Random thoughts about marketing...
There seems to be a universal agreement among humans that they will argue about which brand of anything is the best. If you piled dog turds in a row and painted them different colors, they'd argue for years about which pile smelled better or which pile tasted like a bacon cheeseburger. There's no end to it.
The fact is, every study ever done on product markets shows that what consumers want is variety... regardless of which unbelievable, bullshit lies and propaganda the manufacturers choose to exploit in their advertising (usually due to the perceived lack of integrity associated with marketing/sales/advertising people, who end up deciding this stuff) the consumers want to have choices. In the end, the choices they make often become the "best" choices because it is human nature for them to believe that they don't make bad choices, unless it is the fault of someone else. Surely, if the people at Brand X hadn't lied about their product, I wouldn't have ended up with a product that sucks.
They all, for the most part, make very good products, and occasionally some very bad ones. There are always a few companies who seem to nearly always make good ones, and these are the ones that we all try to concentrate on. There are companies who always seem to make crap, too. Usually it is because they're going after the low budget crowd of consumers who won't ante up with the cash for a product made by the previously mentioned companies. Even these companies seem to be able to make stuff that will work fine for the average homeowner.
When you work in an industry where crap products just won't cut it, then you buy exclusively from the companies that can deliver quality products that last. There still needs to be variety and competition (and there certainly is) but people being what they are, they still argue over which of the best of the best is
really the best. Most of the chainsaws I own are Stihl products, but not all of them. I really can't imagine a world in which they were the only choice. I've learned the most about what makes a chainsaw a good one by listening to Dolmar, Husky, Jonsered and Echo fans talk about what they like about those brands of saws... but mostly, I've learned from making a leap of faith and actually going out and buying one made by these other brand names. Of course, I quickly discovered what I knew was probably true, already. These companies all make some damn fine chainsaws. For me, the right saw for a given purpose hasn't always been a Stihl, anymore. I still have to do my research, and choose carefully, but having all these choices is a good thing. It just makes the decision process a little harder.
Of course, that doesn't mean I won't single out some brand as being less than satisfactory. Face it, friends don't let friends buy a Poulan, let alone a... umm... you know.
