Pretty big "miss" as far as build quality goes --- ...
923478
Pilot holes in the seat do not align with the legs.  Pretty big "miss" as far as build quality goes --- unusable.
3982447
Poor quality control with this item.  Mine came with multiple parts damaged, which I knew would be a risk from other reviews.  It is very large and cumbersome, and the last thing I wanted to do was hike to UPS with it to attempt to exchange it.

A quick phone call to the manufacturer left me pleasantly surprised, with them sending me all missing/damaged parts promptly and without charge.

Still, in the end, the overall build quality of this item is lower than I would have liked - as long as you're not too picky, you'll love it!
234018
I have just finished assembling this cute little space saver cart. I am mechanically inclined so I didn't concern myself about the broken tray after I checked that I had all the material components besides that. HOWEVER, Lipper Intnl must have no quality control department. As I was putting it together I discovered 2 warped screws and wheel bracket machine (flat end) screws that should be at least one sixteenth inch longer so you can thread the nuts onto them. I needed pliers to hold the nuts while I gradually tightened them to compress the metal bracket; considering this problem is with the wheels, I doubt I will be wheeling it around much. Like I said to begin with... This cart is a good design it just has poor quality in some materials. Buyer beware!
1533120
This multi tool's built quality is mediocre and yet they charge you a premium. First off, the magnet that is holding the wrench is held together using glue, that is not too bad if it worked. But unfortunately it did not. The small magnet fell off immediately after slide the tool open, or I should say stuck to the wrench. That's not a major issue because there is one last magnet that is working as it should and holding it in place, besides that, when the tool is folded, the wrench is also being held in place. Now here comes the biggest issue, the screw that screws into the axle, the screw that keeps everything in place snapped under low or medium pressure, what I mean by low or medium pressure is tightening my seat post... Well, why don't I just screw it back into the axle and call it a day, I wish it was that easy. First, the internal thread is clumped with some sort of glue that I just can't seem to get off. To make things worst, the body of the screw, I am not sure what is the correct term for this, is not long enough to hold the tool together. I think is why they put glue inside the thread, to make up for the lack of strength due to the short body length. I have heard so much about park tool, how it was a premium, high quality brand that I just cannot believe this can happen at all, it's just frustrating to see they cheap out on something so essential, the screw and axle that held everything together. I am glad that I discover this when I was doing regular maintenance at home!
1959592
While having a custom enclosure built locally, I thought I would order this enclosure through amazon, to see if the quality was decent enough to use as a back up enclosure. When I received the enclosure, there was a major chunk of the bottom missing, about 2 inches by 3 inches. The quality of the MDF is quite sub-par, and as another reviewer here mentioned, is most-likely chinese MDF, which is pretty shoddy at best.

This would be a great enclosure for someone looking to power two subs that would handle 150-300 watts each. I am running two JL Audio 12w6v3 subs, and I'm pretty sure this enclosure yipped and scurried behind the couch as soon as it saw my subs. For anyone running high-power subs, I would seriously recommend having an enclosure built locally, or finding a source online that can build to higher quality and specifications. Speaking of quality, the terminal cups on this enclosure are close to useless, unless again, you're running something in the low power range. I can't imagine these things holding up under two subs being fed 1200 watts, and each hitting .75" of excursion. If you do go with this enclosure, some aftermarket 5-way terminals would be a must.
1566940
Unfortunately, I have to say this thing did lot live up to the expectation. Device could not even turn the engine over on my motorcycle (1.2L), managed to attempt one crank, and the little red box had a "hot" smell, and fell apart revealing several diodes that look to have very shoddy build quality and the device would no longer power on. (which is a shame, because the device itself SEEMED like it was built well....in practice, it's a piece of garbage, Avoid it....spend the money, buy a better. I took a chance, and got burned.
1180735
The chair is as described and comfortable, but the build quality / precision is off. One of the arms simply cannot fit into the drilled holes - the bend is too much. Going to see if I can work with a friend to pull the arm wide enough to fit; otherwise may have to return. This would be great if it fit properly!
2204662
I bought this to replace my latitude e6400. I know the build quality wouldn't be as good, but the plastic shell (mainly the back of the screen) felt a little flimsy. I would have to be a little careful to not grip it so hard since the plastic shell flexes.
Pros: good keyboard, edge to edge glass, i5 (see cons), strong hinge, design

cons: POOR battery life, I was getting 2 1/2 hrs on battery saver, just browsing the net. screen is nice but not very bright at all, sound is average at best (typical). I was surprised the i5 did not perform as quick as I hoped it would. sometime it slows down with multiple programs running that my old p8600 didn't have trouble doing. I'm sure it wasn't the actual cpu itself. 310m is very nice for the price, but a bit disappointing in performance. screen is quite thick. lacking dedicated buttons.

