I had occasion to use my HP 41CX calculator today. What a brilliant piece of technology! It’s almost 30 years old and still looks & works like new.
I can’t think of any other technology I own that has been as trouble-free as this device. On the opposite end of the spectrum are print cartridges, including those from HP. A friend of mine is a print cartridge reseller and printer repairman. He insists that print cartridges were very much reengineered to fail sooner than they need to, falling under the category of planned obsolescence. Incidentally, in case you’ve never seen it before, this chart of the cost of various liquids is fascinating.
Open Question: Are there any items you own that have surprised you in terms of how much longer than expected they’ve lasted or how much quicker than expected they’ve broken?
Wow, a blast from the past! The HP41CV was the standard calculator for planning artillery fire missions when I did my artillery officer phase training in 1987. It fell between the MILIPAC computer at the high end, and the ‘maps, slipsticks and the tabular firing tables’ at the low end. We even had programming modules for them. Tough as nails, too.
Wow, I’m old.
All my Palm PDAs up to the IIIx still work just fine, and I’ve given them all away to various nieces and nephews as simple organizers. The V models and up all failed within a year. The poor QA and the need to keep selling devices is what killed Palm as a company.
I have an extremely rare Transformers toy from the 1980’s that still transforms and works properly, although some of the plastic parts are becoming brittle.
The HP42s was another beautiful calculator. Still have mine. A fine machine, outstanding key feedback, and once you have used RPN it is hard to use anything else. Those were the days.
As for what breaks quickly, I would include every single garden hose attachment I have ever bought. Junk junk junk. It should be illegal to sell such junk, and the CEO of every garden hose attachment company should be put in jail.
I remember the HP41C. Back in the day, we Gunners used the 41C (with programmable strip reader) for calculating firing data for C1, L5 and M109 howitzers. Worked OK but experienced plotter board techs could beat it every time.
The old guy here at work got one of those on his desk. I prefer my HP48gx which is 16 years old and counting.
Simonize Pressure washers and Bissol steam cleaners are the worst!
As it happens I have a TI-35x calculator from the early ’90s that keeps on ticking. Does fractions and everything. Still running on the original battery. I have a couple of SGI Octanes from about 1995 that function as-new and look new.
OTOH I had an ASUS Republic of Gamers motherboard burn out on me after “only” five years of service. Bummer. Good thing I had backups.
We have 2 Subarus. One is a 2002 Imprezza WRX with over 225.000 KM and the other is a 2003 Legacy sedan GT with over 213.000 KM…Both are still running strong and never required anything except one major tune up each, a battery and 4~5 sets of tires each. The oil changes are between 6 to 9 thousand clicks depending on time of year and/or type of driving.
We intend to take both these cars as far up the odometer as we can…Depending on the overall shape of body, I might even consider engine work if needed.
These are by far the best trouble free, dependable cars I ever had and I have tried many brands through the years but all were Americans; the best being the GM, specifically Chevy products.
I believe Japanese cars to be the best overall in the world beating out the Germans which tend to be over engineered…My wife also has a 2001 Mercedes Kompressor 2 seater roadster. It has had many electrical issues and has spend lots of hours in the shop.
I still have a TI-59 calculator, with the red LED display, that I bought in 1979. it was the ‘hot’ thing to own then if you were studying math, science or engineering. The card reader has long stopped working, but otherwise the machine still works. I don’t use it anymore, but recall writing code for it and exchanging it with other geeks. Now it is mostly a curiosity I show to visiting children (and adults).
I also have a perfectly working Hayes 1200 bps modem, vintage 1983, which outlasted every modem I bought after. That speed is laughable now, but back in the day it was a huge step forward from the 300-baud acoustic modem I owned before.
Surprise 1:
I just bought a new dishwasher today. Apparently today’s wisdom says the life of a dishwasher–today–is 10 years. The dishwasher I’m replacing is 23-years old and still running. Doh! I’m probably f*&^$d!
Surprise 2:
The first house my wife and I bought together was built in the early 60s and the original furnace was going long and strong when we sold the house in 1998. Our current house, built in 1984, needed a new furnace in 2005. Doh!! I know i’m f*&^$d!!
