Re: Falcon Menace 4-14x FFP Copy by Famous Maker P
That seems like a pretty straight forward and honest answer from Falcon...
What Falcon is saying is that their scopes are entirely made, sourced and assembled somewhere in Asia, and that they try to do a thorough final QC testing in the UK to try to correct any minor defects out of the crate before they re-package and send the units on to their dealers...that final inspection process may require some minor "assembly" in the UK.
In other words, they are not cracking any sealed tube assemblies open, though they may replace some knobs that don't work or have stripped screws and put them in cardboard boxes. (I guess just wrapping a scope in bubble wrap and putting it in a cardboard box would qualify under the heading of "small assembly.")
I don't have a problem with it; that's what they do and they are being honest about it; and to their credit, many manufacturers don't do <span style="font-weight: bold">any</span> final testing. They just send them out and the customer is the final quality control inspector. Most Asian sourced brands, even big names like Bushnell, Burris and Leupold to name a few, have essentially the same business model.
Any importer who has dealt with China, has had to deal with QC issues, sometimes rejecting entire shipments. Weird fungus and internal contamination problems, broken erectors, loose lenses, knobs that don't work, etc...Millet and some others have had some serious QC problems and likely still do; but all of those companies named will, at least, stand behind their products and try to make the customer happy...as they should.
Most anyone having any dealings with China has run into this at some point, because the Chinese factories are notorious for trying to cut corners to pocket a few more $$$...among other issues. That's why a warranty is so important and why it can easily double the cost of a scope.
The Famous Maker looks like the Falcon on the outside, but what's on the inside? Who knows, but if you take any basic scope, swap out Japanese glass with Chinese glass, eliminate the final QC check, tweak the warranty legal language to reduce the coverage and sell direct, it would be easy to sell that scope at 1/2 the cost of the original and make more profit.
However, the value of the cheaper scope to the customer is much less than half. The higher priced scope actually has more value for the dollar, even though it costs twice as much, when you consider and add in all the features the seller is including.
I'd personally think that paying a little more for better glass, more rugged internals, thorough QC testing and a better warranty would be well worth it to most shooters...who has time and money to waste dealing with these issues?
TC
