What vintage items do you have in everyday use?

[matthewhouse]

I mostly use vintage items in the kitchen. A 1930s Premier kettle gets used multiple times a day. I did have to repair this recently as it started leaking, but it's all good now.

I have one of the cool Sunbeam toasters from America, 1960s? That gets used multiple times a week.

The radio in the kitchen, a Cossor 501 gets loads of use.

Also in the kitchen is a mains Gents clock that I got from a local fire station. A break in the motor winding was repaired, the movement cleaned and it has been working for a few years now. We get frequent power cuts here, not ideal as this clock has manual starting.

I have a number of master clocks (5!) that live in the hall way, one has been in continuous use for nearly 4 years now. It's eerie if I stop it, difficult to sleep without the regular clunking. I don't run them all though!

All of these items are well past their expected useful lifetime but none are showing signs of becoming un-repairable any time soon. I have been using the kettle here for 10 years, my mother has had 3 modern kettles in that time... I certainly get joy in using these items, many have ingenious mechanisms that don't appear in any modern equipment now. The sunbeam toaster being a notable example!

[QQVO6/40]

Hello everyone.
Very best wishes for this time of year.

I have an aged, decrepit bit of gear that gets used and sometimes abused every day.

At 77 years of age it's ME!

Just wondering where I would fit on the survey.
Maybe "other".

Just a bit of joviality. Too much Christmas Spirit??

Cheers all.
Robert.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by QQVO6/40

I have an aged, decrepit bit of gear that gets used and sometimes abused every day.

At 77 years of age it's ME!

Just wondering where I would fit on the survey.

Well, given the results of the last age poll -

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=207149

- only about 1% of us don't qualify as "vintage" yet under the forum's guidelines Maybe some 40 year olds, like the most used radio here, my 1984-ish Panasonic RF-9000, are still in fine shape and little the worse for wear, but practically everything pre-1960 has started showing its age in one way or another by now...

Paul

[bobbyball]

Despite my being in the middle of a 2000's housing estate there is precious little mobile signal here in my own plot. I dislike the things anyway and my "8782R" telephone from 1982 has been in constant service since I moved here in 2010. I am currently listening to the POTP show on a Philips radio/record player from about 1970. No multiplex decoder for the FM!

[music-centre]

Surprised the amount of members using Vintage TVs is so low (if we are "only" talking about 25 years) as that includes very usable late CRT sets.

The only LCD set I use is in the small bedroom that I use as a workroom but I use a 32" Samsung CRT one in the living room and a 28" CRT Panasonic and similar Sony in the Dining room/Main bedroom that haven't needed any repairs.

Also voted for Audio, using a Leak Stereo 70 and Tuner with some old Celestion ditton 44 Speakers in the living room.

The old radios get regular use, while we still have Radio Caroline on AM anyway!

Steve

[dave walsh]

It may depend [in a way] on the number of people that vote Steve. We are an older age group so the [smaller] Flat Screen sets might have more attraction re weight and portability. I've a very heavy but excellent CRT B+O set but I accept that average 21" or even 14" CRT portables may be cumbersome perhaps? I've still got very many in use though [both North and South] but that might not be at all typical. An understanding wife could be a factor as well of course I do remember the time when FS's became the fashion item and people told me that the new telly "took up less room" and there it was in the same place, on a table!

Dave

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by dave walsh

I do remember the time when FS's became the fashion item and people told me that the new telly "took up less room" and there it was in the same place, on a table!

It's partly convenience that's prevented me from replacing our 40 year old B&O with a new set: a replacement would occupy the same table, but balancing even Hullabaloo and Custard on top of it would be tricky, and the Proton 300 would be impossible Still didn't vote for it as in daily use, as, though it's the most used TV in the flat, I only plug it in about three times a year.

Paul

[kalee20]

I'm still using a 1994 Panasonic microwave oven, so 31 years old.

It's a decent size - clockwork countdown timer and simple continuously-variable duty cycle power level control.

I had to replace the magnetron just over a year ago, and also do a few running repairs on the door release mechanism, and on its fourth light bulb - but apart from that it's given excellent service!

[G6Tanuki]

The only people I know who still use CRT tellies are vintage gamers, with their Speccy or C64 hooked up to one of the typical 14 inch colour portables that kids had in the bedroom in the 80s.

Larger CRT tellies are just too bulky and obtrusive for most people, and they don't do the sort of resolution you want if you are watching stuff these days. If you are paying to stream a HD movie you don't want to be downscaling it to PAL 625 lines or losing some of the screen area because of fitting 16:9 into 4:3.

