NAPA changing suppliers for many filters but more so a business decision. Premium Guard has aggressively pushed into the U.S. market and likely much cheaper to obtain. PG/Ecogards are some of the cheapest (money wise) on the market, likely because they are not only made in China/Vietnam because of a business strategy to get into the U.S. Market. Premium Guard provides oil filters for O'Reilly, AutoZone, Advance Auto, and Napa house brands. That said, everything has shown that they are quality built (and arguably better than many name brand) seen lately.
Overall, the major brands are still generally good, but it's also a crap shoot too with quality control and design with all the brand buyouts and consolidations. Without going into every name brand, the general statement can be said that not all Frams are Fram designs, not all Wix's are Wix designs, not all house brands are from one supplier, not all [insert brand] are made in U.S. or any particular country, not all [insert brand] will have the same efficiency ratings, etc. This may vary by a particular application.
By some, their definition of "garbage" will qualify most filters based on any particular design, cut open filter posts, efficiency, manufacture locations, price, etc. I can't think of any oil filter that checks all the boxes, if there was ever one. Best options are OEM or IMO, the closest current filter that checks most of the boxes will be Fram Endurance or Premium Guard Extended Life.
