‘Poor quality’ dish dryer gets rave reviews for drying paint

Image: Amazon Japan

When a product gets positive reviews on a shopping website, it’s often because it functioned the way it was advertised.

On the other hand, a Japanese dish dryer posted in Amazon Japan is getting five-star reviews for being bad at what it does.

The dryer is called the Yamazen Dish Dryer YD-180 and costs 6,685 yen (roughly P3,000). One review noted that it initially cost 4,980 yen (roughly 2,300) which is a good deal, considering other dish dryers on the online store cost between 10,000 to 50,000 yen (P4,600 to P23,000)

Early reviews were bad, earning the dish dryer one to three star ratings. A buyer said he threw it out immediately because it took too long to dry dishes and used up too much electricity.

“I wasted too much time and electricity, it’s irritating. I don’t usually throw out new items but I threw this out immediately.” Image: Amazon Japan

Suddenly, the dryer started getting five-star reviews. Out of the 175 posted as of this writing, over a hundred buyers have given it five-stars.

These new shoppers happen to be plastic model (plamo) enthusiasts. The hobbyists, who build anything from scale model cars to plastic robot Gundams, discovered that the dryer was perfect for drying paint on plastic model kits.

One of the reviews said the dryer was indispensable for speeding up the drying of paint while avoiding dust.

“Purchased as a drying booth. It speeds up drying and keeps dust out. It may just be mine but the temperature inside went up to 40 degrees and melted the Tamiya rubber tank tracks.” Image: Amazon Japan

Another wondered if the manufacturer mislabeled their product and that it should be a plamo drying booth.

“Dishware? huh? It’s not a plamo drying booth?  Maybe the manufacturer named it wrong. It’s bad at drying dishes but quite useful as a plamo drying booth. I think the stocks are getting lower because more people are buying it.” Image: Amazon Japan

One amateur builder even shared a photo of how he is using the dish dryer for his then-new plastic car model making hobby.

“I’m just a beginner but I already know that a drying booth is necessary,” the owner said in his review. Image: Amazon Japan

Image: Amazon Japan

Sometimes, things don’t work as well as they are advertised. Fortunately, some people manage to find other uses for these “faulty products.” JB

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