Once great brands ...... now junk.

smilerf

Toshiba used to make good laptops but my last one was terrible and I haven't really seen around in about 3 years

Aineoil

I haven't been impressed with Dyson. As vacuum cleaner it's not that great. I bought a hand held Dyson rechargeable vacuum cleaner

about 10 years ago - it was rubbish. Maybe the newer models are better?

Not that impressed with Bosch either. I had a Bosch washing machine and dishwasher that lasted for more than 15 years. Brilliant

return for the money spent at the time. Bought a Bosch clothes dryer that broke after year and a half. I have a Bosch dishwasher that's

roughly 6 years old. I'm not that impressed with it compared to my old Bosch dishwasher.

I bought a new Bosch washing machine last September and the salesman said it would last about 5 to 6 years. It looks like I'm

obsessed with Bosch appliances but I thought were very reliable at a relatively affordable price.

My mother swears by Miele. But there's no way I could afford the prices they charge.

JohnBoy26

Aineoil wrote: »

I haven't been impressed with Dyson. As vacuum cleaner it's not that great. I bought a hand held Dyson rechargeable vacuum cleaner

about 10 years ago - it was rubbish. Maybe the newer models are better?

Not that impressed with Bosch either. I had a Bosch washing machine and dishwasher that lasted for more than 15 years. Brilliant

return for the money spent at the time. Bought a Bosch clothes dryer that broke after year and a half. I have a Bosch dishwasher that's

roughly 6 years old. I'm not that impressed with it compared to my old Bosch dishwasher.

I bought a new Bosch washing machine last September and the salesman said it would last about 5 to 6 years. It looks like I'm

obsessed with Bosch appliances but I thought were very reliable at a relatively affordable price.

My mother swears by Miele. But there's no way I could afford the prices they charge.

No handheld battery powed cleaner is any good.

asteroids over berlin

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Akai is another once good brand that is chepo rebaged nowadays.

They have really stuck too high end audio equipment for dj'ing/production these days - they do sell some cheapo controllers still.

asteroids over berlin

AMKC wrote: »

Kodak. They made great camera,s but did not change quick enough to keep up with the times. A pity I had a lot of Kodak camera,s and still have one and its a great camera. I think Kodak should have made mobile phones.

JVC there was a great brand now its just a name on some Turkish made crap.

Nokia another great brand but again did not keep up with the times.

Saab great cars but then bought by a company that did not care about them and ruined them.

Kodak's were a classic but the fact the paper was so expensive would just not be profitable in this day and age, however......there are new old analogue editions out now, quite cheap but again the paper is around 30 euro for a pack of 8!!

Hande hoche!

Avatar MIA wrote: »

I remember studying as an accountant 15 years ago and reading how Mercedes strategy to start off with a desired margin and working backwards was criticised.

Something along the lines of cost plus pricing? That takes me back to my accounting class days too.

Aineoil

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

No handheld battery powed cleaner is any good.

You are right.

Avatar MIA

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Something along the lines of cost plus pricing? That takes me back to my accounting class days too.

It was more refined than that. They started with sales price, then came up with a desired margin and worked backwards from there. So, it encouraged cost cutting. It didn't end well.

JohnBoy26

asteroids over berlin wrote: »

They have really stuck too high end audio equipment for dj'ing/production these days - they do sell some cheapo controllers still.

Sorry I should of mentioned I was on about their tvs and vcrs etc

mailforkev

Not really a great brand but Michael Kors used to be for wealthy American women. Now tacky overpriced cheap Chinese watches and bags for people who don’t actually know what luxury is.

jack of all

"Clarks" shoes, onetime regarded as a good quality go-to brand for reasonably priced footwear- cheap and cheerful now. But, to be fair most footwear is now considered as a disposable consumable item, ie not repairable and not made to last, so cheap in price and quality.

Stanley, back in it's Sheffield days they made good quality tools for the trade. Now very little is made in Sheffield (some blades, edge tool steels still are, I believe). The tools they market now are made in Mexico and the Far East and I doubt they'll last like the originals. The "hand planes" they sell now are rubbish.

Nicholson once made fantastic metal working files and rasps, rubbish now.

"Pimpernell" used to make great quality table mats. Had a set of them that were used every day for nearly 10 years- made in England. The replacement set I bought were made in China and aren't a ptach on the originals.

Vise Grip made great "mole" wrenches when they were USA-made, now made elsewhere and very soft in comparison.

