Years is literally just the plural of a single year. Ergo, years feels like the appropriate word here. What are you suggesting they phase it as instead?
On this page [1] in the technical specifications under battery life, instead of actually saying 12-15 hours of recording or 2 years, it just says "Years of average use"
Two is years. Some people would even say that 1.5 is "years". I go back and forth on this. Is it correct to say that something costs "thousands of dollars" if it costs $1,800? If it costs $2,000, IMO it's clear.
If someone said a shirt will last for years I would have a different impression than if someone said that a battery-powered thing will last for years.
For example, I have motion sensors in my home and I have to replace the batteries from time to time. If the manual said "the batteries last for years, depending on usage" I would not be surprised if it lasted for 2 years.
Here, it sounds like the battery life will vary greatly based on usage. In fact, it sounds like the battery life is almost entirely a function of how much you use it. It would be interesting to know how much the battery will drain over time if you don't use it, but of course we can't know this for certain before this has been in the wild for years.
Think of it more like this: If I was selling you a car and said it would last for years, then would you expect it to fall apart after two years? I certainly wouldn’t. When talking about small quantities we tend to specify an exact number (two, three), however as the range becomes larger and less exact we use generalities (years). Because of this “years” would typically refer to a span of at least 3-5 years, and I would argue even longer.
Even given that convention, with your example, a car is a far steeper investment than this ring. The more you invest in something, the more you expect to get out of it, and this ring is designed for a very low investment point, while still being highly durable (there are other similar rings out there at even lower investment points, but they probably won't survive anything beyond a sprinkle).
Years is literally just the plural of a single year. Ergo, years feels like the appropriate word here. What are you suggesting they phase it as instead?
I would always say “two” when talking about such a small quantity. “Years” is misleading, as evidenced by many other comments here.
“The battery lasts two years”
On this page [1] in the technical specifications under battery life, instead of actually saying 12-15 hours of recording or 2 years, it just says "Years of average use"
[1] https://repebble.com/index
Two is definitely on the low end for “years”… really the lowest.
But I did have a similar thought when I read it was only “two”
Two is years. Some people would even say that 1.5 is "years". I go back and forth on this. Is it correct to say that something costs "thousands of dollars" if it costs $1,800? If it costs $2,000, IMO it's clear.
Something can be technically true while still being misleading. In fact arguably that's what the word misleading means (as opposed to false).
I think most people, when told that something will last for "years", would be quite surprised to learn that it will fail after 2 years.
If someone said a shirt will last for years I would have a different impression than if someone said that a battery-powered thing will last for years.
For example, I have motion sensors in my home and I have to replace the batteries from time to time. If the manual said "the batteries last for years, depending on usage" I would not be surprised if it lasted for 2 years.
Here, it sounds like the battery life will vary greatly based on usage. In fact, it sounds like the battery life is almost entirely a function of how much you use it. It would be interesting to know how much the battery will drain over time if you don't use it, but of course we can't know this for certain before this has been in the wild for years.
If English is your first language, this is the funniest comment I've seen today by a margin.
It’s my first language. Why is it funny to you? I’m dead serious when I say that “years” implies more than two in almost all contexts.
If someone said “that’s years ago” I’d assume 5+. If someone said “it’ll be years before that’s released” I would again assume 5+.
To be two I would expect “that’ll be out in a couple of years”, or “in a year or two”.
For this ring I would write “battery life is between 12-15 hours of use, which will typically last about two years under normal use”
> It says two years of average use.
Even this is misleading. The product hasn't been released yet. So what is it an average of? How do you know how people will use it?
2 years: Couple years
3 years: Few years
4 years: Several years
5+ years: Years
"Two year of average use"?
I’m not talking grammar, I’m talking convention.
Think of it more like this: If I was selling you a car and said it would last for years, then would you expect it to fall apart after two years? I certainly wouldn’t. When talking about small quantities we tend to specify an exact number (two, three), however as the range becomes larger and less exact we use generalities (years). Because of this “years” would typically refer to a span of at least 3-5 years, and I would argue even longer.
Even given that convention, with your example, a car is a far steeper investment than this ring. The more you invest in something, the more you expect to get out of it, and this ring is designed for a very low investment point, while still being highly durable (there are other similar rings out there at even lower investment points, but they probably won't survive anything beyond a sprinkle).