Off-branded receptacles and switches

[tarbellb]

I always read the user details in the reviews. But often the ratings are short term. So you bought it last week it works well this week.
Great. I’ll consider an expendable phone charger recommendation on that advice. I think twice on items I want years of longevity on.

Totally agree. Deciphering Amazon reviews is a artform these days.

I dont mind rolling the dice so to speak on some of these items. We can argue till it gets locked on perceived safety or buying import vs domestic, but this was something I chose to install based on my situation.

Seems we are in a funny period of time where legacy mfgs are shifting production to outside the US, "optimizing" designs, being bought out, etc... which makes it hard to not just understand what you are buying but justify the price on perceived quality.
So buying that "brand" we all know is good isnt as straightforward anymore. I try to mitigate by doing my best on safe practices, inspections, testing, gut instincts, etc...

 

[dave*99]

Totally agree. Deciphering Amazon reviews is a artform these days.

I dont mind rolling the dice so to speak on some of these items. We can argue till it gets locked on perceived safety or buying import vs domestic, but this was something I chose to install based on my situation.

Seems we are in a funny period of time where legacy mfgs are shifting production to outside the US, "optimizing" designs, being bought out, etc... which makes it hard to not just understand what you are buying but justify the price on perceived quality.
So buying that "brand" we all know is good isnt as straightforward anymore. I try to mitigate by doing my best on safe practices, inspections, testing, gut instincts, etc...

The consumer is in a bad spot these days. Who can you trust.....

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

The consumer is in a bad spot these days. Who can you trust.....

I agree 100% ^……. Not to be political but the USA has to stop depending on other countries for cheap manufacturing.

My wife worked for large drug manufacturing company and she was telling me (over 15 years ago) that there were a lot of counterfeit drugs coming into the country from China and it was very difficult to spot them…….. Some of the counterfeit drugs were ones that people needed to stay alive and mentally fit and these drugs were sold to large retail drug stores and dispensed to consumers.

Just last week I was working on a John Deere backhoe that could not start and it was a bad diesel fuel pump so the owner (neighbor) went online to Amazooom and purchased a cheap POS ChiKneez fuel pump (that looked like a OEM pump) and was raving about how much money he saved compared to purchasing a pump from the local JD dealer and after I installed the POS pump the diaphragm started leaking an hour later, so I told him to go to the JD dealer and buy a OEM pump……… We will see what this "frugal consumer" does. I was paid for my time and will paid again to install another one.

 

[William Payne]

I agree 100% ^……. Not to be political but the USA has to stop depending on other countries for cheap manufacturing.

My wife worked for large drug manufacturing company and she was telling me (over 15 years ago) that there were a lot of counterfeit drugs coming into the country from China and it was very difficult to spot them…….. Some of the counterfeit drugs were ones that people needed to stay alive and mentally fit and these drugs were sold to large retail drug stores and dispensed to consumers.

Just last week I was working on a John Deere backhoe that could not start and it was a bad diesel fuel pump so the owner (neighbor) went online to Amazooom and purchased a cheap POS ChiKneez fuel pump (that looked like a OEM pump) and was raving about how much money he saved compared to purchasing a pump from the local JD dealer and after I installed the POS pump the diaphragm started leaking an hour later, so I told him to go to the JD dealer and buy a OEM pump……… We will see what this "frugal consumer" does. I was paid for my time and will paid again to install another one.

I have no sympathy for that. People need to suffer more from their bad purchasing choices.

If the guy fully admits he stuffed up and eats the mistakes. I respect that. But if they throw out a bunch of excuses, not much.

I spent 3 times as much time and money fixing my toilet thinking I knew better for only in the end having every attempt fail requiring me to go buy the proper part in the first place that is still working without a single fault.

I own that. That’s on me. That was my mistake and I should suffer for it. More people need to learn the hard way.

The issue becomes when innocents get hurt.

 

[cybrdyke]

Recommend testing the connectors first. The fixture wires seem to be getting smaller and smaller. I have some Wago levers that wont hold fixture wires. Same for the stab-ins. Just check before installing.
CD

 

[Skooterj]

This is what I think of for each

Push in


Lever nut/wago


You get fixtures with lever nuts? Is that high end stuff? I've never seen one included with a fixture

Maybe there has been an upgrade, but I thought the push ins were only rated for solid wire. But that picture sure shows stranded.

 

[Gmonkee]

Back to name brand VS off brand, I used both wiring my house. Replaced more off brand than boring regular stuff by known brands.
A lot of it was Home Depot sourced for the good stuff.

Designer styles become unavailable 5 years down the road in many cases and end up being replaced with the regular fare.

 

[William Payne]

Honestly as a homeowner what I care about regarding electrical outlets and switches is how does the switch feel? Is it tactile and solid feeling. Same with sockets. Does it hold the plug firm.

I like a switch that has a very noticeable solid clunk when flick it on and off.

I don’t know how anyone determines that without either going to the electrical supply house and trying them out or buying a few samples to try out before buying in bulk.

But hey buy what makes you happy. If the deciding factor is price and you don’t care about the quality/usability of it then go for gold.

Nothing worse than a loose socket and a floppy switch.

 

[Junkman]

I settled on Leviton Tamper-Resistant receptacles. Haven't gotten to the switches yet because I don't know what the lighting will be.

 

[mike93lx]

I settled on Leviton Tamper-Resistant receptacles. Haven't gotten to the switches yet because I don't know what the lighting will be.

I have dimmer damn near everywhere and almost all of them are Lutron Skylark Contour

 

[Norcal]

I settled on Leviton Tamper-Resistant receptacles. Haven't gotten to the switches yet because I don't know what the lighting will be.

Tamper resistant receptacles are required in residential, Lowe's used to have some Hubbell receptacles that were pretty decent for tamper resistant devices.

 

[mikegt4]

I am at the point where I will need to purchase receptacles and switches for the new home. I have found some good deals on eBay for the Leviton Decora 20A 125V Tamper-Resistant Outlets T5825 (WMP White), but I haven't found a reasonable price for name-brand GFIC receptacles. I did a search on Amazon and found some that say they are UL listed, but I have never heard of the brand before. Would you buy an off-brand?

Amazon.com

It wasn't very hard to find that ELEGRP is a company based in Suzhou China which may or may not reflect quality, your choice.

ELEGRP | LinkedIn

ELEGRP | 10,354 followers on LinkedIn. The world's leading manufacturer in electrical suppliers. | Engineering and manufacturing of electrical safety equipment since 2000, ELEGRP is leading innovation and technology upgrade in leakage circuit interrupter devices, water pumps, wire & cable and...

www.linkedin.com

 

[Junkman]

I have dimmer damn near everywhere and almost all of them are Lutron Skylark Contour

I used the Lutron Maestro switches when I built this home back in 1983, and upgraded them to the newer model when LEDs became available. I recently looked into them and was quite surprised by how much the prices have gone up. I can afford to buy them, but my thriftiness is getting in the way. My biggest problem is that I am not certain we will ever live in this home because it is quite a bit smaller than our current home. This house is located on our present property, and we bought it over 20 years ago because we needed it to guarantee our right-of-way in the private driveway. When the old man who had lived there for the past 40+ years passed away, we decided to remodel it. Once we were into the project, it was too late to turn back, so we decided to take it to the next level. It will either be our summer home, and we will sell the main house and go South for the winter. If we don't move into it, then it will just stay vacant until we sell them both and move away.