mickeyw Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 I've just been looking for a supplier of Carling Contura II switches, and landed up on the bay looking at Karlin switches from BoltonBits. It appears they have had their own copies (Chinese?) commissioned of the Carling item. Billed as 'affordable', I'm not sure they're massively cheaper than the real thing, but little differences do stack up when you buy quite a few. Can anyone offer any first hand experience of these switches? Quality of finish, 'feel' of the switch action, reliability etc? I am not averse to buying Chinese copies, as I have found that not everything eastern is junk. My employers manufacture in Shenzen, and we are very particular about product quality. I am well aware of the old adage 'you get what you pay for'. The Carling switches are very robust and time proven. However being cheaper than a high end product does not automatically mean the Karlin ones are useless, hence the reason I am looking for feedback from anyone that has bought and used them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 Would also be interesting to find out if they are UK spec or US spec. In other words do they 'press down for on' or 'press up for on'... Every carling supplier that ive come across apart from Croytec, in this country, seem unable to supply UK spec switches... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 all massey fergusons back to the late 90s have carling switches UK spec so they must be available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forkrentfitter Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 company i work for builds fork trucks in taiwan.we use a taiwanese karlin type switch,they dont give any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickwilliams Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 I've bought a few things from Boltonbits over the years and it's always turned out to be of reasonable quality when it arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon119 Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 The last couple of bits i brought from Mud came in Dun-Bri branded bags. http://www.dun-bri.com/carling_switch_range/ Might be worth a phone call to see if they can get UK spec switches. I now get all my bits from them as they happen to be 2 mins down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 Unless things have changed very recently i doubt it. Last time i contacted mud late last year it was US spec switches they supplied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 I'd personally pay the extra for the proper ones. Those are such a blatent copy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 Those are such a blatent copy That doesn't necessarily mean they're no good Ross. I'd be interested to know if the panel apertures are the same as the Carling items. They don't seem to offer a Karl in version with off/on/on switching, so it's unlikely I'll buy their on/off switches in case the two brands don't match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 I know that, but I'd rather support the real deal. I see it as buying Scrapiron suspension... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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