# Why are there no Russian consumer products? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323 "2019-07-01T02:52:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/41 "2019-07-02T14:50:20Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Nope, but I’d wager it’s larger than the group of folks who are purchasing film cameras these days. > > ETA: And you don’t have to be that serious to buy a tube amp. There’s quite a few sold today that are suitable for your bedroom. There’s a few audiophile amps and hybrid amps that use tubes for their power stage, Monoprice has a couple and Macintosh are the two that spring to mind immediately. ---
**Author:** ![icbm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/2acd7d/32.png) [@icbm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icbm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/42 "2019-07-02T15:53:32Z")
I’ve got a few sets of Nokian tires for Canada’s winters. Designed in Finland but assembled in Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/43 "2019-07-02T16:03:24Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Check out the Sherp. I want one bad. [https://youtu.be/KTJUMOzx\_zE](https://youtu.be/KTJUMOzx_zE) For when you absolutely positively want to destroy whatever environment you’re going to see. But I want one too. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/44 "2019-07-02T17:47:43Z")
One thing I recall reading about Russia - as several posts above relate, Soviet-era “consumer” goods were scare and very poorly made and western goods were hard to come by and highly prized. This had the effect of fixing in people’s minds that the local products were inferior and this attitude has persisted since then, with a few minor exceptions. The only way local products can get into their market is by being significantly cheaper than competing western goods. Also, the Russian economy was in severe turmoil for quite a while after the end of the Soviet empire, not an ideal environment for starting a business. Even should someone want to start a business, the necessary inputs would be hard to find in an economy not geared toward service. You couldn’t just go out and buy drill presses or injection molding machinery - most of that would come from outside and need serious foreign currency. The same with distribution - there weren’t a plethora of shipping companies to deliver to or from… Then there’s the standard hindrances to starting a business - corruption, overcoming the ingrained soviet workers’ attitude (“We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us”). I’m not an expert on Russia, but from what I understand, well-connected ex-party bosses “sold” the existing government enterprises to themselves. So existing industry was being run mostly not by people with a vision to provide fine products, but by uber-rich whose only real interest was exploiting the existing factories to keep generating the same crap for money. They were selling to a captive market, the working class who could not afford the more expensive foreign products. Or, enterprises were set up as joint ventures by foreign companies, who were not in a hurry to compete with their own home country products. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/45 "2019-07-02T17:51:52Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Now I’m curious – other than electronics hobbyists who are into retro equipment, and serious guitarists (many of whom prefer tube-driven amplifiers for the “warmth” of their sound), is there a market for old-style vacuum tubes that I’m unaware of? The only other thing I can think of are retrostyled Nixie tube clocks and I wonder if those tubes are currently being manufactured or if they’re coming from new old stock. Of course, vacuum tubes are still used for special applications like x-ray generation and high powered transmitters for radar and broadcast. Vacuum fluorescent displays are pretty common but not what I’d call a tube. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2019, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/46 "2019-07-02T17:56:54Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > The only other thing I can think of are retrostyled Nixie tube clocks and I wonder if those tubes are currently being manufactured or if they’re coming from new old stock. > > Of course, vacuum tubes are still used for special applications like x-ray generation and high powered transmitters for radar and broadcast. Vacuum fluorescent displays are pretty common but not what I’d call a tube. All Nixies are vintage, as far as I know, with one (very expensive), extremely cool, [exception](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxL4ElboiuA). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/47 "2019-07-02T18:19:15Z")
I remember back in the late 1990s or early 2000s there were really high quality Russian microscopes being sold for a fraction of the price of other similar scopes–I had one or two types on my “wish list” at the time. IIRC they even sold an electron microscope for around $50,000 when comparable Western-made ones cost multiple hundreds of thousands. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/48 "2019-07-02T19:44:08Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Historical note: > > I had the wonderful (and hugely memorable) experience of visiting the USSR in 1970\*. > > \*which happened to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the victory in the [Great Patriotic War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Patriotic_War_(term)) - reminders were everywhere, it might as well still have been raging. [brief hijack, with apologies] My then-girlfriend and I travelled in the USSR in 1984. In Moscow, a couple of young men we met tried to convince us to go to a dance club with them that night. As an enticement, one of them told me that there were three girls for every guy at the club. (Why he thought this would be an enticement to a guy with his girlfriend — or to the girlfriend, for that matter — I have no idea.) I asked why the club had such odd demographics, and he said his entire generation had many more women than men because so many men were killed during the Great Patriotic War. I tried to point out to him that the war ended in 1944, and he was born at least 20 years later, so there’s no way the war could have affected the male/female ratio of his generation, but he kept insisting it was the case. [/brief hijack] ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/49 "2019-07-02T20:54:30Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’m talking about any available in the US. I have seen Russian (or Soviet) products for sale in the past, but those were always military surplus, or collectables. I can’t think of a single Russian-made consumer product. > > Why? > > Russia has (or had) top-notch scientists and engineers. And, they clearly must make products to sell to their citizens. Why is there nothing that they have produced that is worth selling to the West? Okay, this goes back to the Eighties but a tobacco shop I used to frequent in Arden Mall (Sacramento CA area), gave away boxes of wooden matches that were made in the USSR (said so on the box). Unlike similar boxes of Diamond matches, both long sides of the boxes had striking surfaces. I used to joke that you could tell they were made under Gorbachev since each box had a pair 'a strikers. If you got the joke, I admit it’s awful. