Retro Gadgets

Professey Chin

Madmaggie just reminded me of the old style walkmans which sent me off thinking about all the random awesome/crap gadgets that have come & gone.
1st thing to come into my head was our original top loader VHS player (something like the pic below). Was a mission in itself to get anything playing on it. And it ruined my turtles tape


Anyone else have an old gadget/electronic thingy they miss or are glad to see the back of?

Ruu

We had loads of the above handheld ones, football, baseball, etc.



Had an Asteroids type game like the one above, it ran on batteries. My Dad opened it up in an attempt to fix the socket so we could work it off the power socket. It never worked again.

Our first VHS was a top loader, it ran very hot so we had to stop it every once in a while to let it cool off. It chewed up a few tapes as well so we had to wind them by hand to straighten them again. That was before we bought a proper video player which cost 250 pounds!!!

Micky Dolenz

Soda stream is where it was at.

Professey Chin

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Soda stream is where it was at.

I had a knock off one. Absolutely shocking thing.
Made with that old style brown plastic

Judgement Day

I have one of these JVC monsters - definitely retro - and I wish it were gone to the recycling centre long ago.



I bought it about six years ago as I was afraid that my then toddlers would pull a flat screen down on top of themselves. There's hardly a day goes by when I don't curse it and the horrendous amount of space it takes up in my Sitting Room. No trade in or resale value either.

Professey Chin

Judgement Day wrote: »

I have one of these JVC monsters - definitely retro - and I wish it were gone to the recycling centre long ago.



I bought it about six years ago as I was afraid that my then toddlers would pull a flat screen down on top of themselves. There's hardly a day goes by when I don't curse it and the horrendous amount of space it takes up in my Sitting Room. No trade in or resale value either.

If you know anyone who enjoys old consoles they might like it (LCD tvs and older machines dont work)
Maybe drop a post over in Arcade & Retro and you could find someone who like it if you want rid

Judgement Day

The Dark Lord Cthulhu wrote: »

If you know anyone who enjoys old consoles they might like it (LCD tvs and older machines dont work)
Maybe drop a post over in Arcade & Retro and you could find someone who like it if you want rid

Thanks, I might just do that but at the moment it's still used for DVDs, Wii etc. I'll have to take the plunge in the New Year and splash out in the sales on a decent wall hanging job.

I had one of the old Sony C7 Betamax video players back in the day - great machine - I seem to remember it costing something incredible like 700 pounds. I've piles of ancient kitchen gadgets (1920s-1950s) that still see regular use and I'll post up a few pics when I get a chance.

Professey Chin

Judgement Day wrote: »

I had one of the old Sony C7 Betamax video players back in the day - great machine - I seem to remember it costing something incredible like 700 pounds. I've piles of ancient kitchen gadgets (1920s-1950s) that still see regular use and I'll post up a few pics when I get a chance.

Why does this sound absolutely terrifying :pac:

r3nu4l

The Dark Lord Cthulhu wrote: »

Why does this sound absolutely terrifying :pac:

...yet awesome!

Strangely enough, a device I miss is something that evokes the era of 'mass storage'...the 100 MB Zip Disk! :cool:


At the time I bought this, the regular storage device was the 1.44MB 'floppy' disk, itself a step forward form the old 5.25" disk.

The 100MB (and later 250MB) disk was a huge leap forward in storage but it was short lived as CD-R was chasing quickly at its heels.

However, for me, the Zip100 MB was a magnificent piece of kit at the time. I remember at the time commenting to a friend that I didn't think I'd ever manage to fill one single 100MB disk, never mind the five I had in my possession!

Professey Chin

r3nu4l wrote: »

...yet awesome!

Strangely enough, a device I miss is something that evokes the era of 'mass storage'...the 100 MB Zip Disk! :cool:
At the time I bought this, the regular storage device was the 1.44MB 'floppy' disk, itself a step forward form the old 5.25" disk.

The 100MB (and later 250MB) disk was a huge leap forward in storage but it was short lived as CD-R was chasing quickly at its heels.

However, for me, the Zip100 MB was a magnificent piece of kit at the time. I remember at the time commenting to a friend that I didn't think I'd ever manage to fill one single 100MB disk, never mind the five I had in my possession!

The amount of times we're all after after saying that is shocking.
"Sure I'll never fill that floppy disk, zip drive, 128MB/256/1GB/4GB/16GB Flash drive, 124 TB hard drive." NOW THERES STORAGE EVERYWHERE! :eek:

Judgement Day

As promised, some gadgets ( and related items) which see everyday use in my kitchen. I was brought up by my grandparents and these are identical to the items that my granny still used well into the 1980s - with some added modern appliances. I gave the originals away over the years but have purchased replacements in more recent times. They all work well, are easily cleaned and don't need electricity, just muscle power!



#1 is a useful gadget for making breadcrumbs - handy for meatballs, burgers, chicken goujons etc. Its only drawback is a tendency to slip about when you're turning the handle.
#2 is a general mincer which can be used for turning leftover joints of meat into mince.
#3 is a flour sifter - I tend not to use it much as it needs too much cleaning after use but it works well.
#4 is a horlicks measure which I use for non-metric measuring of milk etc. when making scones and the like.
#5 is an ancient TG Green mixing bowl which sees almost daily use.

Professey Chin

Ive never actually seen one of those breadcrumb makers before. (Or I have and thought it was something for laundry or god knows what)
Thanks for sharing

The Princess Bride

A tomato slicer- for the man who hated tomatoes.



Dad had this fondness for gadgets- he'd buy them, use for about a week then they'd be placed carefully in a kitchen drawer, never to see daylight again.



I know you can get them in shops today-but seriously, wouldn't a knife do the job just as well?

CrowdedHouse

Judgement Day wrote: »

As promised, some gadgets ( and related items) which see everyday use in my kitchen..

I have one of No 2 above, perhaps slightly newer. SPONG is the brand of it (still have the box) I think there's 3 different 'blades' with it.

TBH the only time I remember it being used is at this time of the year when my mother used it the mince the remains of the turkey to make an absolutely delicious pie - kinda cottage pie with turkey.

Judgement Day

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

I have one of No 2 above, perhaps slightly newer. SPONG is the brand of it (still have the box) I think there's 3 different 'blades' with it.

TBH the only time I remember it being used is at this time of the year when my mother used it the mince the remains of the turkey to make an absolutely delicious pie - kinda cottage pie with turkey.

Mine is a "Beatrice" and I think dates from the 1930s - very dependable but needs a good table to fasten to. I'll be using it to dispatch the remains of the turkey.

Below two other kitchen gadgets (?) that I still use regularly - a Nutbrown rolling pin (from eBay) as my Granny always used a large white wine bottle; and two old sponge baking tins - one from eBay and the other from a local charity shop. None of your nasty teflon coatings here and both work perfectly if used in the traditional way - parchment paper and buttered.

Professey Chin

Tarts always taste better from those metal pans. Gotta get my ass back baking

madmaggie

1950's Pye wireless, and yes it is a 'wireless', not a radio. It belonged to my grandparents, and still works, though it takes a while to warm up, and the sound is fairly faint. Close my eyes and I'm right back in their kitchen....

Lyssa

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Soda stream is where it was at.

I have a soda stream around here somewhere, must dig it out!

Judgement Day wrote: »

I had one of the old Sony C7 Betamax video players back in the day - great machine - I seem to remember it costing something incredible like 700 pounds.

I remember Betamax videos too... and a guy used to come around once a week renting videos... Before your Xtra-vision times

Professey Chin

Can I have your soda steam :pac:

Lyssa

Professey Chin wrote: »

Can I have your soda steam :pac:

I stopped using it years ago, because I couldn't get gas or syrups easily enough anymore for it, but one of my boardsie friends got one for Christmas, and she made ALLLLL the lovely drinks for me the other night, including cream soda! Now THAT's retro!

If I can find it, and get it operational again, I'll probably start using it. I am a wagon for kitchen gadgets though I'll be killed if I add another to the worktop

rubadub

Professey Chin wrote: »

Madmaggie just reminded me of the old style walkmans

I had a walkman with "pitch control" which sped up or slowed down the tape, a DJ guy friend of a friend bought it off me, him & his mates nearly wet themselves when they saw it, that would be about 18 years ago, but it was much older.

Judgement Day wrote: »

#2 is a general mincer which can be used for turning leftover joints of meat into mince.

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

I have one of No 2 above, perhaps slightly newer. SPONG is the brand of it (still have the box) I think there's 3 different 'blades' with it.

I wanted one of these but many got poor reviews about breaking, even "heavy duty" ones, spong is the brand to look for from what I hear, but I don't think they are still in business.

Professey Chin

rubadub wrote: »

I had a walkman with "pitch control" which sped up or slowed down the tape, a DJ guy friend of a friend bought it off me, him & his mates nearly wet themselves when they saw it, that would be about 18 years ago, but it was much older.

Just thinking of the old twin tape decks now with high-speed dubbing so you didnt have to play an entire tape to copy it. And yet now we get pissed off at a slow file transfer/download :pac:

Judgement Day

rubadub wrote: »

I wanted one of these but many got poor reviews about breaking, even "heavy duty" ones, spong is the brand to look for from what I hear, but I don't think they are still in business.

Nope, Spong is the more modern, inferior one, the Beatrice one that I pictured is indestructible and the original of the species. eBay is the best place to track down one,

DoozerT6

We have an original soda stream in my parents house, it must be about 30 years old. (not in use though). I think we still have the original glass bottles too!

My mother also had one of those mincers, I certainly remember using it - it worked a treat too!

We also had an original Bush radio, not one of the newer 'retro' models - I think it went in the skip when my parents moved house

Professey Chin

Any pictures of the Bush radio? Curious to know what it looked like

Mint Sauce

Do Minidisk players count?

Professey Chin

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Do Minidisk players count?

At this stage they probably do :pac:
I actually miss mine a little. Was a great thing for its time!

Judgement Day

Professey Chin wrote: »

Any pictures of the Bush radio? Curious to know what it looked like

Here's a Bush radio from one of my far too many blogs. I left mine behind when I was run out of Leitrim.


http://insatiablecollector.wordpress.com/old-radios/

and a suitable radio Ad which my son uploaded to YouTube on yet another blog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9gqv_9hg_Y

http://classicadverts.wordpress.com/radio/

Professey Chin

I WANT ONE!

Judgement Day

Yeah, they were great and as my Grandfather wouldn't have a television in the house we would sit round a giant, homemade speaker that he had built and listen to the BBC in the evenings. And you tell young people today...:D

DoozerT6

Professey Chin wrote: »

Any pictures of the Bush radio? Curious to know what it looked like

It looked identical to this (thanks, Google images! )

edit: not quite as retro as Judgement Day's one!! Still, early 80's....hazy, crazy days....

Judgement Day

I had an identical one growing up - with a massive battery inside - that was in the 1960s and it wasn't new then. Later on in the 1980s, many happy days listening to Test Match Cricket in the garden - the summers were always better in the old days.