How much trust do you put into product reviews and ratings?

[caver]

There are browser extensions that analyze reviews for like bezo's junk store. It's on my old computer so can't recall the name on the one I use. If the person uploads a picture I pay attention. They are bitter enough to show you what broke or shortcomings. They also can show you how well it works.

 

[Torvy]

Reviews have to be read closely. Some can be valuable, but you need to wade through the clueless and the paid endorsements. Many times the complaints show the ignorance or bias of the writer, too. A minor problem gets one star, etc. I look for trends in the comments. Anecdotal evidence is not all that helpful. I also lean toward those with a higher volume of reviews. I don't trust the opinion of anyone on you tube. They are either getting paid or lying about getting paid. Some seem more honest than others, but bias abounds. How-to videos are fine but the more they shill products, the less I tune in. I really dislike the ones who are selling merchandise and effectively make a living from it. They are often less knowledgeable than the average poster here, but get paid to make the videos, shill products and sell merchandise. It's like asking the JD salesman who makes the best plow. Smh.

I am no tree hugger, but for small equipment, echo makes awesome cordless tools. 58v powers through a lot of work. I have the chainsaw and weed wacker that use the same battery. That weed wacker is stout. I rarely even need to use the higher power setting or full trigger pull. The battery is heavier than some, but not too bad. I haven't tried the pole saw, but the chainsaw is a beast. It is every bit as fast and powerful as the similarity sized gas model (I used to have an echo gas model). Did just lose a cell on one of the batteries. We've had it for years, so not entirely unexpected. I cut down a large hardwood (ash, I believe) tree with it. 24" diameter trunk with 16" bar. It took some time because I of the bar size. I cut up the whole thing with that little saw. Anyone who says it is slow either hasn't used one or hasn't compared it to the same sized gas model. The gas model definitely sounds like it is doing more work, but that is an illusion.

 

[Dwellonroof]

I get asked to review items before the item even arrive!! so saying that I wish people would wait and actually use the item for some time (maybe a year) before they do a review
The retailers know the sooner it gets reviewed the better the review will be that is why they ask so soon for it.

 

[mikester]

I've noticed that many amazon reviews are identical for different products even different brands.

My favourite reviews are "I give this 5 stars. I've never taken it out of the box but it looks real good quality." as well as "I give this product 1 stars because it wasn't delivered by the next day."

 

[2manyrocks]

Slightly off topic on my on topic, but sometimes I search for something on Amazon and it seems like no matter what terms I put in, the results are skewed to what Amazon wants me to see instead of what I'm looking for.

 

[Yander]

I hate it when people give one star because of shipping. It skews the product review.

I find tire reviews to be someone accurate. I usually go to tire rack and read reviews.

I trust those reviews over what a tire salesman tries to sell me

 

[Straightgrain3016]

Reviews have zero value to me if the reviewer is an inside spammer or if the reviewer cannot separate his or her emotions from the product; save the buyer's remorse or shipping nightmares for the bartender...

 

[deserteagle71]

I get asked to review items before the item even arrive!! so saying that I wish people would wait and actually use the item for some time (maybe a year) before they do a review
The retailers know the sooner it gets reviewed the better the review will be that is why they ask so soon for it.

^This!

Made a bunch of purchases in the past couple months and in every case I immediately get an email asking me to review the product. My response every time is...check back with me in a year or so, after I've had time to use this thing for a while!

 

[2manyrocks]

One tree service that gave me a quote last year emailed me a request for a review and I hadn't even hired them to do the work.

The guy who got the job and did an excellent job never asked me for anything.

 

[Oaktree]

I don't trust the opinion of anyone on you tube. They are either getting paid or lying about getting paid. Some seem more honest than others, but bias abounds. How-to videos are fine but the more they shill products, the less I tune in. I really dislike the ones who are selling merchandise and effectively make a living from it. They are often less knowledgeable than the average poster here, but get paid to make the videos, shill products and sell merchandise. It's like asking the JD salesman who makes the best plow. Smh.

I am no tree hugger, but for small equipment, echo makes awesome cordless tools.

Agree on Youtube reviews for the very reasons you mention, plus, I'd rather READ a review than sit thru a video. I can skim thru a written review and get to the meat of it without listening to someone blathering on and on about stuff I don't care about.

Don't have any Echo cordless tools, but have had very good experiences with their gas ones.