Airgun “reviews”

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Glad it's not just me. I have noticed in the past were members call out a reviewer for just focusing on the things they can praise, and forgetting to report on issues with the gun.

I have first hand knowledge of one instance where a businessman considered using a well known airgun reviewer as a consultant on a fairly lucrative project. Not wanting to be associated with the "wrong" crowd the he commissioned a background investigation and this guy failed like Spongebob on a driving test. The reviewer was never contacted, and has no idea he was ever even being considered for anything.

Not entirely, check out Southern Gunner who isn't sponsored by anyone
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Odoyle, thank you for that. I just watched his video on the Daystate Wolverine, and I will definitely be watching more of his work. This guy is old school. Someone apparently didn't get this question answered, and I love how he said he feels like it's "very disrespectful" if someone took the time to watch your video, not to reply to their question. We used to talk about work ethic is a thing of the past. Several years ago I updated that saying to life ethic is a thing of the past. He's pretty entertaining too. I love his story about "Go choke yourself." Throwing a tennis ball your way for the heads up on that channel.

Added: Big Brother won't let me toss any your way right now, but I'll try again at a later date.
 
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Gun magazines are the same. Just advertisements.
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Gun magazines are dead, I used to enjoy reading them but as you say they just turned into pages of advertising. I still enjoy reading blogs such as Tofazfou and some of the older stuff Jim Chapman did.
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That's very true. The best days of gun magazines are over. What I really like about forums like this is that if someone is using or trying to use an air gun that is no good people will say so and not gloss it over.



As a side note on magazines I think you guys (and gals) here should check out Back Woodsman Magazine. They do all kinds of articles on stuff a lot of people here would be interested in like knives, camping,hunting, gardening, building shelters, and of course firearms and they even have articles on air guns and air gun hunting. The articles are written by the readers and don't get paid for it. They only except a very limited number of advertisements.
 
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This is endemic in everything from politics to game reviews to camera reviews to cooking pot reviews to movie and Amazon reviews ... it's just everywhere. No reason to think it would be any different in this hobby.

Honestly I tend to be more trusting in areas where actual expertise is involved and often apparent and even more convincing to the novice. Something technical, and in a way that goes beyond just slinging insider jargon around. And in a hobby that seems as unusually friendly as this. It's easier to doubt a smirky political pundit who probably has no other "talent" than someone who looks like he actually knows something tangible. So I've been more gullible that I should be in looking at gun-related reviews. I'm getting more skeptical, though. And yeah I don't quite buy that "I only review things I like" deal either -- funny how everything you review, you like, and you only review things from your sponsors. Coincidence?

I think people do believe their own story line sooner or later, though. It's much harder to be a salesman if you don't fall whole-heartedly for your own pitch.
 
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The funniest one I’ve heard recently was AOA saying the LCS trigger is “Match Grade” 😂😂😂 I love AOA but c’mon.. match grade??? That trigger being match grade is about as true as me being Donald Trump
1598922427_7963990285f4d9ebbf265d7.55163489.jpeg


https://youtu.be/L5cwhTszrFs

Match grade trigger at 7:52
 
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doyle, thank you for that. I just watched his video on the Daystate Wolverine, and I will definitely be watching more of his work. This guy is old school. Someone apparently didn't get this question answered, and I love how he said he feels like it's "very disrespectful" if someone took the time to watch your video, not to reply to their question. We used to talk about work ethic is a thing of the past. Several years ago I updated that saying to life ethic is a thing of the past. He's pretty entertaining too. I love his story about "Go choke yourself." Throwing a tennis ball your way for the heads up on that channel.

Added: Big Brother won't let me toss any your way right now, but I'll try again at a later date.

ot entirely, check out Southern Gunner who isn't sponsored by anyone
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Aaron Cantrell is like that. I like his video where he is comparing his thoughts on his Cricket to his Wildcat, and discusses how he originally felt the Wildcat was better, but now has had so many maintenance/delay problems with it that he doesn't think he made the right choice between the two. I like it when a guy is open to admitting an error, especially ones like this that involve spending a lot of money in maybe not the right direction -- and giving up a love -- because he loved that Wildcat.
 
