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You're convincing me never to open mine. I'm seeing some nice stuff coming out of China and many of the digital cameras are from there and older film cameras likewise were produced there. I am a fountain pen person and had a bias against their fountain pens until I was given a Cross (yes, the US icon is having pens produced there) and it was pretty good. Also, have seen some of the newer tube audio pieces and some of it is really good looking and well made. Seems the producers there have the ability to build quality products but are dealing with companies whose are trying to maximize profits or who are building to a spec that can not be supported by the target retail price and hence production costs have to kept down.
Considering my new Hallcrafters and the Eton are basically the same as to the am and sw while the Eton does sport fm stereo, and the Hallicrafters was $60 in the early '60s, it would be not unreasponable to target an equivilent price of about $200 considering than electronic technology has yielded more for less. It seems Eton has taken what I call the Olson approach to products. Keep profits high and allow for a higher percentage of DOAs allowing still for an acceptable profit versus reducing DOAs through better quality and still yielding the same profit. Of course with the latter, there also is a more satisfied buyer. I for one, while not unhappy with my 2 DLs for the price paid, would be far more critical and cautious about investing in the new 750 that is coming out as the investment is much higher.
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