Review Sites

[Mcfal12]

Guys in another thread we’re discussing ‘top ten’ sites that don’t offer much information and they barely skim the surface on what truly matters when ranking products. I thought, after not seeing a thread on this elsewhere (definitely could have overlooked), it may be worth a thread which people can reference for legitimate and meaningful reviews.

IMO, only sites which meet the three below standards should be relevant; however many smaller sites do a fine job and if you’re vouching for them, that’s good enough for me. The three criteria:

1. They publish their sponsors and affiliations
2. Their review methodology, for each ranking, is published with the article or linked to a page on their site
3. They offer an ability for public comments and scrutiny by offering comments sections or a forum

I’ll start with two of my daily haunts.... protoolreviews and toolguyd. Both post about new and review power tools from large and small manufacturers. They also feature ranking articles. Best of all, they meet the above criteria for trustworthiness as well as often announce and review multi’s and knives.

Lastly, while it may seem that I’m stepping out on MT.org.... it’s innocent flirting when I visit those sites.

[Happy Gilmore]

Truthfully...other than Multitool.org I only use youtube and IG to get my information. The idea of finding sites where people actually write up reviews...yea. Not really a thing anymore. For someone to justify that amount of effort it would require sponsorship, which brings into question objectivity.

My favorite reviewer atm is texas tool crib on youtube.

[Vidar]

https://thecarpentryway.blog

This blog isn't a tool review blog, but the tool reviews there are better off for it. The focus is actually on (fine) carpentry, so the tools reviewed were chosen for actual use and the writing is based on the experiences with them.

Sadly the man behind the blog died of cancer just earlier this month. The blog and his writing is very much still there though, and well worth a look. It is hard to navigate the site now, but this google search link gets only the tool reviews: site:https://thecarpentryway.blog tool review

[Vidar]

For someone to justify that amount of effort it would require sponsorship, which brings into question objectivity.

Unless some media is subscription and payment based there will always be that factor. I like search for reviews they might have done on tools I already know. If their review of those matches up with my experience I tend to trust their other reviews more too.

Some reviews and channels try to review things they clearly don't know how to use. They then proceed to give a tool bad marks because they don't understand it or try to force it into some contrived use it was never meant for in the first place. Either way unfair to the tool, and less to no trust from me. (Some admit to not knowing the use or the tool. That is fair enough, but then the review becomes all that much less useful too I think).

As for sponsorship I try to look whether it is a general one or one from a specific source. If it is a general one, say Amazon, then they can pick basically everything. Thus less ties to anything specific and likely more objective? If it is a specific sponsor with a specific range of products to push then clearly something that should be informed about, and I'd read any review in that context.

[Happy Gilmore]

Unless some media is subscription and payment based there will always be that factor. I like search for reviews they might have done on tools I already know. If their review of those matches up with my experience I tend to trust their other reviews more too.

Some reviews and channels try to review things they clearly don't know how to use. They then proceed to give a tool bad marks because they don't understand it or try to force it into some contrived use it was never meant for in the first place. Either way unfair to the tool, and less to no trust from me. (Some admit to not knowing the use or the tool. That is fair enough, but then the review becomes all that much less useful too I think).

As for sponsorship I try to look whether it is a general one or one from a specific source. If it is a general one, say Amazon, then they can pick basically everything. Thus less ties to anything specific and likely more objective? If it is a specific sponsor with a specific range of products to push then clearly something that should be informed about, and I'd read any review in that context.

Good comment, It shows that before you can truly utilize reviews you kind of need to educate yourself first. multitool.org was a very important influence for me, the site has challenged many of my misconceptions when I first began the journey. It forced me to try things first hand, really understand the purpose of tools and how they relate to EDC.

[Sea Monster]

I've got a fairly streamlined system for getting information....

First of all, I don't use google, because whilst popularity based search algorithms were inventive in the day - they are practically useless now with all the "gaming" that goes on - so just can it and use search engines and techniques that sort by relevance...(which used to be gamed, but now no one bothers....)


Secondly, any kind of aggregate site is garbage. Either you do one thing and you do it well, or you can GTFO. I've got no use (and neither should you) for sites that just "curate" content. They're all garbage, and a waste of your time. Your time is precious, guard it against these thieves.