That HP reminds me of my old TI58C which gave me years of service until I lost the charger. I used it in geology projects in the winter from a tent. Never a glitch.
http://tinyurl.com/bm9narq
I’ve been using an HP19BII for the past 15 years with no problems whatsoever and intend to keep on using it for many years.
http://tinyurl.com/cvj24cg
I’m surprised about the print cartridges (ink jet) as I’ve never had an issue. I believe with the HP cartridges, the print head is changed with each cartridge.
I do have a bone to pick with HP though over my Laser Jet which is about five years old. HP decided to not write a driver for this printer for Windows 7 so I now have a nice paper weight. HP’s response in their website is “buy another printer”. Someone in an HP forum said sure – and bought a Brother.
I remember back in 1974 when one of our engineers came back from the US with an HP-35. This was in Australia when we were still using slide rules and those hand-cranked calculators.
We were all blown away and got ourselves a HP RPN calculator at the first possible opportunity.
I’m still a RPN fan and use a HP32S which is at least 15 years old.
Good topic – but should be limited to calculators: not cars
I use my old hp 11C (early 80’s??) every day; it refuses to die. Has reverse polish logic so no one else in the household goes anywhere near it.
My Sharp PC14001 Pocket computer, bought about 30 years ago, still is the most popular calculator in the house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-1401
And my SONY CSF-77 ghetto blaster, also about 30 years old, still rocks the house, though the cassette deck doesn’t get much use any more 🙂
http://vitalxs.com/Gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=124
John,
You should be able to use a Windows Vista driver. I’ve had to do that with a few of my older devices
4020 John Deere
I’ve seen plenty of these tractors, all over 40 years old, still sell for over $10,000 at spring auctions, esp if they have a good loader on them. And considering they get the toughest lot, that of the year round chore tractor, they are simply amazing.
All this talk of old calculators got me to dig out my TI59 from the back of the closet – and it still works! It is still in its printer dock where it has languished for about 17 years! I bought a 17-year old Mercedes and have driven it 100,000 miles since; I wouldn’t try that with a Smart car.
I still use my HP-32 (bought in 1973 for $300 right after the price fell from $400), and still have my HP-12C for financial calculations.
The battery doesn’t work in the HP-32, but plugging in the power charger for the battery still makes the calculator work.
I bought a Texas Instruments BA-II in 1982; I’ve changed the battery once since then. I’ve used it almost every day. It was a great buy! The same goes for my bedside alarm clock, a Micronta. I’ve been using it for longer than I can remember and only changed the battery once. When I’m making new purchases, I look at where the item was made.
E-6B and a Power Fist hammer tacker…broke on the first whack…
I inherited a GE Canada electric fry pan from my parents. They received it as a wedding gift in 1950. It has cooked more meals than I care to imagine (many “overcooked” meats when Mum used it!) Still use it 2 or 3 times each week. Very true on the tempreture, cleans easily and can be used for hand to hand combat if required!
Had an ’87 Toyota Camry. It had 450,000 km on it when we sold it to get a minivan. The guy who bought it used it for extra parts on his own car. I never had an issue with the power train, but it was beginning to rust a bit. Agree with TJ about garden hose attachments.
I used a desktop HP9100B at a minesite in 1970. Bought an HP65 in 1974, sold it for an HP67 (which died in a leaky zip-lock sailing off Florida in 1983), replaced by an HP41CV, and finally an HP48SX in 1992 replaced by an HP48GX circa 1996. When I heard that HP was going to stop making them, I bought another HP48GX. The older one is one my desk now. Use it about every day. GOING STRONG.
And yes, once you learn RPN you cannot go back. I cannot get three calculations in a row on an algebraic calc.
Our GE spacesaver microwave is still cooking 24 years later, albeit not a well as it used to and it probably is a radiation hazard, but it works. 2000 VW Golf, still working great, no rust. And the best is the 120 year old Heintzmman upright self player piano, still works like a charm and great sound board even after two moves overseas an back.
