Fixing the bias in boat reviews
Printed From: ProfessorPaddle.com
Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13028
Printed Date: 04 May 2024 at 1:08am
Topic: Fixing the bias in boat reviews
Posted By: davidspiegel
Subject: Fixing the bias in boat reviews
Date Posted: 15 Apr 2013 at 10:53am
Hey all-
I wasn't sure which forum to put this in, so feel free to move it around if needed.
So here's the thing... For years, I've been annoyed with how biased the "reviews" are in the boating world. Pretty much every review of a product is done by a sponsored athlete. I always think.... well of course they like it, they got it for free.
For those of us who pay for boats, drysuits, paddles, etc, these are big decisions. I've been frustrated by the impossibility of finding real information about the boats I want to buy unless I go try them myself.
So, a few other boaters and I have teamed up with a well known gear review site, Blister Gear Review to bring you a new source for in depth paddling reviews that are all written by unsponsored paddlers.
We released our first review today, a review of the time tested Dagger Nomad 8.5. Does it still measure up when compared to new designs like the Stomper, Shiva, and Recon?
Give it a read and let me know what we can do to give you guys the best boat and gear reviews on the planet so that we can all make the right decision when we decide to drop big bucks on a shiny new piece of plastic.
Coming soon are in depth reviews of the Stomper 90, Rock Star M, and more.
David
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Replies:
Posted By: mokelumnekid
Date Posted: 15 Apr 2013 at 1:16pm
Thanks Dave and good luck with this endeavor. I hope future reviews are more substantive than the one for the Nomad. It is a little slim suggesting it is a real head-to-head "...compared to new designs like the Stomper, Shiva, and Recon?"
I didn't learn anything that I couldn't have gotten off say, the CKS blog, which never reviews something it doesn't like ;-) But this is your first review and future ones may dig a little deeper.
Looking forward to the **in depth** reviews in the future
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Posted By: mikenash
Date Posted: 16 Apr 2013 at 8:36am
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Great review, Ive never paddled a Nomad but all your comparisons and explanations of performance (or lack of) in certain types of water in relation to the hull design make perfect sense and is pretty much what I would have expected of the nomad.
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Posted By: irenen
Date Posted: 16 Apr 2013 at 7:23pm
I don't know why the link to the reviews page wasn't in your first post, or at least not that I could see? I'm putting it here so it's easier to find:
http://blistergearreview.com/category/gear-reviews/paddle-sports - http://blistergearreview.com/category/gear-reviews/paddle-sports
Just read the Stomper 90 review and thought it was realistic, at least from my experience with the stuff I've boated (and swum alongside of) my Stomper 80 in. I know review sites sometimes seem like they're thumbs-upping stuff too much and obviously sometimes it's for ulterior motives, but you guys just reviewed two very good boats so it's not like there's a ton of bad stuff to say about them - I thought it was a good overall perspective. Just my two cents. :)
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It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.
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Posted By: davidspiegel
Date Posted: 16 Apr 2013 at 8:12pm
Ah, thanks irene! I tried to embed the link in the text, but clearly I messed up something. So thank you :).
Yeah, so far we've been lucky to review two pretty awesome boats. Next up will be a review of the Rock Star, which is a bit of a more of a complicated story. We aim to portray the boats as accurately as possible so, if it is a good boat (in our opinion), we will say it. If it isn't we will say that too.
mokelumnekid- I'll take those thoughts into account for sure. We will be in a better position to do more and more comparisons like that as we review more boats. Can you think of anything that I should have included in the Nomad review that wasn't in there?
Here are direct links to both reviews that we have online so far. Keep the critiques coming :)
http://blistergearreview.com/gear-reviews/liquidlogic-stomper-90 - Stomper 90
http://blistergearreview.com/gear-reviews/dagger-nomad-8-5 - Nomad 8.5
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Posted By: mokelumnekid
Date Posted: 16 Apr 2013 at 8:23pm
Agree Dave- didn't want to come off as a Donald Downer, I guess that since the Nomad is maybe the most popular (modern) creek boat ever made, it has been covered extensively.
I understand and support your motivation. For "real" reviews I have usually poked around on Boatertalk and Mountainbuzz where everyday boaters share their take on various boat features. Since most boats these days are pretty good there aren't many stinkers, just that some have features that make them a bit better than others for some aspects of boating. And of course there is the nebulous aspect of fit.
Anyway keep up the good work, the more info we all have the better!
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Posted By: fiddleyak
Date Posted: 18 Apr 2013 at 10:35am
Nice work David.
I like how you tell about who is reviewing the boat.
I agree with others that some sort of "conversation" or dialogue about the boat would be neat. People's preferences vary so much.
Most of all, though, I would love it if someone paddled 4-5 of the creekboats a lot, and then really discussed their differences, maybe created some sort of scale for different features.
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Posted By: davidspiegel
Date Posted: 18 Apr 2013 at 1:35pm
Ben- The personal preference is such a huge issue. Even though I love the Nomad and you love the Shiva (which I had mixed feelings about), we both seem to make it down the same runs just fine. So clearly, having multiple view points on each boat would be super valuable. Maybe something we can implement once we have more folks writing.
I like the last idea there too. It's easy to say that a creeker and river runner will accomplish different things, but it's the small differences between boats of the same class that make the biggest difference in a buying decision. I'd like to do a head to head of Shiva, Stomper, Nomad, and Recon. Just gotta get my hands on a Recon first.
Just posted another review.... Jackson Rock Star. It's a sweet boat for dedicated freestylers but comes with a lot of compromises.
- http://blistergearreview.com/gear-reviews/jackson-kayak-rock-star
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Posted By: chipmaney
Date Posted: 18 Apr 2013 at 4:57pm
EJ is biased, but he has a good review of the new Karma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-uUUSEftLs
I would be curious for someone to compare a view of performance relative to what EJ says the boat is supposed to do. Looks pretty similar to other new boat designs, but I like idea of the assymetric stern rocker intended to maintain landing speed. Probably reduces boofability, though.
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sitting all alone on a mountain by a river that has no end
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