Lego Technic Clones

[shadowhearth]

Especially since it is almost a carbon copy of their 8273 set...who knows what others will arise...about the only place to buy Lego here in Michigan, USA, is TRU, haven't seen these, just cheap MegaBloks sets...

Kind of makes me wonder if they go 1 year ahead and started producing sets with PF elements, like say the 8292 Cherry Picker in 2008, what their motors and such would be like? Probably not real good I would expect...IF they aren't sued by Lego for copyrighting an actual set as shown in this thread...

problem is Lego can sue them as much as they want and nothing will happen. BMW sued chinese manufacturer who made a copy of their BMW X5 and court took knock offs side. why? because these court cases have to be in china, so guess whos side will court take? China is not same country like the bigger part of the world.

Its a very deep bag. Lego should do something about. that something should be a system to make identify program they use for normal bricks applied to technic parts too.

[Meatman]

These garbage sets have been around for years and have still not made their way into the U.S. The quality is no where near as good as Lego.

[legomuppet9]

problem is Lego can sue them as much as they want and nothing will happen. BMW sued chinese manufacturer who made a copy of their BMW X5 and court took knock offs side. why? because these court cases have to be in china, so guess whos side will court take? China is not same country like the bigger part of the world.

Its a very deep bag. Lego should do something about. that something should be a system to make identify program they use for normal bricks applied to technic parts too.

I know where you got that information from about BMW - Top Gear .

Anyway, That is the problem with the Chinese.... :thumbdown:

Edited January 2, 2013 by legomuppet9

[shadowhearth]

Yes m8. Top gear ;). You have to take everything they say with a truck of salt, but sometimes they do say interesting stuff.

[Alasdair Ryan]

Yes m8. Top gear ;). You have to take everything they say with a truck of salt, but sometimes they do say interesting stuff.

Should that not be with a pinch of salt?

[shadowhearth]

Should that not be with a pinch of salt?

trust me, i am a huge petrol head. you need a TRUCK load of salt when we are talking about top gear! they are great entertainment show, but not the best place to look for facts when it comes to motoring

[allanp]

Top gears China episode was very enlightening, and enraging, but hardley scratches the surface. It's obvious they copy people who are more talented designers than they are, and the government just sides with them cos it helps their economy. Their government permits far worse stuff than mere copyright infringment which makes me feel really bad for the majority of it's hard working people in their terrible working conditions (no doubt the parts for these knock-offs were made in a place that resembles hell on earth!). The workers get paid next to nothing, their well being and even their lives are or little value to their employers, they are asked expected to give everything and get nothing for it. Their government permits all of this and far far worse I can't even mention here. I love most of it's people, but I hate the country and do not want to support it's economy. To hell with it!

[jadedomg]

I remember seeing a photo of a set that had a knock off of the buggy motor but never actually saw the insides of the box, I am wondering if there is knock off power functions/buggy motors out there? If there is and anyone has come across them how do they perform next to the lego electronics?

[Lipko]

I remember seeing a photo of a set that had a knock off of the buggy motor but never actually saw the insides of the box, I am wondering if there is knock off power functions/buggy motors out there? If there is and anyone has come across them how do they perform next to the lego electronics?

My guess is that the motors and the electronics are so simple that probably the least problem is with them (and I'd guess that the motors themselves inside the Lego parts are off-the-shelf pieces, correct me if I'm wrong).

The most problem is with the plastic material and the shape of the parts. I guess they can only use the Lego parts as reference, but the shape of the moulds is a totally different matter. The mould is not precisely the negative of the parts (the plastic deforms a bit when removed from the mould), and mould design and manufacturing is very expensive, they can't (or don't care) just play around and tweak the moulds to get the correct (1 micron precision) results.

But these are just guesses, I'm not a technology person.

[Gene]

That is the problem with the Chinese.... :thumbdown:

Anything can be copied and made in China at great speed and also a choice of most manufacturers to get their products done at lower cost. With many factories and and technology buildup in China, the possibilities are abundance with demand. From toys, fashion, iphone and even food can be made real before your eyes. With social platform and information spreading around, it's the consumer's choice. Everyone is buying a hope, own something not within their reach and sometime risking their life...

[DarkShadow73]

Yeah like shadowhearth said suing them probably wouldn't work, and if I recall either from here or before I joined the forum in 2010 I believe most if not all PF elements are produced in China and some motors have failed even under light loads.

MegaBloks are the only thing resembling Lego here that I have seen at TRU's and they don't seem to have quality control or durability that Lego parts have, even though it indicates on many MegaBloks sets that they are interchangeable with Lego elements. I was interested in a large construction set a couple years ago, but when I looked at the low price, made me suspicious, would guess it wouldn't stand up to the test of time...just my 2 cents worth...haven't seen the sets/manufacturer in USA stores that started this topic...

Plus I'm a diehard Lego Technic fan, so I stick with what I know works even if the price is higher...I've got sets from the late 80's that were heavily played with and still function fine. 1 of them is the 8853 Front End Loader.

Edited January 4, 2013 by TechnicFreak

[allanp]

I have an old auto chassis from 1980 and the parts still fit and work as new. Not bad for a heavily played with 33 year old toy! Of all my 80000+ parts I have no idea and no way of telling the age of any single one of them as they all look and function like new (apart from some elecronic parts like wires and micro motors, wonder where they were made )

[therealjustin]

I know it might seem insane, but I'm seriously thinking about buying a Decool set.

