The Chicom knock-off industry...

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ozflea said:
Well I have pride in my chinese knockoff's and saved a buck or two along the way.





McBob
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Any chance of some more info on these saws? Are they real? I mean new 090's etc? Apparent good quality, or akin to most of the other $99 knockoffs?

I'm not interested in bashing you, or buying one. Jus curious to hear the real story. I asked before in another thread, but got no actual response (think you were busy defending yourself). I'd love to know what they cost, and how much service they've seen in Oz hardwoods.
 
Yukon Stihl said:
The problem with stuff made in China is they have found a new element,needs to be added to the periodic table of elements.It is a rare element and has only been found in Asia.
Chineseemum.
It can be and does get added to everything, and anything.I believe it's Chinese law that anything exported has to contain at least 15 %.
It turns rubber into not really rubber
Plastic into not really plastic
Aluminum into not really aluminum
Steel into not really steel
Stihls into Huskys:ices_rofl:,just kidding,anyhow you get the picture.
Thomas
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HAHAHAHAHAHA! I like it!
 
windthrown said:
I have a friend in Oz that bought one of the Stihl look-a-like saws. The Chicom crap saws are legal to buy/sell there. Cost him about $60 AUD. Basic issues with the saws were that the quality is really low (poor tolerances), they do not last very long before breaking, and they cannot really be fixed so they are basically throw-away saws.

For a long time they were advertising these on Craigslist here. You could 'direct import' as many saws as you wanted for like $50. Lakeside Andy posted about them here. I do not see those ads any more.
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They are still common on other markets. :(
 
shootingarts said:
Right now you are getting the ones Stihl is making or assembling in china. Wait until the chinese are the ones in control of the manufacturing process and tell me you are just as proud of those saws.

Hu
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I wasn't aware that Stihl was still making , or having someone else make, 090's.
I assumed that they were a Chinese knockoff POS.
 
The 090s and 070s are an interesting phenomena from China. The last 'real' Stihl ones were built in Brazil, like/where the 361s are being made now. Now 090/070s are being made in China, and some are being licensed by Stihl (and others are obviously not). Controls are limited in China, and so there are more and less legitimate 090s being made in China at the same time. Hard to tell which is which in a place that has no control over copyrwites and trademarks. The key is tolerances, how they are made, and what material they are made out of.
 
SawTroll said:
They are still common on other markets. :(
Click to expand...

Here the EPA has come down hard on imports and advertising in the US on any and all non-smogged engine products. So Chicom saws are not advertised here any more. You can still get them from sites like this one directly from China, but not so much from ads on Craigslist and Ebay any more. I am sure that Stihl and Husqvarna are trying to control this knock-off trademarked stuff, but they also have manufacturing facilities in China.
 
srb08 said:
I wasn't aware that Stihl was still making , or having someone else make, 090's.
I assumed that they were a Chinese knockoff POS.
Click to expand...

Didn't bother looking at the saws. Guess it's whatever floats your boat. If you are a proud shoddy knock-off owner, fine with me. Years ago I hired a couple guys to load hay. Paid them outrageous wages, worked out to ten an hour when the prevailing wage in the area was twenty a day. One wanted me to drive my eighteen wheeler a few blocks out of the way down narrow side streets to show off his home. He was very proud of it. He, his wife, and their children lived in an old Pontiac four door with no wheels and tires parked on the street. It was actually a duplex, his family lived on one seat, his brother and his family on the other. He was beaming with pride and I sure wasn't going to be the one to bust his bubble. No reason to bust yours either. Enjoy your saws!

Hu
 
shootingarts said:
Didn't bother looking at the saws. Guess it's whatever floats your boat. If you are a proud shoddy knock-off owner, fine with me. Years ago I hired a couple guys to load hay. Paid them outrageous wages, worked out to ten an hour when the prevailing wage in the area was twenty a day. One wanted me to drive my eighteen wheeler a few blocks out of the way down narrow side streets to show off his home. He was very proud of it. He, his wife, and their children lived in an old Pontiac four door with no wheels and tires parked on the street. It was actually a duplex, his family lived on one seat, his brother and his family on the other. He was beaming with pride and I sure wasn't going to be the one to bust his bubble. No reason to bust yours either. Enjoy your saws!

Hu
Click to expand...
What?
 
