The most annoying thing for me is when a previously good maker dumbs down their products, presumably because customers were unwilling to pay for the traditional quality. So brand names like Record or Hayter can no longer be relied upon to supply something of really good quality, as opposed to some generic far eastern product which may be ok, but is rarely as good quality as the products they made in the past. A shame, but that seems to be the way things are going. I have quite a few Chinese and Indian tools, some good enough to wonder how they do it at the price, and think that we might as well throw in the towel. Others can be truly dreadful. Even good experience with a particular manufacturer is no guarantee. I have been quite impressed with some Sheppach stuff, which seemed pretty good for a budget piece of kit for light use, but one look at the vice on their portable bandsaw, and you have to wonder how such a piece of junk ever made it to production.Moan, moan, whinge, whinge. Seems to be contagious.
I have foreign machines and tools.
SCM Combi - excellent.
Unnamed morticer (badged "Poolewood Equipment") but probably far eastern - excellent piece of heavy engineering and superior design.
Lost of Bosch excellent stuff.
Japanese plane blades - excellent.
East German woody plane - excellent.
Other foreign odds and ends all good stuff.
Also have excellent British lathe
Excellent British chisels and saws some new most old
Loads of excellent UK stuff.
If you've bought rubbish it's entirely your own fault!
I bought "Faithful" No 10 plane and it was garbage. My fault it was cheap and I thought I'd give it a go.
Not happy with Narex chisels - over hyped, nothing like trad Brit makes.