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Shoutout to the guy at REI who told me my tent reviews were useless
About 8 months ago I posted a review of a 2 person tent after using it on exactly one weekend trip in July. A guy commented that my review was useless because I never mentioned wind, rain, or how it held up after a real season. I got annoyed at first, then realized he was right. Every review I had written was based on one calm weekend with perfect weather, which tells nobody anything. So I changed how I test gear. Now I take anything I plan to review on at least 4 trips across different conditions, and I take notes on my phone each night. I also stopped giving star ratings the day I get home. My last tent review waited 5 months and mentioned a seam that started leaking in heavy rain on trip 3, which is the kind of thing people actually need to know. If you write reviews, how long do you wait before you feel like you actually know a piece of gear?
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simonh741mo ago
The part about the seam leaking on trip 3 is what got me, because that's exactly the stuff you can't see in one weekend. Question though, do you keep testing past those 4 trips or does the review go up once you hit that number? I've had gear that felt solid for a whole season and then fell apart the next year, so I'm never sure where to draw the line. And when something does go wrong mid-test, do you write it up right away or wait to see if it's a one off fluke?
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