Sometimes I will use something and realize I’ve owned it forever. It’s a nice change in our throwaway reality. I think my personal record is a bicycle multi-tool I got for one of my first bikes, ~25 years ago. Still have it, still use it. When it comes to electronic devices I have a Panasonic mini Hi-Fi from ~2005. Never felt like changing it.
What’s your record?
My toilet.
Sennheiser headphones that I bought for about $20 about 10 years ago. The cable is indestructible. I once had to resolder it to the speakers because it my cat pulled it out, but the cable itself has endured all kinds of abuse without breaking. And the sound is fantastic.
I picked up a pair of Sennheisers from a thrift store a couple years back. They sound amazing and the cord is replaceable! I love them.
They weren’t cheap but I got my sennheiser Hd650s around 2004 and still use them daily.
I’ve replaced the ear pads and cord once each, otherwise they’re original.
Same. My Sennheiser Momentum 2s over ears are god damn workhorses and I’m very abusive. And the sound is fantastic.
I have a Parker Pen I bought with my first paycheck in 2011. I’ve replaced the ink cartridge several times, but the pen is still going strong. I use it everyday at work, and it got me through High school and College.
I am currently wearing a pair of shorts that I bought sometime in the late '80s. The top blanket currently on my bed was made by my grandmother in the '70s. The clock right in front of me was made during WW2, but I’ve only had it for a couple of decades. I guess I just don’t throw shit away
Edit: now that I think of it, my bed is probably from the '30s or '40s.
I have my first generation Kindle Paperwhite that I still use daily, that is from 12. I don’t think that is the oldest item I have in my possession that I still uses, but it is one that I have right be side me at the moment.
My Kindle keyboard is still going strong also. I bought it 13 years ago. I’m positive it’s a dinosaur by today’s e-reader standards, but it holds my books and renders pages just fine. I don’t have a reason to upgrade.
very lucky, my KB’s battery died years ago and I never bothered to replace it.
I am eyeing a used Kindle Oasis for a while, but doesn’t really seems to have a reason to upgrade as I still have Paperwhite and Voyage.
P.S I believe the main reason for upgrading the KB is for the lights that all Kindles have now.
I bought the official leather cover for it, which has a book light built into it.
I think technically it’s just my key ring. It’s loop is just from a charm thing my grandmother gave to me like 20 years ago. The charm was lost a long time ago. Kind of boring though.
My favorite pair of jeans and my favorite jacket are both about 15 years old at this point, heavily worn and patched together many times. Not daily use though obviously. My most comfortable pair of boots are about 10 years old which are closer to daily use.
One of the hard drives in my computer is more than 10 years old but I rarely read/write anything to it anymore. For a long time a lot of bits from it were very old, but I think everything older has been ship of theseus’d now. My mother still uses my handy down 15+ year old MX518 mouse daily though.
There’s this weird little SUV that’s been in my family for years.
My dad and brother were given a bunch of Suzuki Samurai parts in 1998 or so. They assembled it into a running Samurai, and dad drove it to work for a couple of years, before my brother started driving to school. Eventually my brother took it over, and being a young guy he sunk some money into it - crawler gears in the transfer case, lockers, lift, 30" tires, crate engine, and a sweet camo paint job. Some time in 2017 the engine started knocking so he parked it until 2022, when I took it over, fixed the engine among other things, and started driving it myself. The engine is still in bad shape, and I’m trying to decide if I will buy another crate engine, or if I will do one of the many options for an engine swap.
I’ve had the Leatherman Skeletool in my pocket for 10 years. That’s probably the longest. It goes with me pretty much everywhere.
Do you do much to maintain it? I always find that the Micra will loosen after a year or so and end up replacing it rather than hammering the rivet of the scissors to tighten it (especially since the blades get damaged and worn too).
All I’ve ever had to do is sharpen it. It was pretty tight when I first got it but it loosened up after a couple weeks. The joints on the Skeletool are also star bits rather than rivets so I could adjust it if need be.
That’s a great knife. Got the CX myself.
I love it. Other multi-tools feel so clunky after after using it for so long. It just handles so well. It doesn’t have as many tools as a lot of the other ones but it has the ones I actually use the most.
A plastic wide-toothed comb I’ve had since I was a kid. I never liked the design and it’s slowly falling apart (one tine missing, outer layers peeling) but I want to use it until it’s no longer functional as it’ll end up in a landfill :/ after which I’m going to see about making or buying a wooden one
Bought some walking boots in 1991 that I only got rid off last year (they finally broke). Except Antarctica they’ve been on every continent. Felt quite sad saying goodbye.
Which brand/model?
