HACKER Q&A
📣 colinjoy

How to identify a good quality electronics


The market seems to be full of white label products sold by no-name asian vendors and established brands alike. You get the exact same box with a different logo slapped onto it, or you get a different box with the same internal components.

What are resources that you use and recommend for doing due diligence before buying? I get that there is people who don't worry on spending $30 on cheap electronics - if it is no good or breaks quickly, "it was cheap - easy to move on to the next disposable, mass produced gadget". I would also not worry too much about the loss of $30 (apart from not wanting to contribute to excessive electronic scrap), BUT when that gadget (say a USB hub) is going to be connected to a >$4000 setup, I really don't want it to fry it's neighbours.

Comments on amazon are useless and people writing about gear they own, often do so from a position of shallow experience.

Sometimes I stumble across great teardowns [1][2], but that is rather the exception.

Where do you look for such information? Any good forums, groups or blogs to recommend?

1: https://dancharblog.wordpress.com/2022/03/05/caldigit-ts4-teardown/ 2: https://community.frame.work/t/usb-c-thunderbolt-dock-megathread/1460/204?u=matthijs_kooijman

  👤 potamic Accepted Answer ✓
While there is the rare hidden gem, the most reliable way is to seek out reputable brands. That's the whole point of a brand. A brand encompasses a set of ideals and principles that become characteristic in the product, creating a market for like minded customers. The longer a brand is in existence and the more consistent they are with their principles, the greater is their reputation.

Of course, if a brand doesn't do their own manufacturing, you might find the same product white labeled by another seller. In some cases the seller might have a big reputation themselves like in the case of big box retailers, but in most cases are just internet drop shippers. Enterprising people might seek out such white labeled goods and save some costs if they discover it comes from the same manufacturer, but wiser people will see the value in paying for quality control, service & warranty and supporting the brand.