This is not a conversation about guns. This is a conversation about items that have withstood abuse that are near unbreakable.
Some items I have heard referenced as AK47 of:
Gerber MP600: It’s a multi tool
Old Thinkpad Laptops
Mag lights
Toyota Hilux
I feel like I’m being baited to mention Nokia
I’m seriously considering buying a Nokia smart phone to use with LineageOS. I’m a big fan of shitty android phones anyway.
a cheap microsoft phone isn’t a nokia
Who said anything about Microsoft
Pretty sure they’re referring to the sale of Nokia’s phone division to Microsoft in the mid-2010s. It’s since been bought back and is in the process of renaming to HMD.
ok, that’s cool. and their stance on repair ability means if they make a reasonably sized smart phone before I need a new one I’ll be getting one, and one of the stupid tablet sized ones anyway if not.
LineageOS wouldn’t run on a real nokia unless you’re talking about the nokia branded microsoft phones and they’re more like a 3d printed gun than an AK-47.
I think the argument still is, that those aren’t „real“ Nokias. At the very least they’re not the same Nokia that built the 3310, as that Nokia isn’t in the consumer electronics market anymore.
Ah I see. That’s a bummer
Just be aware their newer phones are hot shit. It’s the older phones that got the reputation for durability.
Nokia of now is not the Nokia of yesteryear. Their new phones are just cheap Android smartphones.
if they still ran on the phone network maybe
(Off-Topic) Does anybody have “anti-planned obsolescence” communities?
Maybe where good products are discussed or recommended? Similar to r/buyitforlofe but without the shilling of socks
Edit:
Thanks, subscribed!
The Hitachi Magic Wand
A woman’s best friend 100%. Couldn’t live without mine.
I knew this was gonna be here. I just knew it. Felt it in my bones. Someone’s got their doomsday bunker stocked 😂
But they don’t make them anymore :(
Even though they’re made by a different company now they’re still pretty good ;)
Any specific brand recommendations? Asking for a friend of course.
I was mistaken. Vibratex, which made the original Hitachi Magic Wand, is still making them today. They just dropped the “Hitachi” from the name.
Game Boys are usually regarded as durable as hell. There’s even one that withstood bombing during the Gulf War (1991)
Me and my cousin went tubing one time and he forgot his gameboy color in his pocket the whole time we were out on the water. There was water behind the screen but it still booted and played with some fresh batteries
Salt.
- Nearly every recipe uses it
- infinite shelf life (durable)
- cheap as heck.
- Keeps demons away
Good take on the question
It’s funny how it used to be expensive. In Danish we have a saying to say someone is poor if “they can’t even afford salt for their egg”, as if an egg is cheaper than salt. Because it actually used to be that way.
Can confirm with the old thinkpads. They’re not great for gaming, but the keyboard, track pack, and eraser head are solid for writing and other office-like work.
The old part really does a lot of work here. New ThinkPads are utter trash :-/
I got excited to get one for work (having heard about the old ones) and was sorely disappointed. It thermal throttles if you look at it wrong, it keeps having BIOS issues with Lenovo being no help and the USB-C display connection (To a Lenovo monitor with their inbuilt docking station!) is iffy.
Which series? T/P or one of the economy options? The T, X, W, and later on P series have been the only models people really like.
We have a few T series at work and they’re not bad. My T14 Gen. 1 doesn’t thermal throttle at all as long as its thermal paste isn’t toast. It will run at basically its full all core boost speeds all day long. The newer 12th Gen. machines dial their clocks back a smidge under full load, but that’s because they have 2x the cores of my measly 10th Gen. machine.
Also I have a T14s AMD and that thing is a BEAST for such a small machine. 35 watts out of an AMD 6 core is no slouch for something that small. And I easily get 7+ hours of battery life out of my abusive use.
Ah, T15 Gen1 with 48 GB RAM. The Intel CPU throttles hard unfortunately, I’d much rather switch to AMD (or a desktop…).
Fortunately the company has so many issues with Lenovo, they are switching to Dell now.
