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- p19010101
June 10, 2005, 4:25 pm

I need a new microwave oven to replace the old Panasonic. I have
narrowed down my choice to either Sharp R350J or LG MS-3444DPS but not
sure which one is better (both can be had for around $175).
Links:
http://au.lge.com/md/product/prodcategorylist.do?actType=detail&currPage=1&categoryId02%00040602&parentCategoryId02%00000406&categoryLevel=4&productId11%00000521
http://www.sharp.net.au/catalogue/productinfo.asp?model=R350J
Differences between the two (+ indicates better/extra feature):
Sharp R350J
===========
+ 1200 watts
34 liter
32 cm turntable
+ timer function
healthy menus
+ backlit dot-matrix LCD display (2 lines)
1 year warranty
LG MS-3444DPS
=============
1100 watts
34 liter
+ 36 cm turntable
+ sensor cook/reheat
+ round cavity
aussie menus
segmented LCD display (single line)
+ 2 year warranty
Now questions:
1) is sensor cooking a useful feature or more like a marketing hype?
2) is round cavity a good thing? Sounds good but why no one else does
it?
3) does 1 extra year of warranty matters? I guess they should be quite
reliable nowadays.
4) I've heard Sharp microwave is better than LG in general, true?
I like the look and feel of Sharp, but if sensor cooking and round
cavity found in LG are good/practical features then I would get the LG.
Your thoughts? I welcome your input.
TIA

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
--------------3FFA30DBC208ECA71D56F6AB
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I have had a Sharp for nearly ten years and found it to be excellent. It has
all the gizmos such as sensor cook and defost, but funny enough I never use them.
I have no idea what the round thingo is or means -
David
snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

http://au.lge.com/md/product/prodcategorylist.do?actType=detail&currPage=1&categoryId02%00040602&parentCategoryId02%00000406&categoryLevel=4&productId11%00000521

--------------3FFA30DBC208ECA71D56F6AB
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
I have had a Sharp for nearly ten years and found it to be excellent.
It has all the gizmos such as sensor cook and defost, but funny enough
I never use them.
<p>I have no idea what the round thingo is or means -
<p>David
<p> snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>I need a new microwave oven to replace the old Panasonic.
I have
<br>narrowed down my choice to either Sharp R350J or LG MS-3444DPS but
not
<br>sure which one is better (both can be had for around $175).
<p>Links:
<br><a
href="http://au.lge.com/md/product/prodcategorylist.do?actType=detail&currPage=1&categoryId02%00040602&parentCategoryId02%00000406&categoryLevel=4&productId11%00000521 ">http://au.lge.com/md/product/prodcategorylist.do?actType=detail& ;currPage=1&categoryId02%00040602&parentCategoryId02%00000406&categoryLevel=4&productId11%00000521</a>
<br><a
href="http://www.sharp.net.au/catalogue/productinfo.asp?model=R350J ">http://www.sharp.net.au/catalogue/productinfo.asp?model=R350J </a>
<p>Differences between the two (+ indicates better/extra feature):
<p>Sharp R350J
<br>===========
<br>+ 1200 watts
<br> 34 liter
<br> 32 cm turntable
<br>+ timer function
<br> healthy menus
<br>+ backlit dot-matrix LCD display (2 lines)
<br> 1 year warranty
<p>LG MS-3444DPS
<br>=============
<br> 1100 watts
<br> 34 liter
<br>+ 36 cm turntable
<br>+ sensor cook/reheat
<br>+ round cavity
<br> aussie menus
<br> segmented LCD display (single line)
<br>+ 2 year warranty
<p>Now questions:
<br>1) is sensor cooking a useful feature or more like a marketing hype?
<br>2) is round cavity a good thing? Sounds good but why no one else does
<br>it?
<br>3) does 1 extra year of warranty matters? I guess they should be quite
<br>reliable nowadays.
<br>4) I've heard Sharp microwave is better than LG in general, true?
<p>I like the look and feel of Sharp, but if sensor cooking and round
<br>cavity found in LG are good/practical features then I would get the
LG.
<p>Your thoughts? I welcome your input.
<p>TIA</blockquote>
</html>
--------------3FFA30DBC208ECA71D56F6AB--

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
Thanks for the feedback. Round cavity means instead of a squarish
interior, the side walls are curved around the turntable (like inside a
cylindrical object). I've downloaded the manual but funny that it never
mention the advantages of having a round cavity. I suppose it makes
interior cleaning a bit easier, I don't know what else it's good for.
Peter
quietguy wrote:

all the gizmos such as sensor cook and defost, but funny enough I never use them.

http://au.lge.com/md/product/prodcategorylist.do?actType=detail&currPage=1&categoryId02%00040602&parentCategoryId02%00000406&categoryLevel=4&productId11%00000521


Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?

The round interior most likely gives the illusion of having more
efficient use of space.
Stuff rotates after all, and with a square cavity you can't really use
the corner space, your biggest item is the diameter from one wall to
the other, not from corner to corner. So having the round interior
might fool some people into thinking the space is more efficent maybe?,
i.e. it's a marketing gimick. Most likely it could have been a square
anyway with the same usable diameter.
Dave :)

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?

New Scientist magazine published an article about a new
microwave design with a pentagonal shaped chamber, this eliminated
the RF standing wave inside the oven and was much more efficient
in terms of energy used and eveness of the heating.
Maybe this is a similar design?.

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?

