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What item have you been using on a daily basis for the longest amount of time?

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?

174 comments
  • Wired Headphones 🔌🎧

    Basically can't live without them 🎵❤️

  • I have plenty of things that are really old, but the longest in daily use would probably be a Galileo thermometer my dad gave me in my early teens. It looks like this, but the colours have long since faded:

  • 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.

  • Not daily but very regularly: zoom H1. Small handheld recorder that does 24bit 48khz wav. It can go about
    8-10 hours on a single AA, has a USB mini port for running an external battery. Stereo out, xy condenser mics built in, line in for lavs and such.

    I use it for recording speeches at rehearsal dinners for friends and family to surprise them with, collecting foley audio, plugging into boards to get a mixdown of a band playing, and more. I use it professionally as a backup audio recorder in my video work (it probably saves the day at least five or six times a year doing that). Hell, one time someone brought out a Red but no scratch mic not realizing the camera didn’t have one built-in. We plugged the H1 into the audio input and proceeded to shoot. Day saved.

    it’s incredibly portable, surprisingly rugged, and it is an essential part of my tool kit and travels. I have had the same one since 2012 and a second one since 2016. It is probably the single most important piece of equipment I own, and is just so broadly useful that I can’t imagine not having it. Best $90 or so I ever spent.

  • 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

  • My electric razor

    I got it 16 years ago and it's still going strong

    Somehow the battery still holds a charge long enough to only need charged once a week or so

    • You got a rare immortal battery!
      Every so often I encounter a device with a battery, rechargeable or not, that's lasted an insane amount of time given its size and use

  • I've got this little plastic foot stool that's probably older than I am. It's not as strong as it used to be (legs buckled with me on it once), but it's holding up a speaker and doing a great job of it.

  • Probably my Leatherman Skeletool or Wenger Toolbox: I don't remember when I got them but I've had them both for years and they never leave my side (unless I have to fly on a damn airplane or something...)

174 comments