Bnormous: ATTACK OF THE CLONES
Bnormous is back from the dead to talk politics….and probably one of the
most talked about subjects in vaping to date. What is this topic I’m
speaking of? Clones & Counterfeits (there is a difference and we will
discuss the difference). and we’ll discuss the drama that surrounds them.
Now to anyone who has been vaping for a bit probably knows what I’m talking
about and all of you who do know about it have an opinion about it.
My thing is about clones is this, the is market being flooded with these
high end devices that are popular but too expensive for a lot of people, so
China takes that design and makes a cheaper version but at the same time
they take a cut on quality. Which if you ask me is fine. Nothing wrong with
taking advantage of an opportunity.
How I see it is in every industry there are three major markets.
-Frugal Market: The ones who want to pay the least amount of money and dont
mind taking a cut in quality to get that. (This is the market the clones
appeal to the most.)
-Purist Market: The ones who don’t mind paying extra for quality but don’t
need anything fancy. They may buy a clone but just to see if they want the
real deal. (This is the market for things like the iHybrid Pure)
-Elitist Market: The guys who will drop big bucks on a name and a brand
just for the quality and reputation of the device. ( These guys buy
Chi-You’s and Caravelas )
Ill put myself in the Purist market.
Now that has been said, Let’s talk about the differences between Clones and
Counterfeits.
Lets take a look at one clone in particular…the K100. Which is an empire
mod clone. Same shape and design as the empire but with their own twist on
the design and their own name. Which in that case is fine. And anything
that falls under that category is fine, such as the Zmax, the Stomp (Kick
Clone), and the countless RBA’s that are on fast tech.
What is not cool is Counterfeit devices, look at the most recent victim,
Doc Dave and his Steam Turbine… which is the EXACT same design and name.
Other counterfeits include the Chi-You, The Sentinel, The Bagua, The
Nimbus, and there are plenty more. These counterfeit devices are a perfect
copy of the original down to the engraving and the placement of those
engravings and even the company name. Which is a slap to the hard work put
into these devices.
On the flip side of the coin, some of the manufacturers of these devices
are lashing out on the consumer for buying the counterfeit, and threatening
lawsuits to co-op opperators for having the fakes sold in america.
Here are two links to articles discussing this.
http://www.rpad.tv/2013/09/17/vaping-diaries-104-doc-dave-cloning-controversy/
http://www.rpad.tv/2013/08/23/vaping-diaries-93-mojos-chi-clone-backlash/
But basically Doc Dave (Steam Turbine) and Style of Mojo (Chi-You) are
taking names of people who join the group buys and banning them from buying
the real deal from them. Which is silly to me. I understand the
frustration, but all you’re doing is putting a bad rep on your brand.
Now some would say “But Bnormous, Doc Dave is right, his hard work is being
stolen and ripped off” Which I will agree with, but taking it out on the
people buying the counterfeits isn’t going to solve anything, just will
make matters worse. Take your fight to the Chinese manufactures if you feel
that strongly about it, but even then that would be pointless as they
technically did not break any laws, just moral ethics, and that’s not a
lawsuit you can win.
Before I make this post too long I am going to call this good, if you want
to know more on this subject just click the links above and do some
research on it, form an opinion.
My opinion is that clones are ok, counterfeits aren’t, and these
manufacturers need to quit lashing out on consumers and take their fight to
China if they feel they really need to.
Hope this helped some of you.
Have a good one.