Piece Of Crap
 

As a compliment to the 'products I wholeheartedly endorse' thread, I thought I'd start this one on products you bought which turned out to be a piece of crap.

Last year I bought a portable solar charger for hiking and charging my phone along the way, which cost about 15 quid. It seemed to be solidly built, with two USB ports. I charged it up on the mains power which worked fine. Then it wouldn't turn off. Then it wouldn't turn on. Then the built in flash light kept flashing. It had a button on the side you had to press a certain number of times to cycle through the different functions. I lost count of how many times I clicked that button, clickety click clickety click. It has been gathering dust in my draw ever since. A piece of crap.

Thanks for the heads-up.

I've seen several advertized, what was the brand? Made in China?

Good thread Squawk

I think everybody needs to know that there is an avalanche of bullshit Chinese products up on Amazon right now, and they are gaming the reviews system until it is a wild wild west situation. I bought a 1000 lumen flashlight for $17. Too good to be true? Yes, the piece of shit overheats and fails after ten seconds. Five stars it got, until Amazon intervened and said something's fishy about these reviews.

Aptly-named song.

The cynic in me says they are not cracking down as hard as they could, because "Prime" category vendors are generally better-vetted and higher quality, and it doesn't really hurt them if people start to feel they can only trust Prime items.

I wonder if they're doing an end run on the "verified purchase" verification?

It was an X-Dragon, and yes it was made in China.

Thanks Squawk, I've become real wary of Chinese made bargains.