What was your all-time favorite gadget from the 1980s? I'm sure I missed some, so let me hear it in the comments and maybe I will put together another video. Thanks everyone!
Coleco's Adam computer. Was completely fascinated by the high speed cassettes that were used for video games. Used to remember ToysRUs having dozens of those video games.
Old guy here. Regarding the Sony Walkman, I worked in the summer for a cop who had a lawn cutting business. I was cutting grass on a riding mower in front of a Denny's restaurant in a ditch and the thing flipped over. I had my Walkman's on too. I ended up fine and once I found the Walkman on the other side of the ditch, I figured it was toast. Nope. Still worked perfectly even with a huge gouge in the side. So impressed I sent a letter to Sony bragging on how well their thing must have been made and they sent me a brand new one and thanked me for the letter. Too bad companies don't act like that anymore.
I used to skateboard while wearing my walkman and that thing fell off and smacked hard onto the pavement at least 20x. It was completed gouged up but played perfectly for years. Now they build things to break and wear out on schedule because the corporate beast always needs MOAR! One day it's all going to come crashing down as nothing can avoid gravity forever.
My parents got me a knockoff of the Walkman. The speed of the songs near the end of the cassette tapes would be off. I'd flip the cassette over and the speed would be normal.
This reminded me of someone I'd forgotten: the lady from the "help I've fallen" commercial was a supermarket checker in our small town. My elderly mother was so proud to know someone "famous"
I'm 59 and in there were a whole lot of gadgets back in the 80's that I had and some i didn't have because I couldn't afford them but thanks for the great memories of the past.🇺🇲📺📻🇺🇲
The problem with the Clapper was that they would be set off when you didn't it to. When your favorite sports team scored and someone clapped it would be set off.
My family gave me one of those Radio Shack fireman's hats because as a programmer and technician I often put-out technical "fires." So when somone would call me to their cube with a computer problem, I would put the hat on all its flashing-screaming glory. It was a BIG hit! 😂
@@wordup897 Matthew 24:37-42 37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. ---As we can see, food is still being produced and people are still working. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. What should you watch for? Jesus tells us earlier in the same chapter. 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. ---To date, there have been 266 Popes who have come in the name of Christ, calling themselves the "Vicar of Christ" (Vicar meaning "substitute, or "in the person of"), Potentate (sovereign) over the Church. 1 Timothy 6:14-16 tells us Jesus is the only Potentate over the Church. 6 *And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:* see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. --- Nation in the Greek is ethnos, or "race". We definitely see race rising against race these days. Strangely enough, racial division is growing because Liberals are creating it while claiming to be for "unity, diversity, equity and inclusion". 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. ---This part comes very soon, after DJT is reinstalled in the White House as decided by the Roman Catholic Church. (Did you know all of the US's "elected" Presidents have been descended from "Holy Roman Emperor" Charlemagne via King John of England?) To "save the US/West from Liberal Marxism", the RCC will direct the US and UK to enforce religious laws derived from the Babylonian Talmud called the "Seven laws of Noah", thinking they are going to create the kingdom of God on earth by force. Three of the Seven Laws of Noah require a convicted person to have their heads removed from their bodies, with those laws being against blasphemy, idolatry and sexual immorality (B3stiality, Inc3st, H0m0s3xuality). Any person, such as myself, who worships Jesus as God will be labeled a blasphemer and idolator and then "deleted" in the manner I told you. The Vatican will soon deny that Jesus is God, telling people they must obey the Noah Laws if we are going to save society and become prosperous again. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. ---In John 16, Jesus warned the disciples that the time was coming when those who killed Christians would think they are doing God's will, and they should not be offended (that is, turn/fall away from faith in Him). Paul warned in 2 Thessalonians 2 that in the end times there would be a great falling away of the Church, meaning many people will turn away from faith in Him to follow religious laws. Paul warned in Galatians that anyone who relies on religious laws for salvation/earning God's Grace, is actually fallen from Grace and that Christ is of no effect to them. (Meaning they call themselves Christians in vain, with no effect.) Promised entitlements and benefits for turning away from Christ, and for turning in any Christians who refuse to deny the deity of Christ, many people betray one another and hate them, seeing them as immoral and unworthy to live, justifying their own greed. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. ---Many false prophets will tell people to turn away from Christ towards the Noah Laws. Many will tell people that if they support the Orange Man, God will bless them. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. ---Due to the promotion of immorality by Liberals (such as LGBTQ and abortion) many people who claim to love and serve God now hate Liberal and want to see them permanently dealt with. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. If you are in the US or UK, that is about all you need to look for. I say this because sometime after the US and UK become a Fascist regime, the Antichrist from Russia will destroy them both in a nuclear attack, most likely using the aptly named "Satan 2" ICBM with MIRV capabilities. From what I can find, the "Satan 2" is the most powerful nuclear device ever made, and the destruction caused by it would fulfill what is written in Revelation 17 and 18 on the destruction of the empire of the Roman Catholic Church, called "Mystery, Babylon the Great". If you are not in the US or UK, then you should know that there will still be bread instead of Soylent Green, but two loaves of it will cost you an entire day's pay, as stated in Revelation 6.
