What is the WORST gear review you've ever read?
|
The restaurant where I work a had some dude bash is because " I was just thrown off and decided to leave when our French fries were coated in coconut." |
|
Honestly this is a thread about how stupid people are...I can't stop shaking my head. |
|
Most magazine gear reviews |
|
There is a new crop of E-Zines in the climbing industry that give "reviews" for gear they have never seen. They are normally a one paragraph blurb about the manufacturer's description and value. We have a few members here that pimp them every chance they get. I assume they are a way to get free or cheap gear for the site owners. They pollute search engines and are worse than worthless. |
|
bearbreeder wrote:Most magazine gear reviews They are just shilling for their advertisers They find a way to give a "best for this" award to every piece of gear Unless a mag or blog consistently gives negative as well as positive reviews its useless Rah rah rah!!!I don't trust any gear review from a magazine as well. I've yet to come across any gear review, or "The Gear Issue" from any magazine that I trust. None of the information is useful in my opinion. It is obvious they are just giving each product positive feedback for fear of losing them as a sponsor. |
|
LOVE IT!!! |
|
Nearly 40 years ago my dad worked for an outdoor magazine of the hunting and fishing variety. He was never once allowed to publish a review that was anything but glowing. |
|
I weed through the crap reviews and sometimes rely "loosely" on real peoples valid reviews. I could care less about what a climbing editor thinks of a shoe, but when I bought a certain marmot jacket the other week the reviews were spot on. "great jacket, sizing way off". haha ended up having to go a size up. So in that regards I try to go back on and review items, as if you are somewhat OCD in your research you find that valuable. |
|
Bearbreeder & Jarthur, |
|
"The medium fit me great." |
|
caughtinside wrote:Don't bother. The only purpose of reviews is for an e-retailer to profit from your experience with a product that you paid for.Or you could be providing useful information for other potential customers to base a decision on. Like somebody else mentioned, clothing reviews that mention fit/sizing are often very useful, and I've skipped on many things before due to "irregular" sizing. Negative feedback on a product doesn't usually lead to more purchases/profit from the product. Also, if you have a good experience with a company, why would you be so opposed to posting good feedback and increasing their sales? God forbid anybody be rewarded for doing something well... |
|
Cor wrote:I tested a hard shell that was completely the bomb. There was / is no way for me to destroy it so far! (1 year old now ) This completely awesome coat did not make it into the magazine. Shit it even retails for $600 USD!One year is nowhere near long enough to claim something can't be destroyed. I've had a couple things feel absolutely bomb-proof that failed in a few years. And I don't see why the cost of the product should really be relevant, other than just being another data point for the review to factor in. Even if the product is fantastic, if there are other products that perform equally well and cost half as much then I wouldn't consider the product to be that great. A $600 jacket that's awesome is great, but a $300 jacket that's equally awesome is even better. Cor wrote:Along with that was some other products that I thought were complete shit. They did not make it in also. These shit products were even ones by companies that advertise in the magazine.I think you're just proving everyone's point: the company pays for advertising in the magazine so they withheld a negative review of one of their products. |
|
Gunks Jesse wrote:If I find something that works significantly better than other things, I review it. If I find something that works terrible I review it. It has to be super good or super bad. I'll never review a carabiner or any basic item that just does what it is supposed to, as advertised, because it's a waste of time to repeat what somebody else already said. But I think well thought out reviews have value for community members.+1 |
|
caughtinside wrote:After two weeks? I don't think the info would be that useful.Why not? You'll know sizing details the moment you try it on. Products can break within the first minutes of using it. Other details about the product that aren't advertised can be determined pretty quickly, too. For example: "this stove puts out a lot of heat and can boil water quickly, but it's also very loud and can't be adjusted low enough to simmer". I find it extremely hard to believe that you can't come up with opinions of a product within the first two weeks (with long-term durability being an exception). I'm not saying you have to go review everything you buy, but the statement you made about reviews only benefiting retailers is completely false. Customer reviews are a huge factor when I decide what I spend my money on. |
|
Ian, |
|
its just important to know the bad as well as the good ... its a matter of telling your audience what NOT to buy, dont want em to get some lemons |
|
Cor, yeah ok, you're right. I guess if you're being a total badass in the jacket all the time then a year is long enough. I was thinking more from a "normal user" standpoint, where I'd be pretty pissed if a jacket DIDN'T last a year/season. |
|
|
|
Gunks Jesse wrote:So how do we get this discussion into the hands of the people who write reviews about everything? You guys have come up with a very balanced approach.theyve known it for decades short answer ... you dont bite the hand that feeds you ;) |
|
Mag reviews might be able to introduce you to a new product and give you some lowdown on what it is etc but rarely do they get into enough nitty gritty (good or bad) to give you much more than some basic cliff notes. |