EPA rules. Found this today

[Whitespider]

Yup! looks like the limb held up. And it is crap.

My mistake... my apologies...
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[Whitespider]

...why aren't Chinese saws flooding the market here like they are in OZ? How is it the US made Poulan's with strato engines can compete? The emissions regs and the patented technologies used to meet them without performance degradation are wonderful protection.

Maybe...
But maybe the would-be distributors of Chinese clones are in fear of U.S. patent laws... which ain't regulation. Where is it stated that the Chinese clones can't meet emission regs??

Just bein' another devil...
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[fordf150]

Or maybe the quality is just so low or inconsistent that very few people want to import and sell them.
They are imported and sold just not in large numbers.

 

[Chris-PA]

Or maybe the quality is just so low or inconsistent that very few people want to import and sell them.
They are imported and sold just not in large numbers.

Quality is lower, but not that low, and it's the same stuff that is sold in OZ and other places in large numbers.

The Earthquake CS3816 is a direct copy of the Zenoah/RedMax G3800, with ports modified to meet emissions plus a cat. The GZ4000 is basically the same chassis but with Zenoah's strato engine, which they developed to meet the emissions limits. There's nothing wrong with the way the Earthquake mods were done, they're pretty much the same thing everyone has done without strato. And so the strato design blows the non-strato away, giving those with the patents an advantage in the market with emissions limits.