Having just bought some inexpensive whistles with the idea of perhaps distributing some of them as holiday gifts, and having then indulged my curiosity to see how each played, I was again struck by how buying inexpensive whistles is somewhat of a crap-shoot.
Here’s what I bought, and how I found they play:
Generation brass D (red top): this is a Good Whistle. I don’t think I can give this one away, it’s one of the legendary Generations that you hear whispered stories about. The tone is pure and clean, the whistle is responsive, and intonation is good. The only gripe I have with this whistle is one that many inexpensive whistles share: the fipple is glued on, and the whistle is about 45 cents sharp to A=440.
Generation brass D (green top “folk” whistle): almost as good, with some air in the sound on the high end of the upper octave. Still a very good whistle, I’d consider this another good Generation. Has that “lonesome” sound some folks like. Again, fipple is glued on and the whistle is about 45 cents sharp.
Generation nickel D (blue top): dissapointing whistle out of the box. Won’t take much air. Squeaks, hard to blow soft enough on the lower notes to keep it in the lower octave, and the low D bell note has an unpleasant raspiness to the sound. Well, honestly, every note on this whistle has an unpleasant raspiness, but on the low D when you can hit it, it’s extremely pronounced. Fipple is glued on and whistle is very sharp but it really doesn’t matter: not a playable whistle in its current condition. Will noodle around on it from time to time–sometimes the inexpensive whistles improve on their own when played. May try some tweaking if in a couple of months it’s still this bad. As an interesting aside, I have another bluetop that is a few years old and is quite good. It’s fipple is a much lighter shade of blue than on the new bluetop.
Clare one-piece nickle. I didn’t have one of these, but have an old 2-piece Clare (Eagle?) whistle tht is very good. This one was another dissapointment out of the box, would barely take any air, and had a weak “stuffy” gone–sounded like a whistle with the flu. On careful inspection of the fipple, there was some flash molding on the lower end of the windway that was partly occluding the windway. Having carefully removed it, the whistle now plays quite well, very quiet, with lots of chiff, and a very clean tone. Has a very easy second register–this is now a Good Whistle. Unfortunately, it also has a glued-on fipple and is about 40 cents sharp to A=440. I think it’s a conspiracy. 
Oak–I have found Oaks to be pretty consistenly good out of the box, and this is no exception. The tone is pure and easy in both octaves, with good chiff. Very responsive little whistle. The fipple on this one is also glued on but I don’t care so much as it’s default position has it only slightly sharp, maybe 5 cents or so, to A=440. Oaks are a favorite of mine and one reason is I’ve yet to get a bad one.
Feadog – having just got a Feadog Pro, I wanted to get a new regular Feadog to compare it against. Like all Feadogs, breath control is the secret to this whistle. Blown very softly, it’s a sweetly-voiced, dependable whistle with good chiff and a moderately pure tone. Blown just a bit harder, the tone goes harsh with a cutting edge. And that’s a good thing: this is a whistle made to be played aggressively. You can hit some notes a little harder and because the tone changes they “pop out” at you. A great whistle but not necessarily an easy whistle for beginners, as it takes very disciplined breath control to play this whistle well. The fipple is glued on, alas, but as with the Oak, it is reasonably well in tune in its default position.
That brings us to the Feadog Pro. I will be putting up a review of this whistle later, and Bloomfield has already done an excellent review. This whistle has a very clean tone and is more forgiving than the original Feadog design when it comes to breath control. Has wonderful chiff, and is another whistle with that “lonesome” sound. You can still makes notes “pop out” on this whistle pretty easily–overall, it’s a more forgiving whistle than the original Feadog but with all its good points intact. This is quickly becoming a favorite whistle. Also, in a move that’s bound to shake the whole whistle industry, 
they did not glue the fipple on, making this whistle easily tunable.
That’s it, folks. I suppose my conclusions are:
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Generations are still upredictable but it seems your chances of getting a good one are pretty good if you order several at once. When you get one of the good Generations, it’s a real treasure.
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I have two Clare whistles, a 2 piece and a 1 piece, and they are wonderful with an enchanting tone–IF you take a small knife and clean up the molding flash from the fipple and windway. Worth the effort, though, because once you do that these are really good, stable whistles.
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Oak and Feadog both seem very consistent from whistle to whistle, Oak being the more forgiving of the two with regards to breath control. The new Feadog Pro is a real joy to play, and is currently my favorite of the inexpensive whistles.
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For some reason, many whistle companies glue their fipples in place with the whistle very sharp to session pitch. I don’t know why–if anyone does, I’d love to be enlightened.
–James