Bulldog, made top quality garden and builders' tools (shovels, rakes etc) in England. Made in India now I think and recent examples I've seen don't look to be of the same quality. I have old Bulldog tools that have seen 30 years use and not showing their age.

Avatar MIA

This is some depressing thread.

Without derailing the thread, what general brands do people consider good quality/value?

diomed

Dell Computers
My last Dell was four computers ago.

A2LUE42

Legoland. Surprised no one mentioned it already.

red sean

Avatar MIA wrote: »

This is some depressing thread.

Without derailing the thread, what general brands do people consider good quality/value?

Judging by this thread, NONE. :P

Avatar MIA

diomed wrote: »

Dell Computers
My last Dell was four computers ago.

Dell have pretty much diversified away from PC/laptop manufacture, and are now broken down across 7 different divisions. If anything it was good business sense for them to get out of PCs when they did.

Avatar MIA

red sean wrote: »

Judging by this thread, NONE. :P

Exactly - thread full of Victor Meldrews :pac:

I don't believe it! There must be some reputable brands out there.

Nekarsulm

Avatar MIA wrote: »

This is some depressing thread.

Without derailing the thread, what general brands do people consider good quality/value?

In hand tools, Teng make great sockets and wrenches.

Even the mighty Stihl have some of their saws built in China now. It was bad enough when they started making low end saws in Florida.
Their professional stuff is still mage in Germany though.

Fuji and Canon still make good compact cameras.

Power tools, the Blue range of Bosch are good, and most of the Hitachi stuff seems OK

red sean

Zanussi. Once advertised as "The appliance of science". Now complete crap!

jack of all

red sean wrote: »

Zanussi. Once advertised as "The appliance of science". Now complete crap!

We still have our original Zanussi washing machine, nearly 19 years old, used every day and still going strong. I know it's replacement won't last as long, unless we spend big!

AMKC

Black and Decker.

Used to be great but where are they now?

Motorolo although I am not sure they were ever any good. Had one of the phones and it drove be nuts. The operating system onn it was terrible.

DrumSteve

Coca Cola.

For trying to peddle a 1.75 ltr bottle as the same as a 2 ltr and charging the same price.

kurtainsider

Roberts radios.
Bought one in the early 2000's and it was expensive, heavy and very good. It's still going strong. Bought two more since. One was an internet radio that never gave a days satisfaction which I had replaced under warranty with an identical one which though much better is still a piece of crap.

The other one I bought was a clock radio which was so incredibly p*iss poor that I returned it for a refund.

BTW I'm not a returner by nature - it's just that Roberts went from a prestige brand to garbage.

Its owned these days by our own Glendimplex who, to my knowledge, are not steeped in a tradition of building radios.

It really is depressing that these outfits buy a quality brand name down on its luck, bring in absolute shi*te from China, stick on the once proud badge and fob it off on the unsuspecting punters.

screamer

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Exactly - thread full of Victor Meldrews :pac:

I don't believe it! There must be some reputable brands out there.

Siemens and Miele. Any brand that offer 5 year warranty with their product are pretty sure it's gonna last.

screamer

kurtainsider wrote: »

Roberts radios.
Bought one in the early 2000's and it was expensive, heavy and very good. It's still going strong. Bought two more since. One was an internet radio that never gave a days satisfaction which I had replaced under warranty with an identical one which though much better is still a piece of crap.

The other one I bought was a clock radio which was so incredibly p*iss poor that I returned it for a refund.

BTW I'm not a returner by nature - it's just that Roberts went from a prestige brand to garbage.

Its owned these days by our own Glendimplex who, to my knowledge, are not steeped in a tradition of building radios.

It really is depressing that these outfits buy a quality brand name down on its luck, bring in absolute shi*te from China, stick on the once proud badge and fob it off on the unsuspecting punters.

And still charge the same high prices for lowest quality crap. Move all the jobs to China and then expect the countries where they've left lots of unemployed people in their wake to continue supporting them by buying their crap.

kurtainsider

DrumSteve wrote: »

Coca Cola.

For trying to peddle a 1.75 ltr bottle as the same as a 2 ltr and charging the same price.

They're all at it. It's considered a legitimate business practice these days. If the shopper attempted to obtain 2 liters by palming off the price of 1.75l it would be considered theft. :mad:

screamer

kurtainsider wrote: »

They're all at it. It's considered a legitimate business practice these days. If the shopper attempted to obtain 2 liters by palming off the price of 1.75l it would be considered theft. :mad:

Wait till the sugar tax goes on.... it'll cost twice as much.

ongarite

Lots of complaining in this thread but the problem is the consumer won't pay for quality (expensive) goods anymore.

