The $12 flea market radio that outlasted my $300 receiver

Last spring I grabbed this crusty old AM/FM from a booth in Austin for $12 just to mess with a buddy. My fancy receiver died after 2 power surges, but this plastic brick still pulls in stations clear as day. I was sure it was junk, but now it's my main garage unit and I barely touch the expensive one. The meter on it is busted and the dial sticks around 88.5, but honestly that adds character. Anyone else have a cheap thing that became your daily driver by accident?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

garcia.tyler1mo ago

Buddy's 20 year old boom box survived a flood that killed his whole setup. Sometimes cheap just wins.

5

oscar7431mo ago

Did the power surges take out both of them or did the cheap one just never get hit because it was plugged in somewhere else? Because that would change the whole story for me. Surge protectors are supposed to handle that stuff but half the time they dont do a damn thing anyway. The real question is what was different about how you had each one hooked up. If the $12 radio was on the same strip and survived that says something wild about build quality, but if it was on a separate circuit thats just luck of the draw. I had a $20 clock radio from Walmart that took a direct lightning hit through the antenna and kept going, my dad still uses it to this day.

1