This is an awkward post to write but I believe it needs to be said.
Having kept an eye on various knife/tool and bag/equipment threads over the last couple of years or so, I have noticed a tendency for people to either post eBay links to sellers of what are effectively 'copies' of well known items, or for some makers to sell what are, frankly, identical copies of other well-known products.
For example, there seem to be a lot of Maxpedition bag copies and Snugpak Response Pak copies knocking around. I have also seen knives advertised on this website recently that are exact copies of a knife I bought from a US knifemaker about 2 years ago, which had an 18 month waiting list.
There appears to be an attitude that, if the original manufacturer/maker asks for a premium price, then it's OK to buy or make knock-off copies. I am uncomfortable with this.
Manufacturers invest in R&D or spend significant time developing a product. Or, they may use high quality components and materials. Is it right that we should rip them off? How would you like it if it was your livelihood?
I guess if you are happy to buy knock-off clothes/parts/perfume/etc from a bloke in the pub, you would have no problem with this; however, as someone who has - and does - work in an industry where the theft of technical ideas and intellectual property has serious effects on people's jobs or livelihoods, I find it very distasteful.
This kind of activity (to me) is the same as stealing MP3s and DVDs and yet we 'seem' to have no problem with it on this web forum?!? Or do we?
It also appears that justification for purchase of cheap copies is usually either the fact that people think the original is too expensive and can't afford it, or people wish to jump a queue. Neither is a good reason.
Either you save up or you wait.
A story: on ops, I had purchased a genuine Blackhawk holster for my sidearm. A colleague bought a knock off eBay copy. They looked the same and both of us assumed they would perform the same. When having to ... er ... 'move rapidly' across some open ground, his holster split and it was only the fact he had a lanyard on his pistol that prevented him from losing it altogether. As it was, he filled it full of dirt dragging it across the deck and this may well have caused the weapon to malfunction if he had needed to use it.
OK, a bit of an unusual tale but I have more faith in the genuine article, with commercial quality assurance and with a company's - or maker's - reputation on the line.
Perhaps I am overreacting and I would like to hear the opposing side of the argument. I just hate to think that, in a time of financial crisis, we are shafting makers and companies so that we can save money.
So, come on! Fire away at me! Or prove to me that there is still some honesty and integrity out there.
[Puts helmet and body armour on and hunkers down behind sandbags]
Having kept an eye on various knife/tool and bag/equipment threads over the last couple of years or so, I have noticed a tendency for people to either post eBay links to sellers of what are effectively 'copies' of well known items, or for some makers to sell what are, frankly, identical copies of other well-known products.
For example, there seem to be a lot of Maxpedition bag copies and Snugpak Response Pak copies knocking around. I have also seen knives advertised on this website recently that are exact copies of a knife I bought from a US knifemaker about 2 years ago, which had an 18 month waiting list.
There appears to be an attitude that, if the original manufacturer/maker asks for a premium price, then it's OK to buy or make knock-off copies. I am uncomfortable with this.
Manufacturers invest in R&D or spend significant time developing a product. Or, they may use high quality components and materials. Is it right that we should rip them off? How would you like it if it was your livelihood?
I guess if you are happy to buy knock-off clothes/parts/perfume/etc from a bloke in the pub, you would have no problem with this; however, as someone who has - and does - work in an industry where the theft of technical ideas and intellectual property has serious effects on people's jobs or livelihoods, I find it very distasteful.
This kind of activity (to me) is the same as stealing MP3s and DVDs and yet we 'seem' to have no problem with it on this web forum?!? Or do we?
It also appears that justification for purchase of cheap copies is usually either the fact that people think the original is too expensive and can't afford it, or people wish to jump a queue. Neither is a good reason.
Either you save up or you wait.A story: on ops, I had purchased a genuine Blackhawk holster for my sidearm. A colleague bought a knock off eBay copy. They looked the same and both of us assumed they would perform the same. When having to ... er ... 'move rapidly' across some open ground, his holster split and it was only the fact he had a lanyard on his pistol that prevented him from losing it altogether. As it was, he filled it full of dirt dragging it across the deck and this may well have caused the weapon to malfunction if he had needed to use it.
OK, a bit of an unusual tale but I have more faith in the genuine article, with commercial quality assurance and with a company's - or maker's - reputation on the line.
Perhaps I am overreacting and I would like to hear the opposing side of the argument. I just hate to think that, in a time of financial crisis, we are shafting makers and companies so that we can save money.
So, come on! Fire away at me! Or prove to me that there is still some honesty and integrity out there.
[Puts helmet and body armour on and hunkers down behind sandbags]
