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

[MascaratumB]

@Lux-Perpetua

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. :-

Thank for this information Lux-Perpetua! Some points seem similar to the original ideia in this one, while some others are not.
It seems that in those experiences the brands/sellers still “got” more than the reviewers, even with the discounts :zipper_mouth_face:

Unless a significant “prize” is given it will always seem that people is working for “nothing”, or at least nothing that can be “owned”.

I can see clearer now that will be difficult to implement these experiences in this community, due to the costs/time involved, due to the international nature of the forum, due to the perception of the “hobby”, due to our “budget” nature.

@clemence

• Paid single one on one review is better for both parties but can be somewhat questionably. Truly depends on reviewer’s reputation and honesty.

- Unpaid review is the most honest but randomly happens. Could benefit more for the customer and the community than the manufacturer. Either boom or doom the sales.

• Gangbang pass around review is somewhere in between and not really benefit both.

[Clemence]

Eheh, your description of how this pass-around could be seen made me laugh!

Ultimately, if the experience (not the flashlight) didn’t work well or smoothly, it might influence how the review would be done, I believe. Neither us nor the brands would benefit from it!

Let’s see how this will “end”!