American made or cheap?

[greenpigs]

I hear of cheaper stroker kits and knockoff parts on the market and wonder how long some businesses can survive the compition from overseas.

[Lowprofile]

Quality is always # 1 w/me. Life is just way too short to accept inferrior parts, service, etc......

[Shakey]

Quality is always # 1 w/me. 

I'don't mind paying more.

[70charginglizard]

Yep.
Quality is number one in my book. Id like to say "buy American" but that doesn't always get you the quality product you always want these days because of the offload activity that can sometime go on within the American company's. If you buy american you could be getting something that is in detail a piece of crap thats integrated together very well. So buyer beware. Do your research.

[Wakko]

I try to buy American any chance I get.  Unfortunately if they get the gizmo nearly completed from China and put the final touches on it here, they can call it MADE IN AMERICA.   Sad.

[Ponch ®]

it depends on what im buying.

if im buying white undershirts, I dont really care where theyyre made as long they're cheap. If i'm buying car speakers, Im going for a balance of quality and price - get the best I can get for less money.

But you never know...I just bought a cheap Yamaha guitar (made who knows where) for $80 and so far I think it plays better than my high end Hamer and my Les Paul.

[73dodge]

Not sure about the title to this post. I bought cheap American made stuff that was JUNK, I bought Cheap Chinese made stuff that was junk. And I have gotten good American stuff cheap and expensive and gotten good quality. And same with some of the Chinese stuff.

SO the deciding factor is if I want good quality for something that I want to last I buy the best I can afford be that American or Chinese or Japanese or whatever.

If I am buying like MOJO said t-shirts I go for cheap

[Silver R/T]

Ive seen quality products (speaking about cars) both from Japan and USA. Of course some cars are just lemons and you do research on cars before you buy them anyways

[Old Moparz]

I chose "Depends On The Item" as my vote since I feel the same way as some of the others who posted. If I'm buying an item, any item, I've made it a habit of looking where it's from before I buy it. If the price isn't astronomical, & the quality is obviously much better, I'll buy something made in the USA without hesitation. There are times that you just can't, because the item is just cost prohibitive, or it just isn't made here anymore. Unless you're buying some really high end audio equipment, I don't think you can find any electronics made here. Sony is from China & not even Japan anymore.

Buying good shoes, I'll use Timberland workboots as an example, are important to me. They used to be made here, & they used to last. Now they're all made in China, & just about ANY shoe or boot you look at from there, has somekind of fabric lining that is absolutely horrible. Maybe it's me, but it doesn't feel comfortable & it wears out as if it were made of paper. It "looks" like a Gortex material, but I doubt it is. Timberland is no better than a $39 discount department store boot, so I'll pass. I buy Red Wings & get years out of them, not months. I'd rather spend $100 on them since they'll last 10 times longer.

One thing I bought last year that surprised me was a tool box. I needed a bigger box & went to Sears where I bought my last one from. The set I wanted was 42" wide, & it included both the roll away & upper chest. If I recall, it was almost $1000 for the set, & it had roller bearing drawer glides. I was in Sam's club by accident, & spotted a double wall, stainless steel, 42" wide, roll away & upper chest for $550. It was made in China, but the quality was awesome & not crap. I wanted to find something wrong with it so I could hate it like other Chinese made tools, but couldn't & bought it.

I saw the exact, same box on line, but USA made, & it was $2200.    That wasn't an option.

[BigBlockSam]

you get what you pay for 

[Silver R/T]

You cant beat Costco/Sam's Club prices and they have 1 year full money refund policy too

[4402tuff4u]

I voted on "depends on the item". I have always tried to buy items made here in US because of quality, but if I'm buying something as simple as a cooler, beach chair or something insignificant as garden hose, etc I could really careless where it was made, as long as the price reasonable and it lasts me a year or so. If I'm buying tools that I will be using and keeping for a long time I would buy US. I have also drifted in buying some specialized things such as kitchen cutlery, chainsaw and firearms/scopes from Sweden, Finland (very good steel!) & Germany - not that I buy these items to often, but IMO their quality is much higher that the US. Also Italy makes excellent rubber hose products and fittings, so it really depends on what item you are really buying. Since I'm in the heavy construction industry I have to admit that the heavy equipment made by the european's have us beat by a mile, and it was never that way in the past! I agree with OM on the work boots I go with Redwings, they oil them, give me shoe laces and clean them for free. I have also purchased Chippewa and Carolina work boots and they are pretty good too - not sure where they are made. I think here in US.