Tank007
Odepro Outdoors

Lexel wrote:

Odepro Outdoors

Hi all, so sorry for the trouble here. I went against the rule to create more threads than expected. I feel so sorry.

I was here four months ago and just thought two posts per week are okay but I failed to get the exact meaning of the threads (title).

Also, thanks for your reminder and it's a good way to do a fast reference here, which let us know what we do to upset others.

I learned so much and most expert flashlight lovers shared their ideas here at any time.

Hope it did make any difference to our friendship and hope all of you enjoy your nice day.

Hahaha so clear it would come to this.

I think it is also hard to do it right. A Facebook action won’t get much love around here

IMHO at least one reason needs to be given when a vendor is listed in this thread. For newbies or those of us with goldfish memories, we shouldn’t have to ‘just trust’ the poster. Thanks

But what if I really need a new kitchen.

2 DOGS wrote:

But what if I really need a new kitchen.

Massdrop. They coordinated 6 “reviews” by people who got FREE lights, to appear simultaneously for the Brass Tool

Giving free lights to “reviewers” is a typical way to enroll an individual to promote a product while bypassing the Commercial forum.

imo, “reviewers” who get free lights should post in the commercial section.

Real reviews should come from people that PAID for the light.

jon_slider wrote:

Real reviews should come from people that PAID for the light.

All of my full reviews are of lights provided by manufacturers or dealers free of charge for review purposes. I am not kind to review units that have issues. I think it’s also pretty clear in my writing when discussing a light that doesn’t have any major problems but didn’t do it for me. I thought my unenthusiastic review might keep Fenix from sending me more lights, but I have a new headlamp on the way for review already.

I’m publishing three reviews probably tomorrow, and one of them will warn users that the light in question might burn their house down and unequivocally recommend a competing product (incidentally, one of the other three reviews).

There are a lot of good reviewers in the community who don’t pay for what they review. If somebody has a history, you can usually figure out if they’re fair by looking at the negative things they have to say about lights. One thing to be aware of though is that reviewers often request specific lights and usually pick things they expect to like. I’m usually not wrong when I expect to like something.

zak.wilson wrote:

All of my full reviews are of lights provided by manufacturers or dealers free of charge

I AM saying that Vendors intentionally offer multiple reviewers free samples in order to get multiple “reviews” to appear on the board. That is why we see what is essentially SPAM (Marketing Blitz), when more than one review appears, often at the same time, for the same product.

I think reviews of free samples should go into the Commercial Forum, to stop the Vendors from gaming the system to bypass the Commercial Forum. I always use the “not commercial” link at the top of the BLF page. It does not work to eliminate multiple “reviews”.

I put “review” in quotes because I consider them Commercial SPAM, when there is more than one “review” due to multiple free samples.

^^^

A good example I think is Sofirn. I’m not against Sofirn, but it was very noticeable the last couple of days that there are a lot of (objective) reviews of Sofirn lights. Obviously, this will increase brand exposure thus sales; hence this can be seen as a form of advertising. And this seems to be a legit construction to advertise outside the commercial section. I think this is what jon_slider is referring to. This is just an observation from my side.

hIKARInoob wrote:

there are a lot of (objective) review

It is the Vendor, not the “reviewer”, that is causing multiple posts (SPAM) about the same light. I think “reviewers” of free lights should post to the SAME thread, IF there is already a “review”.

That way we won’t have to see all the same MFG info and photos, over and over, and the “reviewers” can focus on posting their own ORIGINAL material based on their own tests. I DO value Original material from “reviewers” of free samples.

I have always wondered how do people get all these lights for free, are there lists to sign up to, do they ask directly or get asked?
I have offered a couple of times and never heard back, I think they fear what I would do to their product

CRX wrote:

I have always wondered how do people get all these lights for free

One of the easiest ways to create a “review” to promote yourself to a Vendor, is to use a YouTube Video. Some “reviewers” just post a link to their Video, which forces you to watch the whole thing to find any original material. Often Video “reviews” have even less original material than written “reviews”.

Vendors like video “reviews”, I do not.

Yeah, watched a lot, mostly clueless people turning the light on and off and yappin although some do a really good job even stripping the light down etc but they’re rare.

I never watch video reviews. I’d far rather have a well-written article with photos and runtime graphs that I can read through at my own pace. I really don’t understand why vendors are so fixated on videos.

hIKARInoob wrote:

A good example I think is Sofirn. I’m not against Sofirn, but it was very noticeable the last couple of days that there are a lot of (objective) reviews of Sofirn lights. Obviously, this will increase brand exposure thus sales; hence this can be seen as a form of advertising. And this seems to be a legit construction to advertise outside the commercial section. I think this is what jon_slider is referring to. This is just an observation from my side.

Wellp, as one who just posted a long-overdue review of a free(ish) Sofirn light, I can both understand where youse are coming from, but something you don’t see is the behind-the-scenes PMing that goes on. Lots of it is advice or suggestions at what BLFers would like, and in the other direction hints as to what’s coming down the ‘pike.

Most of the lights I repeatedly recommend (RJ02, DV-S9) like a broken record, I paid full price for. Others, same, but for use as hosts (‘502B, F13). Freebies, I give honest reviews, including shortcomings and things that just bug me. But how else to improve next iterations of a light, without directed feedback?

One light, I pointed out how I thought (and still think) it was hands-down the best thought-out light I’ve ever come across, yet the horrible green-tinted beam was hideous. No idea if I’ll ever get a for-review freebie from that brand, but I told it like it was.

Me personally, I like reading reviews. Doesn’t matter to me if it was paid for or supplied for free, as long as the review’s honest. Most of the reviews I’ve seen here, of freebies, have been just that.

So? I don’t mind. Especially if I can answer “yes” to the question “Would I want to know this before I’d buy that light?”.

jon_slider wrote:

That way we won’t have to see all the same MFG info and photos, over and over…

Yeah, that grates. Hate c&p jobs from the mfr site. pix and text.

CRX wrote:

I have always wondered how do people get all these lights for free, are there lists to sign up to, do they ask directly or get asked?

My first was after seriously grexing about a horrible green beam, I got asked if I’d want to try a different CT and see if it’s any better.

Another, a mfr posted a thread here looking for volunteers to review lights. I said “Sure!”. And kinda like giving a loaded gun to a drunk monkey, they sent me a light to review.

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).

zanflare has a shill feeling bike light thread in non commercial.

looks like there in cahoots with huntking to me.

CRX wrote:

I have always wondered how do people get all these lights for free, are there lists to sign up to, do they ask directly or get asked?
I have offered a couple of times and never heard back, I think they fear what I would do to their product

spinynorman wrote:

You reviewing some of the lights that come through this place would be like having Mozart review a Miley Cyrus album.

“It needs more cowbell…”

Add ‘genstattu’ to the list.

3 different people in recent weeks here only to post references to this brand.

dentrangtrihanoi.vn = spammer