# Stihl landscape products made in china!



## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Well I decided to by some decent Stihl kit. I purchased a petrol blower, petrol trimmer and petrol hedge trimmer. The main reason I purchased this brand was because of the made in Germany/USA factor. I checked the blower and trimmer and both said made in USA and i was happy with that instead of china. I didn't even bother with the hedge trimmer because it was the most expensive piece so thought it would be made in USA also. Well the dam thing is made in china and I'm not at all impressed and I can't return it. This has really pissed me of because I expect at the prices they charge to get product not made in china. I have always been under the impression these stihl products were the best of the best and the last place I expected them to be made was china :furious: 

Sorry I had to vent. They are going to be hearing from me about this. :furious::furious:



This is what I read on the website before buying the stuff

"The Virginia Beach facility is located on approximately 90 acres with over one million square feet under roof, where the company produces a full line of high-quality, handheld outdoor power equipment including blowers, trimmers, brushcutters, and multi-task tools, as well as the number one selling brand of chain saw worldwide"


What a load of lies.


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## MUDFLAP (Nov 28, 2010)

That sucks, same thing happened to me (on a lesser scale) i bought all my guys buck knives for christmas, didnt even bother to check because i just know they are made in the USA -----NOPE, the suckers were made in china,


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## jiffy (Oct 21, 2007)

I have been using Makita's 4-stroke hand held blower, backpack blower, and gas trimmer. It is nice not to mix gas anymore. The motors on these are also very, very quiet. Probably half of the db that 2-strokes put out.


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## john5mt (Jan 21, 2007)

typical. Dont worry, once everyone figures out theyre making some of their crap there...then all their stuff will move to china, prices will drop, they'll keep turning out cheap junk till they cant turn a profit off of their name anymore, then they will sell to one of the bigger tool conglomerates, then said conglomerate will try and revive the name brand through clever advertising and lower prices. Then once the brand name is total crap, they will roll the whole brand into one of the other brands and we will remember the days when this one company called Stihl used to make awesome gasoline powered equipment that you cant get anymore. 

Same crap different day


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Well I sent them an email and gave them a week to reply. Didn't get a single response from them. No email, no call no nothing. Looks like they have already passed into that area dewalt is in where service and quality is lacking and prices are still high. I won't be recommending them to anyone. I even spoke to a landscaper friend who has been to that facility and even he thought all stihl products were made in US. He was unimpressed also. He told me I should have gone with echo.


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## jhark123 (Aug 26, 2008)

That's just sad man, it's enough to cry anymore. I'm going to go kiss my 390 and buy that TS420 sooner rather than later.


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## Bob Kovacs (May 4, 2005)

If it's got the same warranty as the US-made pieces, and the service center will take care of it just the same, who cares?? While it would be ideal if everything was made here, that's not reality anymore- what's more important than where something is made is how it's made, and that's a function of what the company specs far more than it's a function of the country of manufacture. The chinese are capable of producing high-quality stuff, provided that the specs request quality materials and tight tolerances.

Bosch, a company that has been touted for their quality for years, in now manufacturing their new gliding miter saw, and I'd be willing to bet that it's not the "cheap chinese junk" everyone complains about.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Bob Kovacs said:


> If it's got the same warranty as the US-made pieces, and the service center will take care of it just the same, who cares?? While it would be ideal if everything was made here, that's not reality anymore- what's more important than where something is made is how it's made, and that's a function of what the company specs far more than it's a function of the country of manufacture. The chinese are capable of producing high-quality stuff, provided that the specs request quality materials and tight tolerances.
> 
> Bosch, a company that has been touted for their quality for years, in now manufacturing their new gliding miter saw, and I'd be willing to bet that it's not the "cheap chinese junk" everyone complains about.


What matters is you can buy equipment with better warranty and made in japan for the same money. If you purchased a festool drill and it was made in china would you be impressed? No matter what companies say china pumps out crap and the people who make it don't care if you like the way they put it together or not. As soon as brand chooses to produce a product in china they no longer care what you think of their product and are in it for the money and nothing else.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

Bob Kovacs said:


> If it's got the same warranty as the US-made pieces, and the service center will take care of it just the same, who cares?? While it would be ideal if everything was made here, that's not reality anymore- what's more important than where something is made is how it's made, and that's a function of what the company specs far more than it's a function of the country of manufacture. The chinese are capable of producing high-quality stuff, provided that the specs request quality materials and tight tolerances.
> 
> Bosch, a company that has been touted for their quality for years, in now manufacturing their new gliding miter saw, and I'd be willing to bet that it's not the "cheap chinese junk" everyone complains about.


How about the half a trillion dollar trade deficit we had last year. I would think that would be a pretty good reason to find US made stuff.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

J.C. said:


> How about the half a trillion dollar trade deficit we had last year. I would think that would be a pretty good reason to find US made stuff.


