*CANCELLED* - [REQUEST] 4 European members to pass-around experience: Wuben TO50R

Hum, put in simple words, that would be so!

There was a first idea, that Wuben had but was then abandoned, that this would be a worldwide pass-around experience, and that Wuben would support costs.
I wrote a text with “conditions” for the pass-around (inspired in other texts I saw around) and then received the contact from Wuben again saying that it would be preferable to keep it only in Europe and that members would support the costs.

The period of time was defined by me, but it is negotiable if needed.

I can also reach Wuben again and ask them to pay the shipping expenses seeing that it is/may be a barrier to have participants in this pass-around!

Your points are very valid, yes!

I think if Wuben will cover the costs you will get the additional persons needed. If not i fear that it will be hard to get people interested. They already spend their time writing the review.
Its like you have to pay to be allowed to work for someone.

Already sent e-mail to Jelina talking about this issue! You are completely right about that, it may be somehow unpleasant and “bad taste in mouth” to do the review without a “compensation”!

I will wait for Jelina’s reply and as soon as I get it, will post the answer here and, depending on that, rewrite the conditions about shipping !

Thanks for the heads up! The enthusiasm of organizing something can be blinding to other aspects, so thanks for bringing them up! :+1:

Not being in Europe, or on Europa, it’s not really my bidniss, but…

…this.

(Just have Wuben send 4 people lights to review, no strings attached.)

No problem at all.
When you are deeply involved into a project it can be easy to overlook something. But this way it should be much more easy to find people that are interested.

Maybe Wuben has bad experience of sending lights to people who take photo’s of the unboxing, adding the text of the manual. Possible with a personal touch like: I have this light now 1 day, and it still smells yummy.
I don’t thinks of myself as a reviewer, so please send me no lights. But I have seen “reviews” that were no more than copied product pages from BG or GB.
Wuben has the right to make such an offer. We have the right to let it pass by.

Thats why i said make wuben pay for shipping. But do not let the people keep the light.
This way you really only get people that are interested in writing a review.
And not reviews like Henk4U2 mentioned. I also have seen this kind of reviews and it is not a good thing and really not ok!
But if the people are not allowed to keep the light you will most likely not attract this kind of people.
I do not get lights for a reviews anymore. Because i write what i think and not praise the lights even if there are flaws.
I got 2 lights this year to write a review but after they checked my review they asked me to change a lot or to not publish it.
From me you will get an honest review or no review at all. So we agreed on no.

The deal is just too bad.

Testing the light, taking pictures and writing a proper review (I assume that they want that) costs me at least a full work day, even keeping the light is very poor payment for that. I hope that people who keep writing full reviews (I stopped doing that, I just do short impressions every now and then) do it for the fun of it as well.

But not even getting to keep the light sounds like a bridge too far.

I'm very glad that people write reviews on BLF, but you couldn't pay me to write a proper review!

Sounds like a winning plan for Wuben only. A review provides valuable feedback both to the community and to the supplier/manufacturer.

I started doing reviews every now and then, but it’s quite time consuming if you want to do it 100%.
Especially runtime graphs, is anyone really interested? Personally i always do a quick math or a wild guess.

Thanks for your input so far, folks!

This is the first time I’m involved in something like this, so any help is appreciated to try to make this a possible (good) experience!

I’ll answer below to your posts!

Yes, that would be easier! But the proposal Wuben made was to do a pass-around, which seems to be a thing done in some places (even here on BLF) but that doesn’t seem to be seen very often. Maybe they thought it would be a “different approach” to get some reviews!

I do not know the actual reasons (maybe what I pointed above, being a different strategy/approach), but in the end it you are right, we/you have the option/right to let this go.
And…yes, there are many reviews copying the images and even specs from websites (sometimes they are WRONG!) and then adding some personal shots! Maybe Wuben did get this too, IDK!

I don’t know if our suggestions for improvements are really taken into account by the brands, buy having bought lights or free lights, I always say what I think and send that feedback to the brands. Wuben doesn’t seem to be the type of brand that makes those “request” for good reviews, though…
And I am not aware of that, but I believe people reviewing here on BLF don’t get that kind of MFR pressure to change reviews! Amazon and other platforms, yes, but here I am not aware :zipper_mouth_face:

I can only speak for me, but I keep doing reviews from lights I buy and “free” for fun! I like to show what they are and what they do, even when it costs me some nights :smiley: But that is me!
I see the points in what you say djozz and I do agree. As I mentioned above, the idea of making a pass-around was to be different from the “normal” way of sending 1 light to each person. Maybe this is to cut some costs in their “offers”? I don’t know.

And I guess some people would need more than the light and its money value in order to “pay” some reviews we see around, with detail, photos, texts, graphics, videos… that sometimes don’t even get a “Thanks for the review!” :person_facepalming:
Being a hobby, we can agree or not, though, knowing what it implies :zipper_mouth_face:

Eheh, your humour is a good payment RC :wink:

In case the flashlight is bad, it may be a bad thing to the brand, though :stuck_out_tongue: But, as I mentioned, I guess this may be some strategy to cut in some offers and to try a new approach!
Community is the great beneficiary as it can have different perspectives and tests, under different angles. The brand, of course, will get more visibility in the different forum and media channels.

