Lidl are currently selling a genuine ctek for 60 quid. I'm happy enough with my cheap aldi/lidl battery charger, which I think was made by a proper company but not branded by them. So far so good.
Unfortunately, consumer protection is largely ignored by eBay sellers, along with the low cost items being shipped with two subsidies : one is that if you can sell substandard stuff without it having to go to landfill in China , there is a subsidy. And then there is a subsidy for shipping overseas. So when it looks 'too good to be true' , its probably landfill being shipped over to us. There is also the little fact of the "China Export" mark which is not the CE mark we all know and love. The CE mark is based on a design with circles , and has a very defined design, I spent some time making a label printer print official CE marks once. The China Export mark is just two characters, not quite the same as the proper CE mark design. And because nobody likes paying taxes in the UK to properly fund testing of all electrical equipment , which would also have the effect of raising the prices because we could only buy qualified and tested devices..
60 quid a good price for one of those? Would it be worth a punt to charge a leisure battery as well as everything else in future?
Think it's a good price, but don't really know as never bought one. Don't know if it's a top of the range one or not
They were made in Scandinavia to start with but are now manufacturing in China. Never trusting electrical equipment I won't leave a charger switched on or even connected if I'm not in the room . Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
My bad , I thought I'd deleted that prior to posting ... Edited out Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
Many cheap electronics do not have a standard UK fused plug. Make sure the plug has a 3 amp fuse max too.
I think LIDL are actually more likely to sell safe stuff than other shops.. most of what I buy there has TuV qualification too. More lilkely to be inspected. Generally though electronics either pops just after you buy it or many years later - the bathtub curve. If it doesn't fail int the first week it should last a few years. Stuff made in China is OK provided there is a proper QA inspection done. After all BMW manage to use Chinese parts.
As Michael McIntyre said, you turn off all electrical items when you go away....but not the fridge ...... you trust the fridge!
I've got an Aldi/Lidl version of a Ctek and it works fine, though the £60 genuine one is tempting...but I can't see it on any Lidl website.
http://www.absaar.com/v2/en/ Find an absaar its German . you know it's good when the name is preposterous and German .
It was in lidl in Sheffield. In normal times if offer to go back in and get it or take a photo etc, but I'm not going near that place again until there's a cure for Covid!
I take TUV over the CE mark any day now. And with Aldi and lidl being mainly German they would not dare sell anything that might tarnis the brand. Also the kite mark is one of the best designed logos ever FACT not to be confused with China Export
The Chinese'll just print anything on the product. No idea what it means, but it's what you asked for. My understanding is that the importer is responsible for CE compliance...but most don't care.
I must admit to being more than a little surprised with the Chinese deisel heaters - very popular and no apparent issues ??
I'm guilty of the cheap tat thing . Just brought 12 mini torches 1856 rechargable USB with led cobs £3.99 Let's see how at Christmas don't work
