Comments on: When the Name Brand Purchase is a Bad Deal

By: Enigma

Enigma — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:38:48 +0000

Rebadging is extremely common in the tech industry. Sounds like Lexicon did this unilaterally, but there are many cases where this happens bilaterally with the consent, support, and help of the original manufacturer. Some years ago, Sony was selling DVD-RW drives for $100 on store shelves, right next to DVD-RW drives produced by a Taiwanese company named Lite-On that cost half as much. The problem? Sony had closed its own drive manufacturing plants and had contracted with Lite-On to produced Sony-branded drives (they also produced drives for Memorex, Imation, and a bunch of other brands). With the exception of the decorative bezel, the sticker, and packaging, these Sony-branded and Lite-On-branded drives were identical, produced by the same manufacturer, probably all in the same factory. In fact, the Lite-On drives were arguably *superior* because you could get support (e.g., firmware updates) directly from the manufacturer, while the the firmware updates available via Sony were often outdated (if they even bothered to offer them at all sometimes).

It really comes down to the industry. For drugs, FDA regulations state that generics must be 100% identical to the equivalent name-brand in ingredients, recipe, dosage, etc., so that’s one industry where going generic is a sure bet, backed by federal inspections. With very few name-brands actually manufacturing and instead out-sourcing to a handful of Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean companies (though Korea is now starting to follow the US’s and Japan’s footsteps and outsource its manuf as well), a lot of tech are either rebrands or at least share a lot of the internal components in common. But there are some industries where brand more often than not is a mark of durability (e.g., shoes), so it’s hard to make a blanket statement…

By: debra

debra — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:34:58 +0000

If you love that, then consider this gem.. a company gorrila by the name of Luxottica manufactures approx 75-80% of the sunglass brands on the market like RayBan, Oakley, Arnette, and all the designers like Versace, Channel, Prada, Ralph Lauren..they may charge $80 for a pair of Ralph Lauren glasses and $600 for a pair of Chanel or Pradas that aside from the name badge look a lot alike.. Same glasses different designer name on the side pathetic!

By: ParisGirl111

ParisGirl111 — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:48:18 +0000

I almost purchased one of their dvd players before (not the blue ray), but after I read reviews online, decided to go with another brand. Now I am really glad I didn’t purchase it!

By: MasterPo

MasterPo — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:30:09 +0000

Agreed.

With a lot of deep research you can find out what TML illustrated. But few of us have the time or technical ability to know the difference.

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:18:12 +0000

On some things like over the counter medicine I would say generic, but a lot of times name brand does mean quality. Especially with electronics, there is a different between a named brand and a generic brand.