That 19 year Zanussi washing machine probably cost a lot more as % of take home pay than it does now.
Same for those Trinitron TVs and Bosch dishwashers, etc..

Companies are building a product to a price the consumer will pay and that price hasn't gone up with inflation over the last 10-15 years.
That washing machine might have cost 400 pounds/euro 19 years ago but would you pay 600 euro for it now?
Something has got to give and quality of components is it.

RDM_83 again

Bush and Alba, now cheap crap peddled by Argos
AEG used to be top notch but are now a brand of Electrolux and quality varies wildly
Technicolor, once a renowned film processing technique but now a manufacturer of rubbish broadband routers

RDM_83 again wrote: »

I don't know if you can get it on this side of the world but mexican coke cola is the product your looking for.
Places sell it in the US and Canada as a speciality product or in mexican restaurants, it comes in 400/500 mil ish size glass bottles and has a metric f-ckton of cane sugar in it so it's a way better drink.

Candy Lab in Dublin often stock it. Near the old Central Bank.

Bowlardo

cantdecide wrote: »

Volkswagen has to be the posterboy for junk that was once great. Overall, I still like much of what they do but the quality issues are just horrific and the bills when they go wrong as just astonishingly unjustifiable.

What year did it start to change?

Hande hoche!

Nekarsulm wrote: »

In hand tools, Teng make great sockets and wrenches.

Even the mighty Stihl have some of their saws built in China now. It was bad enough when they started making low end saws in Florida.
Their professional stuff is still mage in Germany though.

Fuji and Canon still make good compact cameras.

Power tools, the Blue range of Bosch are good, and most of the Hitachi stuff seems OK

Saws are an interesting one to look at. Most people I know these days have switched to Husqvarna. Didn't know that about their professional line with Stihl, makes sense.

liam7831

U2

NIMAN

Interesting reading..

Most of the posts have been about companies that are a household name which are no longer associated with the original company, but made cheaply and rebadged to fool the public.

I still hear people look at the likes of Argos or HotUKDeals and say "look, a 4k Hitachi/Sharp/JVC for £300, thats a good deal", when in fact they may as well go and buy the Cello, Technika or Alba model.

Nekarsulm

Hande hoche! wrote: »

Saws are an interesting one to look at. Most people I know these days have switched to Husqvarna. Didn't know that about their professional line with Stihl, makes sense.

All the Americian brands are gone to shyte. The McCulloghs, Partners, Homelite's, Pioneer, Dayton, Clinton, and a dozen others, all existing in name only and sold in Big Box stores.
The conglomeration that now owns Husqvarna/Electrolux owns most of them.
They are still keeping the Husqvarna line relatively "pure" but are now phasing out the famous Jonsereds brand (and even it has been badge engineered Husky's for years)
The Japanese bought the famous Dolmar/Sachs in Germany and now call them Ryobi.
SOLO still soldiers on, overshadowed by their Teutonic neighbours Stihl.
Italy makes surprisingly good chainsaws now, mostly under the name Oleomat, and it is the result of 30 years of buy outs and mergers of the dozens of small Italian engine/moped makers.

tedpan

Cantona's Collars wrote:

Mitsubishi Black Diamond,used to be great until they were sold off to some Turkish company (Vestel I think)

Mitsubishi black diamond were never good, in the same league as Alba or Bush. Mitsubishi TVs were pretty solid though. The black diamond's were never made by Mitsubishi.

sligojoek

AMKC wrote: »

Black and Decker.

Used to be great but where are they now?

Motorolo although I am not sure they were ever any good. Had one of the phones and it drove be nuts. The operating system onn it was terrible.

I bought a Black and Decker drill 13 years ago as a stopgap when my three yr old Bosch burnt out mixing a particularly stiff bucket of tiling adhesive. With the exception of a three year break it's been mixing buckets of adhesive up to ten times a day four to five days a week ever since. I'm sorry I didn't buy two. I doubt I'd get the same quality drill again today.

Atoms for Peace

AMKC wrote: »

Black and Decker.

Used to be great but where are they now?

Motorolo although I am not sure they were ever any good. Had one of the phones and it drove be nuts. The operating system onn it was terrible.

