Media Building wood survival shelter in wildlands | Bushcraft & Campfire grilled meat

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8thsinner

Member
Messages
480
Beholder said:
Typical Aliexpress experience when everything is broken on arrival.
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Aliexpress nor china should be categorized like that, it's no different than amazon these days, you need discernment to use both because they both sell fakes and garbage but also good stuff too.
Something I have noticed a lot of people doing is going to aliexpress for cheap versions of expensive things or things known to be good quality, but the mistake that they make is once they are there they look for the cheapest version of the cheap version. Instead of doing the necessary work to research and choose the best of the cheap versions. China is often the maker of those good quality versions too, they just operate a side business selling the same thing, same quality on the side because they put their money into making twice as many for the same price then, they get all of the profits for selling the side versions that passed qc, and selling the cheaper ones that failed qc to scammer companies that operate ten different businesses advertising the same thing.

And when it comes to "survival" goods, if your life in your eyes is only worth ten or twenty bucks then you were doomed before you ordered. Nothing should go into a kit like that that you haven't used before and know the quality off, that should be common sense but how common is that?
 
Beholder

Beholder

Senior Member
Messages
1,030
8thsinner said:
Aliexpress nor china should be categorized like that, it's no different than amazon these days, you need discernment to use both because they both sell fakes and garbage but also good stuff too.
Something I have noticed a lot of people doing is going to aliexpress for cheap versions of expensive things or things known to be good quality, but the mistake that they make is once they are there they look for the cheapest version of the cheap version. Instead of doing the necessary work to research and choose the best of the cheap versions. China is often the maker of those good quality versions too, they just operate a side business selling the same thing, same quality on the side because they put their money into making twice as many for the same price then, they get all of the profits for selling the side versions that passed qc, and selling the cheaper ones that failed qc to scammer companies that operate ten different businesses advertising the same thing.

And when it comes to "survival" goods, if your life in your eyes is only worth ten or twenty bucks then you were doomed before you ordered. Nothing should go into a kit like that that you haven't used before and know the quality off, that should be common sense but how common is that?
Click to expand...
I know people in China who wrote false reviews for free stuff, so what do you suggest to find quality when ratings and years can't be trusted?
 
8

8thsinner

Member
Messages
480
Beholder said:
I know people in China who wrote false reviews for free stuff, so what do you suggest to find quality when ratings and years can't be trusted?
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First thing is to keep all the interesting survival stuff in your cart or wish lists, the fake companies don't last that long so they will vanish after a month or two leaving the better choices.
When it comes to fake reviews, they tend to be short, and simple, often having an obvious double translation grammar error in there, so look at the ones with the longer reviews that people would have spent time on and know the values to which the product boast and speak to those. They have started throwing these in in alternatives to english so that you are more likely to ignore grammar errors so beware of that one too. They will often speak of qualities that don't really matter.
At the minute I am keeping an eye on titanium wood stoves, knowing the features of titanium comparisons here helps. A real titanium stove at a decent size will weigh in at between 1-1.5 kilo. Many of the ones on ali now are quoting 2.4-2.8 kilo, clearly using non ferrous steels, which is fine if you just want a cheaper steel stove, but point is, knowing the features of the genuine versions can help...
The other one is ytube, people are learning to use ali and have started talking about some of the side companies, like toaks for ti kitchen ware. They are almost identical to some more popular brands but at a cheaper good price without compromising quality.
Another one is a brand of down sleeping bags, I can't recall the name right now, but it has become popular within the community.
Theres no guarantees of course

Oh, another trick, if you can't find something but can find similar things, dump all of them in your cart, come back in a week and free scroll through the suggestions, you will often get what you were looking for the first time.
Hope that helps, it's all I can think off right now.
 
Bones McCoy

Bones McCoy

Senior Member
Messages
2,145
8thsinner said:
Or my khukuri.
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In the Bram Stoker novel, it was a khukiri that was used to kill Dracula.

The "Pal" is too heavy and clunky to be much good as a machete, but it's great for heavier hacking and whacking, like roots and branches, good for pruning and weeding in the garden, splitting kindling, general utility stuff.
 
Bones McCoy

Bones McCoy

Senior Member
Messages
2,145
:ninja:

"Knives From The Truck"
IMG-3466.jpg


Some of father and grandfather, some just mine...
 

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