What's the oldest piece of tech you still have running?

Me. 62 years. As long as it keeps on ticking, I'm proud.

I've got a Miele washing machine that's the best part of 40 years old. It's required some maintenance over the years. However, it was designed with maintenance in mind, so all the repairs have been fairly painless.

My 5 year old dishwasher, on the other hand, has cost me more time, money and stress than the (very overworked) washing machine.

My original NES and game cartridges. Still work great, although retired as collectibles in favor of emulators now.

A pocketwatch manufactured in 1889. I keep it running as a memento mori: the watch may outlive the watchmaker. Build things well -- they may be all people remember you by, one day.

I also have a slide rule at my desk at most times, to remind me of false-precision.

I guess the oldest though, is a Wu Zhu coin from the Three Kingdoms period (currency is a technology, too?). I keep it to remember that all empires arise from chaos, and must return to it; that all assets eventually have no value. That the things that endure, are stranger currencies still.

A 1940s era Sterling Siren Model "F" factory siren. This siren spent decades outside of a Long Island, NY firehouse, acting as a street clearing siren to allow fire engines to exit the station unimpeded during an emergency. It was decommissioned a few years ago and popped up on eBay, and I was able to get ahold of it for cheap as the seller didn't know its worth. Model F sirens are very hard to find, as they haven't been made since the 1960s, and the need for street clearing and fire sirens have lessened with the advent of pagers. I believe there are less than a dozen left in service across North America.

Mine is in very good running shape, despite its age. I lubricated the bearings recently (brass sleeve bearings) and let the motor break in. It isn't quite as loud as my Federal Sign & Signal Model "L" (built in the 1960s) but still packs a punch. I usually set them off with the city sirens every Monday. It does need cosmetic restoration, as the paint is badly weathered and the projector has some dents in it, but it won't be hard to fix up.

https://youtu.be/KvsGiL15g1k?si=ZgheNIH-fqOHJXnJ

My Model L is on the left, and my Model F is on the right.

My paternal grandmother's KitchenAid model K mixer she bought just after my grandfather returned from WW2. She gave it to my mother in the late 70's because she wanted a new one and the damn thing showed no signs of dying. My mother gave it to my wife about 15 years ago for the same reason.

We've bought some new accessories but that fucking zombie mixer will outlast the roaches.

I still listen to my music using a 160 GB iPod Classic. Apple struck gold with that clickwheel. Carrying around a dedicated device for music just for that elegant one-thumb control I don't even have to look at to use is still totally worth it to me.

I am the oldest piece of working hardware I own and I am constantly disappointed by it

You probably mean electronic not technology. But I have a mechanical singer sewing machine from the 1800s that's still in working order.

Not at all impressive, but to maximize interactions on a newborn thread:

It's probably my PS3, which I would have gotten Christmas 2008 (or maybe it was 2009?). I recently started sailining the seas, and the most convenient way to watch those videos is to burn them to a disk, and so the PS3 is really just a glorified DVD player (can't even be bothered to use it's blue ray functionality)

I have my grandparents gramophone.

We pull it out each year to listen to their old Christmas records.

It's become a tradition that my university age kids still look forward to.

I have a General Post Office model 711 telephone. I installed a microcontroller into it and it's now the keypad for my home alarm system. It's also hooked into Home Assistant so I could have it for other things if I wanted.

I got a fountain pen with my initials on it from my grandfather. We have the same initials.

Depending on what you consider technology:

I have several firearms well over 100 years old in perfectly operational condition.

Quite a few kitchen appliances from the 70s that will never die.

And a working Apple IIgs.

As far as use on a daily or near daily basis, I have a 1974 Fender guitar amp, and a few other speakers and musical instruments that are vintage that are also going to outlive me.

Polaroid Land camera, ~1950. Found it after my grandparents passed. Never tried using it, it's just neat.

I have a wheel on my bike.

I have a beard trimmer from like 2008. I have literally no feelings about it.

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A very rare 1965 push button UK telephone, which I converted to work on DTMF.

Almost all UK phones from this era are dial based so it was very hard to find. It is our actual land line phone, not that our landline is ever used. Looks cool though.

1959 mechanical cameras. An electronic camera from 1969. Polaroid SX-70 from 1976. A calculator from 1988: FX85P from Casio. And then the Atari Lynx from 1991.

1966 Fender Princeton guitar amplifier. Me likey

My car. 1995.

A 12" Samsung TV that I've had since I was a kid. If I had to guess I'd say it's from 1989 or so. It still works perfectly except that it now has to warm up for a minute or so. I currently have a Roku box connected to it that I use for watching old shows in SD format lol

I absolutely cherish it.