I do like runtime graphs! Not sure if all of them are “real”, but they are getting more and more useful as we seem to be focusing in efficiency nowadays.
But yes, doing reviews and tests is time consuming as hell, and sometimes we don’t even get feedback… :frowning:


QUESTIONS:
If Wuben pays for shipping, would it be better and more interesting to participate on this, even if there was no other reward?

Also, if they were willing to send other lights for free for the members participating in the Pass-around, as a mean to say “Thank you!”, would this be reasonable in any way?

Or, in other words….what would you think it would be a reasonable way to implement this pass-around experience?

NOTE: I am brainstorming, this is not something Wuben proposed!


Please note/understand the text was written by me, based on others I’ve seen. I tried to make it reasonable, but I may have failed. However, the issues about shipping fees are not upon me. And as I mentioned above, I sent an e-mail to Jelina asking about Wuben supporting or not the fees.

FINAL NOTE: In case we don’t get people interested within the already defined modes or in some eventual way negotiated with Wuben, I will eventually end it before it starts. After all, this is a hobby, I get work to do, you got things to do! Hope you do understand :slight_smile:

I agree that writing a review of an interesting light that you bought is nice, I did that several times, but in that case I own and have seen the flashlight and that inspired me to tell the world about it, at a moment that suits me, the initiative is all mine. I love to do that for nothing in return.

But this case is different: a company asks me (via you) to review a light. I do not have it in hand so there is a chance that maybe once I have it I find reviewing it not worthwhile. But the most important thing: it is not my own initiative and the deadline has made it an obligation (obligations kills hobbies). So at least that asks for something in return.

5 reviews for the price of one.

I think these pass around lights work better for niche lights that are several hundred dollars that way you can try before you buy. This is not that and they probably don’t even require everyone review

Just a little perspective…

Even if you review lights on your own, at the end, you still get to keep the light.

What’s being asked here, though, is to get to “borrow” the light for a week, write a review (as thorough or skimpy as you want), and then bear the cost (or maybe not) to ship the light elsewhere, and presumably be responsible for the light. That means time to gather the packing, box it up (even if reusing the same box and materials as you received it), and then hie thyself to your post office, stand on line, fill out the paperwork, etc., and ship it.

And if you “forget” to ship the light, or lose it, or it stops working, then what? Are you responsible for the cost of the light?

So you sign up, “borrow” the light for a week, do the work as far as the review, take the time and endure the aggravation of shipping out the light, bear the responsibility of the light (if I buy a light and get reimbursed, or just get a light for free, if I lose it or it gets stolen, etc., it’s my tough-noogies… but not so with the “pass-around”), and then end up with… nothing.

Hey, if anyone there wants to sign up, B’harni bless ’em.

Keep in mind, though, I’m not telling people not to. Just “pre-explaining” why there might not be very many takers wanting to sign up.

Ok, now your point is more clearer to me! Thanks for putting this into perspective!
As someone who reviews bought and received lights, I find it funny in all of them, but being something I bought because I wanted, it makes me feel more “free” to review as I want! So I do get your point!

About the deadline, that was not imposed by Wuben, it was proposed by me, and it is negotiable! I thought 7 days would be a “reasonable” time to have the light, test it and then send it to the next person. That way the pass around wouldn’t take 3 months or so to be completed! That was my idea, but I may be off again…

When you mean ” they probably don’t even require everyone review”, you mean the light, or Wuben? If Wuben, this is a quote from the message I received: “after they receive the to experience, they can post the review in the forum.”

Hum, yes, perhaps prototypes, expensive lights or custom lights are more suitable for these pass-around experience. That explains why I saw some things about pass-arounds with the Freelux Sinergy and another custom light by Cereal_Killer.

So, your probably right! I guess I will include that argument in my next talk with Wuben, then!

Yes, it is pretty much that you’ve explained Lightbringer! So I do understand that people are not willing to take all that trouble for ending with nothing and having all that work just for the sake of doing a review of a light they may not even like.

Well, I didn’t thought it would be this “complex” to put this on march, but you all have very “on spot” points! As I said before, being within the process may be blinding and somehow may lead see things in only one direction.

I may need to reflect on this experience and reformulate it or simply “delete” it! Your points are fair…

At this point I’m glad I didn’t even thought about insuring the light :smiley:

Wellp, that’s enthusiasm. Nothing wrong with it, but sometimes it’s like jumping into a pool and not realising it’s the deep end, and there’s no ladder to climb out.

Then you get stuck with the big net and are expected to scoop up the “floaters” you didn’t notice before. :confounded:

I guess you’re right… I should have learned something with life till this point! :zipper_mouth_face:
It is time to sleep now, in the morning I will send message to Jelina pointing out the points expressed here to see if they still want to make this or not. I don’t have more answers than questions about the feasibility of this experience. So I will pass the ball to those who invited for it in the first place.

What’s the torch worth?

As shown in AliExpress, 150€ !
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000031738548.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.367f71d30uKYX4&algo_pvid=415aa93d-7e1d-45b2-be39-fabe296f447c&algo_expid=415aa93d-7e1d-45b2-be39-fabe296f447c-0&btsid=2ab90de5-712e-4b96-8b9b-698fc972088a&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_8,searchweb201603_52

https://www.selected-lights.de/led-lampen/outdoor-und-camping/selected-lights-wuben-to4650r-4-hi-cri-led-2800-lumen-21700er-akku-wiederaufladbare-led-taschenlampe/a-3396