ZX81 / Timex-Sinclair 1000 Clones

[jaybird3rd]

I used to have one of these TS1000 clones, which was apparently marketed by several companies (usually as a "PC 8300" or some similar name):

 

 

They don't turn up on eBay often, so when one appeared last week, I added it to my watch list. I was shocked to see that it ended this evening at nearly $230!

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 390246102549

 

We actually had a huge box filled with them in the early 90s, from a surplus/secondhand computer clearance store where I worked at the time. I wish now that I had kept them, along with all the other old stuff at that store which would be worth a ton of money now (like stacks of DEC Rainbows and other rare classic machines). I also notice that the ZX80/ZX81 itself tends to go for good money.

 

So anyway, this got me thinking about the market for ZX81 / Timex-Sinclair 1000 computers and clones. Does anyone here still use them, what do you use them for, and are they really worth this much nowadays?

[carmel_andrews]

I dunno about zx80/81 clones but I do know that eastern europe (esp. russia) and india used to specialise in spectrum clones...Perhaps they also used to dabble in ZX80/81 clones as well

[JamesD]

The design is almost identical to the VTech VZ/Laser models. I wonder if there was some relationship between the two. Maybe VTech manufactured it for Lambda.

[carmel_andrews]

Lambda...don't they make large scale printing systems as well as photographic enlargers

[Cobra Commander]

I've got a huge bin of tape cassettes memory modules printer paper ... the whole nine yards I'll get a pic or two. Interested?

[OldAtarian]

There's a lot of eastern Europeans showing up on ebay in the last few years selling Soviet era Spectrum clones. That's probably where the ZX81 clones are coming from, too.