User Reviews

Wolfman Woody · Jan 18, 2005

Couldn't agree more Graham.

There's quite a few members of Fishingmagic that can string a few words together, sensibly at times even, and they must surely buy new items of tackle. Why not, therefore, write an official review as well?

Unfortunately, manufacturers don't regard FM the same as they do the magazines yet. Otherwise Graham would be inundated with tackle for reviewing.

The manufacturers are being very short sighted if you ask me. As GM has said before, this site gets over 100,000 different hits every month, more than many monthly magazines.

More importantly your monthly magazine and it's 'tackle reviews' will likely turn up next month as an egg carton in Tesco, but not on FM. When they go up here, they are here to stay, forever and can always be referenced in future by other readers.

Every time I write to a tackle shop or manufacturer I point this out. Just how long will it take them to wake up to the fact the websites are the future?

GrahamM · Jan 18, 2005

Jeff, I couldn't have put it better.

I've always been surprised that the User Review section isn't even more popular than it is. We anglers just love to talk about the gear and bait we use yet here we have one of the best resources to make our views known and yet is much less used than any of the other Magic sites.

No disrespect to golf but how can there be more reviews of golf kit than there are about fishing tackle? Can there possibly be more golf kit to review than fishing tackle. No way!

So why? Somebody tell me, I'm buggered if I can work it out.

Clikfire · Jan 18, 2005

Hello both,

just a thought, from my own point of view. I don't buy much tackle new (I am the angler kitted out by ebay), when I do it is usually from a budget brand not shimano / diawa etc. So I feel that I am already starting off with an inferior product to what you professionals use. and with that in mind I have no quality level to bench mark my own kit against.
For example my ABU g3r reel (was new), but bought off ebay. I think it is a lovely reel to use and cannot find anything to fault it for, but then i have never held or used a reel worth more than ?30, and it has never had to handle a fish over 5lbs, so my description could be miles away from reality?
So could this be the answer?

GrahamM · Jan 18, 2005

Clikfire, all you need to do is just write exactly what you found. You don't need to compare it with anything. Just by saying that you bought it second hand and are very satisfied with it, or that the handle was too big/small/stiff (or whatever comment you want to make) will help someone who is thinking of buying the same product.

If it only gives them one little nudge either way it's been a help. And the more users who give these little nudges eventually adds up to a lot of useful info.

Clikfire · Jan 18, 2005

Graham,

thanks for the edit firstly, must use a spell checker more often

I know and understand your point. I just thought that may be others felt the same as me, a bit intimidated, when it came to expressing views about your own beloved purchases, when compared to people who spend ?100's or even ?1000's on there equipment.

So really it was just a possible answer to your question of why?

Another reason, again me personally is laziness. The Internet is there with tons of information readily available, I just google and find what I need. You don't tend to think about the person or persons that created the information, you just except its there, and for free.

Its a bit of a sad admission, its been a life long problem. My teachers always used to put in my reports that "Clive does ok but could do better". I will try harder

Graham Whatmore · Jan 18, 2005

Graham, the review section is where I look first if I intend to buy something but because of the limited amount of information I usually have to resort to asking via a thread. So yes, I agree we don't make enough use of it.

Last year I bought a Harrisons Triptych but although there is no review on it at the moment I intend to rectify that just as soon as I can get enough use out of it to form an opinion.

GrahamM · Jan 18, 2005

Graham, the information is usually only limited because the anglers who own the gear haven't reviewed it in the User Review section. That you usually get the answer from the forum means the information could have been available in the UR section had they done so.

This is what surprises me, we see queries about gear so often on here and usually answered in so much depth. And yet we have a section where all this information can be stored, very easily retrieved and assimilated, and yet it's not used anywhere near as much as it could be.

And it can still be discussed on the forum right from the link by each review.

Ron 'The Hat' Clay · Jan 18, 2005

Remember one thing. The reveiws on FM are generally far more objective and accurate that those in the mags.

For instance, when did you really read a lousy review in the mags?

The press exists for advertising revenue and if a bit of kit gets a bad review it might mean the manufacturer might not advertise with that publication any more.

Matt Brown · Jan 18, 2005

Two points;

1. I don't trust user reviews because I've no idea of the experience the reviewer has. For instance, someone reviewing a ?300 pole? They may think it's better than their old pole from 6 years ago, but how many other ?300 poles have they fished with? How many ?500 poles have compared it to in order to evaluate their value for money? Generally people working for magazines get to review more stuff and therefore should have a more objective view of the market as a whole.

2. Like you say, not enough people use the user reviews on FM. This would alleviate the above problem as best it can be alleviated because more anglers equals more experience.

I'm guilty of of not filling in the User Reviews section. I shall make it a New Year's Resolution to change that.

ps. I do miss the older format that FM had two or three years ago. There seemed to be more in depth tackle reviewing going on and I used to use that information as part of my buying decision.

