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

cantdecide

tooManyChoices wrote: »

You might enjoy this guy.
YOUTUBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-vJxez9UF8 YOUTUBE
He take products and reviews/annihilates them.

I'm subscribed to AvE! He's a lunatic!!

He's actually done some videos on holiday in Ireland.

Ubbquittious

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

production of DM moved to china about 10 years ago. a company called solovair makes the sames boots on the machines used to make the original DM boots. same quality as the old ones apparently. probably with the same painful breaking in period.

All these cnuts had the same idea: Quietly substitute the product you've been making in Europe for years and have built a good reputation for with something that looks identical but comes from some contractor in China. Sell said product to the people you just made redundant & pocket all the money you used to spend on wages for yourself.

emeldc

Special K

jmayo

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.

There is shag all margin in PC/laptops.

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.

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

Yeah Bosch Professional is better built than the green domestic stuff.

You get what you pay for.
I know some people swear by Makita, but some of their stuff is from China or Chinese components.
Others swear by DeWalt which is actually owned by Stanley Black & Decker and often built in Mexico.
DeWalt is what Black & Decker used to be.

Depending on what tools you want you can get some very good stuff from Festool, Fein, Trend.
Some Japanese brands of garden strimmers & chainsaws such as Echo, Tanaka, Shindaiwa are reasonably good kit, but people usually go Stihl or Husky for pro kit.

AMKC wrote: »

Black and Decker.

Used to be great but where are they now?

Look at DeWalt.

The thing is multiple brands are often owned by the same conglomerate and thus often share some components.
The brands are often aimed at different market sectors and priced accordingly.
Now there is usually a quality difference to match that price with emphasis on the materials used which then have a huge effect on the durability of the kit.
And the other thing is the high value top end brands are the ones owned by the lower value mass market brands.

It has gotten the same as the automotive/vehicle business where there is now only really a few players.

JohnBoy26

bullvine wrote: »

Has TK Red Lemonade been mentioned? Not the same since they removed all the sugar.

Not as bad as lucozade since they changed the recipe.

ohnonotgmail

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Not as bad as lucozade since they changed the recipe.

they managed to remove all of its magical healing powers.

5rtytry56

Hornby

Noveight

bullvine wrote: »

Has TK Red Lemonade been mentioned? Not the same since they removed all the sugar.

Still ahead of Nash's, another brand pubs often use.

MysticMonk

Olivetti..especially their Golf-ball typewriters.

byte

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Same for Russel Hobbs - these lads used to have actual real life factories in the UK producing actual physical goods. Now it's just an office some place that orders in tack from various unheard of Chinese manufacturers

Aye, Russell Hobbs are part of Spectrum Brands now, who also have Black & Decker, George Foreman, Remington and I noticed even products like ArmorAll and STP for cars!

http://www.spectrumbrands.com/OurBrands/

mailforkev

My wife has my in laws old Kenwood Chef mixer since they replaced it. Think it was a wedding gift to them back in the 70s.

The newer ones have vinyl gears supposedly whereas the old stuff is all metal and lasts forever. It weighs a ton, prob made by a man with a moustache in a shed somewhere in England.

tooManyChoices

mailforkev wrote: »

My wife has my in laws old Kenwood Chef mixer since they replaced it. Think it was a wedding gift to them back in the 70s.

The newer ones have vinyl gears supposedly whereas the old stuff is all metal and lasts forever. It weighs a ton, prob made by a man with a moustache in a shed somewhere in England.

I'm sure that they still have one of a similar quality that's really expensive, but now have a slightly cheaper but still fancy looking one made with much cheaper parts - which is the case with most of these products.

Anyway, the motor is still going to go before you shred the gears.

(Edit: I also use an inherited Kenwood Chef mixer, pretty sure it'll outlive me.)

david75

Irish water

tedpan

david75 wrote:

Irish water

Hmmm, don't remember them ever being a great brand??

Ted Plain

Reading through this thread is a real walk down memory lane. I used to work in the brown goods (as consumer electronics were called back then) trade back in the day, so here goes...

Already at that stage the big manufacturers had closed down the factories in Europe and were producing in the Far East, but at least the products were designed by the original companies. Nowadays they all seem to have sold off the brand names to whoever had the cash to buy them.

