Buying Advice Chinese yes or no.

[k0ua]

I do not own a Chinese tractor. I did own a Chinese ATV snowblower (GIO). No parts, no service no reliability. Soft bearings, soft bolts, soft roller chain, poor engine, weak clutch, Poor wiring. Every thing was shoddy. I sold it and bought a KUBOTA. MUCH HAPPIER! The Chinese blower broke down each time I tried to use it. I no longer will by any Chinese product including pet food, shrimp, or farmed fish..or anything canned.... and furniture made from Chinese elm is pretty bad too. Have had no luck with Chinese electronics, either.
Chinese steel is extremely weak, soft or very brittle. No I am not against a bargain...unless it isn't.

We have all had some bad luck with some Chinese products. And for the reasons you mentioned. BUT I have had very good luck with my Chinese Welder sold here by Everlast. Again this is a USA company specifying a product built in a Chinese manufacturing plant. I think that is the key. Are some Chinese made products very good product? Yes. Are some shoddy junk? Yes. I have a Chinese made vise sold by Harbor Freight that I am pretty sure is made from Jif peanut butter. But I have a large Harbor freight grinder that has served me well for over 20 years.

 

[jix]

KOAU...I agree with your post.. I too have a 20 yr old grinder, still working. Ditto a steel cut-off saw, but my compound mitre saw is toast... and my 1/2 inch hammer drill..and all my Chinese drill bits. You gotta be careful with Chinese products.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I do like teryaki stir fried rice and vegetables...

 

[ultrarunner]

I have limited experience...

A friend bought a chinese Dozer... price was right and it has a pto with 3 point... he likes everything about the tractor except working on it and getting parts.

My brother bought the kids a chinese made sand buggy... they were thrilled... problem is it works out to a couple hours working on it for every hour of fun... within the first two hours the transmission quit... ZERO help from the importer even with warranty... after teardown it was found to be a nut that had backed off... which is good.

Next the rim collapsed and again no warranty support... bought a new rim and mounted the tire.

Next the chain tensioner fell off and now the chain does not want to stay on the sprocket.

Also, the battery will not hold a charge for 24 hours... called the importer who said they are not very good.

Bought a made in Japan battery and it holds a charge over a week no problem.

I told him to avoid it and he said the features offered for the price was too good a deal to pass...

 

[jix]

Ultra runner: this exactly mirrors my experience: Equipment from china gets refusal from any repair shop in my area. They cite impossible to get repair parts, refusal to honour warranty claims, so thet will not allow them into their shop at any price.

I would not even give scrap prices for this Chinese machinery. Most reputable dealers will not sell any of it.
NO to China for anything. I have nothing Chinese that I was happy with....but it is dirt cheap. You don't even get what you pay for, even so. They poisoned my dog with Chinese beet pulp (contains Plant acids that caused kidney failure)
China makes knock off 13 Hp.Honda motors really cheap They do not last very long, bearings seals carbuerators, switches...its all just trouble. Stay far away from it all. Chinese pet food is toxic to dogs... and many brand name companies use it, rebrand it and sell it to unwise pet owners, because it is cheap.
China over uses insecticides becoz the chinese govt does not enforce compliance on producers.

 

[arlen4720]

I do like teryaki stir fried rice and vegetables...

That's Japanese.

 

[tman1020]

It's amazing how many reputable us companies have sold out and changed from made in USA to China imports. If I'm going to be getting china goods I'm sure not going to pay premium price for name brand recognition.
I understand their theory requiring stringent quality control and spec but we all know that the at current time it's optimistic at best . Sure they may stand behind a warranty by sending you a replacement but it will still be cheap product.
It's our own fault, wanting cheep stuff. I like to think I have learned my lesson by now. But Quality products and the skills to make them are getting hard to find. I am continually disappointed in China product including the name brand stuff.

 

[GManBart]

That's Japanese.

Stop with those pesky facts already!

 

[ultrarunner]

The warranty part has been the most frustrating... clearly defective parts the first day and no assistance.

My brother is nicer than I am... would have contested the charge immediately on the credit card, filed a complaint with product safety commision, the Better Business Bureau, the Licensing Board in the city where the importer is located and the Federal Trade Commision just on principal.

Maybe nice is not a good word... I should say optimistic because when he contacted the company they apologized and said the Christmas rush was overwhelming and then parts were in short supply and when it finally came down to it they denied the claim and of course the credit card charge had already been paid.

It does have a Honda clone motor and so far the motor sounds good and is very smooth...

I generally help with all things mechanical... the exception was this buggy and I am glad I did because not looking for a lifetime project.

The only good thing I have to say is his kids are learning first hand how to makes repairs, how things work and what a warranty is and is not...

 

[Parkanzky]

If I'm going to be getting china goods I'm sure not going to pay premium price for name brand recognition.
I understand their theory requiring stringent quality control and spec but we all know that the at current time it's optimistic at best .

One of the greatest success stories for overseas mass production has been Apple/Foxconn manufacturing the iPhones and iPads in Shenzhen, China. When you consider the failure rate they see for the number of phones they sell (almost 60 million a quarter!) you have to respect the manufacturing and quality controls they must have in place all the way up their supply chain. Working conditions for the employees is a different matter...

I work for a US-based company that sells a huge variety of products in about a hundred countries. China is one of our biggest markets and Chinese regulations require that much of what you sell there is produced in China. We have a number of approaches to achieve this. Sometimes we do a lot of the pre-production in the US and ship the "unfinished goods" to China where they finish it up. We have built a couple of manufacturing facilities in China and produce a lot of product there ourselves. But since we don't have the capacity to make everything we want to sell, we will also use contract manufacturers to make simpler products (that we've designed) or buy products from third-party manufacturers in China (that they've designed).

Each of those options comes with its own quality challenges. Obviously, making everything ourselves in our US plants is the easiest way to keep an eye on product quality. When we open a new plant overseas, it can take a little time to build in a "culture of quality," but in the end it's our company and we're able to dictate the standard.

It's harder when we use contract manufacturers. There is a lot of competition for cheap production in that part of the world. So when we want someone to produce a product for us, it's very important that we audit them carefully (this means questionnaires, reviewing their operating procedures, and sending teams to watch them make stuff). When they're making our product to our specifications, we know the product well because of our development process. When it's a total buyout and they did all the development, you are always worried that they aren't sharing robustness or stability information that might have dissuaded you from giving them the contract.

The difference between a good company and a bad company is that a good company will look for contract manufacturers they are confident can consistently produce a high-quality product. Bad companies will outsource to the lowest bidder knowing they can't possibly pay for good equipment or maintain the necessary controls to ensure high-quality but hoping that the product they get at the end will be "good enough."