Cheap Chinese Equipment

[JCliftonB]

What is your experience with cheap, Chinese-made camping equipment? Do you have some gear that works well and you would rely on? Have you been swindled by the lure of Aliexpress and the free shipping on an item that costs you less than a few bucks?

(To be clear, I realize some Chinese brands are making great gear. I am not referring to these items or brands nor am I generalizing China or those in China that share in our love of overlanding. I am strictly referring to the ultra-cheap manufactured products generally made in Chinese facilities.)

How do you feel about businesses slapping a sticker on a cheap product from China that is widely available on all the usual shopping websites and upcharging for said item?

For example, take a look at this item sold by a business run by fellow overlanders. They'll sell you a $10 pump and a PVC adapter for $90 when the same items can be had for less than $20 on Amazon...

I'm sorry, but this is flagrant swindling of the consumer and customer who businesses claim to be helping. This hurts the community in my opinion. Not to mention this company gets influencers to peddle their products to the masses when said influencers know well and good that this is a cheap, Chinese pump with a branded sticker on it. (Looking at you, Ox) This is the exact opposite of innovation in my opinion and serves to hurt the community. We need to expect better or at the very least, not gouge fellow travelers for some convenience.

What do you think about this and products and businesses like this? Do they help or harm the community of travelers and overlanders?

 

[Oscar Mike 5]

Honestly.... I have found that the not all Chinese Products are poorly made.....and not all American products are well made.

As much as I hate to provide finances to China for their services, they own the market in many realms.

I justify this in my own head, basically by saying... I will just beat them with their own products...lol

 

[AbleGuy]

One reason we try not to buy goods from this country is we don’t like their return policy:


(Think about what you’re dollars are funding, you’ll likely get ‘em back in 2025)

 

[plh]

I have that $10 pump and it works great. I've had it for probably 4 years. The adapter is not needed for attaching to a Scepter. I posted this cheap setup idea on here several years ago. I didn't vote. No irons in the fire on this one, but quite frankly, there are many items overland related that are not made in USA or elsewhere than China so there is no other option.

As far as relabeling and selling at a profit, take a look around... that is the normal for the majority of products.

 

[TwinStick]

Lots of wisdom here. Honestly I could not afford to have many of the things we have if I had to buy American. I have 3 different toolboxes, One with a name that used to be associated with Made in America but no longer is for decades now. If I had to buy Snap On, I couldn't even afford to buy 1 toolbox. Lol
Businesses have been doing that since at least the 80's.

So, now it's the future, Lol, and the day we drove our 23' ZR2 home, is the day & time that onstar informed us that "they and the police have the ability now to press a button and disable our vehicle."

How long before that is hacked or key fob signal is duplicated by criminals ? It seems like all this technology is making it exponentially easier for criminals.

 

[vintageracer]

Cheap Price?

Cheap Quality?

Cheap can mean a lot of things that may or may not be all BAD!

 

[DirtWhiskey]

I got news for you. It's all made in "China". Anything involving plastic and electronic parts is largely made there. Show me the company making an actual pump like that in America. If they are, then they are assembling parts made elsewhere.

I buy on Alibaba all the time. If you're careful and do your due diligence you stand a chance at getting a better product at a better price. Lots of product innovation happening there that we never see on our shores. Any functional product that is initially made in the good old USA that reaches volume production goes off shore. This is the world we live in. I just bought a dry suit for $143, likely the same factory that makes big name dry suits that retail for $1100 here. I bought a fully titanium beakdown tent wood stove with secondary combustion walls (something nobody in the USA does) for $150. Screw it I'm taking that deal.

We gutted our manufacturing capabilities so we can have cheap toasters years ago. Cream off the top goes to the hedge fund that wrestled control of the company.

Vietnam is the textile capital of the world for outdoor products. You know why? They do it better than us for a better price. We are now a financial services based country. And let's face it, many of them are better at making things than us. Many of them have abhorrent human rights records, which is the primary reason nowadays to buy American IMHO.

 

[Shawn686]

^^^^^^^^

This, for the most part you are just paying for the brand name

 

[Bigc3031]

The Chinese clones may look the same but often times they are not even close. China can’t design their way out of a paper bag, they steal everything. We are complete idiots for continuing to support this. Because we manufacture very little in the states we send our designs/specs to Chinese companies who do in fact make it to the given specs however they then use those designs and “value engineer” them and then make their own versions with sub par materials, looser specs, crappy software or a combination of the bunch then you add in piss poor little f Amy customer support and you have a lesser expensive product.

