RETURN OF THE CLONE WARS (?)

[Crispycritters]

Join a facebook group, fit in, snivel your way onto a list, arse kiss your way up the listing... VS online search, find item, pay price, wait a few weeks.

The first one doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Rob]

There was one particular..... NO.... TWO particular occasions which spring to mind of how Cloning had affects on individuals who created hardware that became extremely sought after that will always stick in my mind.
The UberToot debacle being the perhaps better known? The UberToot RTA was created by a One Man Band here in the UK and the vast majority of its growth was ultimately down to the much missed UKV Forum.
The Cloners got their hands on one of the originals and set to work. Bear in mind this all happened eons ago now. The resulting Clone came to the market and it really was truly appalling. Cosmetically it was one on one, but the functionality was the stuff of nightmares. The Guy who designed and built the "Toot" then came up with a V2 that actually had some tiny faults built into it on purpose, it too was cloned, faults and all!!!

The other case was equally imaginative, a UK Modder designed what was to become a very highly regarded range of RTAs, he became aware that his creation was coming to the attentions of the Cloners, so beat them at their own game by supplying an RTA to them. Again, 2 particular items were changed on the item supplied and when the Clones appeared, so did the problems . Many whom had purchased the clone decided that the easy solution was to contact the UK Maker and get replacement parts from him. These parts wouldn't fit, or work in the clones . Strangely..... after that, he wasn't troubled again.

 

[MHL]

Ok, lets look at this another way, if someone were to clone manabush eliquids and sell them for £3, would that harm Mr Bush?

It would. But if he sold 10ml bottles at £25 a pop, he would be inviting people to clone them. You never see 88Vape clone juice recipies on those sites, and I've never seen an hastur, vertex or neeko clone.

I think that clones only come about when there is a perceived difference between the intrinsic value of a product and the price a manufacturer is charging. Perceived being the key word, because I imagine that a quality european manufacturer would struggle to put out atties at neeko and vertex prices.

 

[30deadcats]

One should always spend that which is a comfortable sum to your personal situation. There will always be constraints on what governs your finances and what falls within your personal comfort zone, I would hope that most of the membership would agree
However, I'll play Devil's Advocate here regarding those that regularly purchase authentic higher priced items. Whether one agrees with their choice, or not, really should not matter? The person who felt comfortable making such an outlay has done so because it was an acceptable expenditure within their available budget and that is their choice. It has become noticeable that these people tend not to talk as openly about their purchases as once was the case here at POTV, which personally I feel to be a shame, but I can also completely understand why this has now become the norm. On various occasions in the past, I have posted about such items and have received extraordinary responses either "on forum" or often via the PM system and had reached the conclusion that it was probably wiser to say nothing
YES, the majority of us have all been interested in an item and purchased a Clone in the first instance, to then perhaps purchase the authentic version when finances allowed. There is NOTHING wrong with this practice. Sadly I haven't had the greatest successes with this pathway, recently having to go down this route to try an RTA that was only released in extremely limited runs, that have now ceased. The Clone, in comparison to the authentic that I was lent, is pretty disappointing, but there we go. Conversely... There are Clones out there which in my experience at least, are BETTER than the authentic, so it's always a juggling act

My Taifun gt4s clone is streets ahead of my genuine one. Flavour is just so much better on the clone. I have purchased other Taifun clones (gt3, GT5 and gx) and all are good. The disappointment of the genuine gt4s has put me off buying the originals of the others. On the other hand my kayfun 5s clone is absolute garbage compared to the original. So, in conclusion, for me anyway, it's just pure luck whether the clones are any good or not but there is absolutely no way I'd fork out stupid money without trying the clone first. Stupid money for me is anything over £50 for an atomizer but everyone has their own limits and if they are happy to pay then they can do whatever they like.

 

[Astral]

Counterfeiting is counterfeiting however you look at it, and with vaping it's particularly bad. It's not like cloning Nike or Gucci, who turn out their products in similar Chinese sweatshops to the cloners, with vaping you're mostly ripping off cottage industry and sometimes one man bands. I know authentics are expensive but that's the price you pay for having something hand-made.

The thing I really don't understand is cloned Berserker's or Zeus's, it's not like they're even expensive in the first place.

 

[Crispycritters]

The thing I really don't understand is cloned Berserker's or Zeus's, it's not like they're even expensive in the first place.

One reason for it could be the limited shelf life of most mainstream vape products and the total lack of spare parts. If you use the Berserkers and Zeus range for example the manufacturers make a huge batch, send them to reviewers and within a week or two they are on the shelves pretty much everywhere. Three months later it is an 'old' product, and as there is a limited number of hobbyists sales will have dwindled to a trickle and the manufacturers won't risk making another batch as it could just end up as warehouse clutter - by then they will focus manufacturing on their next new thing. After 6 months the Berserkers/Zeus attys can be hard to find.

I have only deliberately bought one mainstream Chinese cloned atomiser - that was the original single coil Recurve RDA. I had the original but lost it - although it was only released six months earlier supplies had dried up the only ones i could find ANYWHERE were gold or rainbow. I bought a clone - and later bought a used one on e-Bay.

Sometimes it is easy to forget there are vapers in third world countries where £30 is a lot of money, maybe those countries are the targetted market.

 

[zouzounaki]

Counterfeiting is counterfeiting however you look at it, and with vaping it's particularly bad. It's not like cloning Nike or Gucci, who turn out their products in similar Chinese sweatshops to the cloners, with vaping you're mostly ripping off cottage industry and sometimes one man bands. I know authentics are expensive but that's the price you pay for having something hand-made.

The thing I really don't understand is cloned Berserker's or Zeus's, it's not like they're even expensive in the first place.

many clones used to self consciously not have any branding at all on them. i think this is the difference between “clone” and “counterfeit”. if something is a copy of another thing, but isn’t dressed up in a way to try and actually pass itself off as it, it’s not really a counterfeit item.

 

[ZenAnarchi]

Not being wealthy myself, I totally understand how financial concerns can affect your decisions… It is not my intention to say that no one should ever buy a clone. I’ve bought my share, and there are some thigh-end gear that is priced way out of my league, especially mods

But my point was that there are many of us that can actually afford an authentic rta. If I don’t buy any clones or crap on sale for a couple of months, I can scrape together enough for one of the 24mm rtas below. I’m not sure myself that I’d be willing to spend £200+ on a rta, but £100 doesn’t feel as unreasonable as it once was And I know that Atmizoo and Svoëmesto produce quality gear, it’s a high probability that I’ll like them. My arguments for buying from the manufacturer, you’ll find in the OP. On top of these arguments, you get an excellent bit of kit

Believe it or not, I really enjoy the fact that there are so many different opinions here, but my point and reasoning remain…if you want to enjoy an authentic rta etc that is designed and manufactured by the very people who make these clones possible, it may very well be within your reach

 

[vapervince]

Why would a guy pay £1.3 million for a painting that to me looks like it could have been painted by a 7 year old ? Only the guy could answer that, it isn`t my place to question his motives or his opinion, there`s no accounting for taste. If using original equipment is part of your vaping experience, same thing, enjoy.

 

[JohnNada]

Just saw this on FB

I don't care personally, although the apostrophe in "clone's" has triggered me.