• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

My microwave from 1983 is still working great. What old electronics do you have?

OuterLimits

Member
I made this thread a couple years ago about my 1983(Panasonic) microwave and I'm happy to report that it is still somehow working. I was born in 76, and this damn thing has been in my life for a long time. I'm starting to think it will last longer than I will. It will be a sad day when it no longer works. Especially since it is heavy as fuck.

So, what ancient appliances do you guys have that you may even still use some?
 

Mohonky

Member
Yeh theres a couple of bits and pieces around our place that have gone for 20+ years. Certainly dont make things now like they used to.

The old man has this monstrous diesel generator that sat in storage since around 1989 (it was old then too) and we finally brought it home about 2 years ago. Kicked over second pull, then proceded to smoke the place out with black smoke and rattled across the shed; just the way I remember it :)

Actually the whipper snipper / lawn edger os easily in its 20's now and the lawn mower who fucking knows how old that thing is, still runs like a champ. Even had to weld the cracks in the blade housing but mechanically, doesnt miss a beat.


Come from a family of "you service yourself and you dont replace it until its properly dead"

The old man isnt hard up for cash and never will be, but we've never bought things just because something newer came out.
 

120v

Member
i don't think i've ever had one that lasted over five years. granted they were all fairly budget grade but 34 years is nuts

i guess i just have bad luck with electronics. even my ps4 is starting to die. i think the longest lasting device i had was a first gen dvd player that hung in there until 2010 or so
 

jadedm17

Member
This may not be as crazy as the OP, by I just celebrated my 9 year anniversary for my 42 inch Panasonic Vierra tv: At over 40 lbs and at a cost of $800 in 2008 it's been with me through a lot.

Amazingly by contrast my 4k 65 inch thick weighs and cost less in 2016. Technology is awesome sometimes.
 

OuterLimits

Member
i don't think i've ever had one that lasted over five years. granted they were all fairly budget grade but 34 years is nuts

i guess i just have bad luck with electronics. even my ps4 is starting to die. i think the longest lasting device i had was a first gen dvd player that hung in there until 2010 or so

I'm not very lucky with video game consoles. For some reason, the microwave just keeps on going. It gets used a fair amount also, though I tend to use the stove oven more. It's also quite large which is nice, but weighs a ton.
 

longdi

Banned
My first gen ps1 still works, well i needed to replace the internal power supply once (likely due to prolong 120v-220v conversion). Supposedly its cd something of an audiophile grade build.
 

ChuyMasta

Member
My N64 works and I got a couple of nearly new controllers plus rumble pack and memory pack.

It still surprises me that console is older than my students!
 
OP, can we please have a pic of the microwave?

I would love to see it lol.

I actually become attached to things that I've had for awhile and have trouble replacing them. Like my computer chair is 12 years old and has a few tears in the (fake)leather and is squeaky, but I love it and is still comfortable to me.

The oldest electronic I have is my parents Sony AV receiver and the two Aiwa speakers that they had gotten in the 80's and I grew up with. I took them when my parents upgraded and use them in my room. The receiver has some issues and I'll probably have to recycle it, but the speakers still sound amazing and have an excellent build quality.

The oldest electronic that I've had is my Nes console(with box!) and games. Even kept the manuals too. Got it in Christmas of '89 and still works!
 

luxsol

Member
Let's see.

Old giant Technic speakers.
JVC surround sound amp, with JVC speakers.
Technic stereo amp.
All from the 80s.

Giant ass Panasonic CRT that's like 40" from early 00s that weighs more than a safe. I had to get it fixed though, since the top of the TV was turning green.

Of course, Atari 5200 and all the primary major consoles since the late 80s.

stereo system by Sony from the early 00s is still chugging along.

My parents had a giantass microwave from the 90s that was one of the best things ever, but they tossed it in 2012 because they noticed ants were dying near the microwave door one day. All that deadly radiation spewing right into the kitchen was a hazard!

