an objective review
Sometimes I surf through websites that purport to give opinions on equipment. Since my two major interests are golf and bicycling, golf and bike equipment are what I look at, to see what other people think of what I own, and to look at some other stuff to see how it compares, and stuff I may purchase in the future.
My two favorite websites to do this are golf review and road bike review. I've held this theory for a while, but last night, while reading about a driver I'm contemplating buying, it really hit home. What these reviews consist of is people who have bought whatever it is, and then tell you what they think of it. The premise seems good enough, but human nature being what it is...the practice just goes down the tubes.
You end up reading what some guy, who just sunk $300 or more into a new golf club, thinks of his purchase. How many times do you think you'll hear that it's a piece of carp? Next to never. That's how many times. The idea that someone will be objective about something they just put a sizable cash investment into is pretty silly.
You get two kinds of reviews. You get that guy...the one who just paid an outrageous sum, that he's probably been saving for quite some time, for golf equipment of some sort. He may have been eyeing it in stores, coveting it for months. He's not going to tell you that he just blew it, even if he thinks he did. He won't admit failure. This is the culmination of months of work. If he really thinks he just threw away hundreds of dollars, you won't be reading about it. He'll sulk in a corner, maybe, but he won't be telling you all about it on the internet. The other kind of review you get is one that pans whatever is being reviewed, written by a guy who doesn't own it. He hit the club 5 times off a plastic mat at the golf shop and didn't like it, and decided to tell the world, based on 5 swings, that the club sucks.
It's the same with bikes, only magnified, because bikes cost more. Nobody who just sunk a thousand dollars (or more) into a bike is giving you an objective opinion of the bike. To be fair, most people who do that will ride several and buy the one they like best. You can equate it to test driving cars. Therefore, when you read a review, you're reading someone who tried several bikes and liked this one better than the others. Of course it's coming off in glowing terms, but at least it's based on some evaluation, even if it's 20 minutes in the saddle of comparison shopping. What I'd love to see is someone, who maybe rented the bike for a week on vacation, who has no real money invested in it, compare it to what they normally ride. that might be worth something. Those people aren't writing reviews though. They're vacationing, on a rented bike.
My two favorite websites to do this are golf review and road bike review. I've held this theory for a while, but last night, while reading about a driver I'm contemplating buying, it really hit home. What these reviews consist of is people who have bought whatever it is, and then tell you what they think of it. The premise seems good enough, but human nature being what it is...the practice just goes down the tubes.
You end up reading what some guy, who just sunk $300 or more into a new golf club, thinks of his purchase. How many times do you think you'll hear that it's a piece of carp? Next to never. That's how many times. The idea that someone will be objective about something they just put a sizable cash investment into is pretty silly.
You get two kinds of reviews. You get that guy...the one who just paid an outrageous sum, that he's probably been saving for quite some time, for golf equipment of some sort. He may have been eyeing it in stores, coveting it for months. He's not going to tell you that he just blew it, even if he thinks he did. He won't admit failure. This is the culmination of months of work. If he really thinks he just threw away hundreds of dollars, you won't be reading about it. He'll sulk in a corner, maybe, but he won't be telling you all about it on the internet. The other kind of review you get is one that pans whatever is being reviewed, written by a guy who doesn't own it. He hit the club 5 times off a plastic mat at the golf shop and didn't like it, and decided to tell the world, based on 5 swings, that the club sucks.
It's the same with bikes, only magnified, because bikes cost more. Nobody who just sunk a thousand dollars (or more) into a bike is giving you an objective opinion of the bike. To be fair, most people who do that will ride several and buy the one they like best. You can equate it to test driving cars. Therefore, when you read a review, you're reading someone who tried several bikes and liked this one better than the others. Of course it's coming off in glowing terms, but at least it's based on some evaluation, even if it's 20 minutes in the saddle of comparison shopping. What I'd love to see is someone, who maybe rented the bike for a week on vacation, who has no real money invested in it, compare it to what they normally ride. that might be worth something. Those people aren't writing reviews though. They're vacationing, on a rented bike.
Labels: Philosophy
John put this out here at 7:09 AM
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