I've seen the process many times, for many 'cheap' chinese produts. They first design (or more often copy) a product, then they start removing the bits that 'a

I've seen the process many times, for many 'cheap' chinese produts. They first design (or more often copy) a product, then they start removing the bits that 'aren't needed' -- like filtering caps and so on; sometime even fuses in power supplies, and pretty much ANYTHING they can save $.0002 on. So when the first 'wave' of the product appears, you actually have a pretty good chance of having something of good quality/value -- however very quickly it degenerates into a pile of fire-hazard or device-destructing poo. The rule #1 of buying cheap gadget is ALWAYS TAKING IT APART before even plugging it in or trying it. There are no alternatives. Often you can tweak it to make it safe/good, but sometime, it's instant return.