I bought my first camcorder just two days before my first CHILD was born. Recording onto VHS tapes, it was bulky and caused frequent arm cramps, as it was an ordeal to convert it from right-hand to left-hand use. But it did allow me to capture priceless moments in my kids' development as well as family events!
Had a Walkman in the 80’s. I walked my dog everyday for a couple miles. Then, in the 90’s got a Sony cd player to take and walk. Didn’t have any arcade games. I remember going to the doctor and they were checking their pagers. I got my first cellphone in 2003.
Coleco was definitely the leader in arcade graphics! So many of these things went way down in price after they were out a while and had competitors. The very last media device I bought was a VCR/DVD combo player! I think it might have been from The Good Guys before they closed down forever.
I remember when the Walkman was very popular, and at a certain point they no longer were. I bought a brand new Walkman for a present at Best Buy for $15 on the clearance shelf. All of a sudden they were yesterday’s news.
My dad found a small, black-and-white TV in a Dumpster at an apartment he managed at the time (1989). Dad being Dad, he took it inside and plugged it in. The thing worked fine, and he used it for quite a few years after to watch sports on in his office or workshop.
I remember the cost of an HP pocket computer cost $795 in the early 1980's. Those old cellphones were expensive to operate. They cost $1 per minute and if they were used in an area that was not included in your carrier's area, it could quadruple the cost per minute.
I remember my first “pocket “ calculator cost me about 200 dollars and it wouldn’t even fit in my pocket. 😢. (Life Alert devices are still available. Btw.)
Camcorders are still used by TV stations for recording news stories on site. I think the cameras they use in their studios are hardly bigger than a camcorder even though they are mounted on dollies and often operated by remote control.
I won a walkman in the early eighties in a sweepstakes. Used to listen to it on my commute. I got a Game Boy later on. Used to love playing it at night in bed.
RadioShack had a lot of unique gadgets in the 1980s, there was camcorders, Walkmans, remote controlled cars & robots, calculator watches, Tandy computers, they had a rebadged Sharp pocket computer! But my favorite gadget I wanted as a kid, was the Sony Watchman! Because watching cartoons on the go was really cool since I wouldn’t miss my cartoon shows in the car!
Unfortunately a great many cassettes did not last very long….I wish I had a nickel for every mangled one found at the side of the road or in parking lots.
I was an IT tech for decades. Even up to my retirement in 2008, I was required to carry a cell phone and a pager. My first cellphone was the Motorla "Brick". Limited range and even more limited battery time.
My aunt's neighbor. Embrace the VCR era. They bought two top-notch VCRs. Every movie they rented they made a copy of on top-notch tape. My aunt used to joke she has her own free video store next door😁
My mom had a friend who had a satellite dish and she recorded movies for us, my mom bought the blank VHS tapes of course. Recorded on the low quality to hold more movies, usually 3 but sometimes 4 per tape. I was the designated repair guy if the tape broke, pretty much a useless skill now.
@@busterkeaton1041 we did the same thing for our neighbors we had those black boxes for cable you are ordered out of that catalog from New Jersey that still exists use it your own discretion. They have every suspect products you could ever imagine.
The videotape and player were not really products of the 1980's, but that's when they finally came down in price enough for the average household to afford them. As a 17 year old in 1988, I was actually the one who bought my family's first VHS VCR and microwave. My dad had bought Betamax a few year earlier, but by then Beta was dead in the water.
I still have my Casio calculator watch in a drawer somewhere along with my Blockbuster video cards from all over the USA(4 CA, 2 NC, 1 TX, 1 KS). I never had a VHS rewinder though.
The clapper was a good idea, but it didn't work for everyone. My clapping wouldn't trigger it. My late father really loved his camcorder. I would have loved the mini arcade games. By the early 90s, regular people could be seen walking around sometimes with what looked like a huge over the shoulder bag. It was a "portable" phone with its own huge battery and carrying case.
The company I worked for got a TRS-80 sometime in the late '70s/early '80s ... I just couldn't see what good _that_ would ever be. Now, 50 years later, IT Manager and programmer for HALF A CENTURY, boy, was I wrong!
I still have mine also the green screen monitor my mother bought before she knew mine was the color one and tape drives printer phone cradle for the modem the old 5 and 3 inch floppies I bet it will still work .
