Jomas

Ok so blaming your equipment shows poor form.

But some boards, bindings boots googles and other gear are shite. Badly made, overpriced or not functional.

So how come I never (hardly ever) see a gear report that says so? Everyone is stoked with their gear, and I am glad they are, but where can we find info on the gear to watch out for?

Its obvious that the gear review websites are biased or at the very least, very careful in picking their words but we need to see more objectivity in reviews.

Take the good boys at Top Gear (UK edition) - they are brutally honest in their reviews, and people can truly use them for reference. We need that in our sports too...

CheeseForSteeze

Because most reviewers are corrupted by conflict of interest. Most of them get free stuff by giving out generous reviews or at least not completely accurate reviews; mentioning or over-emphasizing any positive qualities and omitting negative aspects.

mani

You are on a forum for snowboarding, which for the most part means people are really into the sport and do research. They are not going to buy the POS stuff for the most part. Look at the reviews, for the most part it is all high end equipment, very few entry level or garbage brands.

And there is the factor that someone either spent their money or someone gave them the product so the review process will be biased to some extent with some reviewers.

david_z

Two separate considerations... one is the 'review' posted by Average Joe Snowboarder. The other is reviews published by "professionals".

The average dude snowboarding gets his new board and is just psyched he's got a new board and he's going to go out and ride the fuck out of it and have fun, unless it's a total lemon. It is a form of cognitive bias like post-purchase rationalization, basically the opposite of buyer's remorse. In my day job doing market research on the automotive industry we see the same thing when we analyze customer satisfaction with recent vehicle purchases. Customer presumably liked it enough after the test drive or whatever, to spend a bunch of $$$ on it and until/unless something goes wrong, their sentiment isn't likely to change very much especially in the first few months of use. Not only that, but they will go out of their way to subconsciously rationalize any perceived negatives, in order to not feel that nasty buyer's remorse feeling.

This guy only rides 10 or so days a year. Most people don't ride 30 or 50 or 100 days a year. As a result, he's simply not going to notice the little nuances of a board that someone with more experience might notice and dislike. And even if there are little things he doesn't like, he probably is going to try and suppress that feeling anyways.

So, when you're reading the "I just bought my new AWESOME-O SNOWBOARD and I f*ckin' love it!" thread on this forum or somewhere else, it's gonna be really, really, really rare that you find one where the person is dissatisfied with their recent purchase.

Now about the "professional" reviewers... There are relatively few people who score tons of free product for reviews. Yes, it happens and Leo & I have gotten some of these but they're few and far between. This is not to say that bias or conflict of interest doesn't exist at all. It certainly does. The big magazines buyer's guides are essentially paid advertorials. And there are sites out there and I won't mention any names but it's like every board they ride is the best board in the world. If you get that impression from a review site, that's your cue to ignore their data as unreliable.

Angry Snowboarder isn't afraid to say something sucks and is what I would call "brutally honest". He also knows his shit as good or better than any review site out there. Leo & I aren't afraid to talk about aspects that we don't like, although we may not be as salty about the negatives. Personally, when I strap in to review a board I'm not necessarily riding it for me. Some boards out there that I didn't personally like, but that doesn't mean they're not the right board for someone else, so Leo & I try not to put our own opinion/bias in to the reviews.

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CheeseForSteeze

We're also not talking about reviews on this message board, we're talking about reviews done by gear websites. The conflict of interest exists because these gear websites get their gear to review FREE from the manufacturer.

My primary source of information when it comes to figuring out which gear I like or don't like is based on firsthand experience: go demo it. Then I use BA's site, aGNARchy, All Black though he doesn't do reviews any more and a few select others who's personal character I at least know to a degree well enough to read between the lines and extract the information I need. For example, Nivek finds the Arbor Draft too noodly; I think it's a great park cruiser but just needs a shade more beef.

We all have different things that we look for in boards and you have to take the time to read into the review (or don't read into too much, as the case my be) to extract the useful info that will help you.

Donutz

Although formal reviews might tend to be positive, if you're just looking for users' opinions on stuff I think you'll find a lot of negative comments as well. People might not say "it's a POS" but they might say "I wish it had more pop". Just need to read between the lines -- faint praise can be as good as a criticism.

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Illegitimi non carborundum

Mountain Days: 30

sabatoa

I've been waiting for the day you guys review a real piece of crap.

Wanna review my Lamar Legend? It's the board I'm taking with me when we're at Misfits (don't want to mess up my NS Legacy on the fake snow)

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'12 NS Legacy 163
Days on snow 2012/2013 season:

• Boyne Highlands: 5
• Boyne Mtn: 1
• Shanty Creek: 1
• Crystal Mountain: 1
• Pine Knob: 1
• Mt Holly: 4
• Hawk Island: 1
• Cannonsburg: 0

End of Season: 01/12/2013

mixie

While a lot of reviews never have anything negative to say about the product for political reasons, it is often easy to read between the lines.



I read a lot of shayboarder reviews because her and I are about the same size and wear the same size boot. And until recently we even rode at the same home mtn. (I actually seen her on the mtn , recognized her and said hi!. She's cool)

anyway, she never has anything overly negative to say. But you can infer a products negative features or aspects if you read closely.


She often gushes about products she LOVES. So, to me, unless a review is glowing with praise I take it with a grain of salt. Also, I know what I want and what I like so I am able to weed thru info to see if the gear shines at the features *I* care about.



But.... I gotta say. DEMO DEMO DEMO. I read probably 100 board reviews, really. Then I narrowed it down to 3 to demo and you know what?



My interpretation of how the board rode was often different from reviews. It helps narrow down selection but nothing beats demoing yer gear. It's really, REALLY worth he extra $ IMHO.


oh, but I ride over 50 days a year so I guess I fall out side the norm? Also, I demoed the GNU B Pro. HATED it. If you like I will write up a negative review but that was more due to it not being the kind of board I wanted and it was not the best board for the conditions I demoed it in.

BurtonAvenger

This thread is just full of win.

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Angry Snowboarder Because someone has to call it how they see it!

david_z

you're full of win.

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