An internal design with non-parallel reflective walls would probably
distribute the energy more evenly than the "standard" shape of walls at
right-angles to each other.
This technique is used in audio areas to prevent standing waves while
maximising available space, one wonders why a similar thing doesn't seem
to have been used in ovens.
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton, e-mail: snipped-for-privacy@XYZ.myrealbox.com
Regards, David.
David Clayton, e-mail: snipped-for-privacy@XYZ.myrealbox.com
We've slightly trimmed the long signature. Click to see the full one.

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 19:13:32 +1000, David Clayton

I am guessing that the cost to implement V the benifit makes it
unreasonable. Whilst I really have no idea about this, one has to
question the actual benifit. Is it 0.01% increase in performance, or
is it 50% increase?? A square is easy to make...

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?

Here take a look for yourself at paragraph 5 and 6, it's all about
microwave optics. Oh, a cylinder is easier to make than a cube in
sheetmetal too BTW. The pentagonal shape won't be seen unless
manufacturers license it from the paten holders.
http://www.foodengineeringmag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,6330,126292,00.html

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
.au...

You guys are forgetting the REAL reason why they make square chambers rather
than cylindrical ones. The ADVERTISED capacity is larger for the same
external dimensions.
Most people want the exterior to be square, or roughly so. And unfortunately
most people compare size based on advertised cavity volume.
Therefore considerable education needs to be done by any manufacturer
breaking the mould.
MrT.

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
I think LG is advertising the internal capacity of round cavity ovens
as non-rounded ones. Even though technically incorrect but it makes
sense to do so because everyone else is still basing on rectangular
cavity even though the corners can't be used.
A similar scenario is happening among LCD manufacturers. Technically
response time refers to black/white transition, but some manufacturers
advertise grey/grey response time to decieve consumers that their
panels are faster. Actually it makes sense to use the grey/grey
standard because in real life images seldem go from extreme black to
extreme white and back, more often they're from one shade of grey to
another.
Someone needs to standardize the terms so consumers can make informed
buying decisions.

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?

I got a sharp, its never missed a beat. The LCD display is a joke
though, screwed up within a month or so, i was to lazy to get it
fixed. Its still usuable, only missing a line or 2. I think the
problem is not actually a sharp fault, but rather becasue my machine
sits above a wall mounted oven that heats up the microwave

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 10:58:06 +1000, The Real Andy
<will_get_back_to_you_on_This> wrote:

I've had a few of the sharps in for display problems all of which
sharp replaced without a fuss even if unit was out of warranty. Only
other probs have been broken door latch assy from heavy handed
operators.
I, personally would go for the Sharp having seen the support they have
for their product and their repairers.
LG, well......., read the warranty details - it may be a replacement
unit warranty where the unit is simply replaced by the retailer if a
faulty develops with your unit - this would be a good thing.
If it is a repair warranty then it may be a while before you see it
again. LG and Panasonic share equally the title of being the slowest
manufacturers to process warranty claims and send parts out to honour
the claims. I'll let Panasonic of the hook a little as they do manage
to send the correct parts first time around (unlike LG) when they get
around to delivery.
The above is worst case thinking should something go wrong with the
unit. I would expect both units to serve 2-3 years in normal domestic
duty without a problem. Any more than this will be down to lady luck
and she doesn't seem to care what brand you have or how much you
spent.
Cheers,
Sam T

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
My parents and a few relatives have Sharp microwaves for many years and
are still going strong, so I guess they are pretty good but then I
don't anyone who has a LG (it maybe just as good).
I've heard problems about the LCD display on Sharp microwave, it's
integrated with something and has to replace the whole lot if the
display ever plays up. There're quite a few posts regarding this in the
repair group, parts & labor make it impractical to repair unless it's
for a high-end model.
I dug up an old article from Choice magazine (July 2001), interestingly
enough they recommended the Sharp R380D (now revision J, R380J) and
R340D (the 340 series is obsoleted, I think 350 replaces it and R350J
is the current model). The obvious difference between R380J and R350J
is senor cooking/reheating.
Now I'm not quite sure if the sensor thing is going to be useful, I use
the microwave mainly for reheating leftover foods and forzen meals, and
very basic cooking like bacon and fish fillets. I'm not fancy cooking
steaks or chicken in a microware, so yeah maybe I just get the R350J
afterall.

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
My parents and a few relatives have Sharp microwaves for many years and
are still going strong, so I guess they are pretty good but then I
don't anyone who has a LG (it maybe just as good).
I've heard problems about the LCD display on Sharp microwave, it's
integrated with something and has to replace the whole lot if the
display ever plays up. There're quite a few posts regarding this in the
repair group, parts & labor make it impractical to repair unless it's
for a high-end model.
I dug up an old article from Choice magazine (July 2001), interestingly
enough they recommended the Sharp R380D (now revision J, R380J) and
R340D (the 340 series is obsoleted, I think 350 replaces it and R350J
is the current model). The obvious difference between R380J and R350J
is senor cooking/reheating.
Link:
http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticle.aspx?id10%2386&catId10%0447&tid10%0008&p=1
Now I'm not quite sure if the sensor thing is going to be useful, I use
the microwave mainly for reheating leftover foods and forzen meals, and
very basic cooking like bacon and fish fillets. I'm not fancy cooking
steaks or chicken in a microware, so yeah maybe I just get the R350J
afterall.

Re: New Microwave Oven Sharp or LG?
as far as nukes are conserned i believe sharp make the better units out
of the lot. the units are better in terms of user ease, i much perfer a
touch panel with [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][0] instead of
[1 |10] [1 |10]
if you have the choice (and money usually is a limiting facter) obtain
one of the sharp convection nukes - these can operate in nuke or oven or
both modes convection is usefull in small appartments where kitchen
space is a limit - or just incase the main oven stuffs it. convect nukes
have better temp regulation too
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