Change your thermal paste. These machines (as do all modern machines) run hot, and their paste doesn’t last long if you’re a heavy user. Find a thermal paste that’s thick in particular.
The pump out effect is really drastic on these modern CPUs if you’re constantly hitting 100% load.
Dude, I’m not opening up my work laptop. It’s going to be replaced in a year anyway.
The thing has been a piece of shit when it was brand new, it’s not the paste.
Are you on Windows or Linux? On windows 11 go to settings > power and battery > power mode and if you set it to high performance it almost doubles the TDP of the CPU. On windows 10 click the battery and drag the slider to high performance. If what I read online is correct the T14 and the T15 are the exact same heatsink and motherboard so unless the 1" gap from the end of the heatsink to the vent is that much of a problem they should perform exactly the same, just like the later T14 and T16 models. But 4 years is more than enough time for the thermal paste to be toast. My P1 ruined it’s paste in less than 6 months, but that’s also an i9.
But that’s the world of modern Intel CPUs. Turbo boost as far as you possibly can until you can’t turbo anymore. Then in 6 months when the thermal paste is ruined you’re searching for a new machine.
Windows 11, but I already tested out every combination of settings. Windows settings and BIOS CPU settings. Most high performance settings make things just a tiny bit faster, while the laptop blasts the fan at full speed (the fan sucks too, it’s too loud for what it does).
The cooling just sucks, the CPU boosts and then runs straight into thermal throttling and has to cut back. It has been like this since day 1, maybe it got worse in the past 2 years, but it was never good in the first place. Colleagues with the same model had plenty of issues too (and the lead sent it back to the IT department and demanded one model higher up with a beefier CPU, but he’s also not happy with it).
It’s a 3 year lease, the laptop will be gone in a year and then hopefully I can choose my next one. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like Dell is currently offering models with AMD CPUs…
I have two new P1 Gen 7’s coming today, i hope they have fixed that
They didn’t. They did kinda change the goalpost though.
Which model did you get? The i7 or the i9? The i7 models have a minimum guaranteed TDP of 28 watts, while the i9 is at least 35. But 35 watts on such a high end CPU is dire. The Gen. 7 also killed their high end GPU options, but maybe that leaves more power headroom for the CPU.
That’s still better than my P1 Gen. 4 which throttles down to 25 watts. 25 watts on an 11th Gen. i9 is AWFUL performance.
i9 with the 4070 GPU
Let me know how the thermals are on that machine. I ended up paying out the ass for a refurbished gen 6 because it comes with the 4090 and a MUCH bigger heatsink. From what I saw initially in the reviews the performance is worse not just because the 100 series has worse IPC, but the machine doesn’t actually boost as much since it’s more thermally limited.
HOWEVER the machine gets a LOT better battery.
My gen 4 would get anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours of battery life unless I’m doing literally nothing on it. This gen 6 gets like 4 hours unless I’m heavily taxing it. But from people online I saw them say 7 hours is easily doable. And having a GPU that doesn’t use 20 watts sitting idle sure helps.
Anything specific you’d like me to test?
The only thing I’m really curious about is how far back the CPU gets throttled with the dGPU active and busy.
On both of my machines when I render a video using my GPU the CPU is still the limiting factor because of the codec I chose. On my 11th gen machine it took like 5 minutes before it was power throttled down to 25 watts. My gen 6 takes longer to power throttle and only goes down to 35 watts, but either power level that sucks. I already know the gen 7 dials back the clock speeds, but I’m mostly curious how far it goes and how quickly?
The easiest way to test this is just open a video game that’s taxing on the CPU and GPU, I don’t think the CPU throttles with light loads like if you opened furmark. Maybe benchmarking software would cause it to throttle.
I was just blaming the usb-c connection to my monitor and throttling on a combo of windows and corporate bloatware, I guess I feel a bit better that I’m not the only one.
The connection to my monitor is the most frustrating, sometimes won’t even recognise it, sometimes after blanking the display it’ll come back with the wrong resolution but still display like it was the original, it’s super bizarre. Literally never had an issue with my personal Asus zenbook in either Debian or w11.
