Goodbye Heathkit

[reidw]

Sad News. My Heathkit digital clock is still working. In the beginning their kits were often cheaper than the same type of product bought assembled. Over time that changed mainly thanks to solid state electronics and a ridiculous cross border markup that made the cost in Canada almost double the US price.

Their instruction manuals were models of clarity. Almost anyone could assemble their products. Knowlede of electronics was unnecessary. They even taught good soldering skills. In fact I once heard a comment that the worst problems were experienced by people with some knowledge of electric/electronics. The guiding principle in their manuals was to follow the instructions step by step without any questions or deviations. There were never any explanations of what you were doing. The problem for those who might have some knowledge was that they would think that they knew better or had a quicker way to do it and that often led to their problems. Fortunately Heathkit had staff on call to help any caller figure out what was wrong and how to fix it.

Thanks for giving me this chance to be nostalgic.

(Yipe! I see I've made 2005 posts at DHC. I gotta find something else to do. Just kidding!)