I saw these ridiculous (and very cheaply appearing build quality) counterfeit copies of famous makers like Slayer, Kees Van der Westen, and even Nuova Simonelli on Youtube back on November 20th, when they only had 3 views for each of their videos. Apparently they're marketing them to anyone in South East Aisa, China and Australia. I thought I'd wait a little bit to see if anyone caught them before I shared my thoughts.

Dalian Amazon Coffee Co has rolled out with several copies of other companies products. You can clearly see it advertised on their website, with pictures of their own version of Slayers, KVDW, etc. I see areas of thin metal without gauge trim rings, sharp edges, corners cut to save material costs, etc.



Slayer with an added lever group? Here you go.
Faux KVDW Spirit/ Strada-thing
Possibly a Mazzer grinder copy
Another counterfeit Slayer in white

Hey man, painting the shot mirror white is clearly not counterfeit, but serious innovation. I bet Slayer didn't even consider painting theirs white. LOL.

If anyone follows WBC Pete Licata on Instagram, he just posted about many Chinese copycat machines too.

I bet there will be a market at the right price


Randy

I'm rarely surprised to see what the Chinese can copy, but I was not expecting clones of a complete slayer.

I really want someone to review one out of morbid curiosity. Some Chinese clones are quite good, but other times the engineers have no idea what the device is used for and create something that looks functional but is completely useless.

Painting over the shot mirror is not a good sign.

One has to wonder about the quality and type of metal used in boilers, soldering and general water paths with regards to lead and cadmium.

Typically copies mimic aesthetics of a machines and forego all else in order to keep the price down including certifications from electrical, mechanical, safety and materials.

Caveat Emptor, especially on a complex product involving electric and pressure, let alone the end product is for human consumption.
This would come with zero liability and void almost all insurance claims in a commercial or home environment without some certification.
I would wonder how it could even be sold legally in U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia without the minimalist of certifications.

redbone wrote:...I would wonder how it could even be sold legally in U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia without the minimalist of certifications.

Plus the obvious legal challenges. You can be sure Slayer has their design patented and will defend that patent as needed.

Especially now with the support of Gruppo Cimbali s.p.a. behind them.

WOW hardly describes it! There probably is only the geek coffee community that will raise red flags (pun intended). Getting corporate LM, L.Cimbali, Mazzer to go after a nation state will be tough. Getting the word out will do 2 things, make buying public aware, and the real manufacturers of the good products do as good a job as possible so as to not be any doubt which one is the best.

This is the major reason I avoid MIC goods as much as possible. Of course it's not entirely possible these days and there are some good companies and products that may be exceptions but the Chinese government seems to tolerate this behavior and it's completely out-of-hand. There are counterfeits of everything these days and it's been happening for so long that it must be tolerated. And this costs everybody money, directly or indirectly. It's time to stop the Chinese counterfeiting!