Since we are beating this decaying horse before burying it (we are going to bury it right?), I will contribute some more ramblings. I'm not mad that we are still debating this super light-nerd topic, but I am surprised that people are surprised.
Whether you "go for" this "excuse" doesn't make it less true. In fact, the "excuse" is probably more of a reality. No one is excusing the practice, we are explaining how it happens. I get that rotators used to have tighter tolerances, I won't debate that. The key word in used to.12 vdc motors are likely supplied to ECCO from one of probably a handful of suppliers. The main quality control is on the motor company's side.
ECCO's quality control is probably "does it rotate?". I will bet t
hey aren't even accepting a range of speeds. They are likely accepting "work or no work". The number of customers that care is always going to be "not zero", but it is also going be less money to refund one lightbar than speed test motors. In the LED era these bars are an afterthought produced because the cost has not exceeded profit margin (after making it super cheaply) or because they think they will lose a market share that includes other products if the stop making it. At some point the cost will be more to make than the market share so will discontinue it. Look at the aerodynic. It was an iconic Federal Signal lightbar that some departments would still be buying. The cost exceeded the market share so they discontinued it. These ECCO bars seem expensive for what they are retail and that means they are reaching the end of their feasibility to produce. Corners will continue to be cut in order to make them as cost effective as LEDs. That will continue until they aren't feasible to make. That may be longer than expected, but only because of how cheaply made they will become (if they aren't already).
Cheaper motors, thinner plastics, cross-compatible parts from other products etc. will appear . As this happens (and is happening) they aren't going to hold up against a jetsonic that was a $900 "main product" in 1995. The later jetsonics were less than great too. Put a "last year rotator" jetsonic up against an early one. They didn't get brighter. At the end of the production runs of iconic halogen bars of all companies, they didn't hold up to their previous versions. The plastic "freeform" rotators in Code 3 bars were awful. Code 3 used to have more than two speeds of rotators that were sold by flash rate. The number of halogen options were almost overwhelming in the late 1990s. Near the end they were "fast" or "slow". Options were cut to reduce costs to keep producing a bar that held a market share, but only until they didn't need to.
Also of note is how rotators get their speeds. Many higher cost "speed specific" rotators were 9 volt motors running at 12 volts. They were being sold specifically for their speed and therefore customers were expecting a specific speed. When companies hung their hats on rotators speed was a very big part of marketing. The Vision series with its electronic speed control was a great example of that. The current halogen market is "yep it spins".
My wife reminds me constantly when we drive that "most people don't care about lightbars aside from whether they flash or not". Look at the garbage setups on everything from private to federal vehicles and the steps in the middle. If it blinks it works; and that includes LEDs. This is especially true in the amber "non-DOT system" market. Think about who buys this bar. It is mostly private snow plow and maintenance contractors. If it turns on, blinks, and (in this case) melts snow, then it's fine.
ECCO is now owned by
Clarience Technologies, take a look at their holdings. I cannot stress how little they care if their least profitable oldest technology is within surgical tolerances. Code 3 (ECCO) used to make the industry standards for rotator bars; used to. It really doesn't matter what the pickiest of their customers who buy lightbars for their collections think. It matters that they sell enough to either make money or lose the calculated amount of money allowed to keep an "adjacent" product line running.
tldr;
We care about rotator speeds in current production halogen mini lightbars. Almost no one else does, including the people using them in the field and the few companies still making them.