This is one of many reasons I want my money to start staying here. I don't care if it's vehicles, tools or food. The US has no excuse not to make equipment here and keep the US ahead of the rest of the world.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

> This is one of many reasons I want my money to start staying here. I don't care if it's vehicles, tools or food. The US has no excuse not to make equipment here and keep the US ahead of the rest of the world.


Elect this man as the next president! That's the solution right there gents, lets end all outsourcing and make everything in house! Comparative advantage what? Trade what? Tariff what? 

Keep the US ahead of the rest of the world by ending globalization!

The US would be a third world country in a week...

Ok so your all cheesed that your trimmer was put together in china, go return it and buy one that was put together in Japan with Chinese parts...


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## Bob Kovacs (May 4, 2005)

BCConstruction said:


> What matters is you can buy equipment with better warranty and made in japan for the same money. If you purchased a festool drill and it was made in china would you be impressed? No matter what companies say china pumps out crap and the people who make it don't care if you like the way they put it together or not. As soon as brand chooses to produce a product in china they no longer care what you think of their product and are in it for the money and nothing else.


1) If you can buy equipment made in Japan with a better warranty for less, why don't you?

2) If Festool's quality and accuracy remained the same, I wouldn't care if they were made on Mars.

3) Name one big, non-profit company that's not "in it for the money" regardless of where they make their products.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Inner10 said:


> Elect this man as the next president! That's the solution right there gents, lets end all outsourcing and make everything in house! Comparative advantage what? Trade what? Tariff what?
> 
> Keep the US ahead of the rest of the world by ending globalization!
> 
> ...



You can't return stihl products after you buy them. Guess you didn't even read my original post :blink:


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Bob Kovacs said:


> 1) If you can buy equipment made in Japan with a better warranty for less, why don't you?I would have if I would have known a US made product was infact made in China. I guess you didn't read my original post either!
> 
> 2) If Festool's quality and accuracy remained the same, I wouldn't care if they were made on Mars.Yes I'm sure "if" they stayed the same then their wouldn't be an issue. But the issue is stuff made in china is crap. No matter who or what levels of quality control they use.
> 
> 3) Name one big, non-profit company that's not "in it for the money" regardless of where they make their products.Thats not at all what I'm talking about. I'm talking about companies like BOSE, Dewalt, Monster cable and now stihl as well as hundreds of others who pump out cheap crap for good quality prices. These people who buy this stuff are what cause all this stuff to go to china to be made and then the people who want good quality tools and products can no longer find them.




I wouldn't have a problem if they didn't say their full range was made in the US! If I wanted to buy china crap I would have not taken back the 3 previous models I owned from another company and put up with them going wrong and not starting.


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## Bob Kovacs (May 4, 2005)

BCConstruction said:


> I wouldn't have a problem if they didn't say their full range was made in the US! If I wanted to buy china crap I would have not taken back the 3 previous models I owned from another company and put up with them going wrong and not starting.


Ahhh....but there's the problem- you misread what they wrote. They said that they make "a" full line of products at that facility, not that they mark the "full range" of products there, or that they make every product there.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

Inner10 said:


> The US would be a third world country in a week....


 
I'd like to hear your logic to back that statement up.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

J.C. said:


> I'd like to hear your logic to back that statement up.


I'm not going to try typing a world history/economics lesson, but he's not too far off the mark. Isolationism is simply not a viable option for us if we want to maintain any semblance of our current standard of living. Hasn't been, in fact, for nearly a century.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

> You can't return stihl products after you buy them. Guess you didn't even read my original post :blink:


Nah, I started reading yet another thread about how someone's tool was made in China and my eyes rolled into the back of my head.

Does Stihl have a no returns or exchanges policy?



> I'd like to hear your logic to back that statement up.


Do a little reading on grade school economics.

http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/feog1.htm

What I said was toung n' cheek, it wouldn't happen in a week especially since the US is already so far developed. But the overall impact as a whole would be negative on the country's welfare. In terms of outsourcing and trade some are always made worse off but the overall benefit is greater.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Bob Kovacs said:


> Ahhh....but there's the problem- you misread what they wrote. They said that they make "a" full line of products at that facility, not that they mark the "full range" of products there, or that they make every product there.


What's the difference between a full line or a full range. Its the same thing. Just like when ford say their full line of vehicles have RSC or festool say their full line of products have 30 day return policy.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Inner10 said:


> Nah, I started reading yet another thread about how someone's tool was made in China and my eyes rolled into the back of my head.
> 
> Does Stihl have a no returns or exchanges policy?
> 
> ...




Perhaps you have had good luck with stuff made in china but in my case I have not. I just don't want to be paying top dollar for items made in China. And yes they have a no returns policy. As soon as they have your money you can't return them. Even if you have not left the store with them.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

Tinstaafl said:


> I'm not going to try typing a world history/economics lesson, but he's not too far off the mark. Isolationism is simply not a viable option for us if we want to maintain any semblance of our current standard of living. Hasn't been, in fact, for nearly a century.