I can’t think of a single knock off I’ve ever used and thought it was great or durable.

 

[rruff]

How do you feel about businesses slapping a sticker on a cheap product from China that is widely available on all the usual shopping websites and upcharging for said item?

I'm just glad I bought it for $10... It's really easy to comparison shop these days so I don't feel sorry for people who fail to do it.

Unlike some I guess, I've had mostly positive experiences with the cheap Chinese stuff. I do believe the cost savings would be minimal if we actually supported a manufacturing base in the US, but that ship sailed long ago. Most items that are actually designed and built in the US have been relegated to the "boutique" market, which is not a category where I shop.

 

[rgallant]

Some stuff is good, some bad and quality control is pretty marginal on a lot. But as with @rruff I have had more good than bad experiences with the cheaper stuff from China

 

[Dirt Rider]

One of the few good things about being old is you get a sense of history and can see trends. When I was young we all complained about poorly made Japanese stuff, now its considered some of the best. The thing is companies are greedy and stupid, "Hey we can make that in China for 1/10 the price" but now China knows how to make the product and opens a shop 2 blocks away making the same thing and selling it with another label for even less money, putting the original company out of business. In China you don't have the same concerns about the environment, medical benefits, pensions etc, labor is cheap and sometimes forced, no child labor issues either. I will say this, Harbor freight stuff used to be really bad, but has improved quit a bit, but some is still junk. Also they used to be very inexpensive, but have gone up a lot now that they have driven out much of the competition.

 

[MOAK]

I was brought up in the 50s & 60s and everything out of Japan was considered cheap Japanese junk. In 1976 I bought my first Landcruiser and you would have thought I was a traitor by the way family and friends treated me. A couple of my cousins will not talk to me to this day because of that. The first Landcruisers were a direct copy of the Willys Jeep, reversed engineered. Only better. Today the same complaints are being heard about Chinese products. Some of it is cheap junk, but not all. I’ve no problem buying an Oztent, an ARB fridge, or a Tepui RTT. The list goes on.

Personally I never met anyone that liked their job working on any production lines back in the 60s or 70s. In fact, most Americans working in production hated their job. The Chinese do produce junk in order to satisfy the American disease of “ instant gratification”. If you’ve paid 79.99 for a three person tent, you’ll get what you paid for, junk. If you’ve paid a thousand or more for an Oztent, or the cost of a Tepui Autana Ruggedized, you’re getting what you paid for, I’ll never have to purchase another tent. I’d dare anyone to accuse any of the brands I mentioned to be junk.

 

[MiamiC70]

What is your experience with cheap, Chinese-made camping equipment? Do you have some gear that works well and you would rely on? Have you been swindled by the lure of Aliexpress and the free shipping on an item that costs you less than a few bucks?

(To be clear, I realize some Chinese brands are making great gear. I am not referring to these items or brands nor am I generalizing China or those in China that share in our love of overlanding. I am strictly referring to the ultra-cheap manufactured products generally made in Chinese facilities.)

How do you feel about businesses slapping a sticker on a cheap product from China that is widely available on all the usual shopping websites and upcharging for said item?

For example, take a look at this item sold by a business run by fellow overlanders. They'll sell you a $10 pump and a PVC adapter for $90 when the same items can be had for less than $20 on Amazon...

I'm sorry, but this is flagrant swindling of the consumer and customer who businesses claim to be helping. This hurts the community in my opinion. Not to mention this company gets influencers to peddle their products to the masses when said influencers know well and good that this is a cheap, Chinese pump with a branded sticker on it. (Looking at you, Ox) This is the exact opposite of innovation in my opinion and serves to hurt the community. We need to expect better or at the very least, not gouge fellow travelers for some convenience.

What do you think about this and products and businesses like this? Do they help or harm the community of travelers and overlanders?

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As opposed to rebranded, marked up Chinese equipment marketed by “Overland” vendors?🤔

 

[Ragman]

I guess going back to the original question Buyer Beware. If you buy something from an affiliate link because some influencer recommended it (fair disclosure I have a YouTube channel and recommend products I use and have tested) then you should understand that the big channels make a decent amount of money and a large part of it comes from selling you products and getting a commission which is not a negative in itself, they do have to eat. Do some investigation on a product, if you see the same pump for much less then don't pay up for the sticker, if you trust the channel and feel good about supporting it pay up for the sticker. Creating stores is the latest venture for some of the bigger overland YT channels-remember it is a business, not your buddy.