I was reading an article on the demise of big-box stores and was surprised by this quote
I can’t believe that this quote is true. I can’t think of anything I own that I’ve replaced in three years. I can’t think of anything in my house that I’ve replaced after only five years either. My TVs have always been a twenty year purchase. How far off am I from the norm?
In the past 25 years I’ve owned 4 tvs, so that’s a little over every 6 years. I bet you’re far off the norm.
My TV is a CRT. I’ll replace it when it breaks. I use my PC (with it’s more modern monitor) to watch Blu-rays, though.
My main T.V. was purchased in 1996. My bedroom T.V. was purchased in 2001. I’m fairly certain that they are only the second of each that I’ve owned since 1985.
I will agree that I now do a good portion of my T.V. viewing on my computer. I’m not sure how important replacing the T.V.s, especially the bedroom T.V. (which doesn’t have cable and is used solely for DVD viewing) will be when the time comes.
One common pattern is to move the 30-inch TV from the living room to the rec room and purchase a 50-inch instead. So the 30-inch TV has been the “main” TV for only a few years before being replaced, but it hasn’t been thrown away.
If you still own and regularly use a CRT, please throw it away. The extra cost of electricity used to power the thing will quickly eclipse the cost of a flat screen.
My main TV was inherited 6 years ago, and it was purchased 2 years before that for a family member. Our other TV is also 8 years old. I bought a TV about 5 years ago, which died and I replaced it with one I picked up for free.
So… I am not “upgrading my main TV” every 3-5 years, since I’ve had the same one for 6 years. But I have purchased 2 new TVs in 8 years (4 years on average), and I have acquired 2 additional TVs in 8 years through methods other than purchasing.
I think your math is off. This report says that the power consumption is not significantly different. That’s from 2006, though. A more recent 2010 article says that LCD saves about $20/year over CRT.
If I pay $1000 for the new TV, that’s 50 years to pay back the difference.
So the few of us who play retro console on the TVs that were made for them should be thrown away? :smack:
when my current TV no longer works
Well, 20 years is a long time. But as far as TV purchases, I’ve made 3 in my lifetime:
A 13" CRT television for my dorm room when I was 20.
A 34" CRT television for my first post-college appartment when I was 24
And a 50" HDTV when I was about 33 (6 years ago).
I don’t really plan to get a new one until the 50" burns out or maybe I get a house and get an even bigger TV for the family room.
i read somewhere sometime ago that electronics like tv are designed for a 6 year lifetime. so they will die somewhere between just after the warranty expires and a decade or so later.
Since the OP is asking about personal experiences, this is best suited to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
My television is 15 years old now - I bought it with money from my grandmother, around January of 1997. Wow.
And yes, it’s a CRT.
I bought a 27" CRT in 1995 or so to replace an older TV that I don’t remember how I got. It might have belonged to my then wife originally. It was so nice to have a nice big TV. I finally replaced it in 2011 with a 55" LED-LCD.
This is basically what I do - move the living room TV to the basement and get a newer one for the living room. I get a new TV for the living room about every 7 or 8 years, but i keep each TV for about 15 years.
My last television purchase was in 1992. It died in 2004 and I haven’t replaced it.
I’ve never bought a TV, though I’ve always lived with access to a TV owned by someone else.
Let’s see… I was given a TV by my grandparents when I was 10, used it all the way until I was in college. I bought a TV for my mom when I was in college, but then she ended up moving into a small mobile home where the TV wouldn’t fit, so I asked if I could “borrow” and she gave it to me. So, yes I bought that TV, but at the time I bought it, it wasn’t intended for me. Not sure if you’d count that.
Eventually I bought my first outright tv for myself, with the intent to keep it for myself, for the first time last year! I ended up using that as my computer monitor though, so I got a new bigger tv just last month.
I don’t expect to buy another TV for possibly 20 years, if they’ll last that long!
Somewhere around '74, bought a used B&W set from the neighborhood Zenith dealer for $20. He sold Zenith sets out of his house and worked on all brands. He cut me a deal since I worked for him by helping him deliver the sets he sold.
'75 or so, I bought a 9" black and white set for about thirty bucks from Kmart.
'84, inherited my grandma’s 13" color set.
'88, bought a 19" color Sony set. Still have it.
2005ish, got a 25" CRT Magnavox. Still have it.
Last year sometime, got a 42" LCD set.
I also have a 5" B&W portable TV/AM-FM radio set I found at a yard sale for $3, and a 2.1" Optimus pocket color TV I got dirt cheap when Radio Shack switched to RCA stuff.