With more and more tools being made in <!—-><!—->Asia<!—->, it seems to be getting more difficult to determine what to make of a brand name. It looks as though tools from multiple manufacturers are sold under the same brand name, or alternatively, tools from the same supplier are sold under different brand names. Case in point: I just purchased a Delta drill press Model 17-970C. Do not look fot it on the Delta website; you will not find it, although you will find about 40 different drill presses. It appears to be a model designation strictly used for the Canadian market. In the <!—-><!—->USA<!—-> <!—->, the exact same tool is sold as the Fisch 175001. Is Fisch the same as Delta? Why would a company like Delta play those branding games?
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Guy L.
Replies
I agree. US manufacturers have increasingly turned to outsourcing. Sometimes the products are the US companies designs executed exclusively for them by an overseas manufacturer. In other cases they are designs (often generic knockoffs of earlier US designs) furnished by the offshore manufacturer. Sometimes it appears that different US brands import the exact same machine except for the color of paint. Sometimes however the basic castings may be the same so that outwardly the machines look to be identical, but the other parts may be specified differently--different metals, different acceptable tolerances, different bearings, etc. Quality control may vary among marketers, and provisions for warranty service may differ as well. The well established US brands risk "eating" their brands if they don't maintain quality and service standards that justify premium prices. This even happens with in the US with some power hand tools sold by the Borgs having different motor specifications than the apparently similar model sold elsewhere. (Model is AB478a, versus AB487) for example.
In the long term, price is about the only indicator--as imperfect as that may be. There isn't a free lunch for very long. That's why boards such as this have such a pre-occupation with tool critiques.
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