Lmfao that's awesome. The TRS80 was my family's first home computer. I remember playing the cartridge type games for it (Battling dinosaurs,etc) and also doenloading and loading games via the 'cassette tape' storage format through a tape recorder attached to the computer! Great memory
Started a family in 1983. Wasn't rich enought to afford any of this stuff and worked all the time. Surpassed all this stuff by wide margins in the 90s.
A bit before the early cell phones, business people had car phones, which were actually radios. Although the CB radio was starting to lose its widespread popularity, it was and still is a device found in many trucks in North America. The home computer and video game consoles were must have gadgets back then.
I remember the giant cell phones but only briefly. I don't think they quite caught on at that time. Who knew cell phones would be our whole world today?🤔
Tesla did a hundred years ago. Steve Austin had a car phone and you may see one in old black and white movies although it was more a private radio connection that connected to a landline switch board. Today your cellphone is still using hard wired land cables. Peace Peace
When I was growing up we never had a VCR due to the cost if we wanted to rent a movie we also had to rent a vcr to watch the movie I didn't get my first vcr until the early 90's and I bought a hifi vcr and it sounded amazing with my sound system that included a graphic EQ that I still have to this day. Sadly the vcr is long gone. I had the armitron when I was in high school.
I don't know whether they were from the 80s or 90s, but my dad had a Motorola car phone, and he bought the same one for my mom's car too. I now have them in a box. The dialing keys/buttons are on the back of the handsets. Oh, and my dad had a VHS camcorder, and also a Hi-8 camcorder. We have a few of those Hi-8 tapes, but no player to play them.
I still have my Coleco Tabletop Donkey Kong & Frogger. They are both in good condition cos I didn’t take them anywhere like many kids did. I forgot about the Clapper! Loved your video!
Forgot the Casio Watch that you could program to control any TV based on a list of Code, then you could change the channel or Volume. I had one and drove my Teacher crazy with it 🤫
Life Alert is still around, as are competing providers for the same service. I've done installations for life alert customers, and while the ads were cheesy, the actual product and service is one I'd recommend for people wanting to extend their independence. it was a user simple way for a person to reach a live operator, who could then often give an emergency dispatcher a concise explanation of the problem. what the ads didn't show is that the life alert system involved a remote controlled speakerphone that the life alert operators could adjust the microphone high enough to hear a gnat hiccup on the other side of the house. so yes, they could hear her say "I've fallen and I can't get up"
I had a Casio calculator watch and a pager. All set for any business opportunity. I was born in 1951, so in the 1980's the toys were not my main attraction unless they were for young girls, as my daughter was born in 1978
I have a moden-day Clapper. My bedroom la.p is across the room, and I don't feel like stumbling to bed in the dark. Yes, they still exist, and you can come up with a clap pattern to suit yourself.
My teacher @ Leilehua High, said to us to buy stereos. To help us party. I got a General Electric portable AM/FM stereo. I got a portable Sears cassette player. I did not mind @ all that it did not have a rewind button. I got a Sears boombox, that I listened to Sally Jesse Raphael as I went to sleep.
Armatron - A few years ago, I found one of these in the trash, along with all the accessories. I brought it home, but never got around to trying it. I'm kind of a hoarder and bring home all sorts of stuff. Then a minor emergency necessitated a rush cleaning and all sorts of stuff got tossed, including the Armatron. I still regret that decision. :(
In 1982, I bought a digital watch with a built in AM radio. I was absolutely amazed. In 1985, I bought a credit-card FM Radio. Today, I’m wearing a smart phone on my wrist. What a time to have lived, to see so much change in technology.
I had a friend in school whose parents divorced. So his dad was always trying to buy his love, and got my friend a casio calculator watch, and one of thise mini arcade ms. Pac man games (among many other tech toys). I think he would have rather had both parents together, though. I always felt sorry for him. He was a nice kid. I wish I knew how he was doing these days. Ah, memories, when you get old.
Home Computers. They may have opened up on the market in 1977, but America wasn't buying into it until the 80's. And by 1990 most of American households had a personal PC. Speak and Spell, GameBoy, Simon, Epsons color pocket TV/radio, and digital cameras were making their way into the gadget crowd.
I had a toy called big tracks. It was a tank that you had to program to make it move, turn, reverse and fire a “cannon”. Taught me about programming and entering commands. Later, in Xmas of ‘86, I got a Toshiba portable CD player. No one else I know of in high school had one. It was a bulky thing. Had to sling it over the shoulder when walking the dog. One had to attach a battery module that held nine C batteries or an AC adaptive that put the player at an angle. Even had a remote control. I used that thing til it broke. Got it fixed and used it until it broke and wasn’t fixable. Lasted much longer than the Sony diskman. And it skipped a lot less than the sony that replaced it lots of years later.
We never had those bulky cellphones, but we did have cordless telephones that were pretty cool at the time and as a young teenager, you could be on the phone in privacy without tripping someone with a stretched coiled phone cord.
