Surprise device lifespan

[Sabretooth]

Recently I had to purchase a fridge due to failure of my Sears 19.7 foot unit originally bought in April 1979.
That was a pretty good run with no prior problems.It made me reflect on other reliable household goods.
I have a Sears canister vac from 1979 which still runs perfect.
A Sears 22 inch push mower that starts on the third pull ( 1 rust spot ) from 1982.
A Whirlpool dryer from 1984 ( I replaced the heating element myself in 1995 ),still going strong.
GE clock radio with dial tuning from 1973 graduation.
I attempt fixing whatever possible because I love to tinker, and seldom replace things for technologies sake.

I bought a 2018 Toyota RAV4 last December 2017, hope it lives up to their reputation.

Any body else pleasantly surprised by some device that outlasted expectations ?

[grampahol]

Thinking of old GE clocks, this one was manufactured in 1949 and still keeps good time and the original Westminster chime still works even though one of the  chime bars is out of tune  ..

And I still have a lot of old wood planes made before WWII that can still shave off super fine shavings..
Most things will last longer than expected if you do the routine maintenance, but most people don't bother then blame it on the manufacturer for not making them 100% maintenance free .

Ever heard the phrase coined by Ralph Nader? Planned obsolescence? Back in the 1960s General Motors began building cars intended to fall apart within 7 years. That plan backfired with the Chevy Corvaire.. It earned the label of being Unsafe at any speed.  
A lot of products have a bunch of unnecessary parts and switches that light up, but don't actually do anything except short out everything else. We get sold on glitz and gadgets, bigger and better and on and on .
One item that was sold with the idea of bigger is better was stereos with the larger cabinets. When you took them apart they were filled with air, but they had big lighted dials that didn't really do anything. Then came digital with smaller containers ,but some are people would still rather have a pretty container with crap inside than small and efficient .. Go figure .

[*michaelsean*]

My Sonata went ten years 250,000 miles. It was still running when I moved on.

My great aunt received a roaster in like 1950. We used it every Thanksgiving until 2000. It still technically worked if what you wanted to cook was good at 500 degrees.

I had an RCA Proscan TV. Around 35”. Twenty-two years with zero issues. It was still running fine when I replaced it.

[jfkbengals]

2 years ago I replaced a 1986 Whirlpool dryer, a 1982 range, and a 1977 GE refrigerator. The dryer was replaced because the one part 1 needed was no longer available. The stove only had two working elements because the controls went out. They were still available, but were $200 each. At $400 it was better to replace it. The fridge worked fine. It was not my choice to replace it...

Last year I replaced 2 water heaters. One was 18 years old, the other was 20.

I have a radial arm saw, canister shop vac, lathe, electric drill, and upright freezer that I inherited from my father. All of those items are older than I am and function perfectly. For the record, I am 45...

[George Cantstandya]

Not me but my Dad still has the Honda mower he bought in the 80's that he uses to this day. He's had to have a little work done on it here and there over the years but it still runs great. He is a lawn care fanatic and it is still his go to mower. I can't even start to calculate how many miles or hours he has on it.

As for me and the oldest device that I use, I have an Emerson microwave I bought 20 years ago or so that still works like day one. I bought it because it was the cheapest one in the store and was all I could afford. It heated up a lot of cheap TV dinners back then and was my primary means of preparing meals. It is now in my entertainment room where guests usually just use it to reheat coffee or pizza during a game.

Other than that I have a JVC VCR I was givin in the early 90's that still works last I checked a few years ago.

[Au165]

(04-03-2018, 11:59 AM)Sabretooth Wrote: I bought a 2018 Toyota RAV4 last December 2017, hope it lives up to their reputation.

It won't. Car manufactures reputations anymore are just that reputations not reality. My mom's 2014 RAV 4 had transmission issues 30k miles in that Toyota fought not to cover under warranty. My wife's Toyota Highlander has an engine issue at 70k that would have cost 3k to fix had it not been for an extended warranty that we had. No car really lasts anymore like what a lot of them have the reputation to. I had a 2011 Honda Accord I got rid of that had an engine knock from a defective VTC actuator 40k miles in that is a known design flaw that Honda refuses to acknowledge and cover. You can keep replacing them but they will always fail, yet Honda says it doesn't merit a recall mainly because the design is flawed and it can't be fixed. 