Inner10 said:


> Do a little reading on grade school economics.
> 
> http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/lessons/feog1.htm
> 
> What I said was toung n' cheek, it wouldn't happen in a week especially since the US is already so far developed. But the overall impact as a whole would be negative on the country's welfare. In terms of outsourcing and trade some are always made worse off but the overall benefit is greater.


I'll agree with both of you that trade can be a good thing and I'm not completely against trade. It can benefit everyone involved and I've said that more than once in previous threads.

However, using basic grade school economics it doesn't take a Harvard economics professor to see what we currently have going on is disastrous for this country. We had a $497,800,000 trade deficit last year. It's been said we have lost 50,000 manufacturing a month over the last 10 years. 

If we took a poll and asked every person on the planet if a company bought $497,800,000 of stuff more than it sold if they thought that company was going to still be in business in the near future, I think it would be a safe bet 99% of the people wouldn't think so. But for whatever reason people think that's a good thing for us as a country. 

What we are allowing to happen is mind numbing stupid. I can't even go to the store and buy sandwich bags that are made in this country. Why are we shipping sandwich bags half way around the world instead of making them ourselves??? What we are doing is stupid, costly, and dangerous.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

J.C. said:


> What we are allowing to happen is mind numbing stupid.


No argument there. Problem is, "we" are the ones making it happen. But that's something to be discussed in Politics & Religion, not here. :thumbsup:


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

> And yes they have a no returns policy. As soon as they have your money you can't return them. Even if you have not left the store with them.


That has me a little flabbergasted :blink: that right there makes me loose a little respect for them.



> What we are allowing to happen is mind numbing stupid. I can't even go to the store and buy sandwich bags that are made in this country. Why are we shipping sandwich bags half way around the world instead of making them ourselves??? What we are doing is stupid, costly, and dangerous.


Its pretty simple, Mom and Pop Sandwhich Bags Company sells bags for 1 cent a piece to Wal-Mart, Wegmans, Walgreens etc. Then those companies find out that Kung-Pow Bags Inc. will sell them bags for .5 cents after the cost of shipping. So Mom and Pop goes bankrupt leaving thier workforce unemployed but the overall price of bags drops by .1 cent saving the entire popultion of the US more money. 

You screw over the entire workforce out of decent payin jobs, but the net effect on the country is still beneficial.

Now if we were to encourage local manufacturing in the form of tax breaks to allow them to be more competitive that could help. Increasing tariffs can also help...but it creates a dead-weight loss. 

Personally think its more important to focus on training people for a more knowledge-based economy as opposed to traning individuals to work in a manufacturing society when that sector is collapsing around us.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Inner10 said:


> That has me a little flabbergasted :blink: that right there makes me loose a little respect for them.


I was not to worried about it when they told me as I was sure I was getting a quality product. But now when I think about it I'm mad as hell. What if I did get home and 2 mins after I run them one messed up? They have their self covered for returns that's for sure. I have started $500+ tuned 2 strokes engines I have raced in RC cars and had them go bad after just 30 mins and get covered under warranty. Seems that if a stihl product goes bad after they test it your out of luck. I can't fully comment on this as I have had no luck with either calls or emails to them but as of yet service sucks. They are still in my basement brand new. I don't even want to use them until I get an answer from them.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

Inner10 said:


> Its pretty simple, Mom and Pop Sandwhich Bags Company sells bags for 1 cent a piece to Wal-Mart, Wegmans, Walgreens etc. Then those companies find out that Kung-Pow Bags Inc. will sell them bags for .5 cents after the cost of shipping. So Mom and Pop goes bankrupt leaving thier workforce unemployed but the overall price of bags drops by .1 cent saving the entire popultion of the US more money.
> 
> You screw over the entire workforce out of decent payin jobs, but the net effect on the country is still beneficial.
> 
> ...


Only problem is those 99¢ sandwich bags made in USA didn't get any cheaper when they got moved to china. Someone made some money but, it wasn't the consumer. 
What are these outsource proof knowledge based jobs that you speak of and how do we create millions of them to replace all the other jobs lost? It's a lose-lose situation that will eventually end because it is unsustainable. How ugly things will get before that happens, we'll find out sooner rather than later.


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## J.C. (Sep 28, 2009)

BCConstruction said:


> You can't return stihl products after you buy them. Guess you didn't even read my original post :blink:


Thanks for the heads up on that fact. I've always heard good things about Stihl products and have thought about buying a few of their things. Add that to the fact that they wouldn't even get back to you doesn't make me want to buy any of their stuff no matter where it's made.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

> What are these outsource proof knowledge based jobs that you speak of and how do we create millions of them to replace all the other jobs lost? It's a lose-lose situation that will eventually end because it is unsustainable.


The US's manfacturing sector's output is growing, its the employment that is falling; 10 people being replaced by one machine operator. In the short term you cannot create millions of knowledge based jobs, espicialls with a manfacturing skilled workforce. Keep in mind this is similar to what happened to the agricultural sector.


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