Well… the time has come. It was only a couple of years ago when the difference between the “Legit” US-made / manufactured kit was clearly better and buying Chinesium was a crap shoot at best.
Not so anymore.
Chynah has upped their game almost overnight. Their thermals, at least in terms of performance, easily rival or, in some cases, exceed that of their American peers at non-trivial cost savings. This extends especially to the new crop of knock-off mounts and bridges, cloning the likes of GBRS, Wilcox, KVC/RQE, and many others.
I have all of the genuine articles and figured I’d find out if the new breed of Chinesium is really “all that” when directly compared to Stars and Stripes manufacturers.
Debate amongst yourselves as to whether or not your Red-Blooded Murican Patriotism will allow you to buy Yellow, but the results are in, and a $138 (delivered) Chynah KVC/RQE bridge is, for all practical, non-mil users, every bit as good as Knights’ $1,000 offering (that routinely sells on the used market for $1,500-2,000).
Fit-and-finish are nearly indistinguishable from one another. I literally can’t tell which is which, aside from the screw hardware (Imperial on KVC, Metric on Chinkolium) and the weight (the C model is 0.5 ounces heavier). Both lock-up in a genuine Wilcox G24 equally as well and various dovetail devices lock into both slots identically.
Functionally, they are identical.
The Sotac/Chynah unit comes in a nice, little reusable plastic case with rippled foam.
The KVC comes in a small, white plain cardboard box wrapped in a clear plastic bag. No foam, nothing.
Perhaps under hard use in austere environments the KVC would hold up better, but that’s pure conjecture on my part, as I’m grasping for reasons to justify owning a mount that costs 10x as much but *may* deliver only 10% more value.
I can see 2, maybe 3 times the price to have a “Made in the USA” sticker on the plain white box, but TEN?!
Sotac is killing it right now. They have knock-offs of everything KVC makes, as well as Wilcox and others. iRay is pumping out serious NV and Thermal tech and updating/improving almost every year, where US manufacturers are lucky to refresh products every 5.
I’m done paying premium prices for inferior products — or at least not superior. Let the DoD pay $4,000 for their hammers and toilet seats.
Not so anymore.
Chynah has upped their game almost overnight. Their thermals, at least in terms of performance, easily rival or, in some cases, exceed that of their American peers at non-trivial cost savings. This extends especially to the new crop of knock-off mounts and bridges, cloning the likes of GBRS, Wilcox, KVC/RQE, and many others.
I have all of the genuine articles and figured I’d find out if the new breed of Chinesium is really “all that” when directly compared to Stars and Stripes manufacturers.
Debate amongst yourselves as to whether or not your Red-Blooded Murican Patriotism will allow you to buy Yellow, but the results are in, and a $138 (delivered) Chynah KVC/RQE bridge is, for all practical, non-mil users, every bit as good as Knights’ $1,000 offering (that routinely sells on the used market for $1,500-2,000).
Fit-and-finish are nearly indistinguishable from one another. I literally can’t tell which is which, aside from the screw hardware (Imperial on KVC, Metric on Chinkolium) and the weight (the C model is 0.5 ounces heavier). Both lock-up in a genuine Wilcox G24 equally as well and various dovetail devices lock into both slots identically.
Functionally, they are identical.
The Sotac/Chynah unit comes in a nice, little reusable plastic case with rippled foam.
The KVC comes in a small, white plain cardboard box wrapped in a clear plastic bag. No foam, nothing.
Perhaps under hard use in austere environments the KVC would hold up better, but that’s pure conjecture on my part, as I’m grasping for reasons to justify owning a mount that costs 10x as much but *may* deliver only 10% more value.
I can see 2, maybe 3 times the price to have a “Made in the USA” sticker on the plain white box, but TEN?!
Sotac is killing it right now. They have knock-offs of everything KVC makes, as well as Wilcox and others. iRay is pumping out serious NV and Thermal tech and updating/improving almost every year, where US manufacturers are lucky to refresh products every 5.
I’m done paying premium prices for inferior products — or at least not superior. Let the DoD pay $4,000 for their hammers and toilet seats.