Trezeta, which is an Italian brand of hiking goods. Not sure of the model, it’s been so long ago.
https://x.com/BjornToftMadsen/status/1213442646594772992?s=20
Alright, it wasn’t quite last year, I realised :) Time moves fast in your 40s.
My Victorinox Swiss army knife. Got it close to 30 years ago, and I still carry it every day, using it for dozens of different things.
I’ve replaced the scales once, and the blade was ruined by a dodgy knife sharpener, but it still holds an edge.
Which one? I am picking up one, after having make done with my keys and a thick steel hook keychain for quarter of my life, despite being the one army man that does everything and anything.
The Cyber Tool M. The screwdriver bits are eternally useful in my everyday life.
Looking for the Huntsman as my first SAK. Cyber Tool M seems to be better than Swiss Champ if I were to buy a chunkier SAK in the future… that bit driver is seriously as underrated as a Rambler compared to a Compact.
Can you tell me what are the bits? I try looking but never ended up finding the info. It is always product photos from afar, never closeups. From what I saw, there is flathead, philips, Torx and some other shape (maybe Allen), but not their sizes.
I’m quoting from memory right now, as I’ve had to leave it home today while flying.
- 3 different sizes of Philips head
- 1 x straight driver (smaller/thinner than the built-in on the SAK itself)
- 3 different Torx bits
- 1 x Allen bit
I can’t remember the exact sizes of the last two, but they’ve always been the right sizes for me, working in technology.
A bit unusual question. What would you advise a fresh SAK buyer? And what would be the tools you would rank as most useful, or pitch to me? I watched the SAKtubers and all that stuff just to get an idea, and I find incredible use in daily life in a pocketable multitool.
Two blades are a must - it’s surprising how many times a smaller blade is useful (eg. prying the back off something with a very narrow gap).
The screwdrivers are my most commonly used/useful tools in everyday life - tighten a hinge or a handle, stuff like that.
Most of the others are occasionally useful - I’ve used the awl for emergency repairs on tent stitching - but the above are the ones I’d rate the most.
Screwdriver and corkscrew always get me. But I am leaning towards corkscrew for untying knots, that is way too common a problem, and nothing does it like it. Isn’t the Philips #1 size too large for electronics? And that only the inline is actually worth it, since backside is very flimsy? Or would you just carry a separate screwdriver or a Rambler? Do not mind my questions too much.
Some shirts and pants from my parents that are a few years older than me.
Back when they made stuff to last!
My coffee mug. I have it for more than 30 years and still use it regularly, even if not on a daily basis. I have obtained others through various means over the years but still hung onto it all this while. It doesn’t even have a chip or flaked off bits of it’s design.
I also have a hole puncher that my dad used as a young man. It’s probably close to 50 years or even more. It’s all rusted up now and doesn’t really see much use to be fair, but it still works for what it does.
I bought my mechanical keyboard in 1997. It has the original large round plug on it and through the years I’ve had to buy adapters to go to a ps/2 port and now to usb, but the keyboard itself still works pretty well. Definitely time for a good cleaning though, I’ve been having a lot of stuck or missed keys lately. Since I write code this keyboard has seen a LOT of daily use over the years.
OMG same here. Just posted it. But mine isn’t mechanical. Has the round connector to the wireless box, that I adapt too. LOL.
An Enermax keyboard has been my daily driver as a programmer for my career that started in 2007. It still works just fine and I still have no reason to change to something else. Lots of reasons not to, since I like the classic keyboard layout and the flat laptop keys.
Trying to type anything on the chiclet style keyboards reminds me of the days of learning to code on a ZX81. You just can’t type quickly on those without the proper feedback. If my current keyboard ever dies, I don’t know what I’ll do.
I have a lot of things over thirty years old, but I can’t say they’ve been in daily use.
For electronics, and daily use, I have a 13-year-old Toshiba 55" TV. It’s basically a big, dumb monitor. Still works perfectly.
I have several nightlights I bought about ten years ago, maybe 12 years ago. They all still work and have been in the same sockets around the house since I bought them. They’re the flat, greenish glowing disc kind.
I’ve had my coffee mug for at least 25 years, it gets daily use.
This may be cheating on the daily use, but I have two brown glass horse bookends. They’ve been in constant use since I was a kid. I don’t know where they came from, they were probably my dad’s, as he had a large book collection. So, at least 60 years.
I didn’t even think of the TV. I bought a (then) top of the line Hitachi Plasma TV in 2006. It has seen daily use all this time. I can easily believe I’ll get 20 years out of it.
Fun fact: the kids have actually probably watched it more than I have, and I had a 5+ year head start.
