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To: Ouderkirk

The vast majority, if not all, the consumer grade Chinese tools at, for example, Harbor Freight, are not worth the gas money to bring them home.

However, there are some notable exceptions in electronic test gear - couple years ago, I bought a Rigol (made in China) 100 MHz dual-channel DDS function generator with the expectation that it would be adequate for my needs, but would not compare in quality with HP/Agilent/Keysight or other US designed gear in my shop. After looking at its performance, I would put it at about 95% of Keysight performance at about 25% of the price.

If the Chinese put their mind to it, at least in the limited world of electronic test equipment, based on my experience, they are quite competent.

And, they are moving up the food chain in electronic test equipment.


10 posted on 08/30/2015 5:13:24 PM PDT by JackOfVA
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To: JackOfVA

I bought some black finish hand tools from HF for use as part of generic clips I send to stock agencies.

There isn’t glare and the names are easy to obscure. I do the real work with my vintage 70s and 80s craftsman tools offscreen.


22 posted on 08/30/2015 6:04:13 PM PDT by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: JackOfVA

I have a Uni-Trend two channel scope that seems quite capable and works just fine.


24 posted on 08/30/2015 6:09:06 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!Just read)
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To: JackOfVA

There are many Chinese firms who do make quality electronic equipment, however from my experience these are facilities run by Americans or Europeans in the executive suites. Stuff made by chines from to bottom is usually of marginal quality and barely meets the specification with zero headroom.

The stuff at Harbor Freight is junk or has value as a single use item (drills, mills, taps, etc) which will make only a few passes. I did buy a double flare kit from them, for dirt cheap and it has been excellent. I have made over 30 double flares on one die when I expected it to make the six flares I needed and be dead.

My experiences with Chinese suppliers has been considerable, and I simply hate doing business with them because of the time and money I have to spend policing the materials for contract compliance. It makes the agreed to price not so attractive.


26 posted on 08/30/2015 6:53:08 PM PDT by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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