One thing, though - the actual major parts themselves aren't so bad. And if you can get a Trail Gear for cheap that's lying around and replace all of the Chinese made bits yourself...
But it's a lot of work(ie - half the kit almost!) and I suspect that they are a *tad* harder to deal with. See, Marlin is like myself in that he hates warranty work and fixing stuff twice. It's a good day when nobody calls saying something they bought from him broke - less headache and work for him. So they overbuild everything and do it right the first time. Virtually nobody else in the industry has this attitude any more.