So that basically leaves me with "old school" forums, where the majority of info (accurate or not) is at least submitted by people with a love of the subject matter, generally not by bots or content farms....


I'm not going to check, because IDGAF, but I'm sure there is more than one "Top 20 Pliers for 2020" articles out there, like the science of pliers has been revolutionised recently....


I understand that sometimes you do actually need to buy something new, and it is necessary to research to ensure you get the right thing for you - the problem is everything is marketing, and it's no longer designed to sell you one thing on behalf of a specific company (which we used to hate, but is almost refreshing now) it is to sell you marketing...which is weird, but that's how it works now - and to sell you *anything* - it's all around FOMO, by the end of a day of research you are supposed to feel like the next thing you buy is more important than your marriage - that you NEED it to survive, that it's amazing you've survived this long without it, and you won't die happy unless you've got it...

Of course, it's a goddamn carousel, because, lo and behold, happiness was not one more purchase away...

As above - the sellers no longer actually care what you are buying, thanks to the way that money moves around now, they just care that you are looking at ads and buying things....

Whether you buy a Honda or Husqvarna doesn't matter anymore....

[ElevenBlade]

Guys in another thread we’re discussing ‘top ten’ sites that don’t offer much information and they barely skim the surface on what truly matters when ranking products. I thought, after not seeing a thread on this elsewhere (definitely could have overlooked), it may be worth a thread which people can reference for legitimate and meaningful reviews.

IMO, only sites which meet the three below standards should be relevant; however many smaller sites do a fine job and if you’re vouching for them, that’s good enough for me. The three criteria:

1. They publish their sponsors and affiliations
2. Their review methodology, for each ranking, is published with the article or linked to a page on their site
3. They offer an ability for public comments and scrutiny by offering comments sections or a forum

I’ll start with two of my daily haunts.... protoolreviews and toolguyd. Both post about new and review power tools from large and small manufacturers. They also feature ranking articles. Best of all, they meet the above criteria for trustworthiness as well as often announce and review multi’s and knives.

Lastly, while it may seem that I’m stepping out on MT.org.... it’s innocent flirting when I visit those sites.

Well thought out.

To be honest, that's basically the same criteria you would look at for scientific research articles, and in this day and age, it's what we should be looking for when reading about current events, which in this day and age, is related to the former.   

[Mcfal12]

Thanks Blade

[ElevenBlade]

 

I would add to that the selectivity and "impact factor" of the site - are they willing to post anything just to get content, or are they particular in who and what they give an audience to.  If I wrote a review, you would be justified in taking me more seriously if my review appeared on a site with an associated magazine... as opposed to ... er.... this one...   

I say that as a general rule ...  I will admit I have seen some unhelpful MT reviews in a big name print magazine. 

[Vidar]

First of all, I don't use google, because whilst popularity based search algorithms were inventive in the day - they are practically useless now with all the "gaming" that goes on

I could have quoted and agreed with most of Sea Monter's reply. To keep it short I just chose that part. It is the issue that has annoyed me the most recently. As a result I find myself using other engines like bing and duckduckgo more and more. The results are often quite different and sometimes more relevant.

It seems to me that many of these search engines walk a line between being relevant and reliable, and thus the go to place for users, and trading that user trust into money through paid ranking.

[ReamerPunch]

I discovered MTO while looking for reviews. I liked what I saw, so I stuck around, and eventually I started making reviews myself.
I also catalogued the reviews in there. Review Inventory

It is sad that the review section gets overlooked. Some members do not even know it exists. There's a ton of information there. Very few people make reviews nowadays. 
I hope we see more. I'll do another one this week I hope.

I mainly check this forum and youtube for reviews. I look in Google sometimes, but I usually just see people who are selling the tool. I even found a review which was basically my review slightly altered.

[Vidar]

It is sad that the review section gets overlooked. Some members do not even know it exists. There's a ton of information there. Very few people make reviews nowadays. 
I hope we see more. I'll do another one this week I hope.

It is certainly appreciated by those of us who do know about it! 

[Aloha]