Blaupunkt used to be a fancy TV brand and then became huge in car audio. I think that car manufacturers switched to in-built car stereos in order to stop rampant car stereo theft and I'd say this really hit Blaupunkt hard. I hadn't seen the name in years and then recently saw a Blaupunkt TV on sale in Tesco, so someone must have bought the rights to the name from Bosch.

In the early 1990s, Mitsubishi was the biggest selling TV brand in Ireland. I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly The term 'Black Diamond' was originally the name of their Black Matrix tube technology. These tubes were somewhat flatter than the normal tubes of the time. Toshiba's Flatter, Squarer Tube (FST) TV ads was for pretty much the same thing. At some stage they must have abandoned the Mitsubishi brand entirely for Black Diamond. Can't remember.

At that time Nokia were better known for their TV sets. I think they had two brands; Nokia and Salora.

Nordmende, Telefunken and another brand called Saba were all old German companies that were bought by Thomson. In their heyday, Nordmende had some pretty cool TVs, like this one, and the ones sold in Ireland were assembled by a company called Reynolds of Dundalk. Now, I can't remember if they were fully assembled or just "produced". Produced was the term given to converting TVs to the PAL-I standard that was used in Ireland.

Thomson also owned Ferguson, and their stuff was internally identical to the other three brands, but in Ireland at the time the brand was distributed by Electrolux.

Thomson also sold the world's first production widescreen TV. I think it was a 32" and it weighed a tonne. On the day of its launch Thomson bought a block of TV advertising across all French TV stations and transmitted the ad for it simultaneously across them all. I seem to remember that it was more common to refer to widescreen as "16 by 9" at that time.

JVC also sold off their consumer electronics business and I actually recently bought a 32" JVC TV for the bedroom in Currys. It's grand, but you can tell it's a budget machine alright. Way back when, we had a JVC HR-7700 VCR. It was from 1983 and came with a video of the highlights of the 1982 World Cup in Spain. I can tell you that that tape was watched until it was nearly threadbare! Originally, many other VCR brands were rebadged JVCs at the Victor Company of Japan owned the rights to the VHS format.

I myself really liked the Aiwa brand and had a couple of things from them; a few Walkmans, an alarm clock radio (which I still have) and an NSX-330 mini hifi. I remember the 3-CD changer with the flashing lights that somebody else mentioned, too.

I liked Philips stuff, too. They had some really stylish looking pieces of kit and to this day I have two fine hifi systems from them.

Nowadays, I usually buy either LG or Samsung. My main TV, microwave, fridge and washing machine and from these two and they are all excellent products. When it comes to vacuum cleaners I would highly recommend Miele. After going through countless useless vacuums I splashed out and bought a Miele and it was like nothing else. Another great brand is Bosch Professional (the blue stuff).

10000maniacs

Magnavox. The best TVs and video recorders in the US once. Now absolute tat.

tedpan

10000maniacs wrote:

Magnavox. The best TVs and video recorders in the US once. Now absolute tat.

Magnavox were never really big here. They've been owned by Philips since the 70s

Guy:Incognito

tedpan wrote: »

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..

Stop cramming your feet in to kids shoes and they'll last longer.

DEFTLEFTHAND

SEGA were the bees knees when I was a young kid. Everybody I knew had a Megadrive. Then Sony and Microsoft entered the market and took over. SEGA eventually responded with the dreamcast which flopped and we never heard from them again.

tedpan

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote:

SEGA were the bees knees when I was a young kid. Everybody I knew had a Megadrive. Then Sony and Microsoft entered the market and took over. SEGA eventually responded with the dreamcast which flopped and we never heard from them again.

Parts of Sega are still going with some game development and releases. We obviously never saw a console since the Dreamcast, suppose you can say the brand has gone to **** though..

sligojoek

We had a 2nd hand colour Nordmende in our house all through my teens and after. I bought one two years ago just because of that. A 22 in to hang on the wall in the kitchen instead of the aforementioned Mitsubishi Black Diamond which took over the whole corner. The picture is fine but the sound is crap. I had to go and buy a soundbar .

ceadaoin.

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

SEGA were the bees knees when I was a young kid. Everybody I knew had a Megadrive. Then Sony and Microsoft entered the market and took over. SEGA eventually responded with the dreamcast which flopped and we never heard from them again.

I still remember my excitement when I got a second hand megadrive when I was a kid. You can get them now with loads of games preinstalled for about $50. I picked up a handheld one "for my daughter". Still can't finish Sonic though after all these years

Shenmue on the Dreamcast is still the best game I've ever played. Loved it.

