Dakine/Swix iron - Surprise, Surprise

For Christmas 2010 I asked for and got :) a snowboard tuning/waxing iron.  Well, I actually got two of them.  I got the Dakine iron, and a Swix (T75 FX) iron.

So tonight I go to take a look at the differences between them to figure out which one I want to keep, and guess what I find??  THEY ARE THE EXACT SAME IRON!!  The only difference is the name stamped on it.
Don't believe me? Check out the Operating Instructions that came in the box.  Same model # and everything, which of course means it's made by the same manufacturer.  Just a heads up!!! I'm not sure how often this type of thing happens.  Just because something has a "better" brand name on it doesn't mean it is any different!!  The Swix iron generally retails for $5 more.

I thought this was funny, so I had to share it with you all.  Cheers!

hahahh that is funny but that actually happends alot with diffrent gear. alot of companies try to copy things off others. any way do you wanna sell your extra iron

It's called "Private Label" products. Most large wholesalers do this.

The Sierra Crew is just a 2009 Burton Custom after all. (although not a good example)

I have a $6 proctor silex iron from walmart.  works FINE.

They basicaly used the same manufacturer and then relabeling it as their product. This practice is actually pretty common.

welcome back to the reality of mass production. you will be surprise how many products out there are the exact same thing with different name on it.

Originally posted by SLUSHIE Not uncommon at all Many of Dakine's products aren't made my Dakine. I'm sure you know this, but like 90% of skateboard brands all buy their boards from the same factory. Same goes from clothing brands, they just design the logos then pay someone to print it on some shirts for them. This is the case with tons of snowboard brans now too, I'm sure DC and Volcom snowboards are both made by some existing manufacturer.

Heck, no one was better at it than the American automakers.

its all about the 6 dollar irons from walmart

I got the dakine tuning kit...I feel like it might be a little overprices but it gives you everything you need and I like it. Pretty sure its the same iron that robnezz posted too

I think it's funny that the skier one cost more.  Stupid yuppies and their bags of money. 

on one hand i have to agree that the cheapo dept store non-steam iron works well, but on the other hand, I still want to get an actual wax iron, as my "regular" iron is not very flat or true on the bottom surface. kinda makes it a challenge to spread the wax out. 

nice to know. but either wya, l think lm the cheap type that would just buy a clothing iron 

Originally posted by jenni now you guys know that brand isn't everything.

yep and more expensive is not always better

Have to agree with spenser here. It's pretty common in the world of any kind of electronics for things to be sourced from a single manufacturer. Especially small items like those irons. Also for individual components, like the display in many LCD TV's. The display panel in many TV's is the same, but the components around them may be of higher/lower quality.

But when it comes to things like boards and such, the same manufacturing facility often houses multiple manufacturers. Heck, the same factory in China that makes iPhones and Macbooks probably makes non-Apple products, too.

As for the T-shirt example, I can say from experience that Analog uses a different cut (longer) and material that is much more shrink-resistant than most clothing companies.

While many companies will cheap out on things, it pays to know which ones don't. There aren't hard-and-fast rules to manufacturing.

Originally posted by spenser theres a huge difference between being made in the same factory and being a re-stamped existing product. completely wrong about the skateboard thing. yes there are factories that produce multiple brands just like with snowboards, but that doesnt mean they are all the same product. and often you will just see brands under the same distribution being relatively the same.. like AWS and habitat, or all the kayo brands, or all the deluxe brands. with snowboards, take elan for example. they produce a ton of different brands but that doesnt mean theyre the same boards. think of it as going into a sandwich shop (thank johan @ capita for this analogy)... you go in, same shop, but you pick your ingredients and how you want it made. rome, capita, and more are made at elan, but they all do their own thing. volcom was made at GST in austria but is now made at the signal factory in california. that doesnt mean theyre signal boards, it means theyre made there. i forget where DC is made but theyre not just rebranded pre-existing boards. re-stamping something like an iron or tshirt is totally different than the way it is with boards/etc.

i can promise my $7 iron from target can do the same level of job as both of those.