Next big things that never lived up to the hype, failed, or disappeared without a trace... What do you remember??

[Shearwater Missile]

They were handy when satnavs where old and not easy to update (or impossible to do so for free). About 15 years ago I had to buy an Atlas in a petrol station, as I was trying to get to Ipswich and they'd closed the area of the M25 I needed. Satnav was useless. I guess with google maps now, they are not as desirable, and nor are Atlases

Last week I came unstuck with both an atlas and satnav. I had searched for Redwings horse sanctuary, this was with Google maps on the car. Sure enough there were quite a few listings and I chose the one with the Norfolk postcode, just off the A140. However, it said that I had reached the destination but I had`nt, I was still ON the A140 and about 5 miles where I should have been. it was not on the atlas either. In hindsight I should have noted the night before the postcode proper.
When I think back to the days of driving across London and up to Manchester without a satnav and without getting lost. I always wrote the directions down, simples !

 

[HLaB]

The Sinclair C5

 

[Vapin' Joe]

The Sinclair C5
View attachment 809063

As I said earlier, battery development was simply not advanced enough to produce viable electric cars till recently. All Sinclair was able to produce was an electrically assisted recumbent with very limited range.

 

[HLaB]

As I said earlier, battery development was simply not advanced enough to produce viable electric cars till recently. All Sinclair was able to produce was an electrically assisted recumbent with very limited range.

Sorry I lazily didn't scroll back through 11 pages, today's stage of the giro was enough ;-)

 

[Seevio]

As I said earlier, battery development was simply not advanced enough to produce viable electric cars till recently. All Sinclair was able to produce was an electrically assisted recumbent with very limited range.

Yes, we know why it failed, but it was hyped as the future of personal transport at the time and thus belongs in this thread. Unlike, say, AA maps which were a suitable solution for the tech at the time.

 

[Profpointy]

Do you still have room for passengers?

Badoom tsch !

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Time machines

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The Sinclair C5
View attachment 809063

Yeah - not a bad machine but crippled by battery tech at the time

and having a motor from a hoover washing machine was bad for marketing - just made it sound silly

 

[classic33]

Yeah - not a bad machine but crippled by battery tech at the time

and having a motor from a hoover washing machine was bad for marketing - just made it sound silly

Not the easiest thing to move under pedal power either.
Gearing was way too low.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Seems like it was work far better if someone remade them exactly the same except for modern motor and battery and better gearing

Can't see it ever making a profit though!

 

[Dogtrousers]

I believe that the problem with the Sinclair C5 was that the battery was not adequate

Oh and it looked ridiculous

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The Sinclair C5
View attachment 809063

A 15kg battery, and 30kg without. Wow that is heavy.

 

[MontyVeda]

Kodak disc cameras - the negative was 10mm by 18mm ie tiny. Picture quality was awful. By this stage, Kodak had already built a digital camera but decided not to develop it.

Ah yes... because disc shaped things were the future, but they actually came up with a format far worse than the 110mm predecessor.

Curved screen TV's were another. About a decade ago they were the next big thing in viewing with the retailers full of them, then they vanished overnight.

still popular for gamers.

Simple Minds

I was a huge fan for about a month (after Alive and Kicking), then i realised that the best thing about them was the font on their record sleeves.

 

[MontyVeda]

and V2000

Like the disc camera, they took VHS and made it twice a sh!t whilst claiming it was better.

Betamax is different story. It failed as a home video format because it was a professional quality format, far superior to VHS and remained popular (in the industry) until digital video came along.

 

[raleighnut]

Like the disc camera, they took VHS and made it twice a sh!t whilst claiming it was better.

Betamax is different story. It failed as a home video format because it was a professional quality format, far superior to VHS and remained popular (in the industry) until digital video came along.

Yep a lot of Porn was shot on Sony Betacam