Hmm, yes, “eraser head”… That’s what I call it too.
I definitely don’t call it the mouse clit. Who would call it that?
Certainly not me.
How old? I want one, but there are a lot of models
Newest you can afford. T and P models, or X if you can.
The newer ones are actually less well-built.
I have a T14 Gen 3 from work to confirm with. It’s definitely not bad, but not as rugged.
Meanwhile, for personal use, I got a X230, and a W530, and they are much more solid. A lot of people said that T480 is the “last great Thinkpad”, but I don’t have one so I cannot confirm this.
I bought a T480 coming on a year ago as my first ThinkPad. I’m pretty happy with it, feels rugged and I’ve now fully conditioned myself to using the TrackPoint. Happy with the weight of it for the screen size, I have the 1080p one and it’s not bad at all.
My work device is a L14 Gen 3 with the Ryzen 5 something and it’s okay. I don’t like the flatter TrackPoint buttons but they’re still more than usable. I actually dropped it from about waist height from my car, and apart from some scuffs on the corners it’s still completely functional.
I do miss the media keys and CPU upgradability of my old Latitude E6420 (had that bad boy up to an i7-2760QM, 16GB DDR3, 512GB SSD) but it was just so bulky in comparison and the screen maxed out at only 1600x900 (which yes, I upgraded on it too).
One more thing for me to go on a tangent about, ThinkPad X240 was a poor choice as a secondary. I thought I wouldn’t care about the weird touchpad but it’s barely usable for me, either as a touchpad or TrackPoint. I’m selling that shit on to get either an X220 or X250 onwards, depending on what comes up.
Oh hey! I used to have a Latitude E6430! I’ve seen my college buddy’s E6420 and they’re not too far apart (we’d get these upcycled laptops when we’re lucky from a local e-waste company).
I can vouch for their ruggedness. Definitely not on par with Thinkpads, but they’re pretty up there.
I didn’t get the chance to upgrade much aside from the RAM and SSD, handed it down to a friend in need while upgrading my arsenal to Thinkpads.
One thing that bothered me is how heavy it is for a 14 inch laptop; that bezel is humongous. Also, it stings then I touch the palmrest wrong while charging.
Yeah the E6430, as far as I understand it, was mainly a chipset upgrade to support Ivy Bridge processors, with some additional niceties like USB 3.0 and minor cosmetic differences.
I also had that sting from it too! Usually when it was on charge, I just always thought it was some kind of static electricity or otherwise some poor grounding.
I don’t really disagree, but as time goes by, those old ones show their age more and more. I’m using the same one as you for work, and I got a T580 off eBay for personal (replaces my T430s). I don’t know what I’d get if not for used Thinkpads though. One day maybe I can afford/justify one of those boutique Linux laptops.
Edit: I briefly had a T480 and it had problems with the display… apparently widespread.
It does shows signs of aging, but not as bad as the other laptops of the same era.
I haven’t heard of the T480 display problem until now, but then again, I’ve never had it myself.
I bought a T14 Gen 2 on eBay for about $250. It can play some older games like Morrowind, but I mostly use it for book writing, D&D games, video downloading/ripping/burning, browsing, and such.
I put Linux Mint on mine and it runs like a dream.
I had one that lasted for 12 years. By the end it was more of a media centre connected to my TV, but still.
Pinecil soldering iron. Cheap (only $26!), open source, portable, usbc powered. Even more powerful than $100 ones. I love that thing
Open source soldering iron? How does that work?
The tip heats up enough to melt solder.
it has software for the temp control and such
specifically: https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS
It has some fancy features to allow for custom heating presets among other things. Also, it means you can easily repair/modify the hardware for whatever reason you might come up with.
Also, it means you can easily repair/modify the hardware for whatever reason you might come up with.
The ironic part is that you’d need a second soldering iron to do that.
It has a display and even bluetooth. The Firmware is open source. The schematics are available.
Imo open source is not that important for an iron unless you want to add a klingon translation. But the iron is pretty good, although it is often rather >50 bucks including shipping.