As a stay at home mom to 5 I don’t have many occasions to pull out the HP 41CX, but I can tell you that any technology being created for home use is all crap, intended for self destruction/obsolescence within a handful of years. This would include major appliances. I do own a Meile vaccum cleaner that is the exception the the rule. In 16 years of marriage it is my fourth vaccum and it has been with us for 6 of the years. It is probably the only thing in the house worth the trip to a repair shop. I figure with todays recycling programs, we are now buying all our old crap in the form of new crap.
Still driving my VW Jetta 1991 with 359,000 Km on it. Replaced a number of parts on it over the years but still does the job nicely.
Still have my old TI 58C calculator from university days ~1978
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-58
Still works with it’s red led display.
On the computer side I am still running my old Tyan S2895 server motherboard designed in 2005 which runs dual Opteron 290 CPUs. It crashed recently and for $75 fee got an out of warranty replacement. It is now up and running in multiboot Win 7, Vista and Ubuntu 11.10.
I’m with TJ on garden hose attachments the stuff out there is trash, trash, trash…
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
I sold mine online to a guy named Iquibal Mohammad.
In New York.
Shortly before 9-11.
I wonder,hmmmmmmm
Wonder if he wants the infrared printer that I still have. Only ever plotted “wiggle”.
Hans, in 1990 I bought a 1987 diesel VW Golf in Sudbury with about 60,000 km on it. That car lasted until around 2000 with over 300,000 km on it. The engine was still good but the underside had rusted badly and the driver’s seat was literally about to fall through the floor.
Loved that car though!
John, re your Win 7 driver issue, I echo what Kaga said. In fact, a friend of mine at Microsoft assured me that all Vista and Windows 7 drivers are 100% compatible with each other!
As for the most worthless, falling apart stuff ever bought? As aluded by some above – hose attachments, specifically anything made by the Canadian Tire home brand, Yardworks. I don’t recall anything made under that brand name that lasted the season.
“Yardworks” has become an adjective in our house, synonymous with cheap and unreliable.
In 1978 I was given a Lloyd’s Accumatic 60B pocket computer which I used for a few years before giving it to my wife who has used it since then and continues to use it for all her financial accounts and household calculations.
That in itself isn’t too surprising but what’s truly astonishing is the fact that it has plugged along and continues to work well with the original batteries. I am really curious as to the batteries that are installed but I know I’ll screw everything up the moment I open the computer to check the manufacturer. You know what they say ……. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
Has anyone else had batteries that lasted 33 years?
80085
I had an HP-25 in high school. Really cool little beast. I loved RPN logic.
WRX with over 225.000 KM and the other is a 2003 Legacy sedan GT with over 213.000 KM
They bloody well should! There’s lots of North American vehicles out there with 450,000 km plus. The secret is maintenance!
I still use my CR-2, it never needs batteries.
Tough call for worst item ever purchased, suffice it to say I have had disposable razors last longer than more than a few crap purchases from over the years. Most recent was a garden hose attachment actually.
1. BMW K series motorcycles. I rode for a despatch company in the U.K. that ran a fleet of them. They were worked hard – minimum ten hours a day in heavily congested urban traffic, stirring the gear box constantly, stop and go. The D.R.s were hard on the bikes but we would usually get several hundred thousand miles out of them. We would buy back the wrecks from the insurance company, rebuild them, and send them out again.
2. Lee Enfield No.4 rifles. They went out of production in the mid 1950s (a bit earlier in Canada.) There are millions of them still working all over the world in all climates. The Canadian Forces is only just getting around to trying to find a replacement now for the last few thousand in service with our Rangers. If they could get or make spares at a reasonable price, they’d keep them going.
My contribution to the planned obsolescence list is anything made by FORD. Seems the seals for any of the systems, power steering, auto transmission, valve seals, exhaust manifold, etc. are sure to fail well before 160K.
Worst thing I ever bought was a Karcher pressure washer. Gone after 3 uses and the 1 year warranty up.
Had a Mitsubishi TV bought in 1980’s still working and an Admiral freezer working after 40 years.
I nominate toasters. My parents had theirs for 50 years before failure. I had one that I bought in the ’70’s for 20 years. The last few we’ve had lasted only a couple of years and we don’t toast much.
