. "I just bought that bottle for you yesterday!". I didn't quite see the recommended dosage, having taken almost four times as much as I was supposed to have taken!

What I pretty much do now with electronics, farmbif, is either scan their instructions and then blow them up on computer; print; and now have them; OR -- if the company has instructions on line, do similar. Added -- hey, I just bought a battery charger with a ~ 3" x 4" x 1/4" thick instruction book. Roughly 70 pages. Guess what? Only FOUR pages were in English -- all following were in just about every used on this planet language 'cept smoke signals or jungle drums! A sign of the times; "the way it is "

[xs11jack]

Electrod 47 about the kids knowing how to run anything electronic, remember that their knowledge and our wisdom is two different things. Some people have a lot of knowledge but very little wisdom.
Ole Jack

[Wayne Smith]

I realized a while ago that it matters what you grew up with - My Dad grew up with horses, learned automobiles and electricity from the early days. I grew up with automobiles and learned computers. My children grew up with computers.

[Mal Paso]

The Starlink satellite English section it 4.5x6 inches in 2 pt type but in there I found:

"This warranty does not include damage due to.
Lightning, electrical surges, fires. floods, hail, windstorms,
earthquakes, meteors, solar storms, dinosaurs. or other
forces of nature."

[jsizemore]

Bought a chinese copy of a RWS 54 from Cabela's. Got a manual that had a parts list and exploded line drawing of those parts. Got to one of the trigger parts and it was described as "lump". Then it got to another part of the trigger group and it was also described as "lump". Not lump a or b. Not lump 1 or 2. Both were lump. And from a look at the castings they were lumps. Back in the box and back to Cabela's it went with it's "lump".

[DocSavage]

The 2 things that bug me
1 owners manual that you need an electronic microscope to read and 2 the manuals assume you have some clue on how to operate the device.

[DocSavage]

The 2 things that bug me
1 owners manual that you need an electronic microscope to read and 2 the manuals assume you have some clue on how to operate the device.

[Dio]

I was looking thru my manual on a Kohler 440 engine I have. The booklet easily runs 40 pages....and only 5 are in English! The rest are in ever imaginable Indecipherable language.