Asklemmy

I have several of the original Philips LED replacement bulbs, which were some of the very first LED bulbs available. Paid about $35CAD each for them in late 2009 and they're built out of solid metal and weigh a ton. They're still going strong and put out a lovely light.

Easily beaten by others, but I'm happy that my old Das Keyboard lasted nearly twelve years before it started missing keystrokes. Only retired it last week

1976 Gottlieb Volley pinball machine

Pentax ME SLR camera, bought by my uncle in the 70s. Got some dents and scratches but it’s still taking beautiful pics.

An electronic typewriter that my parents bought when I was entering highschool in the early 90s.

While my first works of fiction we're not written on it, my first fiction I ever submitted (it was rejected btw) to a publisher was.

I wouldn't get successfully published until the late 90s/early 00s after I had built my first PC out of scrap parts and a cheap copy of windows 95.

But that typewriter still holds a special place in my heart.

My Atari 7800. Had to replace capacitors and a transistor to get it working again. Also added composite AV output.

1975 Gibson Grabber bass. Instead of having multiple pickups, it has one pickup that you "grab" and slide across the pickguard. I had to get the fretboard re-set, as it had been sliding down the neck and making it impossible to intonate.

Terrible design, but it's a unique piece of music history that I enjoy having on hand.

My dad has a 65+ year old tube radio that still works great. Sounds amazing too. It was my grandfather's radio and it's older than my dad is we're not sure how old it is exactly.

Mines not so interesting, but I do have an original N64 from launch. I wish I had picked up the gold plated Zelda console, but I instead grabbed the regular grey one that came with Mario...I had never played a Zelda game before and regret the decision today.

If I'm going even older, it would probably be the planer that my father made about 50 years ago. Still works amazingly for being all cherry.

Bang & Ollufsen record player from 1977

SNES purchased by my parents in 1992.

An old blade server I was able to take from my very first job, state of the art for the time it was made around 2002. It's still running and I've been using it as a media and hosting server for years despite how out of date the specs are now.

My late version (early 90s) Quad 34 preamp.

It's a brilliant and somewhat unique design. The eq is part 8 pole tilt filter and part lift/step filter with adjustable turnover. This enables you to position the audio in a very precise and uncoloured way, much like changing your seating position in an auditorium. If you like bass you don't sit at the front!

It has a true mono selector, high and low frequency filters for radio and vinyl subsonics respectively, a modular phono stage for MM or MC turntable cartridge type, and the volume gain stage is accurate between channels to around a tenth of a dB, which is about ten times better than is generally accepted as adequate.

It's power is so efficient that it never gets even warm and it's audio design has a quality that is similar to the way valve equipment sounds.

It's a very special part of my system which drives my active speakers. They are pro audio which have a very accurate response compared to consumer speakers. The Quad gives them something special to reproduce which, with a lot of CD sources imparts a bit of character that's musical and very pleasant.

If it ever needs servicing, I can take it to the Quad service centre where it was made in Huntingdon near Cambridge, a couple of hours drive away.

I'm very proud of my Quad 34, I wanted one for many years and was fortunate to be able to find a good one I could afford at the time. I expect it will outlive me, along with my speakers and a few other bits and bobs I've collected over the years. It's the oldest bit of technology I have that I use regularly. I have a film camera that may be older but I don't use film any more and I thought the Quad would be more interesting.

Thanks for asking and I hope you find this worthy. I'm happy to answer any questions about all this if anyone feels compelled.

My mom's morantz receiver from the late 60s.

This isn't entirely uncommon, but my 20 year old car is in perfect shape, fully paid off, and can do any job. I'm proud of that thing.

1940 Turkish Mauser (8mm), at the newest 83yo. But that year's production was cobbled together from old stock receivers and barrels made just before 1900. So parts of it could be ~120yo.

Might not be tech now but in the late 19th c. the Mauser bolt action was absolute tech.

A pair of vertical speakers with three elements each made by my father in the early 80s and the paired amplifier that he built at the same time

A 1960s electric meat slicer. Use it every Thanskgiving. That thing is built like a tank and a probable fire hazard.

