GB v Johnny Foreigner

[tyreon]

Mmmm...The short survey here confirms my own prejudices: some friends have found the Dyson plastic-y and subject to breaking. They look vulnerable and a bit Woolworth's tech! I didn't know Henry was GB;thought it French for some reason. Our Henry has been fine.
I have a Dualit toaster(made by Mike?). I think it's made by one man or woman,named enclosed. Expensive,but nice job, and spare parts can be accessed.

German touring motorcycles get good write-ups,but British brands like Norton and Triumph seem to be coming back and carry cachet.
We carry some good clothing manufacturing,too: John Smedley,Sunspel,Harris Tweed,Barbour.

Made in England: Sometime back it meant 'old','tatt' even. Now,I think it's making a resurgence. Good stuff!

[Vantage]

Carradice

The end.

[Bicycler]

Ah but Carradice is made in Lancashire and thus actually better than anything made elsewhere!

[661-Pete]

Henry is made in the UK, is durable (have one that's over 25 years old), easy to repair (not that anything is likely to break) and has a friendly face. It doesn't have to be used with a bag, by the way.

Maybe there are different versions, but ours definitely needs a bag. Probably a better bet if there's anyone with asthma in the household. The bags are not expensive, anyway. Not sure if they're 'bio'....

[bovlomov]

Milliput. Made in Dolgellau.

[ambodach]

Had 2 Dyson, both stopped working very difficult to repair so never again. We now have a Henry,so far still working after 2 years.

[Paulatic]

We also had 2 Dysons both had plastic bit break and weren't worth repairing. We love our 15yo Meile. The OH uses a Henry in the shop where she works and loves it too. Takes a lot of abuse as well.
I have some old Bosch power tools but I don't think the newer ones are as robust. I bought a Black and Decker drill in 1995 when I began building our house. A guy in B&Q advised it at the time, he said because I was going to give it so much work when it broke I could bring it back and get a new one. It's still going strong but doesn't get much work now since I got a Dewalt battery drill.

[mrjemm]

'Enry 'ere. Proper top vacuum. And you can get re-useable bags on Amazon, made of a kinda heavy tyvek stuff. Never liked Dyson stuff, too bitty, fussy and brittle. See some on the boats, but more often 'Enrys. The Dysons always have bits missing and the cable return springs never keep enough tension. Don't think the super sucky vortex nonsense is too real either- more magic dust (bustin').

Best Vac though, that I've used, is a Nilfisk Bacuum- Ghostbusters ahoy!

http://cms.gtp-icommerce.com.au/clients ... 199500.jpg

Didn't Dyson invent the ballbarrow, or whatever it's called? His best if so.

As for German vs UK engineering... So very subjective. Trabant vs Allegro, hmmm. Rohloff vs Sturmey. Mini (or Mog?) vs Beetle. Hunter vs Bavaria. SIemens vs hmmm, how many businesses?

[bovlomov]

SIemens vs hmmm, how many businesses?

Siemens vs Binatone

[mrjemm]

SIemens vs hmmm, how many businesses?

Siemens vs Binatone

Amstrad?

[maxcherry]

I have bundgy cords and tape holding my Dyson together. As long as it keeps sucking i will keep using it, but i wouldn't buy another one
I was always told not to buy anything made in the UK as it would fall to bits (70s-80s) now nothing of any importance is made here.

I vote Germany wins

[Lawrie9]

You seem to see loads of Dysons on the carboot sales but the best ones were the old ones such as the Electrolux 550 or 502 series and the Hoover Juniors which were light weight, energy efficient, easy to service, attractive and beatifully designed objects and cheap to buy

[beardy]

There's a whole lot of guff spouted about "German engineering" as if anything produced in the country ought to be better than something produced elsewhere, particularly anything of Asian manufacture. All too often it amounts to nothing more than simple racial prejudice.

No, its anger and annoyance at the low quality junk that we are being sold.
As it happens many companies choose to make their better quality equipment in the more established manufacturing countries eg USA, Germany, UK, Japan and their cheaper, lower quality goods in less established countries eg. Brazil, Romania or China.

I am not convinced that country of manufacture is to blame, it may be that the movement of manufacturing coincided with a trend to reduce quality and price of the goods on sale because consumers became less concerned about quality and more about gimmickry and price.
Regardless of the reason, "Made in China" is enough to make me look elsewhere (often in vain as everything within affordable limits is made in China now).

When buying Shimano stuff, I am happy enough to find "Made in Malaysia" as that seems to be of a satisfactory quality/price level.

[661-Pete]

I can still remember the vacuum cleaner that we had when I was a kid, an Electrolux, it looked like this I think:

except that ours was a drab grey in colour. Needless to say, it lasted for years, was totally unbreakable, we still had it when I was in my teens. My mother used sometimes to ask me to help with the hoovering, and I soon discovered that it had a 'blowing' end as well as a 'sucking' end. Handy for 'levitating' ping-pong balls! Anyone else remember doing that?

[bovlomov]

SIemens vs hmmm, how many businesses?

Siemens vs Binatone

Amstrad?

Lloytron?

How about Hugo Boss: Outfitters to the Third Reich vs Mr Byrite: Outfitters to the Royal Family?