I still use my Dad's old hifi from the 70s to listen to records. It's one of the only things I have that was his, so it has a lot of sentimental value to me.

In terms of things passed down, I have the original Wii my parents bought for us on Christmas of 2008. In terms of consoles, I have a Nintendo 64 I got off eBay to play the collection of cartridges we had been accruing since the late 90s.

As for the oldest antique item, I have some mechanical slide calculators, two from Australia, one from Japan, and one from the US. No idea the exact years of manufacturing, but the US one is a Tasco Pocket Arithmometer, which I think ceased manufacturing in the early 1900s ( it's been a bit since I last researched it.)

I’ve got an old iRiver mp3 player thats still ticking (as soon as you pop a AA in it. Would play enough music for me and can plug it in via mini USB I believe.

Gameboy Color with 1st gen Pokemon still running strong

I still use a nearly 20 year old DSLR as my primary photography camera. It’s all personal stuff so the lower resolution and overall lower quality compared to modern cameras doesn’t bother me much. The battery isn’t doing so well after 20 years though, so I’m getting a couple new ones and a larger memory card for it. Hoping to buy a new camera soon and get at least 20 years out of that too, but I still plan to use my current one alongside any other camera as I really like the look of the images it produces.

Not that old but my 2009 i5 750 can still rock most of the games at a solid 1080p. I added a fan and overclocked it to 3.6, some ram and a 1060 gpu. It now serves as our main streaming / gaming computer on the TV and shows no sign of giving up. Overall I've spent less than 650$ over 15 years on a computer that we use daily.

My original Atari 2600 and games I got as a kid.

EDIT: I am pretty sure my stove is from the 60's but it came with the house I bought in 2015, so I am not sure it counts.

IBM PS/1

Proud as fuck, as it's my first pc. I'm 26

My Aiwa P22 micro hifi from 1978. Very nice, compact and sounds great.

I have a GeForce GTX 970 from 2015 that's still doing sterling service every day in my recently refreshed HTPC, delivering 4K movies and the occasional game to my 65in Sony OLED TV. My best tech buy ever.

Commodore 64 but for everyday stuff my Alienware X51 R3 is a weird, old Frankenstein monster

I have a Panasonic "Genius" microwave from 1983, still going strong.

A multimeter from the 70's, although I don't use it often anymore (I have two newer ones)

A Back and Decker b-100 corded drill from the 1960's with a skill saw of the same era. (Both backups in case my newer ones die.)

Also not really tech, but A scythe from the 1930's, an old clothes iron from the early 1900's (The kind you heated on the stove) a machete from 1920, and a couple old hand pump sprayers from the 20's or 30's (The type you screw a glass bottle onto) that all are functional but mainly just collect dust.

I probably have some other old crap I'm not thinking of at the moment, I just like collecting weird old things.

A 1930s era Sunkist Juicer. That thing is still chooching along and just juiced enough key limes for two pies last night.

I'm still using an IBM model M keyboard from 1989. Picked up a conversion cable to go straight from the weird RJ45 connector to USB and have zero issues with it.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

A Singer sewing machine from before the Great War.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

I was thoroughly impressed by Technology Connections exploration of the Sunbeam automatic beyond belief toaster. Bought one cheap off Craigslist a while ago and added a ground wire. Works great.

I also picked up an IBM selectric pretty cheap, mostly works.

My rather ancient audio setup: a Yamaha RX-496RDS stereo receiver with a Vestax PMC 17A Mixer and T+A Triton R130 speakers for 2 (lame ass) Gemini PT 2100 Turntables (through a preamp) and some PC-Audio. Most of this stuff is from the 90s or early 00s. Wasn't the best setup in the first place but it still works fine to this day and probably even beats some of the contemporary bluetooth thingies.

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.

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.

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

altec lansing speakers from 2000.

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.

1967 Leslie 145

Technics SL-1900 turntable from 1977, it was a pretty midrange model for its time but it sure as hell is better than any deck you can get new today. The only thing that doesn't work is the dampening on the tonearm lift/lowering.

Some old corded drill that my dad had. It's supposed to have a reverse function but it only goes one direction now.

I've got no idea when it was made.

Not sure how loose you define tech, but mine would be my motorcyle, a 1981 Yamaha XS400 that my grandfather gifted me. It's certainly feeling it's age, so it requires a lot more effort on my end to keep running than most bikes made this century. It's not made for modern highway speeds, it's not happy when I try, so I keep it off the interstate, 50 and under. That said, when the weather's good, I've never had a carbeurated engine start so easily, and it's a joy to ride!