If the saws are like anything else, it is a hit/miss kinda deal. It looks like they are using outdated technology to manufacture saws that are no longer produced by the originators. Same thing happens with computers, TV's, audio equipment, etc. The technology might be outdated but still suitable, and significantly cheaper than when current. An 070 design built by anybody, so long as it were done correctly, is a great saw. Built with inferior materials and low standards ... maybe not a great saw. Nobody knows for sure unless they run one. So far the only guy to post with actual experience, says he's proud of them. Therefore, I'd be inclined to think he got some good ones.
 
Sure would be nice if Ozflea would tell us a little about the saws he is "proud of". I have no beef. But at the same time been asking for some details on the all over the webs. With basically no response. Do parts swap readily? How's the metallurgy, machining? Real deal, or Alibaba junk? If one showed up in front of me, I would truly have no idea of its relative value. Thanks for posting pics, but some details would be nice.

Edit: there is an 090 on my local CL. Shame I can't get any info about identifying the china ones. (Not that I'm about to pay 2400 anyway.) It'd just be nice to spot the knockoffs.
 
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Rather than buying a new fake chainsaw and helping the imitators out, to do my now limited firewood cutting I just rely on the old faithful Poulan and McCulloch saws, they do just fine and they're not expensive at all. I have a couple of Stihls and Husqvarnas but they're so old I doubt if they were made in China.
 
qbilder said:
If the saws are like anything else, it is a hit/miss kinda deal. It looks like they are using outdated technology to manufacture saws that are no longer produced by the originators. Same thing happens with computers, TV's, audio equipment, etc. The technology might be outdated but still suitable, and significantly cheaper than when current. An 070 design built by anybody, so long as it were done correctly, is a great saw. Built with inferior materials and low standards ... maybe not a great saw. Nobody knows for sure unless they run one. So far the only guy to post with actual experience, says he's proud of them. Therefore, I'd be inclined to think he got some good ones.
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The catch with everything I am aware of built in china for cheap export is that the materials and tolerances are garbage. No flaw with the original design, the current implementation is the issue. My fifty year old mill was still being copied and copies are still produced today. Not sure of the original date of the design, it is seventy-five or a hundred years old. I used the adjustments built into the machine to tighten it up and true everything and it was stiffer than a new copy and cut to tighter tolerances.

Supposedly the chinese will build to whatever level of quality the people ordering are willing to pay for, no idea if that is true or not. However in many cases the issues start with the quality of the material of the initial forgings, castings, and moldings. At that point I don't think anyone can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Many don't recall we had exactly the same problems with cheap japanese imports when they first started heavily exporting to the USA. The steel was crap, entire bridges built to specifications with japanese steel had to be torn down and many of the original cars and trucks rotted in a few years without even being exposed to salt. We see the exact same thing today with many of the goods from china, india, and other low cost export markets. Buy something that looks well made and solid only to find that it is garbage in use.

One thing so bad it was funny was a massive steel draw bar from india at my local farm co-op years ago. "Even crap steel has to work when it has that massive of a cross section and fourteen bucks for a draw bar is ridiculous!" My first experience with steel from india that I can recall. Brought it home and found it bent like a cooked noodle. My US made draw bar less than half as thick and not as wide in cross section was far stronger! Gave it to a neighbor and told him it might be OK as long as he didn't try to pull anything heavier than a lawn mower trailer but don't load that too heavy.

Hu
 
GrassGuerilla said:
Any chance of some more info on these saws? Are they real? I mean new 090's etc? Apparent good quality, or akin to most of the other $99 knockoffs?

I'm not interested in bashing you, or buying one. Jus curious to hear the real story. I asked before in another thread, but got no actual response (think you were busy defending yourself). I'd love to know what they cost, and how much service they've seen in Oz hardwoods.
Click to expand...

Thanks for asking the two 090's I put together are a combination of genuine and Chinese bits ............ I haven't kept an actual costing but know they were a lot cheaper than shopping at the local Stihl shop I did compare some part prices so I'm happy with the way I proceeded. I didn't build them for everyday use but to run at races so being about how long they last is of no interest to me.

Mind you the Stihl components are few and far between just one cylinder to date with a few small items the Chinese don't make to complete the saws

One is a standard 090 and the other the AV variation ( still waiting on a front handle to complete finish the second one to AV )

McBob.

P.S The Chinese crankcases will fit up to all the known AV systems Stihl used on the 090's.
 
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