I was talking to an American friend and mentioned 'teasmades' - a term she had not heard of. As I explained what they were she expressed doubt, so I dug around on Amazon UK for examples. I also found images of old teasmades. As usual, when looking up goods on Amazon I reach for the critical reviews first as these are often more revealing. The Russell Hobbs I found was no exception. Some had arrived without a filter. Many found the mug that came with the teasmade totally inadequate - 'cup bottom is uneven and after a few weeks started to come off'
Why secondhand old goods are often superior:
I have a newer Russell Hobbs electric kettle sitting in my kitchen as I write this. I doubt it's going to make it to three years, it's already falling apart. Seems to be lasting longer than the teasmade though:-
'Like many other people have said, it was great when it worked but broke after less than a month of use. Have used other manufacturers products since and they have massively out performed this. Clearly very cheaply made and it shows'.
'gimmicky', shoddily-made, the cup is useless - doesn't keep the coffee hot, the lid is not watertight. Also the reservoir one fills has more capacity than the mug but it empties the lot and overspills the mug. Some of these issues are solvable; just use the mug to fill the reservoir to get the optimal mount of water; use your own preferred mug... but some are not - the general plasticky design which falls apart as soon as one use!I had an old-fashioned teasmade myself for many. i bought it for next-to-nothing from a charity shop (thrift store) when I was a student. The teapot was made of heavy duty porcelain, it had an alarm. It was reliable and importantly made very good tea!
There are modern design/improvements which are beneficial; LED lights for example. They last reliable this longer, give out bright clear lightand use less energy. They can cost a little more but I replaced my car headlights with LEDs and also the halogen G9s which werein my living-room overhead light and also the screw-in bulbs in the hall light. The original halogens used to blow regularly. The new LED G9s didn't cost much on Amazon.