As some of you were talking about passaround reviews before...

On TLF passaround reviews are quite common, especially with high cost flashlights like Acebeam W30, K75 or Imalent MS18 to name some examples.

It usually works like this:

  • Typically a German distributor (e.g. Stewitsch/Gatzetec) provides a flashlight free of charge to the TLF to be passed around.
  • The given flashlight is usually property of one of the moderators already or at least is meant to become the property of one of the moderators after the passaround.
  • Members with a certain membership term or a certain count of "thank you" points are eligible to join the passaround.
  • Every participant has 2-3 days to evaluate and test the flashlight. Afterwards it has to be forwarded to the next participant.
  • Costs for shipping are sometimes refunded by the passaround organizer.
  • Every participant is at least encouraged to report about the impressions (full review, plain text or pictures, video, ...).

While this enables the maufacturer/retailer to gain a lot of concentrated feedback it somehow feels (at least to myself) a bit like a raw deal to those many reviewers who did all the work. Eventually, they gained nothing in return except for a short glance onto the flashlight for a minor investment in shipping costs. Some retailers like Stewitsch have at least dealt with this situation by providing an extra discount for all participants who like to buy the flashlight afterwards. Still, after asking for single reviews I get the impression that single reviews are subject to diminish in return for (more effective and less costy) passaround reviews. :-(