Motorola were pioneers in the mobile phone sector and produced the classic 80's brick phone, the first flip phone, razr and moto ranges. Their mobile division is now part of Lenovo though.

JohnBoy26

tedpan wrote: »

Mitsubishi black diamond were never good, in the same league as Alba or Bush. Mitsubishi TVs were pretty solid though. The black diamond's were never made by Mitsubishi.

Indeed vestel cr@p. I bought two tv's around the same time about 15 years ago. One was a black diamond and the other one was a philips. The philips is still going to this day, the black diamond expired 9 years ago.

Irish Guitarist

Levis jeans. After about ten washes they start to develop holes around the back pockets and the crotch. They try to get around this by writing on the label not to wash them too much so as not to damage the environment.

K.Flyer

Starbucks..
was it ever great?

JohnBoy26

Nakamichi car audio was one a premium car audio brand. Nowadays they seem to be rebadged chinese head units which are the same as the philips head units

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

Tuco88

Big time Toyota... set the bar too high in the 90s. Infact alot of the jap car makers.

80% Of german tool brands, Made in spain or south africa or mexico. Dewalt, Gedore, Knipex still good but taking a quality hit.

Stanley made in england, used to be real quality tools.
All tools made in the England are trash now. Sheffield steel was pure quality once.

On the otherside.

Fiat are a very decent brand now. The French car brands are much better. Dell computers sorta got better sorta ��.

Briggs and Stratton still make great engines!

JohnBoy26

Tuco88 wrote: »

Big time Toyota... set the bar too high in the 90s. Infact alot of the jap car makers.

80% Of german tool brands, Made in spain or south africa or mexico. Dewalt, Gedore, Knipex still good but taking a quality hit.

Stanley made in england, used to be real quality tools.
All tools made in the England are trash now. Sheffield steel was pure quality once.

On the otherside.

Fiat are a very decent brand now. The French car brands are much better. Dell computers sorta got better sorta ��.

Briggs and Stratton still make great engines!

They are far, far from junk.

Nekarsulm

Bahco once made the finest saw blades and wrenches, top class Swedish steel. Now their stuff is made in Argentina and the quality is rubbish.

On the electronics front, are FujitsuTen still making anything? They had a good name in car stereo back in the mid 80's

JohnBoy26

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Bacho once made the finest saw blades and wrenches, top class Swedish steel. Now their stuff is made in Argentina and the quality is rubbish.

On the electronics front, are FujitsuTen still making anything? They had a good name in car stereo back in the mid 80's

Fujitsuten aren't in the car audio game anymore afaik but they were still doing car audio with their eclipse brand in the states until around 2010 and were very highly regarded afaik.

tedpan

Clark's Shoes. Used to survive anything when I was a kid, now they fall apart within a year and I barely move these days..

SuperS54

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Dell have pretty much diversified away from PC/laptop manufacture, and are now broken down across 7 different divisions. If anything it was good business sense for them to get out of PCs when they did.

Dell haven't gotten out of the PC business, they still market a wide range of PC's and laptops, primarily aimed at business customers in the west (using one right now) and they sell a lot of (pretty crap) consumer pc's and laptops in China.

MarcusP12

Karsini wrote: »

Bush and Alba, now cheap crap peddled by Argos
AEG used to be top notch but are now a brand of Electrolux and quality varies wildly
Technicolor, once a renowned film processing technique but now a manufacturer of rubbish broadband routers


Candy Lab in Dublin often stock it. Near the old Central Bank.

Were bush and alba ever really a "great" brand? Popular maybe but great? Not so sure....and did they ever produce anything other than cheap crap? Reason I say is that if I remember correctly, bush and alba were always considered budget brands compared to sony, sharp, Philips, etc back in the day. Not that any of them were that high end but when I was a kid, if you had sony or something like that, you were "posh"!

When I was getting into sound systems (as a kid), I was never interested in Alba as I considered them a bit cheap. It was all about Aiwa back then as a viable alternative to sony....I had a savage 3 CD with virtual surround sound and karaoke, optical input, etc....lovely bit of kit! They were also my Walkman of choice....Does anyone know if they even exist any more in any capacity?.....to me that would be a good example of a great brand (as opposed to Alba) that's producing crap if anything at all.....

5rtytry56

smilerf wrote: »

Toshiba used to make good laptops but my last one was terrible and I haven't really seen around in about 3 years

Newer Toshiba laptops run slow in all os's