Aircompressor

Thanks Mick.........need to do some more research. Johno

I don't disagree with Mick's judgement but would qualify it by observing that the appearance of one Chinese unit might be the same as another but the internals can vary - quality of bearings, amount of copper in the motor and so on. That of course makes comparisons of prospective service life hard and my take-out from buying Chinese-made woodworking machinery is to go with a reputable Aussie brand and not to buy on price in the first instance.

The first compressor I bought came off eBay @ around $80 and lasted six inflations of six wheels. Since then I've had a good run with an ABR Sidewinder model.

Have you seen the Unsealed compressor comparison?
http://www.unsealed4x4.com.au/issue017/#29

Mines a twin head 150Lph ebay cheapy that has done hundreds of inflates. First comp I ever bought actually. Still going strong years later and it does not get looked after...

Having a warranty simply means it'll be swapped out if it fails within a time period. Doesn't mean its quality at all. Do you really think Aussie resellers go to China and specify exactly what parts should go into their cheap product? more likely there is a target price and its built to that. I know one major importer of 4wd camping gear who had to return a batch of tents when the Chinese decided to redesign the unit without consultation. They figured they could save some money and tried it on.

Anyway, its all irrelevant if it fails out in the bush but that can/will happen to any comp.

Yeah, that's a good read - but doesn't cover prospective service life.

In woodwork machinery you see it all: price and specs given point blank; discussion about component quality before a price is agreed; QA procedures written into the contract; QC guys on the ground over there. And the Aussie is dealing primarily with an assembler who is sourcing components from the makers.

You missed my point about the assembly. Think along the lines of your 'you expected/agreed phosphor bronze bearings but the manufacturer decides to fit baked bean tins instead part way through teh batch... The manufacturer altered the spec to suit themselves well into the production run.
As the Aussie importer you do not always know what you have bought till the complaints start coming in, especially on the cheaper stuff which you are not so likely to pull apart and inspect.

Service life on anything Chinese and cheap will be unknown till it fails but given that so much 'quality' gear is ultimately Chinese anyway, you have no way of really determining quality till it craps out.
Price is no longer a good indicator of quality.

For this sort of thing, we try and have backups. In this case we have air lockers so have the little locker comp as a backup should the tyre unit fall apart..

I have to concur with Malcolm. You can have two identical-looking items from two different Chinese manufacturers, and they will perform as differently as chalk and cheese.

There are two factors at play here. One, is the type or methods of QC the company is using.

The classic original Chinese stunt is to throw everything together using unskilled peasant labour that was hoeing rice paddies, the week before your product was slapped together.
These people are uneducated, have little by way of mechanical skills or understanding, and care little about attention to detail.

In this factory, the management is always pushing for maximum output to meet "targets" - and QC is confined to a peasant with a fancy rubber stamp, stamping everything in sight, only checking to see if the box actually contains the product.

This factory fills containers with the product and lets the retailer and customer sort out the problems caused by poor QC and poor assembly. Probably around 5% of the product gets scrapped from this factory.

Parts will even be found to be rusty in this product, because they were left stored in the weather due to inadequate warehousing cover.

The second factor is the Chinese "Quality Fade" factor. Google the term, there's even a book called "Poorly Made in China" - an expose by an American who worked in China as a manager for many years.
The Chinese howl that the book is now irrelevant, the problems are from over 10 yrs ago, and nothing in the book applies to their production processes today.
If only that were true. China is still a hotbed of corruption and "black money" and shortcuts to make a few individuals, very rich, very quickly.

"Quality Fade" means that the initial product is quite satisfactory, but within a short time after commencing production, quality starts to fall away.

This can range from poorer assembly quality to poorer component quality due to substitution of lower grades of steel, thinner copper wiring, thinner insulation, lower quality fasteners, poorer quality plastics.

Then there is the problem of a first class factory outsourcing production of components to "backyarders" - small factories with no QC, little control over the end product quality, and even worse - factory owners who immediately ignore the big factory product specifications, and who substitute lower-grade rubbish for the big factory specifications - often along with bribes to factory managers to accept the lower grade component/s.

A vast range of Chinese electrical items still suffer from poor quality today. The biggest single complaints and reasons for recalls on many Chinese products, is fires, short circuits, and electrocution potential, due to poor quality electrics and poor assembly.

What is hidden from the recalls records, is the sizeable amount of smaller Chinese products of low voltage, that burn out rapidly, and are just tossed in the bin in disgust.

Cheers, Ron.

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Extended warranty is no assurance of better quality Batt's. The manufacturer/seller only has to build in a slight price increase to cover the risk.

A simple example..... supposing a two-fold warranty increase (12 months to 24 months) produced a 3% increase in warranty events. The manufacturer only has to increase his selling price by a small amount to cover that wholesale cost without improving his build quality. However he may well achieve an even greater increase in sales due to the attractive warranty offer which will more than make up for honouring the warranty claims.

Smoke and mirrors and distraction! All a part of marketing.
I have sat in a management meeting where this very stratagem was discussed for adoption.

Personally I would take it as a sign of a quality product depending on the manufacturer. When I bought my Bushranger it cost $360 which was a fair amount in 2004 but they were and still are about the only company that offers a 5 yr warranty and you don't offer that if you're trying to flog off an inferior product and still expect to keep a good rep and your business running. They have a higher cut off temp than most compressors and run cooler up to 60 deg less than some brands which I expect will help the compressor last longer and is another sign of quality.

There are a few exceptions to the rules these days manufactures that are after a quick buck that's why it pays to research a product before you by it. One of the biggest companies ARB still don't offer a very good warranty which is very surprising but in saying that there has been an increase in people having failures.

Batt's I think the reality is that using price as an indictor of quality isn't as reliable as it used to be. Pricing is a lot more variable than the old days. I would say it is now the exception rather than the rule. I think you point is valid but with a slightly different spin these days, expecially in consumer products.

I would say that pricing is now an indication of the brand's image and a brand is now positioned for reliability etc if that makes sense. Brand has become a short cut alternative for consumer research and manufacturers then leverage their brand. As an example Bushranger is a brand of ARB positioned to a different market.

A great example I love is from a good friend of ours who import clothing from ....china. They sell ladies shirts which are for sale at Target for $22. The exact same shirt in different colours off the same production runs sells at a more upmarket store for $240 with a different label. The only difference is that one of the companies insist that they be sample tested against a durability standard. That company is Target.

I always keep that in mind as I shop.