AMeCh STG-4 in test – Korean thermal paste with free vinegar as price/performance winner?

1 - In search of the vinegar dealer and a data sheet 2 - What's inside and why I'm even annoyed 3 - Individual test in detail 4 - 1:1 Comparison between the STG-4 and other pastes 5 - Summary and conclusion

I would almost have fallen for it if I hadn’t noticed a few things about AMeCh’s STG-4 in the course of my test. Firstly, I now always check the addresses and secondly, I also take a closer look at the email addresses and the registered owners. However, this time I only did this after I had ordered the paste from Amazon and had it delivered. Then, of course, I tested this paste, a supposed price/list hit at only 5.40 euros for no less than 4 grams of paste, and was taken aback for the first time. Because I could already smell a slight vinegar smell coming from the TIMA when I warmed up the sample. Of course, this not only cleared my nose, but also made me curious…

But first things first… After all, the presumption of innocence always applies at first. I contacted the seller via Amazon during the test and asked for a safety data sheet and the RoHS / REACH documents. I initially became suspicious when I was asked to contact the seller outside of Amazon. I was then sent two documents that looked quite authentic at first glance. As I said, at first glance. But it turned out to be quite an interesting email conversation.

In search of clues

Of course, the email address used had already made me suspicious at this point, because even after a more detailed search, this company could not be found at all at the address given. The commercial register also remained stubbornly silent. Or would you guess that this is a technology company that nobody in South Korea knows about? Yes, there are similar-sounding companies, but then the logo, address and contact information don’t match. In the meantime, I have had a lengthy email correspondence with the company, which in the end turned out to be a nice two-man start-up, whereby no one seemed to have a real plan for how high the hurdles are in Europe for the correct and legally compliant sale of thermal paste. In this context, I would like to remind you of EC360 aka Jaden Technologies, who, according to my tests, have now taken their entire portfolio offline and want to reposition themselves.

Let’s put it this way: the address given in the safety data sheet led me to a market area and some new buildings that had been started, but you also have to be careful with Google because you never know how old the information really is. If you want to be generous and benevolent to the sender, it wasn’t a food stall but a house on the other side of the street. I don’t know if and how they produce it themselves (as they claim), but in “manual operation” and with simple equipment, they might manage 10 kilos a day. I assume that they somehow bought it cheaply and put the documents together based on the documents of the actual OEM. Or something in between in the middle. Unfortunately, I don’t know.

I’m also putting the safety data sheet up for general discussion here, although I don’t think a gmail.com address is particularly smart either. In addition, there are different fonts and various formal errors that suggest a copy-paste document. But anyway, here is the reading for your perusal: