A recent story on the BBC posed a question to its readers. If it ain't broke: You share your oldest working gadgets. Folks wrote in with their favorite, longest-lasting devices.
Besides being curious about the latest tech devices and advancements, I've noticed our community also seems to have a number of thrifty folk who thrive on getting the most out of their gadgets.
I'll count myself among those in that category. I'll start with a Sharp EL-510S solar-powered, scientific calculator from the early 1980s. I also have a JVC stereo receiver from the mid 1980s that is still going strong. The computer I am currently using is a Dell Latitude Core 2 Duo from about 2009.
So how well has your stuff held up? What was been your best acquisition for long-term durability?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 09 2020, @09:53PM (3 children)
It cost $89, and was from JC Penny.
Two buttons, one for time/date, and a hidden button to set the watch, using a ball point pen tip or bent paper clip.
Press button once, get hours and minutes. If you keep holding the button without releasing it, then you get the seconds counting for as long as you hold the button in.
Double pressing the main button gives you the month and date.
I got this in my first year of high school. Saved up for it. And that was $89 in 1976 dollars.
It went through batteries the way I played with it. It's the bright glowing red LED digits that light up which drain the battery.
I still have this watch in a drawer. About ten years ago I had put batteries in it and tried it. Ironically I was thinking about doing this recently. The battery is common, and now days very cheap. Eveready 357
(I eventually got an LCD watch by the time I went to college, maybe even before being out of high school. Just last month I got a Wear OS smart watch that I'm still playing with. I know there is a Linux command line in there somewhere. Got to use ADB. And from what I read, I can still use Java, or now Kotlin to do development, and the development is very similar to Android which I dabbled with ten years ago. Amusingly, compared to my high school LED watch, this new much higher tech watch displays a watch face all day long. I charge it every night when I charge my phone.)
Bonus item:
I have another digital watch from the mid 1980's. Probably about 1984 or 1985. It was one of the first scientific calculator watches with LCD display. (A few years out of college, writing Pascal, money, no wife and kids.) I still have that in a drawer. But to my surprise, it doesn't have as much fascination to me as my original first LED watch.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 10 2020, @01:01AM
I still have one of these too, an LED digital watch from Texas instruments. I think I got it in 1976?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday June 10 2020, @02:44AM (1 child)
I had one of those LED watches from Masters' Merchandise Mart - I think I got mine in 5th grade (would have been ~1977) for about $30. Mine didn't last more than a year or two.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 10 2020, @02:26PM
After writing the above, I decided to look yesterday evening, and indeed that LED watch was exactly where I expected it to be. I'll have to obtain some batteries and give it a try.
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