Open source might be important if we want to run DOOM on it.
Open source is good because it means it can be maintained even if the manufacturer shuts down. One of the biggest issues with keeping older tech alive and in a useful state is proprietary firmware.
Sure there is this one guy who changes the oled to a different one bacause his screen broke and the old one has been difficult to source. Most people won’t fix a 30$ iron. Especially since you need an iron to fix it…
Thanks for the suggestion, I was looking at buying another soldering iron. I’m using a really obscure brand one that I got from my dad and that I have been using since I was around 8 (30 years ago).
I can only get replacement tips in South Africa so was looking for something with more support.
Quartz watches: Casio F-91w
Mechanical watches: Seiko 5+1 for the Seiko 5s. Love me a SNZG07J1
Any seiko really
I have an old clock in my cottage. I got it years ago from a previous cottage I renovated. When I found it, the glass had broken so I just treated it as a piece of junk. I renovated that first cottage over a winter and left the clock there to freeze. I put in an AA battery and forgot about it. It kept time great and didn’t lose time … for about two years on the same battery!
The dammed thing outlasted every other wall clock I owned. So I kept it, removed the broken glass and just left it like that.
After about 15 years I still have it in my cottage and it freezes and thaws with the northern Canadian weather. And I’ve only ever changed the battery with the same basic energizer alkaline battery maybe four times!
I’ve never found a comparable clock anywhere. Every new clock I’ve ever bought either fail prematurely or I am constantly changing batteries every two or three months.
So far I’ve junked about a dozen new clocks because they stopped working while this old cottage clock just keeps ticking reliably.
I’m never getting rid of my cottage clock.
I’ve been using the Casio W800 series (W800-H currently) for the past 12+ years. This is my 3rd watch, only because I simply lost the first two. However, it’s about the 6th strap, so it’s like the AK’s strap.
KitchenAid mixers before they got cheap
I inherited a 6" Wilton vise from my dad. He’s still alive but I convinced him to pass it on to me early because I had a couple projects it would be super helpful on. And maybe a little bit to beat my siblings to the punch.
Zippo lighters.
My dad also has a Lincoln Electric welder that will last to pass onto another generation or two. He still uses it though and again, I probably have a sibling or two who would also appreciate having it.
zippo lighters
I’ve never had any luck with zippos, whenever I tried to use it it wouldn’t work and I had to refill it. I hear you have to use them often but I’m not a smoker or arsonist so will only use a lighter maybe once a month. Any tips or recommendations for lighters that you don’t have to use often but will last longer than a cheap disposable one?
Use a butane insert. Still refillable but it’s sealed in well enough to last years of infrequent use.
Get a cheap disposable one. If you really don’t use it often the cost of an unused reusable thing is greater than buying disposable.
You can get butane and arc lighter inserts for zippo shells. I’ve had the arc lighter for going on 3 years, I’ve only had to charge it 5 times, it’s gone through the wash twice now and it’s still working great.
Bought my best friend the butane one the same time. She’s a heavy smoker, not only is it her conversion starter but apparently it’s been cheaper than buying bics.
Swiss army knives. You’ll find at least one in everyone’s bedside drawer or junk drawer.
Ive found them dull all the time, but never broken
The TSA confiscates tens of thousands of these things
Ive found them dull all the time, but never broken
Victorinox uses a steel that favours corrosion resistance over hardness. They’re easy to sharpen though, I’ve even used the underside of a ceramic coffee cup.
I would say that most Ryobi One+ tools fall into this category. Cheap and I’ve never had one fail where I wasn’t using it far beyond it’s design parameters. Others are more comfortable to use for extended periods, but they are also usually more expensive. That said, there are apparently a few stinkers in their mix, a dust buster style vacuum comes to mind, but I’ve not run into many.
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Hart
My wife bought a Hart brand shop vac and it nearly caught on fire the first time we used it. We swapped it for a DeWalt branded one (which are not actually made by DeWalt) and haven’t had any issues.
