If you are a certain age, you doubtlessly remember Heathkit. They produced a wide array of electronic kits that were models of completeness and clear instructions. They started with surplus war parts in 1947 and wound up a major player in ham radio and early personal computers. But they made so many other things like TVs, radio control planes, and test equipment. All of it was made for you to build yourself. [Unseen History] released a video with the story of Heathkit from the start to the finish.
The company started out building kit airplanes, but after the war, they built a kit for an oscilloscope using military surplus. The less than $40 scope was still pricey in 1947 when a pound of bacon sold for 64 cents. But a “real” oscilloscope at the time would cost at least $400. The rest is history.
The Heathkit manuals were made simple enough that anyone could build a kit. But they also contained enough detail that you could truly understand what you built. Heathkit gear is still prized today.
Heathkit lost the kit business when Zenith bought the company, partly due to inattention and partly because fewer people cared about electronic kits. This was hastened by a drop in interest and to the availability of inexpensive electronics that you didn’t have to build. The company limped along with educational materials and home automation. By 2012, it was done. At its peak, the company employed over 1,800 people, and by the end, there were six people who lost their jobs.
We’ve covered Heathkit’s history before. Heathkit appears to have rebooted in some form, but we don’t know much about it.
I do grieve the loss of Heathkit and inability for a modern company to do even 1/10 of what they rolled out.
Anyone else tired of kludging together boards and modules, endless sourcing an enclosure etc. all the while a decent kit with everything looked after pays for the time it saves you. I still think there’s a market for COMPLETE kits (not a PC board and parts).
But I would say part of their demise mid 80’s was crazy growth: Heath/Zenith Computer Centers, classroom training courses, lots more as if they were Tandy/Radio Shack.
Heathkit was doing too many big ticket kits – color TV’s, personal computing H89 and the Hero 2000 robot $2,000 in 1986 is $6,000 in today’s dollars! Then add the arm, some ROM/RAM etc. – ain’t nobody that rich.
It’s an incredible amount of design-time to come up with those and support them, and they didn’t sell because of the high price. I see that as a cash burner for the company, the dev costs are never recouped.
https://archive.org/details/heath-catalog-spring-summer-1986
“Hero 2000 robot $2,000 in 1986 is $6,000 in today’s dollars! Then add the arm, some ROM/RAM etc. – ain’t nobody that rich.’
14th bday 1988 with arm and remote. My parents didnt understand why i was disappointed that they spent extra for the factory assembled model.
My 10th bday I got a Topo II,
Some of us were that rich.
yes, I think the point OP was trying to make is, perhaps, that the market wasn’t large enough to sustain those big-ticket kits, although it would take a look at the books to really determine that. Although in this age we can ask AIs, and one of the answers that surprised me was the “Integrated circuits and surface-mount technology”. Heathkit at the start could position itself as vendor of cost-saving DIY products before advances and technology and overseas production took away the cost savings. There seemed follow a loss of focus and identity. Maybe they could have been more like Sharper Image, although we could not be as nostalgic now, if it did. Maybe the best answer is from a look in the mirror. Inexpensive gadgets were more important than DIY culture. Every underserved minority group will tell you about the ingenuity of those driven by lack of resources, we often take great pride in this. But at a certain point IP protection becomes more important as prosperity and education increases. We killed Heathkit. It was us.
Maybe, so lets check overseas and see if anyone else picked up the torch.
My senior project at tech school was assembling the Hero 2000 with the arm. Outstanding hardware and software for the time. I still have an et-3400a microprocessor trainer and all the books for it. It was sad when Heathkit went away. I’d have to agree that it was trying to get involved in too many areas and priced themselves out of business.
When I worked in sales for the Australian agents, we used to assemble the siren kits for the local volunteer firefighting trucks. The first time I made one, I hooked it up to a horn speaker I had in my junkbox and turned it on. I know, I know, I’d somehow forgotten that these were the sirens you could hear from a km away, and that was BLOODY LOUD in my front room! Once my ears stopped ringing, I tested future units with a wirewound resister as load, and even that was audible!
I remember that there was a Heathkit shop in Brussels, Belgium, at a time I was too young to have the money needed to buy anything from them. I could still dream with their nice catalog. One day came when I could finally buy their ultrasonic presence detection system disguised as a fake book. Sweet memories
I still have the Heathkit VTVM and use it regularly. I built when I was going to school for electronics. I wish there kits were still available.
Sigh… My Heathkit VTVM and oscilloscope are still going strong; I like using them for working on vacuum tube equipment and the occasional high voltage system. If I do something stupid (as I have), I know I can repair them. My H89 computer is sadly sitting in the basement collecting dust, and my Heathkit TV long ago bit the dust.
I built an HW-8 qrp transceiver in the early 80’s. It was a great experience.
What’s the opinion on this channel? Is it like… a bit… AI?…
Yeah, i clicked the video but it just looks like a ai generated slideshow with ai voice over. This one can go to the trash!
Fake dust/streaks, stilted narration, long videos on widely diverse topics; I think high probably AI is used to write and make “Unseen History” videos without disclosure. That makes me question their veracity.
Hackaday, please try to avoid AI slop, especially if it’s not disclosed. Sure, there could be some quality “AI generated” (i.e. regurgitated stolen) content, but I think it’s very rare.
I hate the AI slop video. You should be ashamed for posting that video.
Agreed.
The whole zenith/heathkit thing reminds me of the way woolworth mutated dick smith from a hobbyist dream to Aussie Best Buy, Though the whole Anchorage capital fiasco would probably make a more interesting article.
My father was an engineer and Heathkit fan. He took us to many factory tours and Heathkit was a big one for me. I really enjoyed that place.