Beware Of Chinese Knockoffs! Frienda Dog Trainer-Bark Stopper.

February 20, 2020

#359

Gentle reader,

If you have dogs, you know they will bark. If you yell at them, the theory goes, they think you are joining the barking frenzy.

Official Frienda photograph.

My wife bought one of these Frienda brand bark control devices and they WORK!

Until they don't. I used it one morning and had no response from Gretchen. Hmm. I swapped the battery, no help. Checked the voltage of both batteries, both good.

I attached my multimeter leads to the nine volt snap connectors of the device and it read open circuits. 

Okay, on to eBay I went and found Frienda brand models were between twenty and thirty dollars. But, look, here are some marked as Frienda for less than eight dollars.

 It was a USA seller, free shipping, so I bit.

As you can see, it looks identical, except there is no Frienda name on the box or the unit. Hmm.

One thing I do with dead electronics is take them apart, recycle the metals and plastics and set the electronic boards and such in the hazmat box for later transport to the hazmat facility at our local landfill.

So, that is why I don't have the old case to show you. Trust me, aside from the missing name, the cases are identical. The Frienda one was held together by two screws, however. 

NOTE: If you click on any photo, it will open larger. If you wish to hurt your brain by trying to read these, feel free.

I attempted to high...make that low-light the symbols on the case with a new Sharpie. 
Left one is lights only. Center is for the sound for training. Right is the sound to repel a barking dog.

No screw holes on the fake case.

Above and below are both sides of the circuit boards. Genuine Frienda components are the bottom ones. Knockoff ones are the top ones.

HUGE difference in the number and types of components of the two as well as the build quality.

Both are Chinese, one does what it is advertised to do, the other does not.

For instance, that black and purple thing is a transformer. They raise or lower voltages. There is none on the BING board.

Here is what I determined: IF the BING makes any sound with the speaker, it had NO effect on the dogs. The only difference in what it does is the LEDs flash.

With the Frienda, you set it to REPEL and press the button and the dogs visibly flinch and cease all activity.

There are COUNTLESS genuine looking products made in China which are in fact counterfeit and depending upon what they are, may be dangerous to the user or whatever they might be used in conjunction with.

While China leads the world in manufacturing and infrastructure, they also lead the world in knockoffs.

Above are six Rolex watches. The entire top row shows a Presidential on the left, and four Daytona chronographs. 

The lower right one is a Submariner. All six are fakes. I knew they were when I bought them. Well the Presidential was bought by a friend of mine and because the date numbers were slightly off center in the window, he gave it to me.

I bought all but one of the "Fauxlex" watches via eBay. One of them I bought from a fellow who saw I was buying them on eBay and contacted me to tell me he had this fake HEUER chronograph and another fake Daytona if I was interested. I was.

As I said, the Chinese are EXPERTS at copying things EXACTLY. Hong Kong is rife with watch stores FILLED with fake watches for amazing prices.

Before TAG merged with HEUER, their watches, like this one simply had HEUER on their faces and backs. 

Note how the back reads TAG HEUER.  

eBay, due to pressure from luxury makers, has cracked down on fakes. 

Because I was an experienced seller on eBay, my buddy asked me to sell his "Fauxari" (my term) Ferrari F40 kit car for him.

He built it on a Pontiac Fiero and did an awesome job. Ferrari cracked down on selling emblems and things unless one can prove they have a Ferrari. This was built prior to then.

My point is, when I tried to sell the fake Rolex watches, they cancelled the auctions. Same with this car.

So, buyer beware! I'm glad I'm only out eight bucks. 

Scott
February 20, 2020
#359