Things that have gotten better than the olden days

[Koolau]

DW's family had a fridge when she was a little girl. It was still going strong when DW cleaned out her mom's house 40+ years later.

Electronic items are better (like TVs, radios, etc. are much better) and mechanical things (like washer/dryer, AC or fridge) are a lot worse. YMMV

 

[Texas Proud]

If we are talking about the good old stuff....


I still have a toaster oven that I bought like 45 years ago... and it still works just great... going to go heat up some pizza slices in a bit for lunch... It looks like crap and DW would like a nice looking one but I am not willing to part with it...



I also have a counter top microwave that is also 45 years old and works great... but have used it very rarely the last 12 years as the 'new' house had a great one built in... prior to that it was used all the time..

 

[scrabbler1]

I have a stand-alone microwave I was given as a birthday present back in 1987, 36 years ago. It is a pretty simple oven. One dial for the time, like an egg timer, another dial for mode, cook or defrost. No turntable inside, so I rotate the food after 2 minutes or so. I'll be using it in a few minutes to heat up lunch.

 

[ncbill]

Batteries! I was going to say hand vacs, as we had an old Dustbuster that lost a charge really easily and was heavy and bulky, but now use a Shark Wandvac, which is slim yet powerful and easy to clean. But most of the usefulness of it comes from the small but high-capacity battery.

Let's see, for me, better battery technology has improved (or enabled): Tiles and AirTags, car remotes, cell phones, laptops, tablets, wireless earbuds, wireless home alarm systems (sensors), electric toothbrushes, and, of course, portable battery packs that can fully charge your phone and maybe that of 1 or 2 other friends, too, yet is the size of your phone (or smaller).

Also, satellite radio makes road trips much less of a pain. It's nice to keep listening to the music you want, without hunting around the dial, and not lose reception.

Also allows the electrification (with usable runtime) of yard appliances.

I just used the electric leaf blower to clean off the outside stairs covered in crepe myrtle blossoms that I don't want to track inside.

Weed eaters are also much better with lithium battery technology versus the ones with nickel-cadmium battery packs I used as a kid which all seemed to die after 15 minutes.

 

[Koolau]

Also allows the electrification (with usable runtime) of yard appliances.

I just used the electric leaf blower to clean off the outside stairs covered in crepe myrtle blossoms that I don't want to track inside.

Weed eaters are also much better with lithium battery technology versus the ones with nickel-cadmium battery packs I used as a kid which all seemed to die after 15 minutes.

Yeah, and in some ways even the NI-Cad were better than my last leaf-blower. It had a 50 ft. cord on it. I had to add another 25ft (HD) extension to make it w*rk for my yard at the time. Having said that, the corded blower was way more powerful than most cordless of the day (ca 2004.)

Our poor neighbor lost her husband at about age 75 or so. She decided to sell the house and move into a much more suitable sized home. Her realtor took one look at her yard and said "I can't show this house until you get all the fall leaves out of the yard and the bushes."

So I saw her trying to rake about 8 inches of leaves from her yard - probably 1/4 acre total. I showed her how to use the leaf blower - which was amazingly powerful. I took a "blue tarp" over and she blew all the loose leaves onto it as I raked out between all the bushes (front and back.) Each time we filled the blue tarp, we'd drag it to the street for collection. It took about 2 hours. She'd have taken three days with her puny rake to get those leaves to the street.

SO, leaf blowers - whether cordless or cord are SO much better than just a rake (though the rake is still needed.) YMMV

 

[CaptTom]

...TV's--bigger, better, cheaper, most never need repairs, all come with a remote...

I agree they're much better today. But the only reason they never need repairs is that you throw them away after a couple of years. Our town has a collection day every month. I used to see a lot of very old CRT TVs. I'm sure most of them probably still worked, but were just obsolete. Now I see mostly flat-panel TVs which are only a couple of years old.

I'd love to see hard statistics on appliances. I think we all have fond memories of them "lasting forever", but I think that's survivorship bias clouding our memory.

I do think the durability really was much better in older, simpler appliances. They may not have had the same functionality, but they lasted forever and were simple to repair if they ever did fail.

The bottom line is that electronic controls have made all our lives better, overall. We pay for that with planned obsolescence, poor quality and sometimes, horrible programming which makes the product more frustrating to use than old-school dials and timers.

 

[COcheesehead]

Navigation/maps
Long distance calling
Financial payment systems
Selling your junk. i.e. FB Marketplace and eBay.
Takeout/delivery of food
Teeth whitening
Medical exams
3D printed crowns
Buying eyeglasses
Figuring out my social security
Financial planning tools
Health insurance
Razors
Beer
Entertainment/streaming/cut the cord options.
Smart phones
TVs
Laundry detergents
Warehouse shopping
Recycling
Blinds
Better food options
Solar
Fireplaces
Deck materials
Shipping from abroad
Quiet ceiling fans
Camera resolution
Photo printing
Free TV - antenna options
Taxis - now Uber
Web search
Air fryers
I could go on.