A 70s crockpot/fryer. Another fire hazard that is relegated to hot buttered rum and frying food.

More recent would be a 720p Samsung TV hooked up to an AppleTV HD we still use in our Master bedroom, mostly for classic movies on TCM. We’ve had it for 15 years and she’s still kicking.

One of the first projectors that could do 720p from 20+ years ago. Kinda crazy how bad it seems now while being state of the art on release

10 year old Dell machine that I’m using as my home assistant and Plex server. Picked it up on Facebook for $30, tossed new ram in for $10, and a new SSD for $40 and it’s snappy and does a great job. And the SSD will go to any new machine.

Should be able to dig up a fully functioning Sony Minidisk player. Owned and lost quite a few of them over the years. Damn things were sleek and small, but they meant the world to me. Napster and then Limewire provided the mp3s thanks to the old 56k dialup modem, then a mini jack connection from PC to the Minidisk. It took a hell of a long time to get everything set up just so, but it was worth it. Every time.

Until recently, my daily driver laptop. ThinkPad x200s from 2008. When covid hit I started using my desktop and a month ago I tried the laptop and it doesn't turn on anymore :(

Nowadays nothing noteworthy... maybe my smartwatch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 1.

A Singer sewing machine from before the Great War.

Quadrophonic 8-track player. I use it as an amplifier.

I also keep a copy of "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk" by Meco loaded into it. It's a disco/jazz fusion that's truly horrible, but authentically 70s.

Probably my speakers. They were custom built by one of my dad's mates in the 80s. Not sure when exactly.

Clock radio is from around 1979 I think. Stereo tuner from 1978 (Sansui TU-9900!).

Oh, I have two functional tube testers from the 1950s. Also a short wave radio from about 1950.

I like old stuff.

1961 Gibson Discoverer Amp. Found it in the basement as a teen. Replaced the fuse holder and fuse. Powered up all the tubes no problem and still running strong today.

If a razor counts my Gillette Fat boy (~1954). If you're wanting to know about electronics the motherboard/ram in my media server(2011). I have older stuff around but not in active use.

I’ve got plenty of stuff that’s older than I am. I’ve got mechanical cameras dating back to the 1930’s, electronic camera’s from the 70’s, watches dating back to that time as well. And there’s game consoles dating back to the NES, like many here.

I like old tech. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s bad or unreliable. If you treat stuff well and maintain as needed, a lot of things will outlast you. I’ll be shooting film in cameras that are a hundred years old in a few years.

1979 Sanyo Record Player. It was my mom's and she bought it in high school

A microwave from 1997. I give it most of the credit for staying alive. It's a brick house.

HP Touchpad from 2011 that was given to me.

I try not to hoard stuff in case I ever need to relocate, so my list of owned items isn't big. I would love to collect retro consoles otherwise.

I’ve got planes and a chisel from late 1800s, some of the best tools I own. The steel of the blades is fantastic, and the feel of the handles after more than 100 years of being handled is fairly unique

My Amiga 500 is from 1987.
But I think the stereo & LP player in the living room is from the early 70s.

As far as "daily driver" tech, Motorcycle is 43 years old. My razor is 103 years old. Luckily I'm closer in age to the motorcycle.

Best I have is an old Midland Gun Company double barrel shotgun that belonged to my great-grandfather. Passed through the Birmingham Proof House and bears 1904-1925 proof marks, but doesn’t actually have a date stamp, my understanding is that they didn’t start date stamping until 1921. The company was bought by Parker-Hale and the records were subsequently destroyed in a fire, so I’ve never been able to find out exactly how old the thing is.

AKAI S-1100 sampler. It is still in mint conditition, released in 1990. It was a studio standard in those days. I don't use it that much these days, but the time stretch on that machine is amazing. For Jungle and Drum & Bass it's an essential piece of hardware imo. The Prodigy for instance had two of them 1100's in the studio and on tour if irc.

altec lansing speakers from 2000.