Britpart shock absorbers very stiff!

Hi All,
Fitted a new set of Britpart shock absorber's and the suspension is very hard very stiff. Almost makes the Landy unbearable to drive! has anyone had any experience with Britpart stuff? I hear very mixed reviews?

http://www.paddockspares.com/rtc4639-defender-rear-shock-absorber-to-wa159806-britpart.html

I understand they are cheap and you get what you pay for but damn these things are stiff as hell, I have standard springs on as well. I'm wondering will the soften up over time and use?

I am just about to replace my rear shocks on the 110 and was going to use these. I currently have britpart shocks fitted and they have been on about 5 years and have no complaints so was thinking it would be like for like.
I know it is no help to you but would be interested in others views as if they have changed I will look at something else.

May or may not be relevant as I cannot remember if it is for oil or gas shocks but I seems to remember reading about needing to prime them before fitting. This is basically pumping them fully in and out a few times to counteract the effects of storage laying on their side. Don't know if you did this or if it would help.

Mine had been lying over 15 years and had no resistance at all, jumping up and down on the suspension got them fired up and working.
Stiff dampers should free off but if the previous ones were completely shot then you will really notice a big difference with new ones.

They will soften up over time and then the will stop working. I had some and after five year [ about 5k miles per year] they were shot.
Replaced with standard Armstrong,which are fine for my working 90.

britpart preferred part supplier for land rover mostly made in tata homeland and usually badly machined or tolerances way out of spec

I have britpart all round on my disco, they are much firmer than the mismatched knackered set that were on it when I got it but not unpleasantly so. Rides better than when it bounced about! They have softened a bit, I drive a 1 series sport at the moment and my other recent daily’s have been Ford ST’s and a TT so my tolerance to firm suspension is probably higher than most!

Just put a pair on the rear, not noticed anything different to how the previous set drove to be honest.

I put britpart shocks on the front of my disco, I knew I was going to move it on but didn't know when, so had to do it but didn't want to fork out too much. As it happened I kept it for 9 months after and was quite surprised how decent they were. No guilty feeling selling it like that. ( except for the oil leaks/lazy door locking/rusty bodywork/non working rear window/ etc etc)