I bought a cheap lightbox from Amazon to view my old photo negatives with, AND I took pictures of them in highest quality RAW 'dng' format from my mobile phone, then I converted them to positive images with Adobe Lightbox, which was super easy. I also was able to add colour filters and remove any marks on them. Very cheap and very effective! I also have a Sony dvd recorder for converting old TV recordings to dvd which I can then convert to mp4 files.
Getting a big hifi system was something I aspired to but never got around to becuase it was surplanted with bluetooth speakers that you hooked up to a device instead, its something I would still get but my unit it limited in space.
Pulsar was among the first out with a Calculator watch in the mid 70's i remember the ads for the watch in popular mechanics magazine and that they were very expensive costing thousands of dollars Casio was probably the first to put an affordable version on the market.
What was your all-time favorite gadget from the 1980s? I'm sure I missed some, so let me hear it in the comments and maybe I will put together another video. Thanks everyone!
Thank you for all the hard work you do on these videos to allow us awesome nostalgia! You're awesome! 💯❤
1:00 The clapper was great for doggy style sex, it's like you were in a rave lights on lights off lights online lights off
The Walkman was my favorite gadget! Wish I still had it!
Coleco's Adam computer. Was completely fascinated by the high speed cassettes that were used for video games. Used to remember ToysRUs having dozens of those video games.
Definitely the Walkman! ❤
Old guy here. Regarding the Sony Walkman, I worked in the summer for a cop who had a lawn cutting business. I was cutting grass on a riding mower in front of a Denny's restaurant in a ditch and the thing flipped over. I had my Walkman's on too. I ended up fine and once I found the Walkman on the other side of the ditch, I figured it was toast. Nope. Still worked perfectly even with a huge gouge in the side. So impressed I sent a letter to Sony bragging on how well their thing must have been made and they sent me a brand new one and thanked me for the letter. Too bad companies don't act like that anymore.
I used to skateboard while wearing my walkman and that thing fell off and smacked hard onto the pavement at least 20x. It was completed gouged up but played perfectly for years.
Now they build things to break and wear out on schedule because the corporate beast always needs MOAR! One day it's all going to come crashing down as nothing can avoid gravity forever.
You might be surprised if you actually sent a handwritten letter to them instead of an email. Companies do appreciate such efforts.
My parents got me a knockoff of the Walkman. The speed of the songs near the end of the cassette tapes would be off. I'd flip the cassette over and the speed would be normal.
This reminded me of someone I'd forgotten: the lady from the "help I've fallen" commercial was a supermarket checker in our small town. My elderly mother was so proud to know someone "famous"
That's really cool. 😊
Where's the beef?!
"Let Mikey eat it. Mikey likes everything. lol
@@josephhaddakin7095yep picky he will eat it, he will eat anything 😂❤
Reminds me of a joke we used to tell in 3rd grade: What did the old lady on the Space Shuttle say? "Help! I've fallen up and I can't get down!"
I'm 59 and in there were a whole lot of gadgets back in the 80's that I had and some i didn't have because I couldn't afford them but thanks for the great memories of the past.🇺🇲📺📻🇺🇲
I'll be 58 in October. I couldn't afford them, either. Too lazy to work and get a job at the time. Totally spoiled. 😊
Never had one of those clappers but remember the commercials by heart .
LoL 😂 I remember too!
"I can't believe I ate the whole thing."-AlkaSeltzer
The problem with the Clapper was that they would be set off when you didn't it to. When your favorite sports team scored and someone clapped it would be set off.
My family gave me one of those Radio Shack fireman's hats because as a programmer and technician I often put-out technical "fires." So when somone would call me to their cube with a computer problem, I would put the hat on all its flashing-screaming glory. It was a BIG hit! 😂
The 80's were quite a time for new products. Now all we have is the next new phone to look forward to. I never really thought of that until just now.
Yes. It's sad.
Fear not, VR goggles are being perfected so we can all sit in our cubes eating Soylent Green til it's time to meet our Maker.
@@wordup897 Soylent Green. Made by people, from people, for people. Get your new BBQ flavour now!
We topped out in mid 2000.... From our mental health all the way down to our cool gadgets.
@@wordup897
Matthew 24:37-42
37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
---As we can see, food is still being produced and people are still working.
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
What should you watch for? Jesus tells us earlier in the same chapter.
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
---To date, there have been 266 Popes who have come in the name of Christ, calling themselves the "Vicar of Christ" (Vicar meaning "substitute, or "in the person of"), Potentate (sovereign) over the Church. 1 Timothy 6:14-16 tells us Jesus is the only Potentate over the Church.
6 *And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:* see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
--- Nation in the Greek is ethnos, or "race". We definitely see race rising against race these days. Strangely enough, racial division is growing because Liberals are creating it while claiming to be for "unity, diversity, equity and inclusion".