I exchanged for another one, thought I just got a weird one. The new one came and same thing. Though I got in on the deal for $550, I still ended up returning it. Overall spec looks great, just didn't perform as well. I would give it a 2 star, but for the price with this spec at this time, it a pretty good deal *Amazon was great as always in handling my returns/exchanges.
1555915
If you're seriously considering these price is likely not a big issue for you. So I will leave the question of value aside. Let me just talk build quality and audio.

BUILD QUALITY
I share the same concerns as some of the other reviews in terms of the cords. For something so precisely engineered on the inside I'm a bit surprised at the lack of strain relief on the cords at the earbud end. I fear that one good jerk (as happens with headphones when you step on the cord or catch it on something) might pull the cord right out. I don't know ... the assembly of cables just feels a little flimsy.

Also the little audio adapter cable that allows you to use it with a straight stereo jack -- when I was unpacking stuff out of the box (which btw all the packaging is very nicely done) there was a little rubbery plastic sleeve on the tip of the adapter cable. When I tried to remove it, it was on there so tight that the barrel housing actually came apart. I mean literally the housing pull right off the tip/cable joint. That's when I noticed that the barrel housing assembly is not threaded. It is just a pressure fit. I'm just stunned by that. Who thought that was a good idea? I managed to reassemble it -- which wasn't easy because it's very small -- but feel they should replace it since it's liable to come apart again. I have been trying to get in touch with AKG customer support and it is not easy to get a live person on the phone. So I'm frustrated with this.

In regard to the location of manufacture -- on the headphones it actually says "DESIGNED in Austria." Mine do NOT say made in Austria. So in your mind you want to picture these fine German engineers assembling these. But they are probably made in China at some Foxcon facility. I'm not saying that makes them bad quality, but the FAQ above says made in Austria. Just for clarity. The problems I mentioned above are DESIGN problems not manufacturing defects.

AUDIO
How can I put this? I don't like the word "audiophile" because to me it conjures up a lot of words and phrases that don't have a lot of meaning. So I won't call myself that. But I will say I have been playing several instruments for over 25 years, have worked for almost 20 years with live audio, and spent quite a bit on my home stereo. (In case you're interested: Paradigm Studio 100 towers and Paradigm DSP-3100 sub, Harman Kardon HK990 amp.) I'm not saying I'm an expert but I know audio well and have pretty well-trained ears. So I don't use these words lightly: it is the finest reproduced audio I've ever heard in terms of clarity, detail, and precision. I mean it is stunning. I have CD tracks that are my reference songs. Things I've listened to hundreds of times on lots of different amps, speakers, etc. I am hearing details and ambient sound in these tracks that I've never heard before. It is AMAZING. It really is brilliant.

Let me illustrate with this little anecdote. Tonight I was listening to a track and at the end of it there's this little melody on an oboe that sort of pops in. I was leaning over with my head in my hands (don't ask me why, that's just how I like to listen) and I swear to you when I heard the oboe I snapped my head up because it sounded like someone was in the room with me playing an oboe about 5 feet away. It really took me by surprise. I mean obviously my brain knows it's not physically in the room but I was immersed in the audio and it just sounded so real that I reacted without really thinking. Crazy. It just sounds like the audio is not coming through your auditory system but originating inside your brain. It. Really. Is. Awesome.

For me these will not be headphones I just cart around anywhere. I'm very careful with them because of the above mentioned concerns and because they're worth so dang much money. When I'm not using them I keep them carefully wrapped and zipped up in a padded case. I really really love them. I really do. A lot.

If you post a question I'll try to get to it. Hope this helps.

Cheers!
1222107
I have owned this laptop for just over two months and am pretty annoyed by the poor build quality. The stats on the laptop are quite impressive, however, the power receiver on the laptop itself has a small plastic piece that broke off on the inside, so now i have to wiggle the cord to charge my laptop. The edges of the speaker grills are popping up as well. I feel like sony has really done poorly with the design of the laptop. As others have said, it is somewhat loud, and also the battery life sucks, but i guess that is to be expected with the i7 core and large screen. It is by far the fastest laptop I've used and the vaio interface is nice. I, however, cannot recommend this laptop to anyone who actually wants to use it as a laptop, though. It is too fragile to be a good option.
2705201
I am simply amazed by the poor build quality of this product from Black and Decker.  It's easily the most cheaply built, poorly designed product of theirs I've ever seen.  With that said, it does do some of what it advertises (it gets warm and inevitably "cooks" food), but I truly cannot find a use for it in my kitchen.