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FWIW I play virtually every gunning video on at least 1.5x speed. A lot of people speak pretty slowly, which is fine if you are conveying high-level info. But some take long walks out to their targets and ... I need to see them walking ... why? Or they fire a bunch of shots off, and I want to see the final grouping but ... I need to see the individual shots? Almost never unless you make some comment on the windage ... and then the comment is what matters, not the long time seeing you failing at judging the windage. Plus of course I can get it if you simply speak faster.

I believe some people just want to insert themselves into videos to make themselves "brand-able" by becoming recognizable. I watch RV videos and many are similarly built around presenting someone's personality and random thoughts and charming pets and allegedly cute children more than anything, certainly before getting to the video title's actual subject. And Youtube itself gives stats on which videos make most money .. and people can strive for a specific length for monetary purposes alone. So all the padding makes 1.5 speed a minimum in every instance except when it's a Brit with a clipped delivery or the occasional person whose first language isn't English.
 
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Two reasons I took my airgun writing to self-published books long before Al Gore invented the internet is 1) To escape an editor lacking sense of humor enough to not edit out the spice and flavor of my admittedly "unique" humor and use of poetic license, and 2) Escape pressure to make my reviews of advertisers' products artificially positive, rather than honest (sometimes brutally so).

I have since (recently) stated, "The opinions of a shooter with many titles and records might be somewhat more valuable than some social-media celebrity-wannabe and his brother-in-law blowing a bunch'a smoke on You Tube". Glad to know others agree. Many.

No, I won't offer a politically-correct disclaimer like, "I realize not all You Tube reviewers and their brothers-in-law blow a bunch'a smoke on You Tube; my statement only applies to them that do". That goes without saying; and anyone that doesn't realize that... or wants to take offense at my lack of disclaimer, is welcome to do so.
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This guy's awesome book is pretty damn good.
 
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Being a "newbie" myself, if I get interested in something, I will research the hell out of that particular item, comparing each review to the others. Case in point, the 392 I just bought. I went in knowing I wanted an inexpensive rifle - something similar to my dad's Blue Streak .20 cal, but in .22 cal, that meant the Benji 392. So I watched every video on YouTube about the 392 that I could. Some were good, some were so-so and others were simply so overly technical that my eyes glazed over and the concept blew right over my head.

I just wanted to know the Good, Bad & Ugly about the rifle. I even watched some of the "Survivalist" videos exclaiming how the 392 was 'the ultimate survival rifle.' It took a lot of watching and forum reading, but I learned what I wanted to know. The rifle is: 1. Acceptably accurate, 2. Reasonably powerful and 3. Well-made and durable. Forums like this one and others were critical in making my decision. And almost all of the videos and posts were not shy in listing this rifle's one "flaw," it gets difficult to pump as you approach the max of 8 pumps-something good to know for very young or very old shooters.

I guess I'm saying that you can't just watch one review OR just one reviewer, you have to watch as many as possible, then compare and contrast the reviews, taking each with a grain of salt, before coming to any conclusions. That being said, I'm happy with the results of my research and VERY happy with my purchase (which is supposed to arrive today, along with an order of pellets from Pyramyd Air).

Now I'm onto researching which pellet is going to be best FOR ME in my quest to eliminate small furry critters from my mom's garden at close range.
 
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That's how I've treated many reviews, but movie reviews in particular. I used to love Siskel & Ebert back in the old days. You got to know both their personalities and what they would like, so you could get a fair estimation by watching them play off each other. These days, I read the negative reviews for anything on Amazon first, because they aren't just people clapping for themselves for having made a good decision, no matter how bad. You need those to balance out the celebration and self-congratulation that make up the majority of first-page reviews.
 
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