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
---This part comes very soon, after DJT is reinstalled in the White House as decided by the Roman Catholic Church. (Did you know all of the US's "elected" Presidents have been descended from "Holy Roman Emperor" Charlemagne via King John of England?) To "save the US/West from Liberal Marxism", the RCC will direct the US and UK to enforce religious laws derived from the Babylonian Talmud called the "Seven laws of Noah", thinking they are going to create the kingdom of God on earth by force.
Three of the Seven Laws of Noah require a convicted person to have their heads removed from their bodies, with those laws being against blasphemy, idolatry and sexual immorality (B3stiality, Inc3st, H0m0s3xuality). Any person, such as myself, who worships Jesus as God will be labeled a blasphemer and idolator and then "deleted" in the manner I told you.
The Vatican will soon deny that Jesus is God, telling people they must obey the Noah Laws if we are going to save society and become prosperous again.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
---In John 16, Jesus warned the disciples that the time was coming when those who killed Christians would think they are doing God's will, and they should not be offended (that is, turn/fall away from faith in Him). Paul warned in 2 Thessalonians 2 that in the end times there would be a great falling away of the Church, meaning many people will turn away from faith in Him to follow religious laws. Paul warned in Galatians that anyone who relies on religious laws for salvation/earning God's Grace, is actually fallen from Grace and that Christ is of no effect to them. (Meaning they call themselves Christians in vain, with no effect.)
Promised entitlements and benefits for turning away from Christ, and for turning in any Christians who refuse to deny the deity of Christ, many people betray one another and hate them, seeing them as immoral and unworthy to live, justifying their own greed.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
---Many false prophets will tell people to turn away from Christ towards the Noah Laws. Many will tell people that if they support the Orange Man, God will bless them.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
---Due to the promotion of immorality by Liberals (such as LGBTQ and abortion) many people who claim to love and serve God now hate Liberal and want to see them permanently dealt with.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
If you are in the US or UK, that is about all you need to look for.
I say this because sometime after the US and UK become a Fascist regime, the Antichrist from Russia will destroy them both in a nuclear attack, most likely using the aptly named "Satan 2" ICBM with MIRV capabilities. From what I can find, the "Satan 2" is the most powerful nuclear device ever made, and the destruction caused by it would fulfill what is written in Revelation 17 and 18 on the destruction of the empire of the Roman Catholic Church, called "Mystery, Babylon the Great".
If you are not in the US or UK, then you should know that there will still be bread instead of Soylent Green, but two loaves of it will cost you an entire day's pay, as stated in Revelation 6.
I bought my first camcorder just two days before my first CHILD was born. Recording onto VHS tapes, it was bulky and caused frequent arm cramps, as it was an ordeal to convert it from right-hand to left-hand use. But it did allow me to capture priceless moments in my kids' development as well as family events!
Remember BETA video? It went away faster than vhs! 😊
Had a Walkman in the 80’s. I walked my dog everyday for a couple miles. Then, in the 90’s got a Sony cd player to take and walk. Didn’t have any arcade games. I remember going to the doctor and they were checking their pagers. I got my first cellphone in 2003.
What a great time to be a teenager in the 80'sThings will NEVER be the sameROCK ON!!!!!!!🤘🏻🤙🏻✌🏻
🤟
We had the best time- didn't we? 😊
@@oreally8605 Absolutely!! I wish I could go back! Best times ever!!👍❤️
Rock On, was actually from the '70s. David Essex Rock On was a GREAT song in my youth.
@@thelittlegreenball6813actually the 70s were better overall👍🇺🇲🇺🇲👍
9:00 It really is a shame Radio Shack went away.
Now Fryes is gone too. And Electronic City.
Circuit City. I bought a car stereo for my brand new 91 jeep Cherokee.
Thank u for this simpler times history channel
This narrator's voice is the most soothing and perfect of all these nostalgia channels. Comfort. Relaxation. Memories. Great job.
Coleco was definitely the leader in arcade graphics! So many of these things went way down in price after they were out a while and had competitors. The very last media device I bought was a VCR/DVD combo player! I think it might have been from The Good Guys before they closed down forever.
I'm going with something at the end of the decade. I was serving for Uncle Sam overseas when I bought a laser disc player.
Thank you for your service! 😊
@@oreally8605 my pleasure!
“Batteries not included”. I haven’t heard that phrase is years!!! Good times!!
You ever see the movie?
"Casio" reminds me of John Candy's character in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles!" 😂😅
I have $2 and a nice Casio watch. 😂
I remember when the Walkman was very popular, and at a certain point they no longer were. I bought a brand new Walkman for a present at Best Buy for $15 on the clearance shelf. All of a sudden they were yesterday’s news.
