What are some popular consumer products?

What consumer products were invented or improved upon in the USSR?

• It is a common argument that command economies limit innovation by discouraging competition and not providing other incentives for the creation of new products. Does this argument hold true in regards to consumer products in the USSR? I ask specifically about consumer products because I realize innovation took place in the USSR, but it seemed to be mostly in fields related to the military and space exploration where the USSR was in competition with the US.

• Answer:

  It is true that command economies limit innovation by discouraging competition and also that there is inefficiency in production that is separated from demand. Not enough of the required goods are produced and too much of other goods end up stock piled or wasted. However, it is not true that the system does not providing other incentives for the creation of new products. There are many other intensives  They may be less effective and less efficient but they do exist. So consumer products do improve albeit not always as they should or could. Secondly, other answers are looking for things that are better than the west. That is the wrong comparison. The question asks for products that improved in the USSR so the comparison is old USSR to later USSR. No comparison to the west is required. Under that circumstance just about everything improved. From 1918 to 1991, many many consumer items improved significantly. Of course in the west, things improved faster and were noticeably better than the east but from early to old USSR there was an improvement. However, I don't think this is the answer that the OP wanted. Instead I will give a list of a few things the USSR made that were notable. These items were never the best quality  most fashionable or biggest sellers but they did command a significant slice of the market place for many years and some are still produced today. Typically USSR made products were a value proposition. They were reasonable quality but no the best quality while at the same time being rather cheap and simple. That is OK. There is a market for such a product. We should assume that Rolls Royce cars are better because they are expensive but that means they are also so unaffordable  A good car could be one that everyone can afford. e.g. Model-T Ford. Russian products were usually more Model-T than Rolls. The USSR was noted for it's optics. While there cameras were not as good as western models, they were popular because they offered a low cost introduction to photography. So I shall illustrate with one example only how USSR consumer goods improved or had innovation. For this we will look at the Zenit SLR camera. An early Zenit camera, the Zenth B It had most of the functions of the day with a 58mm Helios lens on the front. This advanced to the Zenith E with had an added light metre mounted above the lens. I had one of these and it was strong and robust. It got me started in photography when I was a student and didn't have money for anything more expensive. However it worked and took many a good photograph. Some of which have won me awards or been sold. The Zenit E was produced in very large numbers and expoted. Even after Zenit had introduced upgraded versions in their home market, the Zenit E remained on the export market due to overproduction. This gave the westerner the view that the Zenit was not improving while in fact it had. Later improvements on the Zenit saw the introduction of the TTL (Through The Lens). This had the light meter looking through the lens rather than mounted on top giving a much more accurate exposure reading. The next big change was seen in the Zenit 122k which switched from using the older M42 screw mount lens system to the newer pentax based K mount bayonet system. http://www.flickr.com/photos/collection_of_cameras/6888339668/ At the end of the USSR's life cam the Zenit Automat. This had automatic metering in aperture priority mode. Then we have the photosniper. Made by Zenit, this telescopic lens was mounted with a pistol grip and stalk like a rifle. It has become a bit of a collectors item. Who says the USSR didn't have consumer innovation. All told, I count over 50 iterations on the Zenit SLR camera line over a period of 50 years or so. Versions of these cameras are still in production. They show that even though not at the forefront of technology, there was a progressive improvement and innovation in Soviet consumer products.