BUYER BEWARE: FAKE products from oceanicfocus.com

[bsummers]

DO NOT BUY FROM THEM!!!!

I just received my new Sea & Sea YS110a from them. It is a fake- made in China , not in Japan!

 

[Wookie]

DO NOT BUY FROM THEM!!!!

I just received my new Sea & Sea YS110a from them. It is a fake- made in China , not in Japan!

How does it work? Does it hold up in the water? Has it flooded? Does it look like an obvious knock-off? Is their warranty service sub-standard? Are all Sea & Sea products made in Japan, or are some being outsourced by the OEM? How was their customer service? How long did it take to get from Oceanicfocus to you? Did you ask them about their return policy? Many camera housings and parts are manufactured in Hong Kong, including some top of the line $4,000 aluminum billet housings. I don't think I'd throw Oceanicfocus under the bus until I knew for sure that Sea&Sea wasn't outsourcing their strobes.

Edit. They get very high marks from photographers on wetpixel.

 

[Marek K]

Are all Sea & Sea products made in Japan, or are some being outsourced by the OEM?

Forgive me for jumping in here, since I'm basically a point-and-shoot underwater photographer and don't know much about strobes...

But the web site :.:..Oceanic Focus...Singapore's one stop underwater photography equipment...Underwater Strobe, Underwater housing, Inon, Canon, Olympus, Nikon, Ikelite, You name it!!.... shows an image of the strobe. When you click on it to enlarge it, you can clearly (well, somewhat clearly) see "MADE IN JAPAN" on the side.

If what the OP got wasn't made in Japan, then yes, I'd assume something is wrong. Sea & Sea may be outsourcing to China -- but what the OP got was not what was shown on the web site:

 

[Kilili]

So, what does Oceanic Focus have to say about all this? I've purchased Z-240s from them and never a problem. I consider the outfit a reputable dealer.

 

[under water]

Forgive me for jumping in here, since I'm basically a point-and-shoot underwater photographer and don't know much about strobes...

But the web site :.:..Oceanic Focus...Singapore's one stop underwater photography equipment...Underwater Strobe, Underwater housing, Inon, Canon, Olympus, Nikon, Ikelite, You name it!!.... shows an image of the strobe. When you click on it to enlarge it, you can clearly (well, somewhat clearly) see "MADE IN JAPAN" on the side.

If what the OP got wasn't made in Japan, then yes, I'd assume something is wrong. Sea & Sea may be outsourcing to China -- but what the OP got was not what was shown on the web site:

That really doesn't mean much. Things are made all over the place. Would you buy a Toyota that was made in the US or a BMW made in the US? Many many manufacturers have worked with China to make their products there.
Often companies will start making products in their home market and then move them to China once the product has been established. I believe this is the case with S&S.

 

[Marek K]

Things are made all over the place.

Yes, of course. And many times they're all equal quality.

Other times they're not. Often the "same" item is made in different places for different markets, and the quality isn't always the same.

My real experience with this was "rest of the world" (non-North American) LED tail lights for a 2009 VW Jetta. They're made in Mexico as OEM parts for the European-market Jetta, and in China as OEM for the Chinese-made version of the car (called the Sagitar). They all fit; the Chinese lights are, not surprisingly, about half the price of the European-market lights.

Some folks disagree, but to be unfortunately the quality seems to correspond with the price.

I do think that if the image on the web site shows one thing, then the OP has a right to expect that kind of item.

He should, of course, contact the vendor to get their side.

 

[ScubaSteve]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/st...ware-ys110a-oceanicfocus-com.html#post5568923

 

[ScubaSteve]

And companies move manufacturing around all the time. They do not have to get your approval before doing this. They need to reflect the labelling and move on with life. If anybody wants to refuse product that is "associated" (because I bet many parts on the Made in Japan strobe came from elsewhere) with a certain country (China) then they should not be dumb enough to place orders for things without making that perfectly clear. Yes quality is different from different places. But, having dealt with very large contracts for overseas manufacturing, I can tell you that china does not automatically = crap.

Forgive me for jumping in here, since I'm basically a point-and-shoot underwater photographer and don't know much about strobes...

But the web site :.:..Oceanic Focus...Singapore's one stop underwater photography equipment...Underwater Strobe, Underwater housing, Inon, Canon, Olympus, Nikon, Ikelite, You name it!!.... shows an image of the strobe. When you click on it to enlarge it, you can clearly (well, somewhat clearly) see "MADE IN JAPAN" on the side.

If what the OP got wasn't made in Japan, then yes, I'd assume something is wrong. Sea & Sea may be outsourcing to China -- but what the OP got was not what was shown on the web site:

 

[Banon]

I can tell you that I've purchased 2 of the YS-110a strobes in the past year.

The first I bought from www.i-divesite.com out of Hong Kong. Some of you may know him as Nyxell on eBay. The second I bought from ScubaDictionary .:: ScubaDictionary - Make Every Dive Count ::., also known as scubadic on eBay.

The first has been on three dive trips so far and has performed flawlessly for about 35 dives. The second hasn't been wet yet, but looks exactly the same as the first, and performs fine in my living room tests. The second came with a US Warranty card and was successfully registered with the serial number on the Sea & Sea site.

Both strobes are "Made in China".

I don't think Oceanic Focus is trying to cheat you. I believe Sea&Sea just changed manufacturing locations for the YS-110a. You might still be able to find new in box YS-110a's that are "Made in Japan", but I think they may be old stock.

Only time will tell whether the "Made in China" strobes suffer from quality issues. So far mine look and operate just fine.

Banon

 

[Jocull]

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/st...ware-ys110a-oceanicfocus-com.html#post5568923

Interesting how both in this thread as well as the thread referenced by Scuba Steve, the OP makes a claim but doesn't answer any of the questions to validate his claim. I'm not saying his claim is true or not but if you are going to accuse you should answer questions posed to you to help others be more edumacated.