 

[Koolau]

I agree they're much better today. But the only reason they never need repairs is that you throw them away after a couple of years. Our town has a collection day every month. I used to see a lot of very old CRT TVs. I'm sure most of them probably still worked, but were just obsolete. Now I see mostly flat-panel TVs which are only a couple of years old.



I do think the durability really was much better in older, simpler appliances. They may not have had the same functionality, but they lasted forever and were simple to repair if they ever did fail.

The bottom line is that electronic controls have made all our lives better, overall. We pay for that with planned obsolescence, poor quality and sometimes, horrible programming which makes the product more frustrating to use than old-school dials and timers.

Very well stated, indeed!

 

[Badger]

Indeed, and maintenance was far more frequent. Remember how cars from 50 years ago would have to go in for oil, lube and tuneup every few thousand miles? Tuneups consisted of replacing "points, plugs, and condenser." Now electronic ignition systems can last the life of the vehicle and plugs might get replaced at 75,000 or 100,000 miles!

For years I did all that maintenance on my VWs including valve adjustments every 3k miles. It was fun and I could do it all in about 30 minutes. Although I couldn't get up off the ground now I would still like to buy a new air-cooled VW Karmann Ghia or Thing if they made them. But cars are so much better today in many ways.

Cheers!

 

[Koolau]

For years I did all that maintenance on my VWs including valve adjustments every 3k miles. It was fun and I could do it all in about 30 minutes. Although I couldn't get up off the ground now I would still like to buy a new air-cooled VW Karmann Ghia or Thing if they made them. But cars are so much better today in many ways.

Cheers!

Yeah, in the old days it was easy to get to stuff in the engine bay, you'd stop at the parts store and tell them your make and year and they'd get the stuff you needed to maintain your car. A couple of wrenches and a screw driver and you could keep any old car going. Now of days, I don't even know how to get that stupid engine cover off. (I can still check my oil!)

 

[Chuckanut]

For years I did all that maintenance on my VWs including valve adjustments every 3k miles. It was fun and I could do it all in about 30 minutes. Although I couldn't get up off the ground now I would still like to buy a new air-cooled VW Karmann Ghia or Thing if they made them. But cars are so much better today in many ways.

Cheers!

I used to static tune my old VW with a 12 watt light bulb, a piece of wire and a ratchet wrench and socket to turn the engine while I watched the light.

I had a book called "How to Keep Your Volkswagan Alive" that was easy to understand and unbelievably entertaining.


Despite the above, my last two Toyotas have been the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned. My goal was to drive my 2012 Camry to the Moon - 250,000 miles. Alas, it was totaled by some clown in a F150. So I am starting from scratch with my RAV4 Hybrid.

 

[kcowan]

I had to clean out the family home when my Dad passed. Fridge still working after being replaced when electricity switched from 50 to 60 cycle(50's). Stove dated back to 40's when they switched from gas to electric. Same old black Bell phone on the wall. Sony Trinitron color TV (19") from the 70s.

Workshop tools were heavy duty and lasted forever. All the furniture was solid wood and well-crafted to last forever. LPs were in demand again.

 

[Badger]

I used to static tune my old VW with a 12 watt light bulb, a piece of wire and a ratchet wrench and socket to turn the engine while I watched the light.

I had a book called "How to Keep Your Volkswagan Alive" that was easy to understand and unbelievably entertaining.


Despite the above, my last two Toyotas have been the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned. My goal was to drive my 2012 Camry to the Moon - 250,000 miles. Alas, it was totaled by some clown in a F150. So I am starting from scratch with my RAV4 Hybrid.

During the 70s and 80s I kept a copy of this book in my VW bus along with the necessary basic tools to do repairs on the road when I was traveling around the US and/or Canada for a month at a time. It was also my instructions for doing valve adjustments the first time. It was entertaining too. Best book on the market and saved my butt a few times when I broke down on the road. A couple of times I was in a SW desert when the distributer got loose. Other times when close to a town a clutch cable broke and another time CV joint bearings had to be R&R at night and another to rebuild a master brake cylinder.

Cheers!

 

[Koolau]

During the 70s and 80s I kept a copy of this book in my VW bus along with the necessary basic tools to do repairs on the road when I was traveling around the US and/or Canada for a month at a time. It was also my instructions for doing valve adjustments the first time. It was entertaining too. Best book on the market and saved my butt a few times when I broke down on the road. A couple of times I was in a SW desert when the distributer got loose. Other times when close to a town a clutch cable broke and another time CV joint bearings had to be R&R at night and another to rebuild a master brake cylinder.

Cheers!

What is so amazing is that you could do all that stuff. I ground the valves on a '49 Chevy when I was 16. Only needed help resetting the valves (4 handed job for an amateur like me.) Now, I don't know if I could change a spark plug.