Concerns --
1)  No temperature setting adjustment -- just power on/off.
2)  No drip channel for grease -- any run-off either spills over the edges or runs down into the heating element and burns, smoking up the place if not catching fire first.
3)  Dimensions so tight that for sandwiches there is no clearance, as the plate is only as tall as a standard piece of bread, ensuring that anything that melts out will spill out of the unit or down into the innards and burn or smoke.
4)  "Waffelette" plate has such tiny dimensions that it would take forever to cook up a batch of batter.
5)  Plates are so flimsy that they don't exactly inspire confidence that they'll hold up or hold their shape.

I could go on, but there's no point.  I can think of no use for this piece of hardware other than making tiny "waffelettes" or "pancakettes" in a dorm room.  Making panini or grilled sandwiches just doesn't seem reasonable because if there's any melting of ingredients or oil or grease, it will spill out of the unit, either onto the counter or run into the bottom heating element and burn, smoke, or catch fire.  I've never seen something so poorly designed, and it's not what I'd expect from a company like Black and Decker, a brand name I used to associate with quality.

If this type of workmanship is what we should look for from "Spectrum Brands" in the future, I'm not encouraged.  Speaking of....  Please, Spectrum Brands, do not simply cut and paste your boilerplate response to this review as you're doing with so many others that are not positive.  I will not be contacting you, as you ask in your boilerplate, to "ensure [my] concerns are resolved."  You can read my concerns here, and they can easily be summed up (and resolved) by your designing and building a higher-quality product to replace this one.  If you simply cut-'n-paste your boilerplate to this review as you're doing to others, it will be clear that you are not actually reading the review.
67690
I just recently bought 2 of these -

Seeing the prices for the Manfrotto (and considering they're sold piece-by-piece -- lightstand, boom adapter, boom arm) turned me away. I'm sure the quality of them is infinitely better, but this is just a hobby and I needed a basic boom for a speedlight.

1 was fine, the other was filled with problems.

Right off the bat, both were different brand stands (one was "Fancier", the other was a no-brand version).  The sandbag was missing from 1 boom, the sandbag in the other was black and blue (not the black/yellow shown in the picture).

The stands aren't the greatest quality either -- one worked fine, the other would slip even with light weight (meaning I put it at 6 feet and lock it, it will slide down on its own). The locks are also different from the twist-type or clamp type.. these are sort of "twist-type" but have a fixed start/stop position - the problem with mine is that the "fully locked" position was too loose and didn't clamp the pole hard enough, causing it to slip. The manufacturer offered to replace it, but only if I mailed them the stand (not light or small in size!) and wait for them to process a replacement.

The boom adapter is OK - it's plastic and uses teeth to lock/unlock its position. It seems to do well though, but we'll see how long it holds up.

The boom arm is of good quality and has a sturdy metal ring on one end (with carabiner) to attach a weight to. The carabiner is also poor quality (mine doesn't close on its own).

The boom arm and lightstand top will accomodate either 1/4" 20 attachments or lightstand attachments (no 3/8" though).

The stand itself is about 6 feet when fully extended and the boom about 7 feet. Unfortunately, while the included boom-adapter seems to work with multiple sized lightstands, it didn't fit any of my existing ones (Calumet/Manfrotto) - this means I need to use the cheap, included stand.

The entire stand is spraypainted black and chips VERY easily.. even just opening/closing it, you'll see paint chipping (underneath is shiny silver and very obvious).

With all said and done, the thing works. It's not the best, its not the prettiest, but it works. I'd trust speedlights and attachments to it but nothing much bigger. You're also taking a bit of a chance with the quality control of it.

UPDATE: Cowboy Studio sent a replacement sandbag (first was missing from the package) - replacement seems just fine.

The new lightstand they sent, however, had the exact same problem (slipping) and needed to be manually tightened with a socket wrench -- using it as-is, it would slip with any weight applied.
2462951
After using similar Plant Waves products in the past (guitar cables, etc), I guess I should've expected it...but this is unusable for the applications I needed it for. The ends are so heavy they drag down headphones if you're moving around or letting the connector "hang." I've also had trouble getting the pin into several jacks since so many products use beveled edges now at the input. So, if it's not flush...this won't insert properly.