I got my first color tv in the 80s. A used portable one.✊😁
My dad found a small, black-and-white TV in a Dumpster at an apartment he managed at the time (1989). Dad being Dad, he took it inside and plugged it in. The thing worked fine, and he used it for quite a few years after to watch sports on in his office or workshop.
I had one too...used it for after school detention.
I remember the cost of an HP pocket computer cost $795 in the early 1980's.
Those old cellphones were expensive to operate. They cost $1 per minute and if they were used in an area that was not included in your carrier's area, it could quadruple the cost per minute.
I remember "roaming"
I remember my first “pocket “ calculator cost me about 200 dollars and it wouldn’t even fit in my pocket. 😢. (Life Alert devices are still available. Btw.)
Camcorders are still used by TV stations for recording news stories on site. I think the cameras they use in their studios are hardly bigger than a camcorder even though they are mounted on dollies and often operated by remote control.
I won a walkman in the early eighties in a sweepstakes. Used to listen to it on my commute. I got a Game Boy later on. Used to love playing it at night in bed.
As a kid, I thought Duck Hunt was the absolute height of technology. And then my cousin got a Power Pad with the track meet game!
This channel ROCKS!👍🤗✌️
RadioShack had a lot of unique gadgets in the 1980s, there was camcorders, Walkmans, remote controlled cars & robots, calculator watches, Tandy computers, they had a rebadged Sharp pocket computer! But my favorite gadget I wanted as a kid, was the Sony Watchman! Because watching cartoons on the go was really cool since I wouldn’t miss my cartoon shows in the car!
I still own two perfectly working Sony Walkmans and I have many cassette to play in them.
Me too!👍✌️
mine recently died
Things from those days still lasted, didn't they.
@@starmnsixty1209 They most definitely did. Anything that you buy today, especially in electronics., you would be lucky if it lasts over a year. Lol
Unfortunately a great many cassettes did not last very long….I wish I had a nickel for every mangled one found at the side of the road or in parking lots.
omg 0:23 I had the pacman and donkey kong. Man good times.
I pretty much wore my Pac Man out
I was an IT tech for decades. Even up to my retirement in 2008, I was required to carry a cell phone and a pager. My first cellphone was the Motorla "Brick". Limited range and even more limited battery time.
My aunt's neighbor. Embrace the VCR era. They bought two top-notch VCRs. Every movie they rented they made a copy of on top-notch tape. My aunt used to joke she has her own free video store next door😁
Bootleg Granny ... Breakin the law, Breakin the law!!!
@@wordup897 😁 video pirates in the highest regard😁
My mom had a friend who had a satellite dish and she recorded movies for us, my mom bought the blank VHS tapes of course. Recorded on the low quality to hold more movies, usually 3 but sometimes 4 per tape. I was the designated repair guy if the tape broke, pretty much a useless skill now.
@@busterkeaton1041 we did the same thing for our neighbors we had those black boxes for cable you are ordered out of that catalog from New Jersey that still exists use it your own discretion. They have every suspect products you could ever imagine.
I had a Walkman. However, my dream gadget was the Discman.
I got my first cell phone in 1989; it was my last year in high school and no one could believe what it was. This cell phone was a Nokia.
Tom Sisson
The videotape and player were not really products of the 1980's, but that's when they finally came down in price enough for the average household to afford them. As a 17 year old in 1988, I was actually the one who bought my family's first VHS VCR and microwave. My dad had bought Betamax a few year earlier, but by then Beta was dead in the water.
Sony showed off a prototype of their Betamax VCR at the 1965 New York World's Fair. It was just a proof of concept at the time.
I remember all of these. What is wild is that our iPhones and Android phones handle all these tasks and more! And it fits in our pocket!
I still have my Casio calculator watch in a drawer somewhere along with my Blockbuster video cards from all over the USA(4 CA, 2 NC, 1 TX, 1 KS). I never had a VHS rewinder though.
The clapper was a good idea, but it didn't work for everyone. My clapping wouldn't trigger it. My late father really loved his camcorder. I would have loved the mini arcade games. By the early 90s, regular people could be seen walking around sometimes with what looked like a huge over the shoulder bag. It was a "portable" phone with its own huge battery and carrying case.
Don't forget Toshiba's version of the walkman. That's the one I got one year for Christmas. I was in high school.
A battery powered miniature t.v. loved watching different stations while traveling.
Thank you very much for this video,,, ❤❤👍👍❤❤👌👌❤❤
I wanted a boom box. And a big screen TV.
I have a clapper in my classroom for a lamp next to my desk. The kids (16+ years old) think it is so fun to turn on and off! 😅
Had to have the Sony Walkman. Never got one. 😊 always used my Dad & Mom's cassette player. Before that my grandmother's Reel-to-reel.
