the other alternative is to do everything quietly and then hit the market hard, save a lot of money not doing patents and use it for production / tooling

calculate how many have to be sold to make money after tooling, manufacturing costs and patents (the more countries the more cost)

I watched a mate get a patent and make his product and he never really made his money back

self copyright, send registered letter to yourself and dont open it. it's sealed and stamped by a govt entity, presentable as evidence in a courtroom if needed. apply for patent gets the patent pending status mentioned by someone here previously, costs little and offers some protection for a while, produce immediately!
yes China or elsewhere aint gonna care about a US patent, so dont bother, get in and out, move on to another idea the same way. nafta-gatt handed China the contents of OUR patent offices anyway to leave invetors no recourse for compensation was really cute, so keep it in mind anytime 'they' want something.

That's called a "Poor man's Patent" and it will NOT hold up in court. There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration.