Well maybe useless is too strong a word, but for these quality tools it is rather pathetic to see the instruction manual is nothing but a collection of WARNINGS, CAUTIONS DO'e and DON'Ts. Good grief, it contains very little else but legal discalmers [sic]. I suppose the other manufacturers are just as bad. I'd have thought the someone that is so clueless as to need all those WARNINGS should be first getting some experience elewhere (like the local tech) rather than using a power tool anyway.
Can you give an example of a maker who doesn't do just the same? With most power tools one page would cover the actual tool. If you wish to learn how to use it to the best advantage you'd need a text book on the subject.
And don't for get the 'don't chuck it in the wheelie bin' symbol. Lucky I saw that just in time otherwise my expensive new drill could have been binned on the first day.
With some of this gear I wish they would show how it is repacked in its cas e. Worst offender is a small Bosch router and despite moulded illustrations inside the lid purporting to show how its is done I find it impossible to arrange things so that the lid locks down easily.
Why not take inspiration from all those "Un-boxing" videos on youtube and create your own video or slide show the next time you have to unpack a new gadget?
You'll have to add an "Un-boxing Gadgets" folder to your photo/video folder with sub-folders named after the gadget or its model number if you want to keep track of each video or slide show so that years later (if the kit has a few years worth of warranty that is!) you'll be able to readily find the correct video or slide show.
I think, for most people, such a video photo record will be more a case of making it easier to return a DoA item or to claim on the 7/28 day money back promise rather than as a lifetime record of the event.
Making use of a cheap 'n' cheerful P&S digital camera to record how a gadget was unpacked isn't something that most of 'a certain generation' would think of doing. However, once you've used your digital camera in this way (above and beyond the traditional holiday/outings snapshots usage originating from the days of expensive photo materials), the idea becomes a "No Brainer".
A colleague shares all the photos he takes on Google Plus. While I can see the appeal (photos are backed up, can control who sees them), if I did that there would be a lot of pictures of undersides of cars, insides of walls, places where the screws went before I took it apart, etc etc. No sure this 'photostream' is quite what they intended...
I don't see any downside in doing that other than being able to make sure you don't release any photos of a more intimate and personal nature to googleplus (eg Kryton's "Double polaroids" and similar 'medical photos').
... which wire went where before I touched it, crash dump messages, part number stickers, serial number stickers, SIM cards and their numbers, gits parking in front of my drive, fire doors wedged open by fire extinguishers in fire stations, receipts that would otherwise get lost or fade ...
You haven't unpacked enough cunningly packadged 'toys' yet to give you pause to grab a camera.
Once you're onto your third "Three Handset DECT phone kit", _neatly_ packaged into an even tinier box than the previous phone kits had been packed into, you finally wise up and start taking photos. :-(
My phone automatically uploads all the photos I take to our flickr account. However, rather sensibly, it defaults to marking them private so only we can see them until we change that.
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