What are your thoughts on low priced offroad products? And products have worked great for you that were priced a lot cheaper than its competitors?

Through out the years I've found my self with expensive as well as low priced products for my jeep. Sometimes the low priced ones work out great and sometimes they dont. Same goes for the more popular high end products I buy.


I was talking to a buddy who works in off road sales. And we came to the conclusion that alot of Not so Popular companies sell great products for a way lower price than its competitors. The thing is, these companies dont spend a lot of money advertising or promoting it either because they dont have the money but that doesn't mean they arent great products. With the money they save on advertising and promoting they are able to sell the product at a lower cost. People just assume they are junk or stay away from these no name products because of the price.

Also, your hear a lot that 2-3 different companies sometimes more are selling the same type of product, made out of the exact same material and even in the same factory BUT, the more popular company will price the product a lot higher just for their brand to be sticker'd on it

Now, sometimes this is not the case. Im sure there are plenty of cheap products that dont perform well.

I mean I see a lot of people buying certain products for the simple fact its what they see in videos.

kinda like kids, if they see there idol on TV wearing certain clothes, they are going to want to wear those kind of clothes for the reason of their idol is wearing them. Look at all these kids trying to be like LMFAO. Running around in cheetah printed pants even though they look stupid as hell and are probably uncomfortable as heck.


I dont know, thought this would make a good discussion.

 

i think it depends on what your looking at. Ive run cheap stuff ive broke cheap stuff. Ive ran expensive stuff broke expensive stuff. Some of it really matters some doesnt. I build a lot of my stuff for dirt cheap. may not be engineered and tested to there degree, but works fine.

the higher costs imo should hopefully be easier to rebuild instead of getting all new parts, and they should last alot longer. Performance wise at first id say if you have similar components or parts they will perform pretty equally.

 

I've stood by the old saying, "you get what you pay for" and it's done me right. It has to be assessed relative to a need, though, and sometimes generic/branded products are interchangeable because they're produced by the same supplier. It pays to do research and ask around. There are times when I'd rather pay a set price through a reputable supplier rather than take chances with a supplier that's not reputable but selling for slightly less. And reputable suppliers sometimes take care of you in other ways and are more likely to bounce and make things right for you if something goes wrong.

I don't always buy the best; sometimes good will do. I rarely buy the cheapest of anything, and I don't buy unless I need something (even if something is on sale, if I don't need it, I won't buy it).

 

X-2 I agree, you get what you pay for most the time.

 

You can always find someone that will do the job or build if for cheaper. Wether they can actually deliver a quality product/job is another story.
I love the ones that have a great warrantee and stand behind their products, thats nice but I would rather buy a product that I don't have to worry about getting a warrantee claim on.

 

I'm a cheap fool. But seriously you get what you pay for when it comes to certain items. But I also agree with sometimes you should pay more if it's a company you know stands behind the product they sell.

 

This is a good point. If a company has good customer service/warranty, this means they stand behind their product and have faith that the customer has satisfaction. Weather it's low priced or high.

This might be the best way to determine if a lower priced company is fully comfortable with satisfaction against its competitors

For me, I like to be different and head different directions with builds. I mean if it's expensive and I know I'll be happy with it I'll buy it. But there's also a part of me that wants to spend money on smaller/cheaper businesses just to see if the product performs as well as they say. And in the end I feel good knowing it's a great product at a great price.

Or wait, does this mean I have a serious addition to gambling ??

Lol

 

My jeep is my biggest investment this far in life. I try to treat it with the best equipment (ARB whenever possible). You made an analogy to kids clothes and looking cool, nobody can see my welded reinforcements etc, and kids don't drive people they love in their clothes.

 

I think a lot of it comes down to what the actual parts are.

My cheap smittybilt winch has hauled me and quite a few other people out of some nasty situations and is still going strong after 4 years. But I am never in a situation where the winch failing would leave me stranded in the wilderness at risk of death.

When I buy a lift and tires, I plan on dropping the money to have it done with quality parts and installed by a reputable shop because that is something that will be used every single day, 100% of the time. If I'm on the 3 hour journey down these alabama back highways to my home town with no phone signal, I can't have my suspension break.

Rhino lining and line-x are very nice but very expensive. Raptor liner is definitely a cheap product but has marvelous reviews. Again however, not a life or death situation.

I have cheap grab handles from eBay instead of the expensive ones.

I have a cheap flashlight in the center console.

I have cheap floor liners.

I have cheap igloo coolers instead of yeti coolers.

It all is really perspective. Not much I do on my jeep is worth spending all the extra money, but I don't go on expeditions or week long trips to Moab. I play on rocks a few miles from the house and get muddy.

The way I see it, if it's non-essential, I can go cheap. If it's something I NEED to get home or stay alive, I'll drop the coin.