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/50 "2019-07-02T21:58:53Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I remember back in the late 1990s or early 2000s there were really high quality Russian microscopes being sold for a fraction of the price of other similar scopes–I had one or two types on my “wish list” at the time. IIRC they even sold an electron microscope for around $50,000 when comparable Western-made ones cost multiple hundreds of thousands. One hyperinflation story I’ve heard is: a guy is staying at a pension in Moscow in the 1990s. Soon enough he notices that the landlady keeps the pilot light lit all the time, so he asks her why she is wasting gas like that. She replies, a box of matches costs (the equivalent of) $1. Her place, including all utilities, costs 25¢/month. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/51 "2019-07-03T14:45:46Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > One hyperinflation story I’ve heard is: a guy is staying at a pension in Moscow in the 1990s. Soon enough he notices that the landlady keeps the pilot light lit all the time, so he asks her why she is wasting gas like that. She replies, a box of matches costs (the equivalent of) $1. Her place, including all utilities, costs 25¢/month. There’s the joke also, “What’s cheaper, the bus or the taxi?” And of course, the answer is the taxi, because you don’t have to pay until the end of the ride when the money is worth less. A newspaper “slice of life” story about Soviet-era Moscow mentioned that when it started raining, everyone pulled over and took their wiper blades out of the glovebox and put them on. If you don’t put them away when parked, they get stolen and replacements were impossible to find. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/52 "2019-07-03T18:21:15Z")
Looks like [you can still buy Russian microscopes on-line](http://rusoptics.com/?module=pages&action=view&id=1) (with a much smaller catalogue than I remember, but there might be other sites.) And they [sold in Europe for decades](http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artaug10/dw-TOE-Lomo.html). ([An article on Russian optics](http://www.novacon.com.br/lenses08.htm).) ---
**Author:** ![vonespy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vonespy/32/6204_2.png) [@vonespy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vonespy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/53 "2019-07-04T16:36:11Z")
Not exactly Russian (nor consumer goods) but the Ukraine seems to have cornered the market for geiger counters. Which seems more significant after seeing the HBO drama Chernobyl. And I believe that most of the Nixie tubes as well as a significant amount of vacuum tubes in general attributed to Russia were manufactured in the Ukraine during the USSR days. Most of the literature I’ve absorbed on Chernobyl seems to indicate that Ukrainian leaders were concerned about the Soviet Union placing a lot of the really horrible environmental hazards in the Ukraine (large, unsafe nuclear plants and vacuum tubes manufactured with all kinds of heavy metals and other hazardous byproducts.) Then again, the distribution of closed cities in the former USSR seems to indicate that hazards ended up being pretty evenly distributed throughout the union. ---
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/54 "2019-07-06T07:03:52Z")
Mechanical and automatic watches from Russia have a massive following around the world. Most watch collectors, of which there are millions, always have a Poljot in their collection. Vostok and Sturmanskie also command good prices some of them in a few thousand dollars range. The watches are not great to look at but well made and have an industrial look about them. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/55 "2019-07-06T11:46:20Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Check out the Sherp. I want one bad. [https://youtu.be/KTJUMOzx\_zE](https://youtu.be/KTJUMOzx_zE) I see your Russian 4WD and raise you with [the Shaman.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3VkRN7Jyl4) Also seen on [Top Gear.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTfS_IF_oPc) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/56 "2019-07-06T11:53:10Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > Stretching the definition of product a bit but if you’re into combat flight simulators then your only modern options are Russian. The IL2 and DCS series are sims for WW2 aircraft and moderns jets respectively. > [@Sailboat](#): > > Also _War Thunder_ and _World of Warplanes_ – both Russian-owned. > [@BrickBat](#): > > Not only that, those sims are currently the best sims of that genre out there: they make the others look laughably crude and arcade-ish. It’s as much a consumer product as any, so IMO, it’s not stretching the definition at all. There is a lot of software on Steam, both games and dev stuff, from Russia. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/57 "2019-07-06T13:59:40Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > It probably doesn’t fit the OP as a consumer good but most vacuum tube production takes place in Russia. But it is. I have a tube amp, and I have replaced the tubes more than once. They are all pretty much made in Russia, and that’s kind of a big deal when you consider how many tube guitar amps, for instance, are out there and preferred by most electric players. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/58 "2019-07-06T15:10:50Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > But it is. I have a tube amp, and I have replaced the tubes more than once. Are the amplifiers themselves manufactured in Russia? My impression is that it’s just the vacuum tube components which isn’t a consumer good. And that we’re talking about the narrow niche of vacuum tube guitar amplifiers at all goes to OP’s point. There just aren’t a lot of Russian goods around. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/59 "2019-07-06T19:46:54Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Are the amplifiers themselves manufactured in Russia? My impression is that it’s just the vacuum tube components which isn’t a consumer good. And that we’re talking about the narrow niche of vacuum tube guitar amplifiers at all goes to OP’s point. There just aren’t a lot of Russian goods around. You’re right, it’s mainly just the tubes (although I am sure they make amps that just aren’t sold here) but how is it that the tubes aren’t a consumer good? The “niche” is not small, tons of players use tube-driven gear, myself included. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323/60 "2019-07-06T21:14:32Z")
It’s not just for guitarists; [here](https://www.stereophile.com/content/balanced-audio-technology-vk-56se-power-amplifier) e.g. is an expensive stereo amplifier (Russian tubes, Russian designer/engineer, but he moved to the US in 1979) for listening to music. Apparently enough people like the sound of tube amps (and it’s not like comparable solid-state amps are much cheaper) that it’s worth making and selling the tube-based amps. I know someone who has one in his living room, from Nagra. I don’t know where the original tubes were made, but one can definitely still get Russian replacements. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-no-russian-consumer-products/836323.md?page=4)