Chinese products - experiences

[murphy1244]

better open your eyes.. it's not just china. EVERYTHING has planned obselescence. by design.. not accident. manufacturers don't want durable goods.. they want to sell you multiples.

what 'good' does a widgit make find if they make an 8$ widget that never breaks.. but the guy next to them makes a 1$ widgit that lasts 1-2 ys...

the guy making the 1$ widgit will own the market.. adn continue to own the market.. and sell mor ethan 8$ of widgits to each customer...

sometiems that maeks sense.. sometiems it doesn't.


I'm sure some of the antique tractor manufacturers that went out of business were wondering what happened. they made a good product that lasted for 50-60 years.. great right? that means they only sold 1 then ... if that trractor only lasted 15-20 ys.. they coulda sold more...

double edged sword....

Henry Ford Learned that lesson a long time ago.

 

[Soundguy]

Henry Ford Learned that lesson a long time ago.

yep.. I was thinking of ford when i said that actually.

he made DARN good tractors. you can take an old ford from 39 to mid 60's and rebuild the engine for 500$ and go thrut he rest of the machine for wear parts and have a 'new' old tractor. if you maintain them right.. they probably don;t even need the rebuild till they hit 30-50 ys old.. then afterwards.. probably another few decades. ie.. next owner.

i seriously doubt the new crops of machines made now are being designed to last a century with repair parts..

 

[Dr Dave]

My employer bought a pallet full of aluminum grain scoop shovels, made in China sticker on them, every one bent first time it was used. I took a handle off one for an old shovel, in a year all the sealer flaked off and handle twisted, Zero quality control, why would China alow this junk to leave there country, this is what gave them a bad name. I try not to by China products, but it is hard to find quality products. I think made in China products should have a land fill tax added to them, thats were most will be in a year or two.

Dave

 

[clemsonfor]

I have had decent luck. MY HF welder is great for a $90 welder, i have paid myself back hundreds on the work i have done with it. I have some junk there to, but mostly fasteners and paper and bits and blades. My wood cutting friend bought a china made motor for his splitter, that thing will start first pull and never miss a beat in splitting close to 10 cords in the last few years. If it threw the rod today id buy another at the $90 he spent on it. They make some good stuff and bad, its the price point you buy at.

Think Apple, we love (americans) thier stuff and say how good it is. Yet where is it all made? CHINA in factories that employ 40,000 workers or so, and there like 6 of them!!

 

[clemsonfor]

if it wasent for CHINA i would not have half of what i have today. Even the stuff you buy at Lowes is CHINA made!

I have a good selection of hand tools from HF, yea the pliers are not as good and wear out maybe , but you can have 3 sizes of channel locks and everyother kind of pliers for the price of a mid size pair of branded channel locks.

And the stuff at HF now has a lifetime warrenty on hand tools.

 

[Soundguy]

. They make some good stuff and bad, its the price point you buy at.

Think Apple, we love (americans) thier stuff and say how good it is. Yet where is it all made? CHINA in factories that employ 40,000 workers or so, and there like 6 of them!!

yep.. apple... made in china. decent quality too.

 

[WilliamBos]

not always so.

IF i need a 7/8" or 15/16" wrench that I need to torch and bend so it will fit fit around a shaft in a tractor to get to a pressure fitting inside a sump, I sure want that wrench to be a 5$ wrench.. and not a 25$ wrench.

That's not a cheap attitude.. that's working smart.

Blanket statements like yours are rarely correct. ( yes.. my example is a real one.. not a made up one. that tool changes the hyd relief/check valve on a ford tractor without pulling apto shaft and dropping a belly pump.. turns a 3 hour job into a 5 minute job... ) that's smart.. not cheap!

soundguy

Well said Chris!! We have done this too, love the China stuff for that!!

 

[JoeBuyer]

My employer bought a pallet full of aluminum grain scoop shovels, made in China sticker on them, every one bent first time it was used. I took a handle off one for an old shovel, in a year all the sealer flaked off and handle twisted, Zero quality control, why would China alow this junk to leave there country, this is what gave them a bad name. I try not to by China products, but it is hard to find quality products. I think made in China products should have a land fill tax added to them, thats were most will be in a year or two.

Dave

Excellent idea, and the chinese should be forced to ship their crap back to china and dispose of it there. One of the troubles we have is that when people buy American they expect refunds or replacements but when they buy this cheap chinese stuff and it fails they often toss it and buy another. Every one of you that buys chinese when there are American alternatives within a reasonable price difference should start insisting on full refunds or replacements to help level the field. Or you should stop returning your American purchases if you toss your china stuff.

I will not support a communist repressive society by willingly buying Chinese. And yes, I know my baseball cap was made in china, that is not my point. My point is to buy American or at least from a friendly democratic country WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

Food from china was brought up a while back. If chinese tools are good enough for your standards, food from china should be good enough to feed you and your family. I don't understand why someone would make that differentiation.

 

[crazyal]

I have had decent luck. MY HF welder is great for a $90 welder, i have paid myself back hundreds on the work i have done with it. I have some junk there to, but mostly fasteners and paper and bits and blades. My wood cutting friend bought a china made motor for his splitter, that thing will start first pull and never miss a beat in splitting close to 10 cords in the last few years. If it threw the rod today id buy another at the $90 he spent on it. They make some good stuff and bad, its the price point you buy at.

Think Apple, we love (americans) thier stuff and say how good it is. Yet where is it all made? CHINA in factories that employ 40,000 workers or so, and there like 6 of them!!

