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Can you trust reviews?

Strelok

Strelok

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 6, 2017
1,471
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United States
I'm just wondering what everyone's opinions are on trusting reviewers and which ones sources you find the most reliable? The reason I am asking is because I've come to realize a lot of YouTube reviewers are unreliable. I only went to them since it is nice to see the product in action, something most written reviews cannot portray. I bought a Logitech G703 on Black Friday since all the reviews raved about it, yet it has an unfixed bug with the scroll wheel. Nowhere is this mentioned in any of the reviews, yet it seems like the issue has cropped up in quite a few threads. None of these showed up when I researched the mouse either.

Again, part of this is just me ranting, but I'm wondering if others have had better success with reviews lately.
 
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Starship67 said:
Personally I don’t. I try for things for myself.
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That's fine but the inherent limitation with this approach is that it's impossible to try everything yourself, whether it be restaurants, movies, PC motherboards, wristwatches, hotels, whatever. So you might miss out on something great and/or you might avoid something horrid.

People have been giving reviews before the dawn of civilization: "that fishing hole sucks, this one over here is much better." And whom do you listen to? Following your approach, you set out on your own to find that excellent fishing hole. Do you find? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. And on the days of the latter, perhaps you return to your family with no fish, while someone else brings back all he can carry.

In order to get the most out of reviews, each person must make some sort of analysis on the worthiness of the people giving their various reviews. Am I going to ask mom for an analysis of yesterday's ballgame? No, probably not. But if she went to a fancy restaurant for dinner, yes, I would probably listen to how she felt about the place.

Without a doubt, there are good technology reviewers and bad ones.

It is up to the individual to assess the expertise, knowledge, communication skills, and impartiality of anyone giving a review.

To summarize, it depends.
 
I trust Amazon reviews IF (yuge *IF*) it has well over a thousand reviews. I don't trust anything with under 20 reviews and few verified purchases. Too high probabilities of shrills in such a small sample size. In short, the more reviewers, the better the sample size, the more accurate the review. Still, I grant greater weight to the negative reviews, if most of them say the same thing.
I take all those "professional" reviews (Tech sites) with a grain of salt. I don't care how knowledgeable the reviewer claims to be, it's still their opinion. I trust the hive mind reviews of thousands of end users.
 
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Bart Kela said:
That's fine but the inherent limitation with this approach is that it's impossible to try everything yourself, whether it be restaurants, movies, PC motherboards, wristwatches, hotels, whatever. So you might miss out on something great and/or you might avoid something horrid.

People have been giving reviews before the dawn of civilization: "that fishing hole sucks, this one over here is much better." And whom do you listen to? Following your approach, you set out on your own to find that excellent fishing hole. Do you find? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. And on the days of the latter, perhaps you return to your family with no fish, while someone else brings back all he can carry.

In order to get the most out of reviews, each person must make some sort of analysis on the worthiness of the people giving their various reviews. Am I going to ask mom for an analysis of yesterday's ballgame? No, probably not. But if she went to a fancy restaurant for dinner, yes, I would probably listen to how she felt about the place.

Without a doubt, there are good technology reviewers and bad ones.

It is up to the individual to assess the expertise, knowledge, communication skills, and impartiality of anyone giving a review.

To summarize, it depends.
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Its worked for me for many years so I stick to it.
 
Bart Kela said:
To summarize, it depends
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I agree.

The best method is finding a reviewer that you can trust, but of course this still is 100% accurate and there is probably a low chance of finding a trusted reviewer for ever product that you are looking into.

Even when reviewers are trying to objective and honest, there are always aspects of a product that are prioritized over other aspects. What is important to the reviewer, may not be important to you, and vice versa.

For example, car reviews. A total/final rating of a car is so subjective, that even if most of the things being evaluated was done so in an objective way, how these things are weighted is very subjective.

Many car reviewers give fuel economy, a characteristic that could be objectively measured, a very heavy weight when compared to other criteria such as performance, price, reliability, and others.

About reviews were it appears that the reviewer are being paid/dishonest, I think it happens often. Unless I trust the reviewer, I usually don't put too much faith in reviews were the person reviewing is sponsored by the company of the product.
 
I use some review sources, I don't mind some objective product overview, general feature reviews, etc., but when it gets too far into the subjective weeds, I generally just try to check out the product myself (obv. when this is an option).

One thing I do use reviews for - and this is exactly aligned with the OPs issue - to see if there's any kind of recurring issue. Like @Mousse pointed out, a large number of reviews give you a pretty decent sample, and just a light read through will generally highlight if there's some chronic complaint. I just did this with a Christmas present, was shopping the Yoga 720 15.6" machines, and saw user/owner review and after review indicating the 4K panels have ongoing issues. Combined with some "pro" review sites saying the HD panel was superb, it steered to that option as the purchase.
 
Strelok said:
...The reason I am asking is because I've come to realize a lot of YouTube reviewers are unreliable. I only went to them since it is nice to see the product in action, something most written reviews cannot portray....
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Agree with both your points above.

Last week, after suffering some incredibly vacuous Youtube reviews/reviewers, I found it was better to scrub through the videos with the sound off so I could just see the product in motion. Saved a lot of time.
 