My toaster, similar one here. It was the toaster that I grew up with. My father in turn bought it at a garage sale. I recently tracked down the history and found that it was manufactured in the 50's, so it's been in near constant use for around 75 years.

60's electric drill.

The original fat PS2 I got for Christmas 20-odd years ago. It still plays games perfectly fine if the discs aren’t too scratched up (RIP my bro’s copy of Marvel vs Capcom 1).

My microwave from 1985 which came with the house.

Nokia 3310, it even spent a good 20 min submerged because a 9lb pike pushed my parents out of the canoe and had to walk back to shore

My Harman Kardon pc speakers. They are as old as I am. Here's a pic of the same model I found online.

Type Mike IBM keyboard......goddMm indestructible.

I have a Sunbeam Radiant Control toaster from the 1960s. It’s an elegant, automatic design with only one control for the amount of toast. If it had slots wide enough for bagels it would be perfect.

2004 Wacom Cintiq 21UX. Drawing on a screen that large and heavy is awesome. I built it into my desk and can raise and lower it from flat to nearly 90 degrees. The brightness has faded over the years, but I won't let it go until I can afford a new one (equivalent $3k + today). I can barely work in PS with just a mouse anymore. It spoils ya.

Original Xbox console with a copy of Halo Combat Evolved though the console would probably pop if I plugged it in

My Yamaha speakers that I got in 1996. Beautiful sound from them. The receiver and other things have long since been replaced.

Video door-phone from the eighties. The screen is crap but hit a few times and it works lol

I have a Sony Erickson bluetooth headphone adapter from 2005. It still works perfectly and the battery has good life.

If a pocket watch counts, then my Hamilton watch from 1908. Oldest electronic would probably be my NES.

My old and trustworthy Kenwood KRV75R receiver. From around 1985 and still rocking!

Still have running? Probably my Sega Genesis model 1, bought a month before I was even born in 1991, though I rarely use it as emulation is easier.

Still use daily? Probably my gen 3 iPod touch, circa 2009.

I have Lenco turntable from 1969, making it roughly 54 years old.

My oldest piece of tech would probably be my C64 or maybe an old camera I have. But the one that I'm actually proud of is my car, a Mercedes W124 from 1988. It'll be hard to find a bolt on that car that I haven't touched and I'm finally getting it where my even my perfectionist self is happy with the way it looks and drives.

My hammer.

Also, an axe. Arguably, …fire?

Playstation 2 slim and an original PS2 controller. Still runs really smoothly, at least for tech at the time. Disc drive is really cool.

It's been over a year since I unboxed it, but my Nintendo 64. Last game I played was Majora's Mask and it suffered a hard reset in the stone temple that made me box it back up.

Octopus Game&Watch from 1981.

The gameplay is still fire.

Try it out here at archive.org

An Acetronic MPU1000 games console, from the 1970s - 76 or 78 I think. Still worked last time I powered it up, I also got some extra games cheap off eBay a while back, interesting playing something other than the three or four games I remember from childhood.

Probably one of my CRTs from the early 80s, unless we're counting basic stuff like my house wiring or gate speaker.

I have a TI 99/4A PC that still works! It has a super weird version of BASIC and I don't have any tapes for it, but it's a cool display piece. I was able to make an educated guess that it was manufactured in 1982 based on the design

My ps1 probably. I just played with it yesterday and I loved it.

Newton MessagePad 2100. I used it daily from 2008-2011 (well after I had an iPhone) for office work and everyone thought I was crazy but I loved it. I still prefer the ui for calendar/contacts/note taking compared to everything else out there.

My Nintendo DS.
Somehow the battery is still charged and went multiple times from red state to a green state.

Daily? Logitech MX-518. I'd still be using my CeBIT 2003 IntelliMouse if it hadn't been jostled by one too many trips in a backpack. Both are newer than the Max Payne mousepad that is somehow still in tolerable condition.

No, wait. I just glanced at the time on a Westclox digital alarm clock, model 22636, production code 1/10/83. That thing's older than I am. Had to check the underside again: Norcross, GA. I was unsure if "Westclox" hinted at being produced in West Germany.

A few, a silver Pikachu Gameboy color, some synthesizers from the 1980's, a unique guitar that I've only been able to find documentation of 1 other one online (Ibanez Nitro full wood body finish - it's certainly a custom). And I think the last pride and joy is my Sony MDR-V600's.

Anybody remember Cube World? Those little electronic cubes that you could magnetically attach to others and they could interact? Got a set of those too.

