I think Chinese competitors just undercut them too much and provide quality that is almost as good, and they are able to innovate faster to boot.
I love my Roomba, it’s been truly a life-changing invention for me and my go-to mental construct for how robots can improve our lives and how good design can be very simple yet effective. But I probably bought it used on eBay and I continue to buy batteries every 5-10 years for it on eBay when it needs a new one.
For a household product that runs autonomously throughout my house and interacts with many surfaces, and with small kids in the house, I want a reputable supplier, not just whiz bang features and a slick app.
Maybe Roborock is that, but there is so much opacity when dealing with Chinese companies even in cases where the govt is not involved.
DJI, huawei and insta360 are three off the top of my head that are perfectly capable of going up against global brands.
Additionally, almost every high quality brand has manufacturing in China; Apple, Microsoft, Nikon, Canon, Dyson, the list goes on.
This is more a problem of “you get what you pay for”. No name hoverboards were a real problem because designing a compact, high power draw, lithium powered device is hard to do. Segway, ninebot, etc all make great ‘hoverboard’ like products.
this should read "A few Chinese brands make great products"
Most Chinese brands make low quality products; corner cutting is rampant.
> Additionally, almost every high quality brand has manufacturing in China; Apple, Microsoft, Nikon, Canon, Dyson, etc.
That is because the foreign brands set the specs and define the standard of quality, which the factory (i.e., Foxconn) follows to the letter. So Chinese _manufacturers_ can make great products (when required and paid) but Chinese _brands_ generally do not.
This is one reason why Chinese brand products are cheaper than their foreign brand counterparts even when the foreign product was also manufactured in China.
DJI and Anger are two Chinese brands that have worked hard to develop a good reputation internationally, and deliver top products. I wouldn't trust Huawei though.
That’s what I was trying to get across. As I said earlier you get what you pay for. I can buy great products made in China by Chinese companies and terrible products made in Switzerland by Swiss companies.
The only "issues" I've had to deal with are: a) it'll eat cords so the cleaning area has to be picked up before vacuuming (or bad areas zoned off) b) it can (rarely) get stuck so the cleaning area has to be picked up (ie. a step stool I left out) c) it can (rarely) get lost if there are major changes to stuff in the cleaning area (ie. if a bunch of cardboard boxes are left out) d) very rarely (less than once a year) I have to "restore" the map (I think if c happens it might start hallucinating new map area)
I don't know what the replacement part or customer service experiences are like though. We've had our Roborock for 3+ years now, which isn't a huge amount of time but I wouldn't consider it poorly made. Maintaining it to clear out pet hair and such is simple.
You would surprised. The answer is yes and yes. Roomba like robots are dominated by Chinese companies and they are the most advanced manufacturers technology wise as well.