Having posted the pictures of the tape measure that I won in an eBay auction, that got me to thinking.

I inherited an old  pair of binoculars, and I thought I would post some photos of them:

Case with paddock pass and binoculars

Personalised engraving The only wear on them is round the right hand viewing ring, if that's what you call it.

Close up of the paddock pass showing the year and serial number

Serial number and model

The binoculars were made by Zeiss, so on the off chance that they might hold records that would allow me to date which part of the year they were made I sent off an email.

Today I got a reply:
 
Because they were made before 1969, they are no longer in warranty and they can't help me...

I've heard of goods having long warranty periods, but fifty years is a new one on me.!! 

That reminds me. I bought two used 827 13w PL-S lamps. A Philips and a Sylvania. The Philips one was made in Poland and the Sylvania was made in China. Both had blackening that looked the same. I put both into use in two separate fittings and the Sylvania died after one month! The Philips is still going strong after nearly four months and the blackening hasn't changed!

Sadly, manufacturing quality goods in the first place is not at the top of most companies' agendas these days. Planned obsolescence means they make as poor a quality item as they can get away with, to force consumers to buy new ones of whatever it is every few years (or sometimes even months) 

Take television sets, for example. Years ago there was a whole cottage industry dedicated to repairing items like this; if your TV stopped working, you could take it to a little back-street shop where a man in a brown coat would open it up and replace whatever component had failed. Now it's a case of just throwing it away and buying a new one. I don't know about other people, but I can't afford to spend several hundred (or even thousand) pounds on a new TV every four or five years 

That reminds me. I bought two used 827 13w PL-S lamps. A Philips and a Sylvania. The Philips one was made in Poland and the Sylvania was made in China. Both had blackening that looked the same. I put both into use in two separate fittings and the Sylvania died after one month! The Philips is still going strong after nearly four months and the blackening hasn't changed!

Were those two lights run at the same rate or they were used more for one fixture and less for the other one? How often were they switched plays a part. If they both were in one fitting and Sylvania dies before Philips one, you might have a point. Since they were in separate fittings then there’s too many variables at play to make it a valid experiment. Hence the questions.

Sadly, manufacturing quality goods in the first place is not at the top of most companies' agendas these days. Planned obsolescence means they make as poor a quality item as they can get away with, to force consumers to buy new ones of whatever it is every few years (or sometimes even months) 

Take television sets, for example. Years ago there was a whole cottage industry dedicated to repairing items like this; if your TV stopped working, you could take it to a little back-street shop where a man in a brown coat would open it up and replace whatever component had failed. Now it's a case of just throwing it away and buying a new one. I don't know about other people, but I can't afford to spend several hundred (or even thousand) pounds on a new TV every four or five years 

Have you ever seen inside a modern TV? Lots of tiny components and connectors which can break easily if so much looked at wrong. I don’t blame manufacturers for the newer TVs being hard to fix making them throwaway stuff. I blame the consumers thinking the thinner it is the modern and top tier it is. An 8K TV can be made with larger components and connectors making the whole case 3” or 4” thick instead of 1” or less they are these days. But no, people wants thin TVs because they think it’s better quality or whatever.

Planned obsolescence? More like it just got harder to fix things. Harder means more costly meaning it’s cheaper to toss it.

Have you ever seen inside a modern TV? Lots of tiny components and connectors which can break easily if so much looked at wrong. I don’t blame manufacturers for the newer TVs being hard to fix making them throwaway stuff. I blame the consumers thinking the thinner it is the modern and top tier it is. An 8K TV can be made with larger components and connectors making the whole case 3” or 4” thick instead of 1” or less they are these days. But no, people wants thin TVs because they think it’s better quality or whatever.

Planned obsolescence? More like it just got harder to fix things. Harder means more costly meaning it’s cheaper to toss it.

It's perfectly possible to carry out component level repairs, therefore keeping the TV going.

Louis Rossmann does exactly that for MAC books, and does it cheaper than Apple do, and sometimes Apple have said that the repair is not possible.

It's perfectly possible to carry out component level repairs, therefore keeping the TV going.

Louis Rossmann does exactly that for MAC books, and does it cheaper than Apple do, and sometimes Apple have said that the repair is not possible.

Never said it wasn’t possible. I’ve heard of people upgrading the storage capacity of their iPhones. It’s how many people capable of doing that level of component repairs are around.

In fact there were vids uploaded to Facebook a while ago showing people doing that sort of repairs on smartphones by means of a macro camera. What he sees is what we get on vids. Now they’re gone or I just suck at finding them. 

Were those two lights run at the same rate or they were used more for one fixture and less for the other one? How often were they switched plays a part. If they both were in one fitting and Sylvania dies before Philips one, you might have a point. Since they were in separate fittings then there’s too many variables at play to make it a valid experiment. Hence the questions.

No, both were in different fittings but on the same switch. They ran 4hrs/night.

Both fittings have magnetic ballasts and neither overdrives the lamp.

I was speaking to my mother this evening, and she has confirmed that the binoculars I have inherited use to belong to my Great grandfather.