I went ahead with 3 stars because the build quality is superb as with Planet Waves' other products, but since I can't use it and my return date has passed, it'll be added to the "someday" box of cables. I'm now searching for a lighter and smaller headed extension...
1807727
"please ignore my 3-star rating for this item; i provided one only b/c i'm required to in order to post. i'm sure the product, in and of itself, is fine, but i bought it for a very specific application, which in theory should have been easily achievable, and instead was not. read on if curious.......i have (what is now) an older model of the stiletto, the SL10, which i had always used as a "walkman"-type unit only. recently, out of necessity, i decided to purchase a home kit for my stiletto. i''ve had relatively good success with other sirius home kits (used to have a starmate 1), so i was inclined to get a simple home kit for the SL10, rather than a boombox-type home dock, the soloist model, or other. as of the date of this review (nov. '08), it is almost impossible to find the SLH1 home kit (the one for the SL10 and SL100 models) at retail any longer, so i (rather stupidly) assumed the SLH2 would work just fine. comparing/contrasting online photos seemed to suggest the two are interchangeable, and sirius recently has released products with more standardized serial ports, and universal-type docks for other receivers, so it seemed reasonable to assume the newer SLH2 is backwards compatible with the older SLH1. THEY ARE NOT. i bought an SLH2, and when i removed the pieces from the box for some old-fashioned, hands-on comparison, guess what? while the male/female jacks for the A/C power cord, the antenna, and the audio out appear to be the same, sirius -- apparently -- has resized the chassis (a few centimeters in width, and a few more in depth) for the stiletto 2, and then further exacerbated the problem by retooling the mold for the docking cradle, so that now it is sized only for the stiletto 2!! WHY? why does sirius still make disastrous product engineering decisions like this? they are standardizing other design features. can they not take it one step further and -- at a minimum -- at least standardize accessories within a given product line, regardless of model age? short of an enterprising owner in possession of a dremel, an X-acto knife, some precision tools and TIME, the only way i can see how an SL10/SL100 could work with the SLH2 is to surgically carve away some plastic. i have none of these, so i returned the item."
1681660
The seller is a 5 star seller, but this review is about the product, hence the 3 stars. Also, I won't spend any time talking about windows 8 and YES, you are tied with Windows 8 if you buy this laptop as Windows 7 drivers are hard to find or none existing.

I would have giving it 3.5 stars if I could. I'm pretty sure that most of the points I will make also apply to the complete 2013 Envy 17 inch line.

On to the review...
I've had this laptop for about a month now. This is a fast PC, which was to be expected from a 4th gen i7, 16 gb ram and SSD. I run Photoshop, Illustrator, some games at full specs, etc. and everything works smoothly. Everything else that you would expect works great: wireless, speakers, camera, etc.

The design is what truly makes this laptop stand out. You have aluminum monitor cover and aluminum upper body (the bottom of the laptop is plastic though). The touch and feel is great. My wife was a 13 inch MacBook pro retina  which is full aluminum and you can clearly see that HP went after apple with this design. Apple is still a whole league ahead in terms of design, but this is as close as you are going to get on a PC. My other options were Asus, MSI and Alienware and I simply couldn't show up to a meeting with any of those since they look like the controls from an alien spaceship.

While all of this is really good, again, it is to be expected from the specs and the price of the laptop. There are 2 minor problems with this laptop and one HUGE problem:

1st, the keyboard flexes down on the left side when you type. Even without any pressure, simply pressing a key around where the S key is will "sink" the entire area just a little but enough to be really annoying. It also makes you wonder about the durability of the keyboard and the construction quality. You can search on YouTube for a video that another user posted about this problem, which leads me to believe that it is a very common problem. Nonetheless, I consider this to be a minor problem since it doesn't really affect performance.

2nd, the track pad buttons are really hard and they just feel awkward to press. For some reason they don't feel natural, specially when you have to hold them down to drag an item. HP wanted to follow mac here and make the buttons integrated with the pad, but unlike a mac, the entire pad is NOT a button, only the lower part, and there is no line or nothing to let you know where the button area is. Again, this just feels unnatural, but I still consider it a minor problem.

3rd, the monitor. This is what almost made me return the laptop. While this monitor is 1080p, you can clearly see a tiny gap between pixels. This creates vertical lines which are very noticeable on solid colors like your browser background. My 5 yr old HP that was 1600 x 900 (basically 900p) looks MUCH better than my new 1080p laptop. I read about another user here in Amazon warning about this issue but it never crossed my mind that something this horrible could be kept so quiet. That user called it "windowed pixel". I have become used to this problem and it doesn't bothers me as much as it did before, but when you see another monitor you get that "wow, my laptop monitor is really bad" feeling, which you shouldn't get from your new computer.
3274151
Against the mixed reviews I still took a chance for myself... The design and intention are perfect for my intended use. The problem I have, as well as many reviewers, is that the build quality combined with the poor materials makes this bag a "no-no". the stitching is poor, the pleather-like bottom and reinforcement patches are poor. the only reason I gave it 3 stars and not less is because its a good designed bag. I really wish this exact style and size was made to superior or at least very good quality. I will scour the local surplus stores and continue to use my old top load sea bags until I find the "just right" replacements for my specific use.
4366762
Hard to say on this one... Seems to work as promised  except when I plug in external hard drives. They don't seem to be recognized when plugged in to this device... That pretty much defeats the purpose for my intended uses. The unit is attractive and does work for low-impact devices like thumb drives and my printer... OK, but definitely NOT up to my expectations.