I'm sometimes not sure people get what a 5 star review MEANS.When someone gives a product a 5-star review, it means that it meets and/or exceeds all their needs, for the money they spent.And herein lies one of the big blind spots for many MT.O members, in my opinion. I am SUPER picky about scissors, how precise they are, and how well they cut things that are probably beyond the reasonable use of scissors. But I ALSO understand that that's NOT what the average user is going to want or need. If a pair of scissors cuts paper, the occasional plastic tag on clothing, and can snip thread, most people are 100% happy with the function. They would rate a pair of scissors 100% that I would rate 30%.That's the same way with EVERY function on a multitool. You can't hardly knock someone giving a 5-star review for a pair of pliers that have wire cutters that won't even cut stranded wire if the NEVER need to cut stranded wire. I have never met a pair of pliers on any multitool ever that couldn't handle my grip strength. And if that's all most folks expect from them, then they are 100% satisfied.This means a tool is in a great measure weighed against the skill, ability, and need of the user. Keep this in mind when you see that 5 star review. Why pay $80 for a Leatherman Wave when a $10 or $15 dollar tool meets all the basic tool needs a person has, at 1/5 to 1/8 the price?
It's a tool, not a lifestyle to them
on the topic of review ratings, I think people get numb to it all anyways and only pay so much attention to it, at least I do! I have written poor reviews before, said as politely and informative as possible, but rarely do they end up showing up on Amazon etc.but every good review I have ever written gets posted asap. strange huh?you have to take all 5 star reviews with a grain of salt and know there are probably many 1 and 2 star reviews that you will never see. video reviews are the next best thing to holding it in your hand if done well though.
My Amazon account was hacked last year and when I recovered it, I couldn't find anything that had changed until I started getting email questions about reviews I had never written. The hackers left glowing reviews in my name for obscure products I had never heard of. Fake reviews are a fact of Internet life; that's why I value reviews about multitools that are posted here much more than those on Amazon.