A vendor contacted me to do a couple reviews after I wrote a popular rant on reddit about how you probably want an 18650-powered light even though you think you don’t. Another vendor followed suit, and at that point I had written enough reviews to have credibility when asking for lights to review.
I still get ignored though. Nitecore and Acebeam have never replied to me even when they were actively asking for reviewers. Thrunite replied, but never sent me the Neutron I asked for nor said they weren’t going to.
Of course, free review samples do get publicity for the manufacturer, but I don’t see anything wrong with that because good reviews are also useful to the community. So often, I see questions (mostly on reddit, where I’m more active) about lights that require an independent test by someone with a modicum of expertise to answer. Yes, too many reviews on one light can get a bit stale, but I have yet to see clutter on a level that makes finding things I’m interested in on the forum harder.
Of course, I’m not a neutral observer here. I like writing reviews, and I mostly like the free stuff (I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with that Wuben T102, which has about the worst firmware possible).
I’ve just seen Zanflare pushing one of their lights on a thread where someone was asking for recommendations, and that feels borderline to me.
I feel that people asking for recommendations are looking for ideas from real users like them, rather than manufacturers pushing their stuff. The manufacturer’s vested interest in getting sales makes me nervous in that scenario.