Still have my Walkman
Imagine being one of the people at 1:24 “so what are you watching?”
Tom Sisson
In the 1980s, the Radio Shack Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer came out
Radio Shack!!!!! Spent many hours at those stores. Gone now. 😊
The company I worked for got a TRS-80 sometime in the late '70s/early '80s ... I just couldn't see what good _that_ would ever be.
Now, 50 years later, IT Manager and programmer for HALF A CENTURY, boy, was I wrong!
and TI 99
I still have mine also the green screen monitor my mother bought before she knew mine was the color one and tape drives printer phone cradle for the modem the old 5 and 3 inch floppies I bet it will still work .
Lmfao that's awesome. The TRS80 was my family's first home computer. I remember playing the cartridge type games for it (Battling dinosaurs,etc) and also doenloading and loading games via the 'cassette tape' storage format through a tape recorder attached to the computer! Great memory
Started a family in 1983. Wasn't rich enought to afford any of this stuff and worked all the time. Surpassed all this stuff by wide margins in the 90s.
Oh, if only Radio Shack were still around! 😞
I love seeing the brand names of all the VHS tapes. Curtis Mathes. WOW.
I had both Armatron and Big Track.
A bit before the early cell phones, business people had car phones, which were actually radios. Although the CB radio was starting to lose its widespread popularity, it was and still is a device found in many trucks in North America. The home computer and video game consoles were must have gadgets back then.
I remember the giant cell phones but only briefly. I don't think they quite caught on at that time. Who knew cell phones would be our whole world today?🤔
there was an article in the orange county register in 1989 that said evertone will have their own phone #. I worked at AT and T at the time.
Tesla did a hundred years ago. Steve Austin had a car phone and you may see one in old black and white movies although it was more a private radio connection that connected to a landline switch board. Today your cellphone is still using hard wired land cables.
Peace
Peace
When I was growing up we never had a VCR due to the cost if we wanted to rent a movie we also had to rent a vcr to watch the movie I didn't get my first vcr until the early 90's and I bought a hifi vcr and it sounded amazing with my sound system that included a graphic EQ that I still have to this day. Sadly the vcr is long gone. I had the armitron when I was in high school.
Thank you !!!
I had an Amatran when I was kid in the '80s.
I remember so many of these!
I don't know whether they were from the 80s or 90s, but my dad had a Motorola car phone, and he bought the same one for my mom's car too. I now have them in a box. The dialing keys/buttons are on the back of the handsets.
Oh, and my dad had a VHS camcorder, and also a Hi-8 camcorder. We have a few of those Hi-8 tapes, but no player to play them.
Awwww blockbuster many happy memories hours spent in store fighting with siblings over movie choices😊
I still have my Coleco Tabletop Donkey Kong & Frogger.
They are both in good condition cos I didn’t take them anywhere like many kids did.
I forgot about the Clapper!
Loved your video!
Forgot the Casio Watch that you could program to control any TV based on a list of Code, then you could change the channel or Volume. I had one and drove my Teacher crazy with it 🤫
They had a comedy song about Mrs. Fletcher the woman who made the phrase "I've fallen and I can't get up" on the Dr. Demento radio show.
Life Alert is still around, as are competing providers for the same service. I've done installations for life alert customers, and while the ads were cheesy, the actual product and service is one I'd recommend for people wanting to extend their independence. it was a user simple way for a person to reach a live operator, who could then often give an emergency dispatcher a concise explanation of the problem. what the ads didn't show is that the life alert system involved a remote controlled speakerphone that the life alert operators could adjust the microphone high enough to hear a gnat hiccup on the other side of the house. so yes, they could hear her say "I've fallen and I can't get up"
Gadgets everyone remembers and actually owned. Hell, I still have half this stuff.
I had a huge paper route in the early 80's so I bought my own walkman. Used the you know what out of it.
By the late '80s and early '90s, few luxury cars has car phones
they were in suitcases. a friend had one and my bro in law
I had a Casio calculator watch and a pager. All set for any business opportunity. I was born in 1951, so in the 1980's the toys were not my main attraction unless they were for young girls, as my daughter was born in 1978
Years ago kids made ashtrays for Christmas gifts. As a kid we made potholders too. Just a couple of ideas maybe for a future video.
I have a moden-day Clapper. My bedroom la.p is across the room, and I don't feel like stumbling to bed in the dark. Yes, they still exist, and you can come up with a clap pattern to suit yourself.
Freddy Solomon had that calculator watch in 6th grade. It might as well have been a talking rocket bike.
My teacher @ Leilehua High, said to us to buy stereos. To help us party. I got a General Electric portable AM/FM stereo. I got a portable Sears cassette player. I did not mind @ all that it did not have a rewind button. I got a Sears boombox, that I listened to Sally Jesse Raphael as I went to sleep.
