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Author Topic: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"  (Read 5382 times)

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Offline baselpat

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"Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« on: 25, March, 2013 - 06:37:47 »
I see it is that time of year again and I see this mornings (or yesterdays / weekends) British newspapers are full of the "results" of some latest badly thought out marketing poll.  Where:

"Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"

Wouldn't ready much into it, as most of the top ten are poorly marketed, rather than crap devices, also the poll was carried out for some minor TV channel and only had 1000 participants.

Some of the comments to the articles are very interesting reading however  ;D ;D

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/well-it-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time-10-worst-gadgets-ofrecent-times-8547062.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2298325/Sinclair-C5-voted-worst-gadget-time-MiniDisc-Betamax-arent-far-behind.html

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/sinclairs-c5-voted-biggest-gadget-1783356
« Last Edit: 25, March, 2013 - 06:39:34 by baselpat »

Offline danny7147

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #1 on: 25, March, 2013 - 09:47:18 »
Open question. Who (other than Kamil) actually uses their C5 for the purpose it was designed for? Bad marketing or not, they're designed as commuter transport, a purpose which designwise they were pretty terrible at. Sure, argue that they were meant for fun etc, but taking into account inflation they would have been the equivalent of £1050 plus postage so they would only ever have had a businessman market, not kids bike etc. I own mine because they're quirky, fun and turn heads... Not because they serve any useful purpose, so I can actually see where the opinions are coming from ;-) Any other thoughts?

Offline baselpat

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #2 on: 25, March, 2013 - 10:57:12 »
Bad marketing or not, they're designed as commuter transport, a purpose which designwise they were pretty terrible at. ..................... Any other thoughts?

Very true.  Not necessarily a comment re the C5, my main issue is that this is a classic example of lazy journalism infecting the UK press industry, where a product (some gadget show) is promoted with a cut/paste article directly from a press release.  The poll claims to be the "of all time", but the poll sample of 1000 people is incredibly small, considering the "gadget loving nature" of the UK. We are not provided the nature or location of the poll or how and where it took place.   The press lap it up as an easy article to publish, and its readers seem to lap it up as fact being presented to them.  It is not limited the UK, for example what I read in the UK paper one day, often get distilled, translated and published in the local freesheets here a day later, even without any local relevance of the original story....

That aside, to celebrate a number of items on that list I have mounted some new ICE (in-car-entertainment) on my C5 for my daily commute  8) ;) ::) :


Minidiscs rock!  8)

Offline thedesigntailor

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #3 on: 25, March, 2013 - 15:47:11 »
I used to use mine for travelling to work however have to drive now. Not a practical as an electric bike, but much more fun and a hell of a lot cheaper!

Someone in the office earlier pointed out that the Segway was a much bigger flop when it comes to transport. Esp considering the unfortunate way the inventor left this world.


Offline thedesigntailor

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #4 on: 25, March, 2013 - 16:00:25 »
Nice to see alot of support for the C5 in the comments. Someone should link them to our wonderful little world.

Offline mhurt

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #5 on: 25, March, 2013 - 19:11:42 »
Would love to use mine as intended, but it's too hilly for my out of shape, getting older body currently :P
Great downhill or on the flat, but anything more than a shallow incline and I'm stuffed :D

Offline danny7147

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #6 on: 26, March, 2013 - 12:52:36 »
I'm a C5 lover, of course, but even I can see some serious non-marketing related flaws in them that spelled disaster. Okay, I mentioned the price above, but who were the target market? At (inflation taken into account) a huge £1050, it would have been an insane parent who bought one for their kid... remember a big part of their intended purpose was to allow underage drivers to have transport. Businessmen, the only people who could really afford them, are unlikely to have wanted to arrive at the station stinking of sweat after copious amounts of pedalling, so straight away that's a huge part of their target audience knocked out from buying them just based on the price alone. At £500, say £180 New, they'd have stood a chance in the teens market, but of course with the investment involved they couldn't have sold for so little, so I blame price as well as the media for their demise... a fault of the machine? Nope, but a lack of foresight by the company.

Another huge design flaw that I'll draw attention to, the accessories. Okay, want to be noticed? You can fit our horn... want people to have a chance at seeing where you're turning? Fit indicators. US, now, would have no issue about drilling holes in the body to accommodate these, but that's because bodies are now ten a penny. Imagine you'd just spent a grand on one, would you trust yourself with a drill near it and risk messing up your immaculate new bike?

The biggest flaw though, and one that I fear people's attention to at shows, is that they were ahead of their time. Nowadays we have cycle lanes, cycles are common commuter transport that are (for the most part) accommodated for in modern day traffic... in the 80's they weren't and as nice as it is to look back through rose tinted specs at the old days, taking one anywhere other than on residential roads literally would have been taking your life into your own hands.

NOW I think they'd sell well... They suit our.society... but when they came out they were destined to fail before they'd even hit production. GREAT invention, but totally misjudged the market and didn't serve the purpose that they were designed.to do. However, I do always wonder why the Zeta didn't take off, because that to me was a fantastic device that I really am surprised didn't sell into millions and revolutionise cycling...

I know I'm going to stir up a hornet' s nest saying.that, but hey, just an opinion... I love the C5, but I can see exactly why it failed.

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #7 on: 26, March, 2013 - 12:54:49 »
My own view is that its fair to say the c5 does not do anything better than the bicycle it was intended to rival.

Having said that, the c5 is possibly the most fun I've had on three wheels (other than the Grinnal Scorpion)  8)

I agree with the earlier comments that c5's make the best quirky gadget to own due to their low cost and fun factor. But not really a serious commuter tool for most...which is why it wasnt quite the success Sir Clive aimed for.

Offline thedesigntailor

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #8 on: 26, March, 2013 - 15:24:22 »

I know I'm going to stir up a hornet' s nest saying.that, but hey, just an opinion... I love the C5, but I can see exactly why it failed.

I agree with almost all of that. I almost feel that its failures make it such a loveable machine. It has character.

I would love to imagine how things would be now if they had taken off more. Imagine how advanced our electric vehicles would be now.

I still think there is a gap in the market for a sub £300 electric bike/kart. Esp if the power and speed restrictions where lifted.

Offline pso-buzz

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #9 on: 27, March, 2013 - 12:07:02 »

I know I'm going to stir up a hornet' s nest saying.that, but hey, just an opinion... I love the C5, but I can see exactly why it failed.

I agree with almost all of that. I almost feel that its failures make it such a loveable machine. It has character.

I would love to imagine how things would be now if they had taken off more. Imagine how advanced our electric vehicles would be now.

I still think there is a gap in the market for a sub £300 electric bike/kart. Esp if the power and speed restrictions where lifted.

I agree, it  just makes the C5 even more appealing.

Offline mhurt

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #10 on: 27, March, 2013 - 12:26:28 »
I don't think the speed restriction is the problem - its the motor power that is. Raise that to allow hill climbing properly with a speed limiter and half the problem disappears and makes it more appealing.

Offline thedesigntailor

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #11 on: 31, March, 2013 - 19:33:33 »
More touque then - electric motors should be good for that. Wish I had the money to R&D a modern C5, but so many have tried and failed.

Offline thedesigntailor

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Re: "Sinclair C5 is voted the worst gadget of all time"
« Reply #12 on: 31, March, 2013 - 19:34:24 »

Minidiscs rock!  8)

Oooh- I used to love my minidisks!