I'm very disappointed with almost all modern electronics, especially video game consoles. Shit just breaks so much fucking faster now.
I had to go through 5 PS3 controllers because how the buttons and sticks would get loose as fuck. My original PSX dual shock is still in great condition. Same with my PS2 controllers.
I went through 2 PS3s in 6 years. Whereas my original PSX (a fucking 1001) still works. My PS2 still works, but its disc door grinds like it shoud have lost all its teeth ten years ago, but it still goes on. GCN, DC, SNES, Saturn, etc etc are still in working condition as well without any real noticeable problems. Only old console that no longer worked and i threw away long ago was my NES.
My nephew has had to replace his PS4 and its controlls at least one time for all. His VR stopped working yesterday (monitor inside the goggles doesn't turn on), right after he DLed the Elder Scrolls VR game.

My G3 iPhone from 2008 is buggy but still works, with the home button not always doing what it should on the first press. The screen sometimes doesnt want to turn on. It's slow as fuck to load emails and takes forever to load websites, but maybe I'm just impatient from newer phones spoiling me.
I just had to replace my Samsung G8 this week because the screen broke from a 3 foot fall onto a concrete sidewalk and started trying to summon another dimension through its cracked screen until the batteries ran out (didn't want to turn off). I still carry around my 2008 iPhone everyday i got out and its fallen onto the same concrete sidewalk without even a scratch. It's fallen onto blacktop, bricks, hardwood floors, tiles, and softer shit without ever breaking for nearly a decade now.
Over the years I've had more problems with HTC, other android phones, and iPhones than i ever have with my original iPhone, hence always staying with me (for music, contacts, notes). It also has better sound than all of them, save one of the other iPhones i had.
I hope my G3 iPhone continues to work for another decade, but i know i'll ahve to replace the battery sooner.
 

Triteon

Member
I have an old desk fan from the 80s that i have in my spare room. I used it almost every day (for noise mainly) from about age 9 onwards.

When i bought my home i put it in the study spare room. Still works fine.

Ive gone through 3 other fans since in the last 8 years, two of them kinda expensive.
 
logo.jpg


Over 20 years and still working
 

Laws00

Member
id get rid of that thing for something more modern. dont know what kind of radiation waves that thing might be transmitting or giving off

My grandma has one of the first microwaves still her house. She is afraid to put it out on the curb
 
My Sega Saturn and Panasonic 3DO still work fine. Still able to save games onto the 3DO's tiny internal memory. Also had a working NeoGeo CDZ but sold it because of the unbearable loading times.
 
Still getting daily use out of my Sony Wega 34xs955 from 2004. Many people don't realize these crt sets do 1035p and handle 2160p downsampling with less than 1% overscan.

The 36 inch is the better set imo, due to less convergence issues and better geometry, but I'm good until oled is perfected and cheap.
 

nkarafo

Member
All my game consoles from the late 80's/early 90's work.

I also still use a CRT monitor from the late 90's.
 

Seirith

Member
My original NES still works and so would my SNES,my brother has both but the SNES fried during an electrical surge.

The furnace in my house is 25+ years old, it gets tested every year and is working perfect.

I have a KitchenAid stand mixed my grandmother bought in the 70's, it is a horribly ugly yellowish color but it works perfect.
 
Original NES that my friend gave me back in 03 or 04. I have a bike that I bought that needs work from 74. A CD player from 2003.
 
Come from a family of "you service yourself and you dont replace it until its properly dead"

The old man isnt hard up for cash and never will be, but we've never bought things just because something newer came out.

There's likely a lot of connection beetween those two. If you don't spend on new shiny you are sawing a lot of cash in the long run.
 
My original jvc boombox (the tube looking stereo with the big subwoofer on the sides). Had it since 1999 I think? Still works great, used it at college pool parties, as a guitar amp for jamming, its been through a lot. It was almost stolen from my house in high school during a break-in but my mom got home as the burglar/s were there and they dropped it and ran out the other door. My video camera wasn't so lucky.
 

Herne

Member
I guess it would be my C64C and G plus 1541-II drive, all about thirty years old. If I still had my original C64 with orange keys and first model 1541, they'd be a few years older yet.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
A Sony Trinitron my dad bought in the 80s still worked to this day, it's in the shed and still works.

sony_trinitron1.jpg



Some of those old CRTs will outlast all the TVs we have today in a zombie apocalypse.
 
