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Whats a heavy sixer?


cimerians

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A heavy sixer is the very first year Atari 2600's was made, 1977. There is 6 switches in the front, the sticker on the bottom says its from Sunndydale, CA, and the front is a rounded plastic in front of the woodgrain compared to the other woodgrain atari's made, where its more of a sharp corner.

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Don't feel bad dude, i got a disappointing auction at ebay, got the atari dented on the upper left corner next to the 1st player joystick port, and the right difficulty switch broken. Needless to say, its the rare Promotional Atari 2600A. Still debating if i want to mod it because of the damage done :twisted:

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Oh man... I had no idea those were rare. We have a place called the $wap $hop down here in South Florida. I used to go there all the time back in 97/98. Every time I would see an Atari 2600, I would buy it. I bought entire lots of them. I think I have like 3 of those, one of them is busted. Several heavy and light sixers, and then the 4-switch ones, both wood-grain, and all black cases. I have two that were made by Sears & Roebuck that have 6-buttons, and then one that has 4 also from Sears, and then two of the slimline ones. One of the slimline ones has a massive rainbow, and a small rainbow. I have a few of them in the box too. I just keep them all piled on top of eachother in a big box in the close. I guess I have absolutely no idea what I really have!!

 

Is there a rarity list for hardware? I have only cataloged my games....

 

 

Thanks...

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They're not actually that rare. They're rarer. I got mine with a dodgy power socket on eBay for $5 - the shipping was more than the console by about $20, but it only took 2 minutes with a soldering iron and I'd made my normal playing Atari.. (it's since been modded to have composite out and has superb video quality).

 

They come up a lot on eBay, but most of the auctions that say they're heavy actually aren't.. sometimes you see people with 4 switch woodies selling them as heavy 6ers! I think they just see the woodgrain...

 

As much as anything else, I think they're worth more because of the better video quality and build quality, rather than the rarity - unless they're boxed, in which case the whole minty-fresh original 1977 facet comes into play and the prices go up horribly.

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Where were the light sixers made? Are the heavy sixers better and more reliable than the newer consoles?

 

My parents bought my first 2600 in 1981, Im sure it was a light sixer. It started having problems and died because we played it so much. I bought a 2600 Jr in 1987, still my main rig today.

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Where were the light sixers made? Are the heavy sixers better and more reliable than the newer consoles?

 

My parents bought  my first 2600 in 1981, Im sure it was a light sixer. It started having problems and died because we played it so much. I bought a 2600 Jr in 1987, still my main rig today.

 

Some (probably initial batches) light sixers and four-switchers were made in Sunnyvale. Most were made in Taiwan. I don't think there are any Sunnyvale Jr. models.

 

Heavy sixers do tend to be far more robust in terms of physical construction -- they're built like tanks. Moreover their thicker RF shielding also affords a better picture with more vibrant colours than the later models with the thin aluminum shielding -- many complain of slightly washed out colours and more RF interference.

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