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Yeah, Ryobi had a bad reputation for a long time, because they’re old (dark blue) tools were hot garbage. But when they were bought out by TTI (and they changed the color to the bright green) all the tools started getting made on the same production line as Milwaukee (also owned by TTI). The QA is a little looser on the Ryobi stuff, but it’s all sourced from the same place as the (much more expensive) Milwaukee tools that many people swear by. If I remember correctly, TTI also owns Ridgid.
It’s basically the Lexus/Toyota thing, where they’re both owned and manufactured by the same parent company, but the Lexus brand is much more expensive just because it’s marketed as luxury. You can get a Toyota for half the price of a Lexus, and find the same quality as a Lexus. And for the insanely cheap price and wide range of available tools, it’s hard to go wrong with Ryobi. The Ryobi may not stand up to the same level of abuse as other (more expensive) brands. But the average person isn’t a construction worker using and abusing their tools for 9 hours a day. The average person just needs to occasionally drill a hole in the wall, or cut the occasional piece of lumber. And for that, the Ryobi is the way to go. Hell, even if you’re a hobbyist in the garage, Ryobi will likely be fine for what you need.
Just avoid their larger power tools, like the vacuums and lawn mowers. From what I know, those have a range of issues that haven’t been worked out yet.
The tools sure, the batteries, trash.
My Yamaha f310 guitar. It’s supposed to be a beginner model, but I never felt the need for anything else. Took it with me traveling and after some 15000km on the road still sounds as on its first day.
Yes! I bought mine in 2004, it was the only proper steel string guitar that I could afford at the time. And it is a really good guitar. There has been zero need for any adjustments, the only replaced part (excluding strings, of course) is a single tuning peg. I was drunk and slipped while I was playing, the guitar hit the floor first but miraculously there was no other damage.
A friend of mine was a guitar tech/roadie for Dio and Metallica in his youth and when he tried the F310 his opinion was that “This isn’t a bad guitar at all, actually it sounds a lot like my own Martin back home. You really might want to hold on to this one.”
Yamaha makes the best guitar for the money.
The instrument I probably play the most is a nylon string Yamaha with a great dual pickup/mic that I got for $100 at a pawn shop. It has some cosmetic wear, but that’s a bonus in my opinion.
The 1997 Toyota Camry.
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You must live somwhere they don’t salt the roads.
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The Shure SM52 microphone (it used to be called the 58 but lost 6 due to budget cuts or something I dunno)
You might not have heard of it, but if you’ve been to a live gig, chances are you’ve seen one
You probably meant the SM58. The 58 is the prototypical singer’s mic.
The sm58 is the microphone, if you ask a kid to draw a mic, the kid will draw the sm58.
Aye you’re right I do!
If youre ever onstage and need a hammer but dont have one, just use an SM58
If you’re a musician or audio tech trying to get started, the Shure SM58 and SM57 are the first two mics you should grab. 58 for vocals, and 57 for anything that doesn’t need a screen (like an instrument or guitar amp.) Both have the exact same mic capsule, but the 58 has a larger filter that will make it a little warmer and less prone to popping on plosives.
Are there fancier mics out there that sound better, or are made for specific purposes? Yeah. But there’s diminishing returns on audio quality, you can’t use them for as many things, and more sensitive mics are also more fragile. For $100 each, you can get some mics that will be passed down to your grandchildren. If you’re trying to cover the widest possible range of uses, the 58 and 57 are your go-to mics.
Whenever you think of a stereotypical 🎤 microphone, you’re 100% thinking of a Shure SM58.
And the SM57 for things you don’t need a screen on.
Gotta be the KitchenAid mixers no? Especially the older ones. I have a friend that has one from his grandma that’s over 50 years old. If anything breaks, it’s usually a gear or something simple to fix, and the parts are easy to buy and generally cheap.
The mixers are not exactly cheap though… and their other stuff is now mostly made from plastic (like the food processors for example)
I’ve managed to get a hold of 3 of the old ones through garage or estate sales, but yeah the ones that are brand new have plastic parts in them which drives me crazy. But you can at least 3d print what you’re missing