Topic: Davis Instruments no longer made in USA?

[twiggly2]

Well, perhaps I was wrong when I purchased my Vantage Pro2 in 2006, but I thought Davis Instruments weather stations were made in the USA.  I haven't been following weather stations very close since, but from what I am reading today about the Davis VP2 Plus, they are only designed and assembled in the USA.  Am I correct?  I know I will be getting flamed for asking what is probably an old question, but I am not very savvy with the internet.  I google searched and used the wxforum search window and still had no answers to my questions.  Sorry if that offends and thanks to anyone that fills me in.

[CW2274]

from what I am reading today about the Davis VP2 Plus, they are only designed and assembled in the USA.  Am I correct? 

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. They've outsourced for parts as long as I can remember, and I was okay with that, then. Now, latest gossip is that they're packing bags in entirety for "you know where"... For myself, if that comes to fruition, they'll never see another dime from me, at least anything new. I'll keep the VP2 running, and that'll be it.

[doubleohwhatever]

Up until Davis was purchased, the line was "Made in USA with US and imported parts". Circuit boards and any intellectual property sensitive parts were made in the US while parts like injection molded housings were sourced from wherever was cheapest.

The new owners (AEM) appear to have stuck with this model throughout the development and release of the AirLink, WeatherLink, and newer EnviroMonitor products. However, with the release of the new WeatherLink Console they appear to changed course. The Weatherlink Console sports a "Made in China" mark on the case. My guess is that the Davis product development team in the US has been either drastically shrunken or fully eliminated in favor of contract design and manufacturing.

Honestly, globalization is just a thing at this point. If you want to argue about something crappy that Davis is doing, it should be about their ever-increasing prices.

[CW2274]

Honestly, globalization is just a thing at this point. If you want to argue about something crappy that Davis is doing, it should be about their ever-increasing prices.

Your opinion. I think differently. Besides, nothing like shipping your business to a ruthless regime, child labor and all, and then have the audacity to jack up the price. No, thanks.

[WheatonRon]

How does this page, copied below from its website, fit into Davis’ facts?

[ocala]

Newsflash guys. A lot of what we have in our homes, cars,  is made in China. Your TV, phone, can opener, toaster, coffee maker etc.
Been this way for a while. Davis is just doing what the rest of corporate America has been doing.
Nothing new here.

[CW2274]

Newsflash guys. A lot of what we have in our homes, cars,  is made in China. Your TV, phone, can opener, toaster, coffee maker etc.
Been this way for a while. Davis is just doing what the rest of corporate America has been doing.
Nothing new here.

And we wonder why we fail...

[ocala]

Newsflash guys. A lot of what we have in our homes, cars,  is made in China. Your TV, phone, can opener, toaster, coffee maker etc.
Been this way for a while. Davis is just doing what the rest of corporate America has been doing.
Nothing new here.

And we wonder why we fail...

By the same token they also import goods from us. What the break down is I don't know. 

[SnowHiker]

By the same token they also import goods from us. What the break down is I don't know.

Maybe this will help give you an idea. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

Not that it covers issues such as slave labor and human rights, national security and stolen intellectual property.  But I guess it doesn't matter if all you care about is cheap goods.

[weatherhome]

Assembly, yes, but just like in the aeronautics industry, the parts come from all over the world.

[Garth Bock]

We do need to support and encourage products to be made here. Even if Davis stations are just assembled here, hopefully they use some percentage of American made parts. What I can't stand is the Chinese knockoffs/clones of American products that are advertised as being made here like the weather stations that I saw a couple of years ago. One looked like an Accurite, one looked like an Ecowitt and they appeared under different names on places like Alibaba, Wish, and Woot. Listed as a "Professional Weather Station" with "Real Time Weather" but with 10-12 sec temp update and 30 sec for wind the accuracy was doubtful. One of those cheap knockoffs was even posted here. I wouldn't want to even install their phone app. Why give them more accuracy for their spy balloons 😄. I just hope the next time I walk into the Made in USA store here in Branson, the shelves won't be empty.

[johnd]

What I can't stand is the Chinese knockoffs/clones of American products that are advertised as being made here like the weather stations that I saw a couple of years ago. One looked like an Accurite, one looked like an Ecowitt and they appeared under different names on places like Alibaba, Wish, and Woot.

What makes you think that Ecowitt is American? It may be an American marketing brand, but that's all. AFAIK these various brands all come out of FOSHK (Fine OffSet Hong Kong), though I don't know whether the main factory is in China or Hong Kong. If you look at eg Alibaba then what you are seeing are the original manufacturers.

Also, at a guess, the reason that so much electronic assembly (stuffing PCBs, making tablets etc) is done in Asia, especially China, is that it is a LOT cheaper to do that. If it was only a little cheaper then I think that this manufacture would be re-shored, especially since some of the risks around production, QC, shipping etc would be much more directly under local control.

[BaseLine]

We do need to support and encourage products to be made here. Even if Davis stations are just assembled here, hopefully they use some percentage of American made parts. What I can't stand is the Chinese knockoffs/clones of American products that are advertised as being made here like the weather stations that I saw a couple of years ago. One looked like an Accurite, one looked like an Ecowitt and they appeared under different names on places like Alibaba, Wish, and Woot. Listed as a "Professional Weather Station" with "Real Time Weather" but with 10-12 sec temp update and 30 sec for wind the accuracy was doubtful. One of those cheap knockoffs was even posted here. I wouldn't want to even install their phone app. Why give them more accuracy for their spy balloons 😄. I just hope the next time I walk into the Made in USA store here in Branson, the shelves won't be empty.

Most products are assembled (or manufactured) in the same factory or in a group of factories. Then, the quality assurance steps in and brand name products must pass X number of quality tests.
The rest is supposed to be dumped but is not. Most brands actually allow knock-off's because this lowers the manufacturing cost.
So, the ones that did not pass the QA, are sorted and sold off as clone and/or no-name you can buy for lower price. Huge quantities of practically everything is also stolen and then sold in local markets. Many mass produced products are also copied and manufactured in completely different factories with no license from the brand or IP holder.