Armatron - A few years ago, I found one of these in the trash, along with all the accessories. I brought it home, but never got around to trying it. I'm kind of a hoarder and bring home all sorts of stuff. Then a minor emergency necessitated a rush cleaning and all sorts of stuff got tossed, including the Armatron. I still regret that decision. :(
In 1982, I bought a digital watch with a built in AM radio. I was absolutely amazed.
In 1985, I bought a credit-card FM Radio.
Today, I’m wearing a smart phone on my wrist.
What a time to have lived, to see so much change in technology.
Nice picture of Bob Sirott lol😂
I had a friend in school whose parents divorced. So his dad was always trying to buy his love, and got my friend a casio calculator watch, and one of thise mini arcade ms. Pac man games (among many other tech toys). I think he would have rather had both parents together, though. I always felt sorry for him. He was a nice kid. I wish I knew how he was doing these days. Ah, memories, when you get old.
7:06 I still have my Motorola pager.
I'm so very much a gadget person.
That stupid clapper jingle is still in my head! Augh!
The Clapper was cool. Not the Clap, the Clapper.
😂😂😂😂😂
And If you were into kinky fun made sure to unplug it !!! spanking play turned your bedroom into a disco LOL
Pagers were a PITA. Almost always, the call could wait.
I threw mine against the wall at 2:00 a.m. when the ex-girlfriend kept paging me. Never got another one.
I have a Sony Walkman
Home Computers. They may have opened up on the market in 1977, but America wasn't buying into it until the 80's. And by 1990 most of American households had a personal PC.
Speak and Spell, GameBoy, Simon, Epsons color pocket TV/radio, and digital cameras were making their way into the gadget crowd.
My family was Super 8 video all the way.
The thermometer watch was a good one.
Awesome video 😎
They did that Armatron kid dirty, he looks like Blaster from Thunderdome. Looks like a nice kid on his official scientist badge.
I remeber v h s tapes but I gave away my double v h s /dvd player and bought a blu-ray player when DVDs and blu-rays cameout
I had a toy called big tracks. It was a tank that you had to program to make it move, turn, reverse and fire a “cannon”. Taught me about programming and entering commands.
Later, in Xmas of ‘86, I got a Toshiba portable CD player. No one else I know of in high school had one. It was a bulky thing. Had to sling it over the shoulder when walking the dog. One had to attach a battery module that held nine C batteries or an AC adaptive that put the player at an angle. Even had a remote control. I used that thing til it broke. Got it fixed and used it until it broke and wasn’t fixable. Lasted much longer than the Sony diskman. And it skipped a lot less than the sony that replaced it lots of years later.
I bought a calculator watch back in the eighties at Zayre’s!!! That thing was so cool!!! All the ladies loved it too!!! (Well, not really lol)
The first time I saw a kid, with the calculator watch. I thought it was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life.... I wanted one so bad.
I had that exact Casio watch it help me pass a lot of math classes😁
My boyfriend in 8th grade had one and he always let me wear it when it was time to take a math test. We weren't allowed to use a calculator. Ha ha. 😅
@@jenniferhansen3622 those teachers were so ignorant it's like they didn't watch television😁
We never had those bulky cellphones, but we did have cordless telephones that were pretty cool at the time and as a young teenager, you could be on the phone in privacy without tripping someone with a stretched coiled phone cord.
I bought a cheap lightbox from Amazon to view my old photo negatives with, AND I took pictures of them in highest quality RAW 'dng' format from my mobile phone, then I converted them to positive images with Adobe Lightbox, which was super easy. I also was able to add colour filters and remove any marks on them. Very cheap and very effective!
I also have a Sony dvd recorder for converting old TV recordings to dvd which I can then convert to mp4 files.
Getting a big hifi system was something I aspired to but never got around to becuase it was surplanted with bluetooth speakers that you hooked up to a device instead, its something I would still get but my unit it limited in space.
Walkmans were great, but ate the hell out of AA batteries..lol
I and my daughter loved Intellivision. She learned Math and Spelling without she knew she was learning anything!
By the end of the 80's they were giving Casio watches away with a fill up at a gas station.
I know they still make them, but I always wanted one of those wall sized Swatch watches
Pulsar was among the first out with a Calculator watch in the mid 70's i remember the ads for the watch in popular mechanics magazine and that they were very expensive costing thousands of dollars Casio was probably the first to put an affordable version on the market.
I love this channel!!!!
You showed Marty McFly with his Walkman, but you missed showing him with his camcorder.
It was a JVC my mom had one !!!
My Dad had a car phone that big in the 1960s. Now his daughter HATES smart phones.(i do like my de-googled phone though)
I had the RC cars that you needed to go in reverse in order to change direction. I hated that
"Wall Street " was the 1st film to to use a cell phone.
I still use analog radio