TinySA Counterfeit Warning

This is my experience in buying what turned out to be a counterfeit product via AliExpress and attempting to prove that the device is fake to AliExpress.
Hopefully if one person looks at this and avoids buying one of the fakes then it will have been worth the effort. Some might say that you deserve what you get buying from Ali but the point here is that the counterfeit units are useless for any kind of measurements!

[jackshuler]

Thank you for confirming their business practices. I will NOT buy any more from AliExpress.

[gustavowkaiser]

It´s scary. Sorry for you. After seeing your video, I gave up to buy a TinySA from Ali Express. I´ve just placed an order from R&L Electronics. Ali Express refused to take your evidences, it´s quite clear. Ali Express, never again. Totally unsafe. Greetings from Brazil.

[TheElectronicDilettante]

Since the TinySa project is open source, could an individual take the gEDA files and schematics from get hub, send them to a PCB manufacturer and essentially build their own TinySa?
Thanks for the video! BTW, nice Lastname
-Jason Burchell

[jerrypolverino]

What is the best way not to get ripped off and buy junk?

[gfvt]

Hi Melvyn, your video provoked me to check mine. Fortunately it appears to be genuine, Unusually I have not looked inside but it was not running the "patched" firmware and does have "HIGH" spelt correctly. Have just uploaded the very latest NOV 2022 firmware (V1.3-504) and it continues to pass self test.

[BlondieSL]

This is why I don't buy from AliExpress or Banggood or any of those RIP OFF trash companies.

[stevec]

Is there also a counterfeit tiny SA Ultra?

[AndyMay-ikpx]

Thanks for this info, Melvym .
I'm on the verge of buying the Big Brother Tiny SA Ultra, which I'm sure will similarly attract fakers.
Mirfield are the place to go, I think. Forty more quid but peace of mind.
"Caveat Emptor" as someone once said .

[smitcher]

Can you not claim through your Credit Card protection? Also, is the problem fixable? I.e could you get the proper parts and replace to make it pass the test?

[lisaleedavidson]

I don’t think they’re clones. I think they are units that were rejected in quality control and were somehow obtained by a seller who tried to sell as authentic.

[tomsmith]

I'd guess that 90+% of the things that Ali sells are knockoffs of one thing or another. It's what they do. You've proven it's a knock off, and demonstrated that Ali doesn't care. That's useful. You've proven that you likely can't trust the data from the device, but you haven't proven that the device doesn't work. Those are two separate things. I basically view Ali as a company without any ethics. But, here in the US, we kind of expect companies to not have any ethics. If you contract with thieves to manufacturer your product, don't be surprised that the thieves will rip you off. That's how clones are often started. The original designer outsources the manufacturer to overseas production. They do that to lower the price point, but it comes at a cost.

[karlmartell]

Thank you for sharing your bad experiences about these clones with us. You saved us a lot of trouble and spent money for nothing.

[pagarb]

Very useful information about buying this kind of thing, very good tips on precautions to take. Ali Express doesn't exactly distinguish themselves.

[mark-qryv]

You mentioned that since it failed the full self test it could not be relied upon for accuracy. Did you assume this or did you actually put the clone thru a series of measurement tests and comparing them to an original unit? If you did it would be nice to know the results. Thanks for the video.

[hagei]

Well... a lot of bla bla around a 1 minute test described on the website in 10 lines... no proof of what the real difference is in measuring or signal generating . Maybe it´s still usable for people who just want to see spurious signals or harmonics for a small amount of money ?. Someone else was describing the differences much deeper and, honestly, my 25000$ 1980 Ailtech is probably not more reliable than this clone... i still can use it for what i need mostly. ( i own a genuine ultra )

[Milkmans_Son]

If you were to plug "stopband fail" into a search engine, the first hit links to a post asking about a self test 7 failure on a new unit. The link also includes a reply from some dude named Erik Kaashoek:

Ah, test 7, the band pass filter.

The critical part of the stop band is at a rather large offset of -4MHz from center (at the far left of the screen) so this will not have any impact on the performance of the tinySA.

The shape of the band pass filter is excellent.

I may have set this selftest a bit too strict given the (at the moment of definition) not know spread over a large amount of products.

[jeffreyyoung]

I have recently purchased a TinySA through R&L Electronics, and can't wait for it to show up!
I was bit by the counterfeit market with a fake NanoVNA, but I wasn't out much, thankfully!
The real unit works very well, and makes VNA measurements a breeze.
But the ability to hook it to my computer and use the monitor is a big help with my eyes, and the ability to do the same with the Tiny SA was a big plus in my decision to buy it.

[acestudioscouk-Ace-GACE]

Thanks so much for this, I think you may have saved me from a lot of angst. I will certainly be taking your advice.

[mal]

Should you not recalibrate the device before the sef test after reflashing the firmware?

[mewintle]

You overwhelmed them with information they couldn’t easily understand, so it became a he said/she said. If you had just said “failed self-test” then it would have been fine. I think in particular, pointing out the mis-spelling would trigger “this guy is a whiner, a misspelling is no big deal.” Also, they don’t know what a “project owner” is. The vendor did a good job of adding to the “noise” by making irrelevant comments that they claimed refuted your comments, even though they had nothing to do with anything.

Obviously this isn’t about the money. Everyone involved has spent more time than is warranted for a sub-$100 project. :)