After reading the many postings to this forum and others concerning
the poor reliability of Zenith TVs made after roughly 1992, I will
never purchase a Zenith product of any kind again. Zenith used to be
my all-time favorite brand of home-entertainment gear, but that was
when the company still handwired the sets and built them at their
suburban Chicago plant. Since Zenith was acquired by Gold Star and
moved to Korea, however, the quality of their TVs, as many people here
have stated, has deteriorated to the point where I do not and cannot
trust them any longer to build quality equipment. I had many old
Zenith TVs in the late '60s and '70s (trash day finds in my old
neighborhood in suburban Cleveland) that either worked as soon as I
brought them home and turned them on or had only minor problems; as
soon as those problems were resolved, the sets worked for quite a
while with no further troubles, but that was then, in the days when
Zenith meant quality in home entertainment. The company had a slogan
it used for many years: "The quality goes in before the name goes on."
I'm very sorry to have to say this, but since Zenith's exodus from
Franklin Park, Illinois some years ago, the company seems to have
forgotten the meaning of that slogan and that of the word "quality" as
well. I own a 1995 Zenith Sentry 2 19" color set that still works
reasonably well after eight years, but when it eventually breaks down,
I will put it out for the trash and replace it with another brand,
probably Panasonic or Sony. But never again will I put my trust in
Zenith. This company, which once was a well-respected brand of
home-entertainment equipment (remember their slogan of years past,
"the royalty of radio and television" and that instantly recognizable
crest emblem with the crown on top?), has finally, IMO, hit rock
bottom, never to be the same again.

If I decide to get another Zenith TV in the future, it will be a used
tube-type hand-wired set, made in the days when their slogan meant
something and the sets were built to last for years, and use it with a
cable box. I have two Zenith radios, one from 1951, the other from
1963, both purchased at auction on ebay, that still work well today.
(In fact, my 1963 Zenith radio looks and sounds every bit like a
console, although it is in a smaller walnut wood cabinet.) If their
TVs were still this good, Zenith would still be "the royalty of radio
and TV" today as they once were.


Jeff Strieble, WB8NHV (mailto: )
Fairport Harbor, Ohio

The quality goes in, the name goes on...and the red goes blurry shortly
thereafter.

In all seriousness, Trash Day has caused me to lose much respect for
Zenith. (My bro and I have only started 'trashing' in my neighborhood
this summer, as a fun and slightly profitable racket of picking up
electronics with no or minor faults, fixing them if applicable, then
selling them or giving away to friends...but that's been time enough to
draw some conclusions on Zenith...)

Our family had one since sometime in the '70s, in fact predating me,
that gave us years of trouble-free service. When it finally gave up the
ghost, the picture [when it had a picture--see next sentence] was still
crystal clear. (looking back, it was almost certainly a cold solder
joint, but I was too young to know this or attempt a fix at the time,
and my folks had gotten tired of whacking the TV to get the picture back :-)

However, EVERY Zenith we've picked up on the curbside--none of them that
old (mid-90s and newer)--has had a weak / dying picture tube. It's
always the same--turn it on, hear the familiar flyback sounds (yay, HOT
and flyback are probably OK), see a picture start to come up.... and
wait for the set to warm up and go into focus, but it never does. One
color (typically red) saturating wherever that color appears on screen,
producing a big blurry halo, often accompanied by ghosts and jailbars.
Every nifty feature imaginable, but none of them worth using because the
picture quality is so poor. People toss them because the CRT goes bad
before the electronics can.

Well, there's my rant for the day.

We still have two vintage Zenith televisions that are in perfect working
condition. The first is a 19" "portable" that was purchased in 1982. The
second, a series 3 25" oak console unit that was purchased in 1983. Both
have seen regular use since they were purchased. No electrical repairs to
either set in the 20+ years we have owned them. We also have a 13" Zenith
System 3 that was purchased in 1987 that is also still working well and has
not seen any repairs either.

Add to that two vintage VCRs (1985 and about 1990) which I've needed to
replace belts on and do minor repairs to the mechanical threading mechanism.
Yes, Zenith made some great stuff in the good old days. As you can see, we
were sold on them and bought nothing else ... a real Zenith family!
Unfortunately, the product went down hill after that and I saw this
firsthand with brothers and sisters TVs purchased in the mid-90's that had
the picture tube problems. At this point we opted for Hitachi, Toshiba, and
Sony products, which also have served us well to date (but only time will
tell).

Bob
"Bill Webb" wrote in message
k.net...
Our family had one since sometime in the '70s, in fact predating me,
that gave us years of trouble-free service. When it finally gave up the
ghost, the picture [when it had a picture--see next sentence] was still
crystal clear. (looking back, it was almost certainly a cold solder
joint, but I was too young to know this or attempt a fix at the time,
and my folks had gotten tired of whacking the TV to get the picture back
:-)

I work for a company that recycles TV sets - aka people donate their
stuff to us (for a tax credit) and we make repairs. This is a non
profit company up in Northern VT. I have 2 rules to keep the
electronics department afloat

1- no Zenith
2- No VCR's

The Zeniths we get are terrible. People hand them over to us in
frustration, and I just gut them and trash them since they are not
even worth my time. I feel bad for these sets- because they have a
predestiny to be trash. They are trash when they are sold, and they
get donated to me shortly after only to return into the trash.

Beware the Zenith TV/VCR combo..... -Tim

www.recyclenorth.org






"Bob Shuman" wrote in message ...
We still have two vintage Zenith televisions that are in perfect working
condition. The first is a 19" "portable" that was purchased in 1982. The
second, a series 3 25" oak console unit that was purchased in 1983. Both
have seen regular use since they were purchased. No electrical repairs to
either set in the 20+ years we have owned them. We also have a 13" Zenith
System 3 that was purchased in 1987 that is also still working well and has
not seen any repairs either.

Add to that two vintage VCRs (1985 and about 1990) which I've needed to
replace belts on and do minor repairs to the mechanical threading mechanism.
Yes, Zenith made some great stuff in the good old days. As you can see, we
were sold on them and bought nothing else ... a real Zenith family!
Unfortunately, the product went down hill after that and I saw this
firsthand with brothers and sisters TVs purchased in the mid-90's that had
the picture tube problems. At this point we opted for Hitachi, Toshiba, and
Sony products, which also have served us well to date (but only time will
tell).

Bob
"Bill Webb" wrote in message
k.net...
Our family had one since sometime in the '70s, in fact predating me,
that gave us years of trouble-free service. When it finally gave up the
ghost, the picture [when it had a picture--see next sentence] was still
crystal clear. (looking back, it was almost certainly a cold solder
joint, but I was too young to know this or attempt a fix at the time,
and my folks had gotten tired of whacking the TV to get the picture back
:-)

Beware the Zenith TV/VCR combo.

Of course Zenith never built a combo, they are either Orion or Funai depending
on where ya buy them. You can't fault Zenith for the combos, every name from
Admiral to Zenith has a Chinese combo that isn't even distantly related to the
actual company, but it is a shame what Zenith did become. I was selling new
Zeniths back in 1983 and could wholeheartedly say "these are fantastic sets"
but by 1992 I was ashamed to sell them, and that was before all the tubes went
bad.
Ron