Frothey · Jan 18, 2005

"Generally people working for magazines get to review more stuff and therefore should have a more objective view of the market as a whole."

but who's paying their wages?

fair enough if there is only 1 review on that pole, but if their are six or seven then it will be a better cross section than the blurb you'll get in an advert....

Matt Brown · Jan 18, 2005

Frothey I aggre with both your points.

I've had 10 years in a similar industry where I got to design and test gear. I was also given stuff to keep because I influence over others. I'd like to think I was always fair and honest during that time.

We'll never know but I'd like to hope most people are honest, objective people. That includes fishing journos (even that Graham Marsden!)

Matt Brown · Jan 18, 2005

ps. (I've just added 3 user reviews!)

GrahamM · Jan 18, 2005

Matt, thanks for the reviews.

Taking the points you make:

1. As a user you don't need experience to know if you like something or not, or to know if it does the job you bought it for. Believe me, most magazine reviews, especially of poles, are done in the office. They're so expensive they have to be sent back, as new, to the manufacturer. So if you think you're getting an objective, fished with, fair comparison of poles from a magazine then you're mistaken. Yes, the people who work for some magazines do get to review more stuff, but isn't the quality of the review, rather than quantity, a more valuable thing? Give me a genuine user review anytime.

2. Some user reviews will be made by anglers with little experience, but that doesn't mean they will have no value. If the experienced anglers also review the same product then a good balance of opinion will come out of it.

Your faith in journal reviews is commendable, if not somewhat niaive. I can tell you that some tackle that gets reviewed has never come out of the wrapping.

As I've said, I'd much rather read a review from a complete novice who has actually used the gear than one from some still wet behind the ears youngster employed by a big publisher.

Matt Brown · Jan 18, 2005

Graham, I guess you're right but the opinion of an angler who has more experience is worth more than the opinion of a newcommer - all things being equal.

The person reading the user reviews doesn't know the experience of those reviewers.

I also imagine the system is open to abuse by employees of the manufacturers or distributors of the products. It's quite feasible that someone from one company could give a really bad review to a rival company without even handling the product. Likewise someone could give their own products a favourable review.

Anyway, hopefully this doesn't happen and like you say, the more review the greater the balance of opinion.

I feel like a right pessimist after typing that!

GrahamM · Jan 18, 2005

Of course you're right Matt, like any system, including a journal's editorial reviews, the FM User Review system is open to abuse. But it doesn't take a genius to recognise the dishonest reviews over a period of time.

And yes, the opinion of an experienced angler is usually more valuable than that from an inexperienced angler, if both opinions are honestly given and both have used the product for roughly the same amount of time.

You say the person reading the reviews doesn't know the experience of the reviewer. Other than a review from a known angler surely that applies to reviews no matter where you read them.

BLAM · Jan 18, 2005

I've just added five or six reviews and will get around to posting more later.

Having returned to coarse fishing after 25 years away what strikes me most (apart from the amount of carp everywhere) is how commercial the weekly and monthly magazines have become. Almost every rig diagram has a brand name somewhere and probably 2 or 3 brand names.

Reviews of kit are usually glowing and I only found out about this site (for which I'm very grateful btw!) after deciding to conduct my own research.

Obviously I've been in the market for quite a lot of new stuff -having to re-stock from scratch- and I've made some mistakes with purchases. However thanks to the reviews here at least I feel I'm getting the benefit of other peoples hard won experience.

BLAM · Jan 18, 2005

Guys, is it possible to edit a review after posting it? This feature may be available already but I couldn't see it.

My review might not carry the weight of someone with more experience but then I'm probably not buying the same sort of kit. I'm in the budget end of the market right now and I would imagine other people starting out/again oftimes tend toward more entry level stuff.

Matt Brown · Jan 18, 2005

There's a good point that Blam's just brought up. With magazine reviews their usually glowing (scared of not being sent the next bit of kit I guess) whereas FM user reviews can be more honest.

I hate to see a review of something in a mag that I know has a fault and the mag doesn't point it out.

Michael Townsend 3 · Jan 18, 2005

Good points raised here. I have yet to see a bad review of major branded products in the angling media and agree with Ron that the mags are scared of loosing advertising revinue. I personally have a look in our user review section before buying anything and have added a few reviews and new products. I hope others follow the same path because their should be a huge library of products with a range of honest opinions from anglers of all abilities and experience.

GrahamM · Jan 19, 2005

BLAM asked: "Guys, is it possible to edit a review after posting it? This feature may be available already but I couldn't see it."

You can't edit reviews once they've gone live but email me at <a href=mailto:graham@fishingmagic.com>graham@fishingmagic.com</a> and tell me what needs doing and I'll edit it for you.

Thanks to all those who have submitted reviews, it does make a great difference to the richness of the site and helps people make good decisions when buying gear.

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