I can vividly remember in the 70's and 80's when Japanese produced product was considered "junk" we even called their motorcycles "Rice Burners". Funny how they actually built BETTER & more reliable cars than the US as well as Motorcycles among other items. Today "Made in Japan" is a sign of quality...
Those same Japanese auto makers, who we used to accuse of building "Rice Burners" are still cleaning the clocks of the rest of the world on reliability some 35 years later and building many of these cars on US soil.
I have ridden in a Chinese made SUV and was very, very impressed. LOTS of premium quality stuff comes out of China today but it is a you get what you pay for sort of game. If you want the Chinese to produce a quality product you pay them to do so. If you want an elcheapo eBay / scammer knock-off product they will build that too.
I am a recovering audiophile and the US buyer drove US audio companies straight out of business. The Asian market could duplicate the look and feel of high end audio components but rarely if ever could duplicate the all important sound.
No problem the US population voted with their wallets and bought crappy sounding Asian made audio components and drove all but a hand full of US manufacturers out of business or off shore to compete. The Asian components that could compete were priced similarly to US made...
For a company to produce a US made line of marine instruments they would go belly up before they even got off the ground. Boaters are simple "thrifty" heck most complain about the cost of the Chinese made stuff we have now. Double or triple that price to build it in the US and now you are pretty much dead in the water.
I try to manufacture everything I produce and sell here in the US. I do this simply to support US jobs. Alternators, Bed-It Tape, my stuffing box packing, etc. etc.. This is not because of quality, the Asians could build exactly what I want, at less cost, but what I desire is to do my small part to support US jobs when I can and where it is financially smart for me to do.
For me it is not "smart" to buy myself a US made or European auto. Been there done that for far too many years and my wallet still has the scars from it..
The Japanese have the reliability market nailed. IF or WHEN the US can get their butts in gear to build reliable cars again then I WILL be the first in line to buy them. For now we simply don't compete on reliability or on standing behind the product so I have to act with my wallet in a way that financially makes sense to my family.
That means we currently drive Japanese made cars. Do I like it, NO. Does it make financial sense for me and my family ABSOLUTELY.... Last year, between both cars, (one with 135K and one with 165K) we spent $223.00 in non-routine maintenance. This is not far off our "average" year with Honda's and Toyota's in non-routine maintenance....
When we drove European and American cars with similar mileage we were often spending $500.00 to 1k per month, per car. My wife really wants another Euro car, she loves the way they feel, and I keep saying "Does it say Honda or Toyota on it.?"
I then pull up the spread sheets for car repairs on the BMW's, Volvo's, Mercedes, Audi etc.. and she just relents.... Easy to forget how much you spent to keep those cars running when you've been driving a Japanese car..
FWIW I find the current crop of navigation instruments more reliable than many of the older brands even ones that were US made. The water proofing is better, the user interface is leaps and bounds better, the screens are better, power consumption is lower etc. etc... Most are retired due to lack of support (by a US company) or because they simply become outdated like a computer.
I mention companies like Rogue Power Technologies on here quite often. Their MPPT controller is built right here in the US. They are tremendous products yet a tad more expensive than a Chinese knock off MPPT.
Which MPPT controllers do you think sell more often to sailors the elcheapo knock offs from China or the Rogue MPPT? I would say it is safe to bet that not a single boat owner on this site uses a Rogue MPPT yet a LOT of sailors have big solar arrays.
I have many customers I have steered towards the EXCELLENT little Genasun MPPT controllers, also built in the USA, but when I get to the boat I often find an eBay special made in China. Some of these "knock offs" are not even MPPT yet wear an MPPT sticker...
My point here is that the buying public DEMAND elcheapo products and it makes it very, very difficult for a company paying US labor to compete with a "direct from Zhejiang" eBay special...
Maybe if more sailors demanded US made products, and were willing to pay the premium, we would have more of them to choose from.......
