QOTW: Which of your tech products have aged well?

[matts-uk]

The oldest bit of tech I still use on a weekly basis is a Mastech digital multi-meter, bought from Maplin on a clearance deal circa 1982. Although I have much more expensive and accurate bench and hand held DMMs available, the old school segmented display on the Mastech is easier to read for basic V, I, R checks.

The laptop I keep in my tool bag is a Dell Latitude E6230, Gen 3 i5, circa 2011. Tough as old boots thanks to the mag-alloy frame, a keyboard that keeps up with my typing speed, and cheap enough not to worry about breaking it or losing it. I could quite easily convince myself I need to spend a grand on a new laptop but nothing on sale today comes even close to ticking the right boxes.

Around the house I have a Rega Planar 3 with AT10 cartridge from the early 1990s, a pair of Ruark Epilogues on the music system and a pair of Mission M7Ds surrounds on the TV system. My wife is by far the worse for clinging to old tech and still won't let go of our old Minidisc player.

[spacein_vader]

That's nearly new that is

I know, but in my experience most cars post 2000 or so (roughly when ODB2 ports became standard,) are much more finicky with their engines and electronics than those prior. Largely I imagine as they're so complex.

They also assume that a child contortionist is going to change the bulbs and filters, again mercifully my Jazz seems to be an exception to that rule.

[pumpkin]

My set of powered desktop speakers. They came with my first PC from Evesham micros, around 1993 I think.

[judge56988]

My Dualit toaster is still in daily use after more than 30 years. I've replaced burnt out elements, the timer and the wiring loom but the metal body is original.
Miele vacuum cleaner must be 25 years old.
Still a great picture on my 10 year old Panasonic plasma TV.
X99 Haswell E desktop is around 5 years old, Silverstone FT01 case is even older.
I would rather pay more for quality stuff that lasts.

[loftie]

My SCSI Epson Perfection 1200S A4 bed scanner is still working 10 years later thanks to VueScan software on Windows 10 Pro.

Got all excited when I saw this and saw my old canon scanner on there, then I noticed that you need to use 32bit Windows for it to work

[DanceswithUnix]

You can get a cheap DAC to offload the processing and it will make a noticeable difference IMHO.

Interesting thought, though I think that is so old there probably isn't a digital out on it.

( Edit: yeah, it's an SL-P277A, no fancy digital out on that. The old SU-V660 seems to still sell for decent money on ebay though, so I guess that aged really well )


Another old item: this USB keyboard has a built in hub so you can plug your mouse into it, an idea that seems to have died out thought I always rather liked it. It is labelled "Gateway", and they went out of business decades ago so I honestly have no idea how old it is. The thing got rather manky so I stripped it down a couple of years ago and put all the plastics into the dishwasher. Good as new, should last be another couple of decades

[lodore]

Arcam Alpha 7 Amplifier and Monitor audio system R252 speakers. Not sure quite how old they are but got given them after my Dad upgraded.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Interesting thought, though I think that is so old there probably isn't a digital out on it.

( Edit: yeah, it's an SL-P277A, no fancy digital out on that. The old SU-V660 seems to still sell for decent money on ebay though, so I guess that aged really well )


Another old item: this USB keyboard has a built in hub so you can plug your mouse into it, an idea that seems to have died out thought I always rather liked it. It is labelled "Gateway", and they went out of business decades ago so I honestly have no idea how old it is. The thing got rather manky so I stripped it down a couple of years ago and put all the plastics into the dishwasher. Good as new, should last be another couple of decades

A shame! There are CD players from that era which did have it IIRC,maybe it was only the higher end models.

[jimborae]

Apple Mac Pro 4.1 from 2009, have upgraded it over the years but it's still hanging in there.
Also Marantz CD63 KI Signature CD player, Castle Severn bookshelf speakers & Arcam Alpha amp which is the heart of my Office PC sound system, good knows how old that lot must be somewhere around 15-20 years and still sounds fantastic.

[big_hairy_rob]

Well I've got a fibre optic cactus that's just turned 30...
In all seriousness, probably the creative labs 5.1 speakers. many, many years of rock steady use.

[Jonj1611]

I have a Big Trak

[[GSV]Trig]

Do you have the trailer as well though..

[Jonj1611]

Nah, used to but the wheel fell off years ago and couldn't find it and the rest ended up in the bin over time, I mean we are talking like 30 years of ownership

[halfflat]

In terms of computer kit, I first thought it might be the Creative SoundBlaster external USB DAC that I've been using on and off for 15 years or so.

But then I remembered that the Logitech Marble Mouse I've got rigged up with a USB-PS/2 converter must be over twenty years old by now. Still works great, though some changes in Linux kernel drivers along the way require me to reload the module if I pop the trackball out, which is a pain.

[ddg3595]

My Cooler Master cases-HAF 932 and HAF XM-have aged well.

[Fabula]

Still using a 32meg SD card from yonks ago, to mod my wii. Kids play with it daily.

Hi-fi kit is cheating a bit, as good stuff lasts decades. Linn Keilidh speakers, Kora Explorer hybrid valve amp, and Arcam alpha 6 CD player. All 25-odd years old and still sounding great, though the Arcam open/close mechanism failed as the gear teeth started to break. After a 300 quid quote a few years back to replace the gears at Arcam, I just glued a handle on the drawer so I could open it manually, and it is still going strong.