Is that you dad?

Seriously though. I have a 17year old receiver in my house been repaired once. Really old record player not sure how old.
 
I still have a Panasonic SA-MT1 dvd surround system as my home cinema audio. It has Dolby Digital 5.1 but only when using the internal dvd player. All else is Dolby Prologic as there's only Scart and left/right audio inputs. I think it's around 15 years old now. I plan to upgrade to an Atmos soundbar next year if the prices drop a bit. My TV is a 1080p 52" Sharp Aquos which is 11 years old. Was top of the range and over £2000 new but bigger and better tv's are a quarter of the price now. That'll be upgraded to a 65' 4k hdr model next year too. Both the surround system and the TV would probably keep going for another 10 years or so though!
 
I have a pair of floorstanding speakers that my dad got back in the early 80s that have moved from him to me to a friend and back to me. They still work, but they don't really compare to what I've got in the rest of the system. Right now they just make fantastic rear surround speakers and shelves because of where they are.

I'm actually considering maybe replacing the drivers at some point and taking out the spring terminals for some binding posts so that I can use banana plugs with them.
 

Bluecondor

Member
My GE clock radio is from 1986 and it is still working perfectly. Even more impressive, it has been continuously in use since then.
 

Setzer

Member
I made this thread a couple years ago about my 1983(Panasonic) microwave and I'm happy to report that it is still somehow working. I was born in 76, and this damn thing has been in my life for a long time. I'm starting to think it will last longer than I will. It will be a sad day when it no longer works. Especially since it is heavy as fuck.

So, what ancient appliances do you guys have that you may even still use some?

We have one at work about that old and it still works great.
 

Lucreto

Member
I tend to replace items every couple of years when they show wear.

I think my car is the oldest item I own. 10 years I have had it and it's showing its age. I went test driving and the standard models are so much more advanced.

My Dad had a cassette, amp and recorder player which he bought when he was 18, he will be 60 next year and it's still running.
 

Mohonky

Member
There's likely a lot of connection beetween those two. If you don't spend on new shiny you are sawing a lot of cash in the long run.

Oh yes it's no coincidence.

I'm kind of glad it's had some effect on me; people moaning about not having money but they always have the latest tech, buy brand new cars etc. Mobile phones in particular blow me away because they are so expensive but people still buy them brand new every year or two.

The old man has never bought anything he could never pay cash for; he's always made good money but he's never spent like it.
 

luxsol

Member
The furnace in my house is 25+ years old, it gets tested every year and is working perfect.
I always enjoyed hearing repair people tell stories about my parents' furnace, how the new ones are all shit and needing to get replaced so often. whereas the one in my parents house is going on 50 years old and still kicking aside from a minor fixes here and there every 8 years.
Quite a few repairmen have talked about how others have bought old furnaces for twice the price of a new one, because the old ones will last a lifetime and that my parents should never sell theirs or how they themselves bought an old house just because it came with old appliances (furnace, stove, oven, bathroom fixtures, etc).
 
I have one of those old Sony yellow waterproof walkmans from about 87. I won it in the Dandy comic so kept it as a special item. Other than that we are big on tech in our house so most stuff is pretty new.
 

Pouh

Member
My first gen ps1 still works, well i needed to replace the internal power supply once (likely due to prolong 120v-220v conversion). Supposedly its cd something of an audiophile grade build.
That's an urban legend, the DAC in it is fairly common.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
I always enjoyed hearing repair people tell stories about my parents' furnace, how the new ones are all shit and needing to get replaced so often. whereas the one in my parents house is going on 50 years old and still kicking aside from a minor fixes here and there every 8 years.
Quite a few repairmen have talked about how others have bought old furnaces for twice the price of a new one, because the old ones will last a lifetime and that my parents should never sell theirs or how they themselves bought an old house just because it came with old appliances (furnace, stove, oven, bathroom fixtures, etc).

What's the efficiency of the 50 year old one vs new ones though?
 

Camaway2

Member
My son loves my Vectrex (I'd post a picture if I knew how) and my Sinclair ZX Spectrum still works despite having been massacred by the table tennis ball trick for micro Olympics back in the '80s....
 
Top Bottom