Estate Sale Finds in 2010!

[Jeffhs]

I had a Zenith 12" solid-state b&w portable TV that lasted 22 years (I bought it new in 1978), and was still going strong with a bright, sharp picture when I got rid of it ten years ago. I don't know who made the CRT but it must have been a good brand, to last that long. This TV was not American-made, either, the Zenith branding on the front panel notwithstanding; the set was made in Mexico. The TV this portable replaced was also a Zenith (trash find), a 1969 SC300, "The Ventura". That set also had a very strong CRT which was still making a great picture when I got rid of it in late '78. Again, I don't know who made the CRT in this set; obviously, however, it wasn't some offshore entity since the tube was still going strong after nine years, and Zenith had not yet started installing short-lived tubes in their TVs at this time. My best guess is that the CRT in my set was probably made by a reputable American manufacturer such as Rauland.

BTW, my RCA CTC185 XL100 color set was bought new in 1999 and still has its original CRT, which still makes an excellent, bright, sharp picture. My Zenith Sentry 2 has 14 years on it; it has its original tube as well, which still gives an excellent picture. This pleases and amazes me at the same time, because 1995 was within the time frame during which Zenith was having the devil of a time with defective CRTs in its televisions; the tubes would short within a year or two and destroy the video amplifiers (or worse) in no time flat.

I must have gotten a good tube (by the luck of the draw, no doubt) in my set, as it has given me no trouble whatsoever in the 14 years I've had the TV. Of course, the fact that this set doesn't get much use anymore probably has a lot to do with the long life of the tube; I only used the TV as a daily watcher for four years in the late '90s, then put it in my bedroom and more or less forgot about it. The set is used nowadays only as a backup to the RCA and for cross-checking in the event of cable trouble; however, I do turn it on occasionally to test it, and the last time I did so it was still going as strong as when the set was new.