JohnBoy26

sligojoek wrote: »

We had a 2nd hand colour Nordmende in our house all through my teens and after. I bought one two years ago just because of that. A 22 in to hang on the wall in the kitchen instead of the aforementioned Mitsubishi Black Diamond which took over the whole corner. The picture is fine but the sound is crap. I had to go and buy a soundbar .

The sound is bad on nearly all modern tvs. Nordmende is only a brand name nowadays. The tvs are vestel.

KKkitty

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

SEGA were the bees knees when I was a young kid. Everybody I knew had a Megadrive. Then Sony and Microsoft entered the market and took over. SEGA eventually responded with the dreamcast which flopped and we never heard from them again.

My brother used to work weekends while he was at school and with that money he bought a Sega Dreamcast. They weren't out that long either but he was into chatrooms and other internet sites back then. It was a very innovative console at the time but was overshadowed by Microsoft and Sony consoles I think. My brother also got quite the telling off when our Mam realised being on the internet cost money too so the Dreamcast didn't last long.

Duckworth_Luas

Widdershins

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

production of DM moved to china about 10 years ago. a company called solovair makes the sames boots on the machines used to make the original DM boots. same quality as the old ones apparently. probably with the same painful breaking in period.

I didn't know that until I read this thread so there you go. Boards can be useful.
The funny thing is, the UK Buy Me Once website is selling Dr Martens, not Solovair.
The Solovair price doesn't look much higher if at all.

You can also buy DM's a bit cheaper directly if you email their EU customer services.
I like a model that went out of stock for a while so I emailed about it.They offered to send me a par for about forty euro less than the standard price. I had to re-think it as the zips have gone in all of the pairs I've owned and I don't have fat legs or anything. I can replace them myself but at that stage the boots tend to look a bit tatty anyway.

DivingDuck

Ted Plain wrote: »

Reading through this thread is a real walk down memory lane. I used to work in the brown goods (as consumer electronics were called back then) trade back in the day, so here goes...

You should repost the full text in the "I bet you didn't know that" thread! Very informative and also a bit of a trip down memory lane. Thanks!

cantdecide

My mother has a Whirlpool microwave from circa 1995 that won't give up.

She also has a Whirlpool fridge from 2012 which was condemned this week by the local appliance tech.

D9Male

The Sunday Independent.

razorblunt

Goodwin Smith shoes, relatively new, only really around for the last 5 years or so. They made genuinely decent shoes at, not too outrageous prices. They then seemed to think advertising to teens was the way to sell shoes, their adverts look like the old FHM mags, covers tííts everywhere and generally chauvinistic shíte being peddled. They've been caught out and had campaigns dropped.
They also Callum Best, which tells you all you need to know, were caught out using £5 bottles of prosecco, masquerading as Champagne too.

Their constant sales no indicate the trouble their own.
I've also found their "discount brand" name which has shoes that are very similar (sole being the difference) for, honestly, about 80% of the price.

Looks like Kellogg’s Coco Pops and Rice Krispies are about be completely RUINED from January as the amount of sugar is cut by 40 and 20% respectively. They say it is for people’s health but it is to sell it to a more health conscious market, which is a very different thing. So that’s another former pleasure that was once available being removed from our lives. Soon you won’t be ALLOWED to eat anything that’s unhealthy anymore in this sterile world.

Avatar MIA

Deleted User wrote: »

Looks like Kellogg’s Coco Pops and Rice Krispies are about be completely RUINED from January as the amount of sugar is cut by 40 and 20% respectively. They say it is for people’s health but it is to sell it to a more health conscious market, which is a very different thing. So that’s another former pleasure that was once available being removed from our lives. Soon you won’t be ALLOWED to eat anything that’s unhealthy anymore in this sterile world.

Add sugar to taste?

Widdershins

RE: Would people really be prepared to pay more for longevity.

There should be a budget range, and then the rest. Not, as seems to currently be the case, budget quality deceptively branded and priced.

But why should the extra cost of better parts and workmanship be passed on to consumers? Manufacturers are getting away with this for years, they should be expected to product decent quality for a fair price.

Wanderer78

Widdershins wrote:

But why should the extra cost of better parts and workmanship be passed on to consumers? Manufacturers are getting away with this for ears, they should be expected to product decent quality for a fair price.