Ok, I also nominate coffee makers. Pretty much the same deal as above. Except we do make a lot of coffee so it doesn’t bug me as much.
In Nov 76 I bought a 1977 Pioneer SX-850 Receiver, has it’s own pre-amp, 65 (real) watts per/side, can plug a electric guitar into the mike jack, it’s in a box in the closet but still works fine.
It came with two Cerwin Vega 214 hard rocker speakers, they lasted into the late 90’s.
I also still have my (1980) Sharp EL-515s solar scientific calculator, needed it for Binary to Oct, Hex conversions, still have the original manual…IMO… best calculator ever made.
I have a cannister style vacuum cleaner originally used in our farm home in the 1950s that I now use around the garage, workshop and balcony. Sucks real good, and uses a cloth bag which can be emptied and reused over and over.
And a Black & Decker 1/4 inch electric drill from the same era that I bought used for $10 bucks as I recall. Still works fine, but the power cord is going to have to replaced soon as it is getting a bit frayed.
Finally there is a Weller soldering gun in my tool collection from around 1958. The plastic case is pretty cracked up and held together today with a thick coating of duct tape. But it still works just fine. (might have a problem finding replacement soldering tips now)
TI-SR 50 (slide rule)
Bought in Cedar Rapids Iowa in 1974 for $183 because my EE Prof gave me a hot tip – said they had recently dropped from ~$500 and could not go any lower. A couple of years later you could buy the same thing for $19.95 – First lesson in hot tips, grain of salt ever since on any topic, including gold, AGW.
I remember us Engineering Nerds entering the number 64 (biggest it could do) and hitting ‘!’ (permutation). Always took a few seconds, heh, thought the thing would crash but out would pop this huge jesuzz scientific notationed number.
Still using my HP 11C from engineering school 30 years ago. I still struggle with non-RPN calculators! Some of these vintage HP’s bring big money on fleaBay.
Norm-Mum only overcooked the liver!
I use DAILY in my business a Sharp Compet CS-1125 solar cell desk calculator with biggish keys acquired c. 1984. AND I live in Vancouver!
I don’t even know where the battery goes.
Flawless operation the whole time.
Tho when my wife uses it, it often confuses 100s and 1000s.
1. Vivitar 420/SL 35mm SLR camera I received as a high school grad gift in 1976. Still used it on a regular basis until last summer when I finally went to digital. I still think the 35mm pictures are superior though.
2. An Eaton’s Viking 14″ colour TV, received as a University grad gift in 1983. It travelled with me across the country to various military postings. Perhaps 14 moves in total over the years. It was my only TV until 1995. Still my main TV in the bedroom, used daily. Never serviced, still a perfect picture.
On the lighter side, 8-60 watt bulbs going on 9 years,2 twisty bulbs dead after less than 2 years.
Just sticking to printers:
Ricoh AP600N (I believe). An A3 laser that I purchased for a client for $500. The thing works 5 years later like as if it was taken out of the box yesterday. It’s a workhorse, running hundreds of pages a week with nothing more needed than the maintenance it squawks over. It replaced a Canon or HP (can’t remember) inkjet that cost the client several times more to buy and operate.
Brother printers in general. Although some models are worse than others, I’ve found these printers to be far less hassle than HP, Epson, Canon, and especially:
Lexmark. I have never seen a printer that ate ink faster except for an HP, and none that broke down faster.
Daisy cub BB gun circa 1957…….
Crossman 177call break action pellet rifle circa 1963 …..
Crossman CO2 22cal air pistol circa 1965….
Remmington 22 scout circa 1967 ………..
Remmington 12 Gauge autoload circa 1970 …..
Rugger 77/44 semi-auto bush gun circa 1977 ….
Remington 700 sp 7mm circa 1977 ……….
1967, first put into full time service. Initially on hire, later self-operational. Very reliable, no breakdowns, all original parts….oh, that’s me!
My 41CX died about 5 years ago. While I was looking on the internet for someplace to repair it, I discovered Excalibur, a downloadable RPN calculator. For free.
RPN rocks!