The 1970s had its fair share of groovy trends, but not everything that hit the shelves made it to longevity. Many inventions promised convenience but only delivered confusion. These oddball creations might leave you scratching your head, but they'll definitely make you smile. This list will take us on a wild trip through gadget history!
The Picturephone
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Picturephone ruled video calls before FaceTime and Zoom took over. It's a gadget that AT&T pushed in the '70s as the future of communication. However, hardly anyone wanted it. The blurry, low-res video and awkward delays made talking to someone feel like a frustrating game of charades.
Mood Rings
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The concept behind mood rings was simple: heat-sensitive liquid crystals inside the stone reacted to body temperature and shifted colors from blue (calm) to black (stressed). Anyone who's ever had cold hands knows how unreliable they were. But that didn't stop millions from wearing them like magical personality detectors. They were everywhere—mall kiosks, cereal boxes, even on kids.
Digital Watches with Calculators
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Long before smartphones made math easy, there was the calculator watch. It was a staple for tech lovers and mathletes and packed a full number pad onto a tiny wrist screen. Brands like Casio made them cool or at least practical by the late '70s. The teachers hated them because the cheating issue was a concern!
The Jogging Trampoline
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Combine jogging and trampoline, and you have the jogging trampoline—a mini bounce pad meant for low-impact running in place. It was marketed as a way to stay fit without hurting your joints and seemed like a genius idea–at least, at first. The reality was that people looked ridiculous, bouncing up and down in their living rooms while barely breaking a sweat.
Smokeless Ashtray
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The smokeless ashtray had a built-in fan and filter designed to suck up secondhand smoke. In theory, this was revolutionary. In reality, it was just a noisy gimmick. The fan barely did anything, and cigarette smoke didn't precisely stay contained to one little tray. Plus, ash and embers often got blown around instead.
Coleco Telstar Arcade
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The '70s were the Wild West of home gaming, and Coleco's Telstar Arcade was one of the strangest systems ever made. It was shaped like a giant triangle with built-in controllers for different games: a steering wheel, a light gun, and dials for Pong-style play. It looked like a spaceship control panel but functioned more like a budget gaming experiment.
The Brush and Shine
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The Brush and Shine promised glowing hair for everyone by zapping it with a tiny built-in light. Advertisements swore it would make hair healthier and shinier, but it was just a regular brush with a weak bulb inside. There were no actual hair benefits, no science to back it up, just a gimmick with a futuristic-sounding name.
Popeil Pocket Fisherman
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If you grew up in the '70s, odds are someone in your family had a Pocket Fisherman. This collapsible fishing rod fits in a glove compartment and promises instant angling anywhere. The concept was solid: a portable, all-in-one fishing tool. However, the execution was not that great. It was flimsy, hard to cast, and often tangled beyond repair.
Panasonic Toot-a-Loop Radio
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A Toot-a-Loop radio wrapped around your wrist was supposed to be stylish and portable, but it actually just looked like a weird toy. Despite its odd design, it was a hit among teenagers who loved its funky colors and groovy appeal.
Clackers
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Two acrylic balls attached to a string—what could go wrong? Clackers were a simple toy that involved smashing the balls together as fast as possible. They were loud, obnoxious, and downright dangerous. The plastic balls sometimes shattered on impact, which turned them into projectile weapons. By the mid-'70s, they were banned in schools and labeled a safety hazard.
Noval 760 Desk Computer
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Computers in the '70s weren't precisely sleek, and the Noval 760 was no exception. This so-called "desk computer" was a giant calculator with a keypad and tiny screen. It could handle basic equations but wasn't doing anything revolutionary. It was helpful for engineers and scientists, but for the average person, it was just an expensive, oversized number-cruncher.
The Shower Hood
Credit: Reddit
This was a plastic bonnet that hooked up to your showerhead and aimed to distribute water for better rinsing. However, the plastic hood trapped heat and made users feel like they were in a personal steam chamber. While some people swore by it, most just found it impractical.
LaserDisc Players
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Before DVDs, there was the LaserDisc—huge, shiny, and ahead of its time. These records-for-movies promised crystal-clear quality but were bulky, expensive, and required flipping the disc halfway through a film. Movie buffs loved them, but mainstream consumers stuck with VHS. By the '80s, they were mostly a niche format.
Betamax Video Recorders
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Sony's Betamax was sharper, more durable, and technologically superior to VHS, but none of that mattered once VHS offered longer recording times and cheaper tapes. Movie studios and rental stores backed VHS and left Betamax to fade into obscurity. Despite clinging to life in niche markets, it was evident by the late '80s that the battle was over.
The Electric Food Dehydrator
Credit: Reddit
Turning fresh fruit into chewy, dried snacks sounded great until you realized how long it took. The electric food dehydrator promised homemade jerky and banana chips, but patience was required. Hours, or sometimes days, of low heat, slowly zapped the moisture out, often with inconsistent results.