'Profit maximisation' is the term I believe, but don't worry, it 'trickles down'!

kooga

Nordmende
Lemons sweets
MG

Hande hoche!

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Add sugar to taste?

That was one of the arguments used for adding sugar in the first place. If the cereal has no sugar, the kids will add too much. Instead leave it to our highly qualified researchers to do it.

road_high

Ubbquittious wrote: »

AEG - Sold their consumer goods brand to some cute hoor with a PC who just sits in his office ordering Chinese sh1t from Alibaba and reselling it while he runs said brandname into the ground.

Same for Russel Hobbs - these lads used to have actual real life factories in the UK producing actual physical goods. Now it's just an office some place that orders in tack from various unheard of Chinese manufacturers

This seems to be the way now with so many "brands". It's all generic crap from China/Far east made in the same place with their brand logo/design stuck on. No one seems to have a factory of their own anymore. They are all basically marketing enterprises for the brands.
I'd say companies that are still running their own factories are at a huge competitive disadvantage.

odyssey06

Widdershins wrote: »

RE: Would people really be prepared to pay more for longevity.
There should be a budget range, and then the rest. Not, as seems to currently be the case, budget quality deceptively branded and priced.
But why should the extra cost of better parts and workmanship be passed on to consumers? Manufacturers are getting away with this for ears, they should be expected to product decent quality for a fair price.

It'll come around in cycles... people switched to brands originally because they offered reliability and durability and paid a premium for it. The branded companies have now pulled a bait and switch, charging a premium even though their products are no longer premium.
People are going to split to the non-branded products or the brands that continue to offer premium products, and these 'fake' brands will die. We just need to keep giving them crap reviews on Amazon, etc etc etc and vote with our feet. Might take a few years though!

baylah17

POTUS

Avatar MIA

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Add sugar to taste?

Oh I Will!

odyssey06

baylah17 wrote: »

POTUS

Nixon???
Bill and Monica???

We didn't start the fire.

Sin City

Casio

Used to be huge in the 80s/90s
not so much now

jmayo

road_high wrote: »

This seems to be the way now with so many "brands". It's all generic crap from China/Far east made in the same place with their brand logo/design stuck on. No one seems to have a factory of their own anymore. They are all basically marketing enterprises for the brands.
I'd say companies that are still running their own factories are at a huge competitive disadvantage.

Was it Nike that really started that trend ?
I don't think they ever had a factory.

Heres Johnny

The internet. Once a valuable resource for information dubbed the information superhighway. Now dumbed down in the mainstream by social media, bloggers and people saying Hi, I'm over here, pay attention to me!!

5rtytry56

bebo - yes it's still there




a parody of it's former heyday.....

razorblunt

Tanora.
Murphy's and Beamish (since Heineken bought them over according to my Old Man).

#justCorkThingsLike

5rtytry56

Corel. Once, the leader in Graphics Design and digital art (up to the mid '90s) - Their adverts were carried on Dublin Bus.

Now Corel has teamed up with PaintShop to make a mediocre art application and poor video program.

5rtytry56

5rtytry56 wrote: »

Corel. Once, the leader in Graphics Design and digital art (up to the mid '90s) - Their adverts were carried on Dublin Bus.

Now Corel has teamed up with PaintShop to make a mediocre art application and poor video program.

Paint Shop Pro itself. Version 7 was excellent but after that they tried to emulate Photoshop and just did it badly.

MarcusP12

theteal wrote: »

Third_Echelon wrote: »

Aiwa stereos... had a great one on the 90s. Fantastic sound...

There's a blast from the past. I remember having a really expensive Aiwa "Walkman" when I was about 15. T'was my pride and joy. I can't believe I completely forgot about that brand.

Yeah I was the same...had one my aunt got me in the UK...was first one I had with the fancy press bottoms instead of the old fashion push down button and would skip to next track which was an awesome feature for cassette tapes at the time....had a lovely glossy gun metal finish and felt really expensive....in the time before cheaper CD players and mini discs it was a brilliant bit of potable music kit For the time....

Widdershins

Wanderer78 wrote: »

'Profit maximisation' is the term I believe, but don't worry, it 'trickles down'!

Of course I'm guessing they'd still profit if they didn't cut quite so many corners. Reputation has a value too. It's got so blatant that nearly everyone is talking about planned obsolescence even if they haven't heard the actual term for it.