[Sergeauckland]

Depending on the definition of 'vintage', most of my test equipment is from the late 1960s and early 70s, some from the early 1980s, and only my oscilloscope is modern, having replaced a much older all analogue Hitachi 'scope.

My Hifi mostly dates from the mid 1980s, with one item (SQ Quadraphonic Decoder) going back to the 1970s. The audio system in my study is all from the late 1950s, through the '60s with only the loudspeakers (JR149s) from the late 1970s.

As to household appliances, we tend to keep everything until it's beyond economic repair, so as long as it still works, we keep it. Our main oven and microwave oven are both from around 1999, yet still work perfectly.

Not much here for the 'must have the latest' brigade.

S.

[dave walsh]

I'm sure that you are broadly right about Video Games and Old Computers Tanuki. I've got a 65" flat screen here on the coast but 14" CRT's are still usefull re my VHS collection. Most will do a "cinema" image but but they do reproduce a VHS 4x3 recording by "definition" very well, north and south!

Dave Walsh

[Station X]

Every machine tool I possess, including CNC ones, was made in the last century. I don't consider them vintage though and I hope they'll still be in use long after I've gone.

Vintage radiowise I cycle through around ten domestic radios and four comms receivers, using one or more every day.

Test equipment is vintage too, but the digital signal generators require frequent repair!

[Joe_Lorenz]

A look into the kitchen has just reminded myself we are still using that 1987 Buderus Juno TM 8040 microwave oven. That one which had almost been declared dead this April, but now fitted with a new magnetron valve it has resumed it's daily duties as always.
Without advice from several forum members I might have been forced to buy something newer!

[agardiner]

Interesting points on the CRT's. We have a 32" QLED flat screen, but the only reason we replaced our old 32" CRT was the tube itself giving up. Unfortunately the last generation of widescreen tubes were not very reliable, and often had inter-gun shorts. Perhaps that is one reason there are not many in service.

[Oldmadham]

I have a device which is a bit of a rarity as well as being the only functional halfway decent Oscilloscope I have.

It is a BWD 845 35MHz twin channel, storage 'scope, with delayed timebase (the later function currently not working).
The only other working 'scope is a little single channel 10MHz 2" screen thing.

I am hoping to use the "Dubya" to help me fix the Tek 7613 languishing in my Lab/hamshack, & in turn fix the BWD's delayed time base using the Tek.

There are other old things like a Leader LCR bridge, a Levell audio oscillator, a HP 410c, & various other "odds & sods".

[RichardGM]

Does a homebrew AF signal generator from about 60 years ago count? Admittedly it is a few years since I last used it.

[Lancs Lad]

My vintage kit that I still use (although not every day) but pretty often.

AIWA hifi, bought on my birthday in 1989.

Sharp CD player (bought on the same day)

Philips mixer, bought in 1987, and still in regular weekly use. And has produced award winning cakes for me!

Moulinex hairdryer. Been around for decades! No idea where it came from, but still works perfectly. And so beautifully quiet!
Your can keep your Braun Silencios - this one beats the lot.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by Lancs Lad

Moulinex hairdryer. Been around for decades! No idea where it came from, but still works perfectly. And so beautifully quiet!
Your can keep your Braun Silencios - this one beats the lot.

Ah, it's still a youngster Mine is quiet too... my wife doesn't like it though, says it's too heavy...

Paul

[Tim]

An “ early “ Weller TC1 soldering iron, ( and a mains 25 Watt red Weller one I have had for about 40 years. Of course it still works but the bit is well and truly seized in place by now) and a couple of AVO 8’s, Heathkit Audio & RF sig gens.
Newest scope is early 1980’s.
You know it’s time to buy new kit when you see a YouTuber in a developing country who has newer gear than you.
Still have and occasionally use the screwdrivers I was issued with on my first day at BT back in October 1987.
I still occasionally use a Bosch CSB450 mains drill ( usually in a drill stand)and Black & Decker PL40 circular saw, both of which I have owned from new since I was a lad.

Robert’s R900 and R707( bedroom radio) often in use at weekends.

[Maarten]

Originally Posted by music-centre

Surprised the amount of members using Vintage TVs is so low (if we are "only" talking about 25 years) as that includes very usable late CRT sets.

I don't really watch TV anymore, but up until mid 2020 I still had my 28" Grundig Monolith set from 1989 connected to the cable network. I think it was similar or identical to https://obsoletetellyemuseum.blogspot.com/2011/08/grundig-m70-5909-top-monolith-year-1990.html