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"These things, they’re basically bulletproof. You can put 15,000 hours on it and if something breaks you can just replace it.” Amen. It is true that there is

"These things, they’re basically bulletproof. You can put 15,000 hours on it and if something breaks you can just replace it.” Amen. It is true that there is always someone saying "Things were better back then." But that doesn't always mean that they are wrong.

dejv 7y ago
As a person operating decades old equipment I see trade offs here. Old machines are reliable and cheap to operate, but they are also NOISY, steering require quite some muscle strength and cabin without ac and filters is not pleasant and most importantly good for your health.
- romwell 7y ago
  >steering require quite some muscle strength and cabin without ac and filters is not pleasant and most importantly good for your health. Yeah, AC and filters don't require a computer. Neither does power steering, to my knowledge.
  - lucb1e 7y ago
    That it's possible doesn't meant they built them. Maybe the units that came with AC also started coming with DRM.
  - dejv 7y ago
    Once you want to add AC you need to add more support systems making whole machine more complex and more expensive to operate. There are actually tractors like that, but those brands are failing unable to compete with high tech tractors like JD or New Holland on one side and with simple old tractors on another.
svachalek 7y ago
Yup. I also put large household appliances in this category. They've been getting more expensive and more fragile for decades, without much real progress other than energy efficiency which is unrelated to the fragility afaik.
- asdff 7y ago
  Pretty much all audio equipment falls into this as well. A vintage marantz stereo is going to sound better than nearly anything on the floor at best buy today, and if something goes wrong you either pop in a new part and take the thing to someone who can solder a wire and read a schematic. Unlike a modern stereo that's a hunk of junk if a piece of critical plastic snaps in half or a cheap quality solder on the silicon board cracks out of warranty, not to mention the sound quality.
  - jerf 7y ago
    But how does the "vintage marantz" sound compared to something you can buy with, say, an hour's research with an internet search engine? Including price? I don't know the answer to that. But I do know from experience that while your average $15 headbuds are total, absolute, utter garbage, that if you do your research there are $15 headbuds that sound pretty good. They may not be $100+ quality headphones, but for something that fits in my pocket they're quite credible. Don't just buy whatever one has finagled their way into Best Buy or the checkout counter at your grocery store, but that's not necessarily everything the market has to offer.
    - miker64 7y ago
      > But how does the "vintage marantz" sound compared to something you can buy with, say, an hour's research with an internet search engine? Including price? Considerably better in the sub $300 range, and depends at the $600+ range. I'd personally go with the Marantz still, but I'd want to do some serious a/b testing.
- amluto 7y ago
  It is related to some extent. Things like brushed DC motors can be very reliable if you’re willing to replace brushes on occasion, but they’re wildly inefficient. Better motors need more complicated circuitry, and it’s easy to cheap out and make that circuitry unreliable. It’s certainly harder to repair.
- Diederich 7y ago

dejv 7y ago

As a person operating decades old equipment I see trade offs here. Old machines are reliable and cheap to operate, but they are also NOISY, steering require quite some muscle strength and cabin without ac and filters is not pleasant and most importantly good for your health.

romwell 7y ago
>steering require quite some muscle strength and cabin without ac and filters is not pleasant and most importantly good for your health. Yeah, AC and filters don't require a computer. Neither does power steering, to my knowledge.
- lucb1e 7y ago
  That it's possible doesn't meant they built them. Maybe the units that came with AC also started coming with DRM.
- dejv 7y ago
  Once you want to add AC you need to add more support systems making whole machine more complex and more expensive to operate. There are actually tractors like that, but those brands are failing unable to compete with high tech tractors like JD or New Holland on one side and with simple old tractors on another.

svachalek 7y ago

Yup. I also put large household appliances in this category. They've been getting more expensive and more fragile for decades, without much real progress other than energy efficiency which is unrelated to the fragility afaik.

asdff 7y ago
Pretty much all audio equipment falls into this as well. A vintage marantz stereo is going to sound better than nearly anything on the floor at best buy today, and if something goes wrong you either pop in a new part and take the thing to someone who can solder a wire and read a schematic. Unlike a modern stereo that's a hunk of junk if a piece of critical plastic snaps in half or a cheap quality solder on the silicon board cracks out of warranty, not to mention the sound quality.
- jerf 7y ago
  But how does the "vintage marantz" sound compared to something you can buy with, say, an hour's research with an internet search engine? Including price? I don't know the answer to that. But I do know from experience that while your average $15 headbuds are total, absolute, utter garbage, that if you do your research there are $15 headbuds that sound pretty good. They may not be $100+ quality headphones, but for something that fits in my pocket they're quite credible. Don't just buy whatever one has finagled their way into Best Buy or the checkout counter at your grocery store, but that's not necessarily everything the market has to offer.
  - miker64 7y ago
    > But how does the "vintage marantz" sound compared to something you can buy with, say, an hour's research with an internet search engine? Including price? Considerably better in the sub $300 range, and depends at the $600+ range. I'd personally go with the Marantz still, but I'd want to do some serious a/b testing.
amluto 7y ago
It is related to some extent. Things like brushed DC motors can be very reliable if you’re willing to replace brushes on occasion, but they’re wildly inefficient. Better motors need more complicated circuitry, and it’s easy to cheap out and make that circuitry unreliable. It’s certainly harder to repair.
Diederich 7y ago