Apple, a company that build it's products in China, their old CEO (Steve Jobs) even said there's no way they will bring those jobs back, sued Samsung (a company that actually makes chips for Apple in the US), and is now cutting the amount of US made components in their products. Yet people will line up and wait to buy their new iPhone. I really think a large number of people in the US are like crack addicts.

 

[crazyal]

So who here would do this to a Snap On wrench? When the choice is to modify a wrench so you can remove a bolt through an access hole in a bell housing to pull a tranny to replace a throw bearing or pay a tow truck to haul it to a garage where you can pay them it seams pretty clear to me which is more expensive.

 

[sodamo]

Have had the good, the bad, and the ugly. Love my Chinese made, Value Leader flail mower- not a problem in 3 years and solidly built. My 24kw Chinese built diesel generator is running as I type, far far fewer problems than the 2007, made in USA, GMC diesel pu I bought a few months earlier and recently replaced with a Toyota Tundra because it was always needing something

Around here, the more expensive non Chinese hand tools seem to rust just as fast.

Bought on of those twin bladed metal cutting saws from Sears for a project. Disappointed with it the moment I took out of the box, poor fit and finish, sounds like h*ll, but got the project done. Lent it to a friend and he plugged it in and refused to use it and gave it back. - Made in India.

Funny thing is I've bought a number of the cheap, especially HF that just won't die LOL

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[JoeBuyer]

So who here would do this to a Snap On wrench? When the choice is to modify a wrench so you can remove a bolt through an access hole in a bell housing to pull a tranny to replace a throw bearing or pay a tow truck to haul it to a garage where you can pay them it seams pretty clear to me which is more expensive.

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Good point but I would go to a second hand store and look there for one first.

 

[Tig]

If I'm looking for inexpensive and generic, I will buy. The only no go zone is knock offs. I do not want a counterfeit product.

 

[Soundguy]

2nd hand store? i read that as a pawn shop?

pawn shops around me charge 90% of new on name brand tools.. IE.. if it's a 25$ sears wrench, they want nearly 20$ for it.

hf has that wrench for 5$

local pawn shops.. round' here anyway, won't loan on non name brand tools either. ( too inexpensive.. )

soundguy

 

[murphy1244]

2nd hand store? i read that as a pawn shop?

pawn shops around me charge 90% of new on name brand tools.. IE.. if it's a 25$ sears wrench, they want nearly 20$ for it.

hf has that wrench for 5$

local pawn shops.. round' here anyway, won't loan on non name brand tools either. ( too inexpensive.. )

soundguy

Garage sales, I keep a whole box of cheap and old wrenches.Make all kinds of special one of tools.

 

[Bird]

it's not just china. EVERYTHING has planned obselescence. by design.. not accident. manufacturers don't want durable goods.. they want to sell you multiples.

I'm afraid most people don't realize just how true that is. I think many things have improved and last much, much longer, but I had a bit of experience in the auto parts business. I don't know how many of our members on TBN are old enough to remember 1960 when the Chevrolet Corvair, Ford Falcon, and Plymouth Valiant first hit the market. Now I only heard, without evidence, that automobiles had improved to the point that they weren't selling enough parts. So they made those cars to sell cheaper, get better gas mileage, and sell parts. I do know that, before the first ones hit the streets, our parts suppliers sent us coded parts lists so we'd know what to stock; so they obviously knew what was going to wear out and approximately how soon.

We handled a very good brand of rebuilt generators and starters and in a sales meeting once with the factory rep, a mechanic mentioned that they had a bushing that would wear and require replacing generators. He said if they'd change the metal in that bushing they'd last a lot longer. The factory rep said, "Yep, that would cost another nickel for each generator, and then you'd never sell another one. We already rebuild them to last 15% longer than original equipment new ones."

I've no doubt the same thing exists in other products.

 

[Soundguy]

Garage sales, I keep a whole box of cheap and old wrenches.Make all kinds of special one of tools.

i love garage sales. I buy every 1$ incomplete socket set i find. I used to be willingto pay a lil more.. but now that hf will sell you a complete 3/8 drive sae and metric socket set with 3" ext and 1/4" adapter and a cheap lil nut driver for 2.99 to 3.99 .. well.. they are cornering the market on yard sales even!

 

[DarkBlack]

So Willie Wonker wouldn't get rich after all... with his everlasting gobstopper?

 

[Bob77064]

The Chinese hand tools that I have to use once in a while are fine. If I had to use them every day that would be different.

 

[JoeBuyer]

2nd hand store? i read that as a pawn shop?

pawn shops around me charge 90% of new on name brand tools.. IE.. if it's a 25$ sears wrench, they want nearly 20$ for it.

hf has that wrench for 5$

local pawn shops.. round' here anyway, won't loan on non name brand tools either. ( too inexpensive.. )

soundguy

No not pawn shops. Thrift stores, second hand places. Or garage sales like has been mentioned. Also craigslist will have cheap tools sometimes. I recently made two very nice tool sets out of a crate of tools sold to me for $20 at the end of a garage sale. I gave them away as gifts and I still had many tools left over. The crate was still there because it was so heavy and it had other stuff setting on it so no one saw it. It was mostly Husky stuff and it was fine for who I gave the tools to. They had to be out of the house in a hurry so I took it off of their hands. I backed my truck up and transferred all the larger stuff into the truck bed until I could lift the crate. I always keep cheaper tools in the barn, on the tractors, etc. I would rather loose one from a garage sale or thrift store than out of my main set. And I also like to put money in someone's pocket locally by buying used stuff than pay for HF tools being shipped in from china. Way too much stuff gets junked when all it needs is a little wrenching.