 

[ncbill]

Can't wax nostalgic about old cars.

My first car had a carburetor and reliably vapor locked if I left it parked in the sunshine, at least in the summer...grab the wet towels and be prepared to wait awhile.

Every one of my vehicles since has had fuel injection and none have had problems related to the fuel injection system.

I also remember scads of ads for aftermarket electronic ignition boxes to bypass the original points/condenser on older vehicles.

 

[Texas Proud]

Can't wax nostalgic about old cars.

My first car had a carburetor and reliably vapor locked if I left it parked in the sunshine, at least in the summer...grab the wet towels and be prepared to wait awhile.

Every one of my vehicles since has had fuel injection and none have had problems related to the fuel injection system.

I also remember scads of ads for aftermarket electronic ignition boxes to bypass the original points/condenser on older vehicles.

Yea, even 'bad' cars of today would be the best built back in the 70s..


I remember reading an article about new car problems and one car had over 1,000 average defects after 90 days... IIRC it was over 1100... sich I remembered what it was...

 

[acronymous]

I keep hearing about the end of Moore's Law but computers keep improving at an impressive clip.

 

[Koolau]

Can't wax nostalgic about old cars.

My first car had a carburetor and reliably vapor locked if I left it parked in the sunshine, at least in the summer...grab the wet towels and be prepared to wait awhile.

Every one of my vehicles since has had fuel injection and none have had problems related to the fuel injection system.

I also remember scads of ads for aftermarket electronic ignition boxes to bypass the original points/condenser on older vehicles.

In my j*b at megacorp, I occasionally wielded a portable instrument which would measure hydrocarbons in air. A buddy came to me at lunch one day and asked if I could bring the "sniffer" out to his car to see why he was smelling gas. His car was one of those new "fuel injected" things. So, we popped the hood, I fired up the sniffer and my buddy started his car. I yelled at him to turn it off as fuel was squirting out of the fuel injection system like a lawn sprayer. Why the car never caught fire on his way to w*rk, I'll never know. I guess we've come a long way since then.

 

[W2R]

Heh, heh, my Velcro lasts the life of my shoes.

I love Velcro! Makes it so much easier to get the shoes on and off.

My favorite sandals (Teva Tirras) have dozens of Velcro straps, which I have adjusted so that they are a perfect fit. I only have to undo one Velcro strap on each sandal to put on or take off.

Frank, on the other hand, likes elastic shoelaces so he doesn't have to tie or un-tie them. Either elastic shoelaces or Velcro sure beats conventional shoelaces IMO.

 

[Midpack]

Light bulbs - LED bulbs run cooler, consume much less energy, and supposed to last a lot longer.

Supposed to, but instead don't last as long and cost a lot more.

They definitely run cooler and last longer. However if you buy the cheapest no name LED bulbs, they won’t last nearly as long as names like GE or Philips. You get what you pay for…

 

[Koolau]

I love Velcro! Makes it so much easier to get the shoes on and off.

My favorite sandals (Teva Tirras) have dozens of Velcro straps, which I have adjusted so that they are a perfect fit. I only have to undo one Velcro strap on each sandal to put on or take off.

Frank, on the other hand, likes elastic shoelaces so he doesn't have to tie or un-tie them. Either elastic shoelaces or Velcro sure beats conventional shoelaces IMO.

Yeah, I know Velcro is out of fashion now, but I just love how quickly I can change shoe with it.

 

[donheff]

Lot of enthusiasm for velcro shoe ties but I vote for Kiziks and Zebas. These are shoes with stiff but flexible heel sections that allow you to just push your foot into the shoe without untying the laces. You may have seen the add trying to appeal to 20 something's by showing a young guy jumping into the air and landing in his shoes.

I have a couple of running shoe style Zebas and a more casual/business style Kizik. They are all I wear now unless I have to don a suit, in which case I pull out an old pair of leather dress shoes.

 

[CaptTom]

I started wearing the velcro sneakers when traveling, after they started making you take off your shoes at the airport.

There was one guy in our circle of friends who was just appalled that I'd be seen wearing such unfashionable footwear. It became a running joke. He couldn't comprehend that I was retired, and just didn't care what anybody thought about the way I dressed.

It's insane how men's sneakers have become such a fashion industry. The best price I can usually find is around $50 - $60. My wife bought a nice pair of woman's sneakers the other day for $20. What gives?

I'm pretty rough on shoes. No matter how much I spend, they don't last long. I have yet to see those slip-ons with the fake (or elastic) laces anywhere near my price range, or I'd go for that instead of the velcro.

 

[aja8888]

Velcro shoes....I must be missing something as all my shoes are still all lace up. Maybe when I get older I'll look into it. Is it really that good?

Do they make good hiking/trail shoes with velcro closures?

 

[eytonxav]

The weight machines you find in gyms, in some cases for the less than hardcore, have replaced free weights. I still like a mix of both for my workouts.