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Arran said:
Agree with both your points above.

Last week, after suffering some incredibly vacuous Youtube reviews/reviewers, I found it was better to scrub through the videos with the sound off so I could just see the product in motion. Saved a lot of time.
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Sometimes, the problem is to be prepared to accept information (from a review) that your - preconception, or predisposition - in other words, you want - desire - tell yourself you need - this product and you wish to be told reasons why it is a good idea to buy it - do not wish to hear Confirmation bias, and all that.

One of the things I gave done (over the years) is build up quite good rapports with the individuals who sell me expensive electronics, such as Apple computers; after a while, they will usually advise you objectively; though, whether you take this advice or not, is another matter entirely.
 
Mousse said:
I trust Amazon reviews IF (yuge *IF*) it has well over a thousand reviews. I don't trust anything with under 20 reviews and few verified purchases. Too high probabilities of shrills in such a small sample size. In short, the more reviewers, the better the sample size, the more accurate the review. Still, I grant greater weight to the negative reviews, if most of them say the same thing.
I take all those "professional" reviews (Tech sites) with a grain of salt. I don't care how knowledgeable the reviewer claims to be, it's still their opinion. I trust the hive mind reviews of thousands of end users.
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this post reflects my views some (its in the arithmetic):
-trust negative more than the positive reviews
-either way hard to fake a big number of reviews over a short period of time. A product that has been in the market for a year or more could easily have 1,000 paid for reviews, both positive and negative).
 
If I need pertinent information and background about a Mac product, I use MR. For other products, I use various sources. Bottom line is I do my own homework and don't allow anyone else to do my thinking for me. Reviews are a tool. The problem is too many people use reviews as the end all be all, because (often times) they are too lazy to do their own legwork.
 
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Strelok said:
I'm just wondering what everyone's opinions are on trusting reviewers and which ones sources you find the most reliable?
Click to expand...

You're actually asking a MUCH BROADER question. You're really asking, "Can I believe what another person says ?" And, you know the answer to that, which (always) is, "Take it with a pinch of salt."

When it comes specifically to reviews, there will always be many variables in the equation that determine how much a review is relevant to you. Things like product usage scenarios, personal preferences, how tech savvy the reviewer is, how ignorant or intelligent the reviewer is, etc.

So, my approach, when reading reviews for anything, is ...
- Read a few positive reviews
- Read a few negative reviews
- Read a few neutral reviews
- Throw in some salt
- Throw in some sugar
- Take a leap of faith (or not)
 
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For me, I read them in depth. If they seem to generalized, I tend to be a bit leery. Most that I've seen have more specific details to the review of the product.
 
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AustinIllini said:
iMore is extremely biased when it comes to all Apple reviews. For accessories that a non-Apple, have at it, but anything with the fruit on the back gets a great review from iMore.
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I used to be an ambassador over there. They will delete negative reviews and comments with zero explanations given.
 
Trusting anything 100% is a poor strategy in life but I find many reviews helpful.
 
Yes. I'm at a point where I can figure out if a review is valid criticism or someone who got their knickers in a twist because the product didn't bend over backward for them. I typically check several review sites and blog posts on a potential purchase I'm unsure about. Some brands are an automatic buy for me because they've never failed me and they rarely produce a bad product.
 
Zenithal said:
Yes. I'm at a point where I can figure out if a review is valid criticism or someone who got their knickers in a twist because the product didn't bend over backward for them. I typically check several review sites and blog posts on a potential purchase I'm unsure about. Some brands are an automatic buy for me because they've never failed me and they rarely produce a bad product.
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Yes, the three variables are yourself (can you red the review objectively), the product (and, as @Zenithal says, the brand - some brands will have the reputation of delivering a good product) and the source; if it is a respected publication, with a respected and knowledgeable writer, I will pay heed, especially if that writer then pens a negative review.
 
I've done reviews for a lot of sites for a lot of years. If the product was total garbage or something I just couldn't find anything nice to say about - I refused to write the review, and explained that to the manufacturer. Most memorable was the Padcaster. I could not justify the price for the use and the amount of space it would wind up taking, compared to a DSLR. Still can't.
 
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Strelok said:
I'm just wondering what everyone's opinions are on trusting reviewers and which ones sources you find the most reliable? The reason I am asking is because I've come to realize a lot of YouTube reviewers are unreliable. I only went to them since it is nice to see the product in action, something most written reviews cannot portray. I bought a Logitech G703 on Black Friday since all the reviews raved about it, yet it has an unfixed bug with the scroll wheel. Nowhere is this mentioned in any of the reviews, yet it seems like the issue has cropped up in quite a few threads. None of these showed up when I researched the mouse either.

Again, part of this is just me ranting, but I'm wondering if others have had better success with reviews lately.
Click to expand...
It’s very possible the reviewer did not experience this bug. I consider reviews to be a source of info, but not always conclusive. When I purchase on Amazon, besides other places, I read the user reviews (not implying you did not), but even with those, the complaints don’t always paint an accurate portrait. You’ll always find someone who hates a product. And it’s possible a fault is being experienced by many customers, then I get concerned.
 
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