I am actually trending back towards "American" brands as it seems they put a little more effort in now where as the foreign cars are resting on their reputation of quality rather than actually providing it. Sorry for the rant, but every time I see someone talk about the quality of Toyota and Honda it is my life's mission to warn people.

[XenoMorph]

Had an RCA tube tv 25" bought in like 96 warrenty clock was 10,000 hours... When I gave it away it was well over 80,000 hours when I gave it away still worked fine...


First big screen tv I had was burnt in and needed repairs 3 times in its 4 year life span. and cost 10x as much

[fredtoast]

Replaced a 30 plus year old freezer last year. The new one weighed a lot less because the electric motor was smaller. Smaller motor will have to run longer and harder to do the same job. This means it will probably wear out quicker. This is the way things are built now. Smaller motor is cheaper to keep price down but does not last as long

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

I have a 1983 GE 27" console television that still fires up and works....although it's been out of service for a few years now.  I have a 1990 Honda CRX that I drive to work all the time.  My old 2001 Dodge Dakota has 212k on the clock and still runs like a scalded dog.  The only things I have replaced on it are ball joints, some suspension bushings, and the shocks.  I have a Sony DVD player that I bought back in the early 2000s, and a Sony 5 disc CD player that I purchased in the late 90s that are still going strong.

The strangest things we have are an old lamp from the 50s that still works great, a console record player that plays 78s from the late 40s that still kicks, and a lamp that is made from an old parking meter from the late 50s.  It all still works....put in a dime, you can park for two hours....lol.

I also have some vintage beer neons and lights.  One is a PBR light fixture that hangs from a chain and turns.....from the early 60s.  I have a Falls City Beer sconce from the 60s, and a Falls City bar light from the early 70s.....a Lowenbrau neon from the early 70s, an Old Style bar light from the 70s, and a Budweiser "Cold Kegs to Go" neon from the early 80s.  The rest of my neons are relatively new.

[grampahol]

We have an old Vitamix that could probably be dropped from the Empire State building and still make delicious and nutritious roofing nail smoothies...
You could power a locomotive with a vitamix motor..  Incredibly strong motors in them and built to out-last nuclear annihilation ..

Ok, MAYBE I'm exaggerating just a tiny little eensy weensy bit.. 

Thinking about car engines, the best one I ever owned was the 18rc in a 74 Toyota Celica..  Nearly the entire car had rusted away, but that little 4 banger was tough as the day was long .   

[grampahol]

(04-04-2018, 08:42 AM)Au165 Wrote: It won't. Car manufactures reputations anymore are just that reputations not reality. My mom's 2014 RAV 4 had transmission issues 30k miles in that Toyota fought not to cover under warranty. My wife's Toyota Highlander has an engine issue at 70k that would have cost 3k to fix had it not been for an extended warranty that we had. No car really lasts anymore like what a lot of them have the reputation to. I had a 2011 Honda Accord I got rid of that had an engine knock from a defective VTC actuator 40k miles in that is a known design flaw that Honda refuses to acknowledge and cover. You can keep replacing them but they will always fail, yet Honda says it doesn't merit a recall mainly because the design is flawed and it can't be fixed. 

I am actually trending back towards "American" brands as it seems they put a little more effort in now where as the foreign cars are resting on their reputation of quality rather than actually providing it. Sorry for the rant, but every time I see someone talk about the quality of Toyota and Honda it is my life's mission to warn people.

The same can be said for "Made in America"  for lots of stuff . Cars have become way over engineered to the point that many require highly skilled technicians with a lot of very expensive equipment to work on them . Every headlight is different and the days of fitting the parts from one vehicle to another are gone . It seems there is no such thing as universal parts for anything anymore .