maniacbug:
Just have to add something here. It's crazy when people use "Chinese" to imply low-quality products, especially regarding electronics. The fact is, China is the worldwide center of excellence for electronics manufacturing. If you missed it, see the NY Times' article, How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work. Yes there are low-quality counterfeit products to be had from China. It's a big country. We shouldn't tar the whole country's industry on the basis of the bad actors.
I couldn't agree more. Manufacturing is a passion of mine and I see no reason why location has to determine anything re: quality. It's all about the people, the systems they are given, the quality of the design, suppliers, etc. not the country it's made in. Otherwise, we'd be seeing things in the USA like differential sticker pricing based on whether a Toyota was made in the USA or Japan. (That used to be the case for VW, BTW). Even 'small' car brands like Porsche can have multiple, multi-national manufacturing sites and the only clue re: origin is the VIN number.
But let me use a better example, one that many of us are familiar with, PCB manufacturing. I've used DorkBot PDX and Iteadstudio. Which of the two do you suppose allows you to run smaller lines, gaps, and holes? Which is the faster service? You'd think the locals would have the advantage here, and they don't. I don't even mind the significant $/in^2 upcharge on a per-board basis, this is prototyping after all, but the slower service is starting to get to me.
I have nothing but the highest respect for Laen for running this service of his, but two boards I submitted weeks ago still have not even garnered a response from him while the folks at iTeadstudio replied within minutes even though their New Year celebrations are going on. Granted, the boards won't be made until Feb 1, but at least they will be made. It's hard to stay in business if you don't respond to customers. Nuts.