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| Why do so many people here go nuts over very low quality gear from China? |
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| Berni:
I like my NanoVNA for how cheep it was and what it can do. Already exited for the new 3GHz NanoVNA now that i hear it is in the works. But i do also have a bunch of test equipment that carries badges of HP, Agilent, Keysight, Keithley, Tektronix, etc... But most of this equipment is old used gear that i happened to get a good deal on. I can't afford to buy shiny new top brand gear for my lab, the cost of that would be ridiculous. My spectrum analyzer is a HP 8566B because its a nice SA i happened to find a good price, but i also have a Rigol DP832 PSU because i liked it and it was cheap enough to be a good bang for buck even when brand new. A decent VNA is hard to find for cheep because they seam to be pretty hot stuff on the used market, so i don't have a real boatanchor VNA yet. But the NanoVNA while not offering top performance still performs easily well enough to be useful for most things you would want to do with a VNA, all while costing less than half a tank of fuel for my car. So it provides in my opinion amazing value for money. Yes id prefer having a piece of test equipment with a Keysight badge rather than Rigol, but if the Rigol gets the job done i won't complain. Test equipment is a tool for getting stuff done, not a expensive fashion accessory like the latest Gucci bag (That is mostly expensive just because it carries the logo, not because of build quality anyway) |
| ogden:
--- Quote from: OwO on December 20, 2019, 09:27:02 am ---I still wonder the same thing about parts distributors and why all big 3 tend to have the exact same prices, when I've seen small OEMs get chips at 1/20th the price direct from Xilinx at volumes of a few hundred. --- End quote --- Those prices are "shelf prices" for those who just grab components like in supermarket or for some reason (small volume?) have no chances to get better price. If you are serious about your volume, you can and must speak to Xilinx sales, negotiate. "Big 3" distributor will deliver chips, for price you agreed with manufacturer. |
| joeqsmith:
--- Quote from: jadew on December 19, 2019, 03:10:26 pm ---Hey guys, So... that's pretty much the question: why? For an example see the NanoVNA and most of things that come from that chinese operation with a ham radio handle. Why do people who seemingly know the value of good and reliable test equipment, go for things like that, which are clearly poorly designed (if you can call them that), and which are destroying the market for genuine manufacturers who really want to make a quality product. It's like buying a caliper that has the accuracy of a ruler. Their business model is to shovel as much low cost garbage as possible, to completely undermine the competition. They can do this because unlike businesses in other countries, they don't care about warranty, so their products don't have to be good, and they don't care about regulations or IP either, which means they can make those products for pennies. I'm kind of annoyed by this, because I've been bit by it several times already and I have suspicions that some of these sellers are also behind a recent attack against my server. Why is this happening and how can you work against it - is it even worth it? --- End quote --- My bud Flipper had expressed an interested in buying a VNA and was looking at the Siglent. They bought the Nanos based on my recommendation after I had read an article about them. My goal was to help Flipper learn about a VNA before they made a decision on what to buy. At $100 (2 pcs) it was a no brainer. Worst case, we would pitch them. I played with it a bit and for learning the basics it was a very good investment. At some point, I will replace my 1970's VNA and I am sure Flipper will end up getting something. Because of the cost, I will most likely buy something used. |
| madires:
I think it's about the perceived value of a product or the bang for the buck. When a cheap USB logic analyzer clone suits my needs why should I spend much more on a professional one? Before we had the inexpensive T&M devices from China hobbyists had to pay big money for professional stuff, maybe got used gear for a reasonable sum if lucky, or had to look for kits or projects in electronics magazines. Or in other words, there's demand for inexpensive T&M gear. Since the big T&M brands don't care about this market inexpensive Chinese products are very welcome and filling the gap. As one of the two active developers of the Transistortester project I'm happy that any electronics enthusiast can get a tester for just a few bucks helping her/him to repair, upcycle and so on. On the other side it's frustrating to see how most of the tester manufacturers ignore the OSHW character of the project by creating modified firmwares and not releasing the code, or by not mentioning the project. So a lot of users don't know about the OSHW project and have no idea that they can upgrade the firmware. And if you think it's an issue with Chinese manufacturers only, you're wrong. Velleman (Belgian company) sells a Transistortester kit with a 2x16 text display for about 50 bucks. Besides the inflated price they also don't give any hint about the OSHW project. |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: jadew on December 19, 2019, 04:50:02 pm --- --- Quote from: OwO on December 19, 2019, 04:25:10 pm ---Nah. For a hobbyist without lots of money the alternative is NO test equipment. --- End quote --- That is not true. Someone who's willing to use a VNA that doesn't work, has plenty of better options in the used/broken market. --- End quote --- If you can find me a proper VNA for ~$50 that doesn't take up my whole bench I'll buy it today. Until then the NanoVNA is looking pretty good to me, I don't do enough RF stuff to need a "real" instrument, all I really need is the ability to measure passive filters and such. |
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