# Once Great Firm's Names Now Appearing..On Low-End Junk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 26, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214 "2009-10-26T19:53:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/21 "2009-10-27T07:08:49Z")
Acme. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/22 "2009-10-27T13:54:59Z")
Polaroid has no choice, basically – all they have left is a name. As mentioned above, the new company is completely different from the old one. What gets me is that it doesn’t _have_ to be on cheap stuff, but their policy of making poor decisions seems to have continued on into its new incsarnation. I know that it has tried some new innovations, and has tried putting its name onto good items (designed and built elsewhere, of course, since the manufacturing company is gone), but for some reason those didn’t pan out, and the stuff they’re pushing now is what it is. They’ve even left their last Route 128 factory, and are now off in the hinterlands of Lexington. Actually, some of the stuff does look interesting. But it hasn’t made a big splash in the business as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/23 "2009-10-27T18:12:45Z")
**BSA** - cheap Far Eastern telescopic sights and air guns **Winchester** - Japanese shotguns (not strictly junk, but not what they at first seem) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/24 "2009-10-27T19:09:41Z")
Hayes modems were the “standard” in modems for a long while. Undercut by clones, bankrupt, name bought up by Zoom which for some reasons still sells cheapo “Hayes” modems at a markup. Zenith used to differentiate itself by its hand-wired TVs (which was good thing in the tube era). But they cost more. Now the brand is owned by LG, which had a terrible reputation as Goldstar but has gotten better. These are very common tales in electronics. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/25 "2009-10-27T19:20:32Z")
IMHO, Emerson hasn’t made anything but crap (at least in consumer electronics) since the 1950’s. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/26 "2009-10-27T19:20:52Z")
> [@Rain\_Soaked](#): > > GE also licenses its brand to Thomson Electronics which then has the GE branded cordless phone products designed and manufactured by CCT Telecom in China. Word of warning re: Thomson’s warranty service–don’t count on seeing your phone again if you send it in for repair or replacement. Their customer service is so maddening that I gave up trying to get my $120 cordless phone back from them. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/27 "2009-10-27T22:33:04Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Zenith used to differentiate itself by its hand-wired TVs Like [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Motorolagoldenviewchassis.jpg)? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/28 "2009-10-28T12:27:30Z")
Thanks for the info. So I guess, brand names mean nothing…excpt for high nd firms (like Sony), who make sure that anything sold under their ame is of good quality. Westinghouse is the big shocker-they were once as big as GE-they seem t o have dropped right into the toilet. I remember that Magnavox was an old-line American brand; it was bought up by Philips-who owned several other brands (Philco, Crosby, Sylvania)-these were slapped on the same products. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/29 "2009-10-28T13:50:59Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Thanks for the info. So I guess, brand names mean nothing..excpt for high nd firms (like Sony), who make sure that anything sold under their ame is of good quality. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. Sony is not a high-end firm. I bought 2 digital cameras from them. Different models. Both had the same problem, and there was a class action lawsuit about it. Also, they had that cool feature on your laptop where the batteries would overheat and explode. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/30 "2009-10-28T14:18:12Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > Like [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Motorolagoldenviewchassis.jpg)? Oh my, that is beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/31 "2009-10-28T17:03:14Z")
Schwinn bicycles. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/32 "2009-10-28T17:17:02Z")
Rodgers Drums ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/33 "2009-10-28T19:53:36Z")
Koss headphones used to be a high end American made headphone company. Then they sold off their name to build incredibly cheap electronic crap made in China. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/34 "2009-10-28T20:26:46Z")
RCA: formerly a quality upper-middle end made-in-the-USA electronics brand. Fisher: once high-end stereo equipment; the brand took a nosedive, and is now solidly associated with low-end gear. Dutch Boy paint. Lexmark: c’mon, they once made the IBM Model M keyboard along with some very high-end printers, and look at them now ]… Chicago Cutlery: once very high-end knives, now made in China and on the shelves at Wal-Mart. Crosley: an old brand resurrected for cheap reproduction vintage radios. Alpine: once high-end star electronics; now middle-end. Timberland shoes and boots. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/35 "2009-10-28T20:32:49Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Bell&Howell: they used to make high-end film projectors and tape recorders-now their name is on cheap binoculars, cameras, and VCRs Bell & Howell made the famous Filmo cameras, which are often seen (as well as the footage taken with them) in newsreels from WWII and the '50s and '60s. By the '70s they were making cheap plastic-bodied super-8 cameras that you could buy at Sears or Kmart. They got the job done, but they were pretty crappy. ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/36 "2009-10-28T20:37:01Z")
Bose has been putting their name on some pretty low quality car head units. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/37 "2009-10-28T20:56:17Z")
> [@PBear42](#): > > Schwinn bicycles. I was going to mention Schwinn and add Mongoose. You can still get a nice Mongoose, but why get a brand associated with Walmart when you can get a Specialized, Trek, or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/38 "2009-10-28T21:06:31Z")
Craftsman tools. Used to be very well respected. Now the name is being used to prop up Kmart by slapping it on cheap tools. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/39 "2009-10-28T21:22:18Z")
Revere Ware cookware. The recent stuff is crap since the monkeys running the zoo outsourced it. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214/40 "2009-10-29T00:42:33Z")
Herman Survivor boots. Seem to have become a cheap Walmart brand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/once-great-firms-names-now-appearing-on-low-end-junk/515214.md?page=3)