My online purchase experiences

Cheap unit that I bought because I only had one that claimed it would go for 40 minutes but would do about 30. This one claims 100min and does about 12. Into the draw. maybe I'll find a use for it later.

Night vision to 70m and plenty of features. But two problems. First is that the focus mechanism is so shoddy that a tap on the casing loses the picture completely. I pulled it apart to see why and it's because the pig iron cage and gears that hold the lens are badly designed. Some security! Second is that it keeps losing the date. No matter how many times I set up NTP, it goes back to 2000. I bought three and only one loses the date. I should also mention it was supposed to be 1080 but will only take pictures at 720. Video is 1080. Usable but not as a serious security camera.

1600x digital USB microscope. Two things wrong and one thing right. Firstly, it works and for 1600 times magnification (including 5 times digital) it works fairly well. especially as the theoretical maximum for a light microscope is 1400 times (the limit due to the wavelength of white light). But, the markings on the side - 0X and 1600X - suggests it's variable when it isn't. (What is 0X anyway!!) And the focus wheel is so loose it makes the unit unusable but if mounted on a stand with focus fixed and use the stand to get the distance right it's OK. Too much trouble to go through though. There is a funny Youtube video of someone using the railings from an old printer to solve this problem. Into the bin.

So in no particular order. I was looking for a multi outlet USB wall charger. Jaycar had one but it was out of stock and an eBay one looked better and cheaper. The 'Smart USB Charger' works and has eight intelligent outlets however because of it's class of electrical item, it needs certification to be sold in Australia. As there was a recent death in Australia due to an unapproved USB charger, this is a serious concern. Apparently not to Australian electrical authorities who didn't care enough to respond to my email enquiries. This item was refunded by eBay. So if buying an electrical item, look for the certification for your country and don't accept fake stickers on the outer packaging.

I've bought quite a few items over the years through a couple of direct Chinese sites and via eBay. A few items have been good but most have had at least one problem so I thought I'd document each purchase so my experiences are available to others. Now, I'm not anti-Chinese in any way but everything I have bought has come from China and mostly from Shenzhen.  That's just the way it goes.