For the longest time I have wanted a proper Technic F1 car but the prices for sets such as 8674 or 8458 are out of my reach. The Decool set looks decent and it's only $95.

[Wraith777]

I have many of those fakes

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708847 8418

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708848 8270

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708849 8419

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708851 8433

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708854 8674

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708857

Also I have "BELA" 8289 and 8653

The quality of parts is sometimes appaling and building process may become a torture, but atleast they look and work normaly when assembled.

About parts:

- the worst are connestors-axeles (worst pair, axeles often stuck to death in connector) and beams (badly molded, some pins fall out, others stuck hard), all pins have burrs (can be easly removed with file, on all of 200-300 pins );

- tires and treads had some nasty odour, which somewhat depleted with time;

- panels, thin liftarms, flexible axeles and rare parts(not all of them) are of much better quality, shock absorbers from 8674 are completely black.

- classic and technic bricks, usual plates are normal

But, what else do you get for price 5-8х lower than the original ?

In other words, it's OK for display (for example, I'm going to keep Fire Truck), but for parts or play.. better stay away. Atleast from Bela. There are much more fakes today and some of them are higher quality than those I have.

Also, it's not Technic, but anyway, recently I've found a PF-fake set !!

[CisFran]

I don't want to mix my orig lego parts with that chinese crap!

[AVCampos]

Also, it's not Technic, but anyway, recently I've found a PF-fake set !!

Wow! Well, I guess it only a matter of time...

Since they're more complex, I'd guess Chinese PF imitations will be worse imitations than standard beams and gears.

[Wraith777]

I don't want to mix my orig lego parts with that chinese crap!

Yeah, such incest would be problematic, some fake technic details look abolutely like original, but are, for example, 0.01 mm wider, so they will just stuck in place..

Since they're more complex, I'd guess Chinese PF imitations will be worse imitations than standard beams and gears.

Well, I currently hold one of them in my hands and I must say that quality of all parts themself is pretty nice, and "PF-F" elements actually work as intended, but.. I, guess I have to make a review of it to make all things clear. Not in this thread, because this isn't technic

It's a copy of 8183s alternative model.

Let's say, it's like a Chinese and.. again Chinese (this time genuine) iphone...

[Alasdair Ryan]

Do any of those sets have any black 19 flex axles?

[shadowhearth]

I have many of those fakes

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708847 8418

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708848 8270

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708849 8419

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708851 8433

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708854 8674

http://www.brickshel...y.cgi?i=4708857

Also I have "BELA" 8289 and 8653

The quality of parts is sometimes appaling and building process may become a torture, but atleast they look and work normaly when assembled.

About parts:

- the worst are connestors-axeles (worst pair, axeles often stuck to death in connector) and beams (badly molded, some pins fall out, others stuck hard), all pins have burrs (can be easly removed with file, on all of 200-300 pins );

- tires and treads had some nasty odour, which somewhat depleted with time;

- panels, thin liftarms, flexible axeles and rare parts(not all of them) are of much better quality, shock absorbers from 8674 are completely black.

- classic and technic bricks, usual plates are normal

But, what else do you get for price 5-8х lower than the original ?

In other words, it's OK for display (for example, I'm going to keep Fire Truck), but for parts or play.. better stay away. Atleast from Bela. There are much more fakes today and some of them are higher quality than those I have.

Also, it's not Technic, but anyway, recently I've found a PF-fake set !!

this makes me want to use bricklink less and less...

Not comfortable to buy new boxed sets as you might get shiped them directly from lego to your adress and payed by stolen CC

Not comfortable to buy parts as you can get fake stuff mixed in with your original lego...

[CisFran]

are there any "Lego" markings on the original liftarms? I haven't noticed it

[jadedomg]

I notice the ferrari sets uses the 81 44 rubber tires on powerpuller hubs. It would almost be cheaper to buy that set just for the hubs and rubber.

[Alasdair Ryan]

tires and treads had some nasty odour, which somewhat depleted with time

I notice the ferrari sets uses the 81 44 rubber tires on powerpuller hubs. It would almost be cheaper to buy that set just for the hubs and rubber.

Yes If you like to have some smelly tires for a while,unless you have access to some febreze or the Canadian version.

[Wraith777]

I notice the ferrari sets uses the 81 44 rubber tires on powerpuller hubs. It would almost be cheaper to buy that set just for the hubs and rubber.

Yes If you like to have some smelly tires for a while,unless you have access to some febreze or the Canadian version.

Must disappoint you both, tires on this F1 are much like 44777, they are somewhat molded in hub, I couldn't remove them from hubs, besides they look more like plastic than rubber and they don't smell.

[jadedomg]

The lego tires smell too, the 9398 I got at christmas I could smell the plasticy smell for about a week. Most plastic stuff does the same thing :/ $60 for a complete set with parts that suck, but has the 4 tires I want, vs $200+shipping/duties for a set with the 4 tires I want? really If I didn't hate the idea of supporting knock off stuff I would of pulled the trigger already and bought it just for the tires, I know the tires/hubs would be of lower quality and really aren't lego but considering I already put some 3rd party wheels on lego hubs when it comes to the tires on my lego sets I don't care too much about it being pure leg.

Must disappoint you both, tires on this F1 are much like 44777, they are somewhat molded in hub, I couldn't remove them from hubs, besides they look more like plastic than rubber and they don't smell.

Boo to that, I mostly wanted them for the hubs and if the rubber is stuck in them thats no good.

[Alasdair Ryan]

I was not going to buy the set,rather it was intended to be a joke.

I will be sticking to the lego.