Hiya! These are my current cassete players. I found the paperweight Casio (which I use mostly as a winder) and the Sony WM-EX512 at home and after replacing the belt on the 512 it has been my daily player for some time now. The WM-104 and WM-F701 were found on local sites. I got the white WM-109 as a parts donor for the 104 to get it running and 100% complete (was missing a hinge block and both spindle gears were cracked). As for the WM-F701c, I've got a WM-EX608 on the way because it comes with an original gumstick battery and charger and the headphones adaptor, both of which I intend to use on the F701c and have it as my go-to player (for now!). Here are some detailed pics! Sony WM-104. Bought for just 20 euros, although the spares-only WM-109 set me back another 25... But I think that graphic EQ alone was worth it! Looks really clean on the inside now! Sony WM-EX512. Nothing too wild, but a very decent beginner's player. The Auto Skip funtion is pretty interesting. Sony WM-F701c which I got for 25 euros too. Tuner version of the WM-701c. I've read it performs very very good, so once I get the new belt I plan to use it as my daily driver. Battery contacts are a bit corroded so I'll have to deal with that if I want to get rid of the screw-on battery compartment. I'm also waiting for the headphone adaptor to arrive. Bye Bye annoying remote! Side panel might look a bit crowded but I just love it! Battery cover is sadly broken, so I just hold it in place with a tiny piece of double-sided tape. It's so tiny! That's all for now! I still would like to add certain models to the collection, like a WM-2 just fot the design an coolness factor alone, a DD-30 for the superb performace and hopefully a DC-2. Not thinking about the DC6 because I plan to build a HiFi system at home with record player and full size cassette deck. See you around!
It will be interesting to hear if your Gumstick battery is any good. Previous discussions have concluded that the readily available recent manufacture Vapex ones, are better than even New Old Stock Sony ones, which will now be about 15 years old.
It arrived yesterday! Added the headphone adaptor to the F701c (huge improvement over the faulty remote and propietary earbuds) and tested the battery with the included original Sony charger. Seems to charge and power up the Walkman but I doubt it'll hold the charge for too long. Probably will order some of the new ones soon. Now've just got to figure out how to change the region on the radio!
