How about the 1 Th/s A1 chips setup from china they are going for $3000 so yes CT offers crappy Hashrate = cash , Hence 1.6 Th/s = 6000 + shipping ($589) and China 1Th/s with shipping included is $3000 hmmm u do the math.
dunno.. definitely not clear cut. all i heard about the a1 chips was speculation about who owns the rights to the a1 chip as bitmine seem to claim some sort of exclusivity or design rights, which of course may be them making false claims, and then plenty of chinese clone companies using them - possibly without permission (do we know yet? has anyone figured out who really owns it?) and i still see a lot of angry a1 chip customers waiting for their promised systems. which also under perform, compared to their claims. no turbo mode, for instance...
this isn't as clear as you make out with your 'do the math' statement. also, cointerra at least has a customer support department and can be reached by phone and email. sure, they're snowed under so sometimes take awhile to respond, but at least they employ a customer service department (10+ people). i know i can call when i need something.. or email. i wouldn't know where to start to call a faceless anonymous chinese company, nor would i expect much support.
From all I read on the forum is its just luck if you get support. The general public with them will not take them apart in fear of warranty esp since many still believe they are going to get the 2TH upgrade in firmware that is never coming. Iirc it was you and a few others that were told that its hardware limitations on all units in the wild. With the Dragon Miners and clones they are not promised 1.3TH turbo mode and things like bitmine. The chips are capable of doing so but the hardware is not. I'm running one of the original 5 blade 40 chip boards at 1.2TH right now, but all the new ones are 4 blade 32 chip and run at 1TH. I know some have issues with theirs and I've been lucky with 4 so far and my 5th gets here in a few hours so knock on wood lol. But same with CT, HF, KNC, etc. many came in with major issues (some due to shipping some not though).
I do understand you have a large amount of CT hardware and you for the most part stand behind them. I won't blame you because I would do the same and I also know you will admit when something just isn't right so I hope this does not come off as an attack against you.
I still would buy at CT but even at 6k it is not worth it to me. I am lucky like some because if I did and it broke if I got no response I can just show up to Austin. Spend plenty of time there for cars and friends (plus I live in Houston). So can't ignore the box left at front door if they aren't there with "Please fix! <3"! Lol