Chinese Copy Flow frames

Has anyone had experience, good or bad, with the copy flow frames?
I assume they are cheap junk but interested in any feedback from folks who have experienced both the genuine and copy products.

I have four genuine Flow Hives and no issues with them apart from mistakes I have made in extracting the honey when I first started to learn about them. As for the copies I have seen a lot of problems of them owned by other bee keepers. All the copies I have seen are made in China with no quality control. Issues like pieces broken in the frames and poor assembly, bamboo QX’s that even a drone can walk through, let alone a queen. A few have been worse than junk but of course no back up from the seller.
With a genuine Flow Flow hive if there is an issue they are very quick to make things right for the buyer, and they are made in Brisbane. If the complete Flow Hive is stretching your budget you only really need the Flow Hive Super and the frames, everything else can be bought from your local bee equipment shop as a Langstroth hive is exactly the same measurements and much cheaper.
Cheers and welcome to the forum where you will find lots of tips and advice.

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Thanks Peter, helpful advice. I believe I can use an existing Super with modifications and just use the flow frames. Seems like it makes sense to buy the genuine product. I live in Brisbane and I would prefer to buy Aussie anyway, just want to make sure I’m making the right decision going flow.

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The Flow Frames wont quiet fit in a Langstroth Super if that is what you mean by the ‘existing super’. But of course if you have some wood working skill you could make a super box to fit the frames, but honestly I would opt for buying the Flow Hive Super box in Hoop Pine, it is a bit more complicated than just a standard box Brian.
Cheers

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Hi there @Bigbee, you can definitely modify a regular Lang box to fit Flow frames. I copied the link to the nice video of Cedar showing you how, hopefully the link works -

https://www.honeyflow.com/resources/starting-with-flow/flow-hive-manual-assembly/modifying-existing-hives-or-supers-for-flow-frames/p/432

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Can I advise to to a little hands on research before you decide to go for a Flow Hive or a traditional hive hive before you outlay the cash. Spending a couple of hours in an apiary where both hives are in use will give you the pros and cons of both systems then you can decide with knowledge what will suit you.
My advice is to not even consider the Chinese copies, they are really bad news, especially when you have an issue and they ignore your emails. They are just a bad product with no back up support of their product. The total opposite of Flow Hive who go the hard yards with any inquiries.
Cheers Brian

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