We have spoken to folks who talk about prices on imported chairs and what a good deal they are.  We have reviewed many of these products.  All of them are poorly made and perhaps could hold up with very small people and light usage.  In our opinion, at best these will last one season under normal use.  We think of  them as decorative pieces for your garden, not something to be used by American BBQ families. 

Start with a simple item, we use stainless steel hardware, they use  hardware that is intended for indoor use so it will rust very quickly.  The primary methods used to keep the costs low include using thin wood, shortcuts in structural design, and hardware intended for indoor use.   Other shortcuts are taken in the design of the test chair and other similar lower cost products to minimize production costs that also impact comfort; a flat back and seat instead of a curved back and sculpted seat are just two examples of these production shortcuts.  It is very easy to cut and assemble flat straight pieces, so they choose this shortcut to save costs.  Obviously, we would like you to buy from us. We provide this test and information as a service to you because many manufactures  take extreme shortcuts and are ultimately a waste of your hard earned money. We believe you should buy a product that is comfortable, durable, and will last many seasons, if not a life time.  Remember the durability begins at the design stage of the product.

Click on Images to enlarge them:

Step 1 We purchase a test chair from a nationally recogized big box store for $ 145.

Step 2 We notice that the chair is poorly built, and we sit carefully.

Step 3 We lean back in a normal postion and the back gives away. The back was only supported by the thin arms on the chair.

Step 4 We document the failure; the arms could not take the weight on the back and broke away from the front legs.

Step 5 We have spoken to folks that have bought these bargains. They call them "expensive firewood".

 

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