Rating Fishing Equipment

[bigbill]

How do you look into the ratings on new fishing equipment before you purchase it?

Do you trust the ratings?

Is there any place besides "tackletour" to read the ratings?

[mkfriedrich]

You can find great  reviews on Tackle Wharehouse. I do somewhat trust the ratings to a certain extent. However everybody is different. If its a rod or reel im purchasing, I have to see it first hand. Baits and other tackle I just go by word of mouth. 

[slonezp]

I'm brand loyal.

[tomustang]

Websites, forums, and stores have reviews. It's the buyers job to read through all the reviews and make a decisive decision to buy for your needs.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

IMO 90% of the reviews I see on shopping sites are nonsense. Tackle Tour, I check but take with a grain of salt. I put the most emphasis on feedback from members here. At the end of the day a certain amount of trial and error is necessary and to me, is part of the fishing experience.

[J Francho]

 

Pretty much any review or rating is opinion.

[DirtyDeuceGoose]

That's very true. Hard to come by an unbiased anything these days

[J Francho]

It's funny, about the only unbiased part of a rod review on TT is their rod rack thing.  Here's the catch, I can't tell for the life of me what that graph is telling me - and I deal with statistics for a living, lol.  Luckily, with a little bit of training, and watching threads for common issues, it's pretty easy to find a good peice of tackle for a reasonable price.  At around $100 for a rod, and $150 for a reel, you aren't generally going to get ripped off.  Most of the gear at that price is pretty solid.

[SirSnookalot]

On 11/5/2013 at 10:43 AM, J Francho said:

Pretty much any review or rating is opinion.

True.

 

The only review and rating I read is Alan Hawk.  The most comprehensive reviews I have ever read, each review comes with a bevy of photos doing a complete teardown.  Each reel is also fished with as well before the review is posted.  It's only saltwater spinning reels.

 

[fishguy613]

I check tackle warehouse reviews, bass pro shops reviews, ask for opinions on bass resource and read others experiences with the products.

[papajoe222]

I look at reviews by people that have purchased and used an item, but not for positive reviews or opinions.  I look for negative reviews and if I see more than one on the same topic, I'll shy away or determine if that particular negative would be applicable to how I'd be using the item.

[Marty]

I look at reviews, but don't take most of them seriously. For example, user reviews on lures. If they say something like "this lure is great, I caught four nice ones the first time I used it", that's meaningless to me because all lures catch fish. On the other hand, if a number of reviewers say something like the lip breaks off, then I take that more seriously.

 

I haven't looked at Tackle Tour in quite some time, but back in the days when I checked it out occasionally, I wondered if there ever was a sub-standard fishing product.

[SirSnookalot]

Users reviews on new equipment do not sway me one way or the other.  The only user reviews that are worth anything to me are the ones where the gear has been in service for an extended period of time, fished hard and in all types of weather conditions.  I may pay more attention to a review from an expert, as a rule they catch more a bigger fish than I do.  

[Sam]

Pretty much any review or rating is opinion.

 

Yes, J is 100% correct.

 

You have to be careful about ratings. The company illustrating the ratings may be trying to sell the product so they are biased.

 

There is a show on WFN Saturday mornings that compare rods, reels and lines in an objective and impartial manner. I would believe what these guys say about the products being tested than any testimonials from a manufacturer or retailer.

 

I am sure the Banjo Minnow web site will proclaim the Banjo Minnow is all you need to catch 20-pound bass. I think we all know about the Banjo Minnow.

[Bankbeater]

I look for reviews from people that have used the product.  Then I start looking to see if people are having the same problem or a bunch of different problems.  You can tell pretty quick when a person has an actual gripe with something, or whether they are just venting because the product hasn't led up to THEIR expectations.

[RAMBLER]

I read reviews but I don't know why.  They very rarely affect my buying.  Some of the reviews are written so poorly, I don't take much stock in what they say.

I get a kick out of the ones that say they haven't even used the product, yet, but it sure looks nice.

I am somewhat brand loyal and that usually works good enough for me.

[CPBassFishing]

Pretty much any review or rating is opinion.

can you imagine how boring purely factual reviews would be?

[KyakR]

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the iCast conventions! Some of these meetings are about the development of sales strategies based on fishermen's behavior, regional preferences, etc. The expertise that goes into marketing gear is enormous. People's livelihoods depend on it! My guess is that many reviews are just accurate enough when given by a pro.......these companies want their lure to work, and I think they invest lots of time and effort generally. But in the hands of a KVD a tablespoon would catch fish! I think only time and many, many casts under different conditions and different anglers is what matters.

Even so, I love to read reviews and am a sucker for something shiny