The downfall of Philips

[petek]

Quite an interesting video I ran across last night. I've used Philips (Norelco) electric shavers for a good 50 years and surprisingly my current razor of about 5 years gave up the ghost this morning and isn't taking a charge. Back in the day when this happened I would just take it to a Philips Service Centre and have them fix it. I did order a new one from Amazon so hopefully it'll be here tomorrow. As well I bought a Philips Compact pasta maker a couple of months ago and it seems well built for a China made appliance but I was sort of shocked after watching this video that all the Philips appliances except for shavers are made by companies just licensing the Philips name.

 

[moderncleveland]

Reminds me of companies like Bell and Howell...an old name, but the actual company hasn't existed in ages...and other companies license the name.

Hubby's favorite razor in his collection is a 60s Norelco, which was his daily driver for years.

I have a number of vintage ladies electrics, too ... those are so well made. In his experience, the bargain $20 electric rotary shavers from the drug stores sold under names like Remington were always good. Recently he wanted to see what the modern world was all about so he bought a brand new foil razor, a commercial Wahl. Verdict: it's nice, feels good to hold, but in the end they still don't make 'em like they used to!

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=norelco+christmas+commercial+1960%27s

 

[johnb300m]

Philips has really gone the way to GE and un-conglomerated themselves.
They really got out of a lot of home and personal electronics. They even sold lightbulbs. Sold off Hue.
All they got left consumer facing is Sonicare and Norelco.

 

[circlew]

Philips - The only product I've ever had of theirs was a Norelco shaver I got as a present back in the mid 70's. I didn't keep it long, as I prefer a blade and shaving cream, since I like my skin to be as smooth as glass when I'm done. I gave it away since I wouldn't use it. The licensing of the Philips trademark is nothing new, as they licensed it in the 70's & 80's to Hamilton Beach for mixers sold in Canada.

Bell & Howell - I see all sorts of cheap junk advertised under that name. They used to make really nice movie equipment. The high school I went to had B&H 1545 and 1552 16mm projectors, and my Aunt Doris and Uncle Joe had a 1592 16mm projector. I wanted one of the school's 2592 projectors when they sold all their 16mm equipment in a 2003 building content liquidation sale, but I had a dentist appointment that day, and had to leave before they came up to sell. I should have cancelled - they sold for $30.00 each.

 

[hobbyapocalypse]

Norelco didn't only make razors. Here's a picture of my Norelco tape recorder sitting on a chair.

 

[mb1974]

If you want an old electric shaver, go to ebay or picclick and type in vintage electric shaver. You'll see all kinds of shavers. Remington, Schick, Braun, Ronson, Sunbeam, etc. I have bought several foil, slot and rotary shavers. They are built like mini tanks. I disassemble them, clean and disinfect everything, lube what needs to be lubed, reassemble them and they work perfectly. 40, 50, 60 year old shavers that were built to last forever... just like vintage appliances. They plow through my fairly heavy beard quite easily.

 

[foraloysius]

There was a time that Philips was an impressive company with a good reputation. Unfortunately all these bad decisions lead to the situation Philips is in now.

Fortunately the only section still left (nearby where I live) is the shaver factory. They're still a big succes. No job losses there. If Philips goes bankrupt I hope that part of the company will live on somehow.

 

[mathewbailey08]

Philips projectors

Don't forget the Norelco/Philips AA2/DP 70 projectors. This is because some people are still sticking with film.

 

[tolivac]

Oh yes-the Philips-Norelco projectors-there are folks still keeping these classics going.Often they have to have a machine shop fabricate parts that are no longer available.The shift to digital projection caused many analog film projectors to be dumpted as scrap.Never used a philips projector-but hear so much they were the BEST!!!Now theaters are less in vogue as they used to be-folks watch at home on their 4K TV's these days-me included.During the Covid period in my area BOTH theater chains were closed,shuttered,empty and dark-and to top it off empty poster cases.Now they are running again-big problem not too many movies on now that I want to watch.

 

[sudsmaster]

 

 

"Alas, poor Philip,

 

I knew him well..."

 

[foraloysius]

Here are some 1950’s and 1960’s Philips products. In the middle at the bottom is a picture of a Philips vacuum coffee maker. Quite a rare thing I’m sure. I never came across one. It would be awesome to find a fully working one.[this post was last edited: 5/21/2023-12:33]

 

[cfz2882]

consumer grade CD players

Philips offered the first"cheap" CD players I saw in the stores: "made in Belgium" and started selling around the later part of 1985-ahead of Japanese consumer grade CD players by about 6 months

 

[kenwashesmonday]

In the 1930s, George Pal, of Puppetoon fame, made a few advertisments for Philips radio.

 

[petek]

as I mentioned above I ordered a new Philips razor and it is made in China and pretty cheaply made. It in no way compares to any of my previous ones which were made in the Netherlands. The floating head is gargantuan and the pop up trimmer is tiny and flimsy.The massive head pretty much blocks any view of it when you're trying to trim. .

The pasta maker has been great so far, very happy with it and I use it a lot.

 

[foraloysius]

Hi Pete,

Does your razor look the same as the ones made in the Netherlands? The factory here is still open and from what I understand they are not planning to close it. I guess they needed more capacity.

 

[brisnat81]

It seems to depend on where in the model range you purchase. At least here.

Michael bought a new one at Christmas and it was still made in the Netherlands.

Over here, the cheap ones feel very cheap and could be made in China, the premium models still feel like they’re made out of titanium and are definitely from the Netherlands.

 

[foraloysius]

I just had a look at my cheap Philips beard trimmer. It’s made in Indonesia.

 

[petek]

it a series 5000 and looks like this one. When I look on their websites I see all sorts of 5000s that look more curvy and don't have such a big surround around the circular blades. With the trimmer open it doesn't "lock" meaning you can only use the trimmer in one direction, the direction it popped out of the case so if you try and trim in the opposite direction it goes to fold itself back in, if you get what I'm saying lol.

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[foraloysius]

Ah yes, I do see a difference with the 7000 series. I wonder if the 5000 series sold here is made in Drachten or somewhere else.