The music stuff is the oldest but it's mostly second hand so it's harder to claim. The headphones were a gift and new back then though, so they're for sure, same with the Gameboy color and Cube World. Heh :)

NAS, 2015. Not too old.

I would say my Sega GameGear, but I just went to turn it on, aaaaaaand it's probably well past time to replace the caps. And screen. And motherboard...

1901 Edison victrola. Listen to Edison's band.

I have a Milling Machine with a 1902 patent date on it. It was converted to an electric motor, but the line shaft pulley is still on it.

Dynaco ST-70 stereo tube amp, probably from the 60s (no date on them that I can tell).

Very proud of it, got it for free at a garage sale. Replaced selenium rectifier with silicon diodes, a few new caps, and new tubes. Sounds great.

My dad bought an amplifier in the 70s, I still use it for my TV audio system today. Super solid stuff.

The oldest thing that runs on electricity in my house is probably a tie between my washer and dryer. Both are Kenmore 80 series from the early 90's. I've repaired them a number of times and will continue to do so.

I also have a late 90's vintage Magnavox tube TV which is in working if slightly twitchy order. I set it up every now and again to play SNES games on. The picture's gone slightly orange and depending on what's being displayed there's a notable coil whine, I'm sure it needs to be recapped.

I still have my original SNES, it doesn't work and I'm not sure why. One of its controllers and all but one of my old cartridges is still working. It's not going to be long I'm going to have to change the batteries in the games. Weird to think my copy of Link to the Past has had RAM turned on and running for 33 years straight.

I've still got my RioVolt mp3 CD player. The in-line remote died but the machine itself works fine. I've had it since 2001. I'm very fond of it.

As far as computers, I still have my high school HP Pavilion desktop, and it does still barely boot to XP, but I don't use it for anything. I have a Dell Dimension with an old 3-digit Core i7 circa 2009 that does still see some use as it's supported by modern Linux and yet it's got old shit like a PCI slot, optical drives, firewire, extrenal SATA, so it's a useful tool to have around if I have to play with Dubya-era electronics.

Probably an nes or vcr. I have an Atari too but it's not hooked up so idk if it still works. I have some old film projectors too

I know this isn't what you meant but, this week I restored a large format photo enlarger from the 1950s. A Beseler 45 MCXR. I am extremely proud that I was not electrocuted, and I printed a 4x5 negative as a Christmas gift for my mother in law.

An electric turkey-carving knife, made in 1962. GE built it to last.

Two game boy DMGs, one kept original and one modded with a new shell, membrane, and LCD screen. It's a great hobby restoring them.

the oldest is one of my portable cassette recorders, a very early GE model that is in near perfect condition. It's so early on it doesn't have much info online, and seems to be rare, but unwanted.

The one im the most proud of is my IBM LexMark model M keyboard, It's older than me, abused to hell, modified, and is still my daily driver because it's so comfortable

As for daily usage and "tech" - I have a Samsung Galaxy S1. The battery still holds a charge and it's being used on a near daily basis (for very simple stuff). Runs Omnirom with android 4.

My N64. I probably have a few pieces of tech older than me, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

I have a PC from 2004 as well.

The CD player i found on the curb. I had no idea how old it was but i looked it up for this thread and it has user reviews from 2007.

Sony CMT Nez50

Works great, 15 volume already feels loud

a core 2 duo full tower pc from mid 2000s

first it had win95, XP, 7, now runs void Linux

I have some railroad stock certificates from the late 19th century that I need to frame. They're a few bucks on ebay and really freaking cool

In terms of electronics, I have some model trains from the 60s and 70s that are pretty worthless but keep going despite the abuse and lack of maintenance thanks to electric motors being so simple and easy to maintain. Other than that it's probably a shoe in between my wife's N64, PS2 and CRT TV, an old police scanner I got off ebay, or the early plasma TV that I got from my parents who got it from my aunt who got it with their house.

!buyitforlife@sh.itjust.works

14 year old Wacom Tablet. It still gets regular use.

My fat PS3. Still a good Blu Ray and DVD player.

I have an early 70s waffle/sandwhich maker eletric grill. Was a wedding gift to my parents and i grew up eating food off of it. Works flawlessly. But its just coils hooked to 120v with a regulator. Not much to break

Twenty- seven year old wireless keyboard. I love it. Feels great and never fails me. Don't know what I'll do when it finally dies.

I got an Apple IIc. Drive, monitor, keyboard all work.

I have a Sony M2 Micro card with inside it's USB adapter.

I've used it to install countless Linux distros since 2007 😅