Do knife reviews have any real value? (video)

A knife review is, at best, only as good as the reviewer.




Big Mike
 
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as advertising for the brand used, yes. Like wearing brand logos on your t-shirts etc.
 
That's not a review. That's another waste of time by someone posting pictures of pristine & unused knives. Just as useful as "reviews" made by some kid who videos himself opening a package with a knife inside. We can already go online and find pictures of every knife being offered for sale without having to hear someone droning on-and-on in the background.

A real review would show someone actually using the knife and showing the capabilities of the knife. It'd be a better "review" if it included vids of how easily the knife is sharpened afterwards.
 
"You can get a pretty good idea based off of the data and experience of using knives similarly in the past."

Really? You can generally draw reasonably accurate generalizations based off of past experience with similar products? I completely agree. So why would I need someone else to do that for me?

Use it for a couple of weeks or a month, learn the little quirks, the ins and outs, and then get back to your audience. I'm not interested in hearing the obvious; I can figure that out for myself. I want to know the little stuff that you can only find out after having and using it for a while; that's what generally makes the difference between a "does the job" and something I'd actually want to carry.

Also - video cameras. Great, wonderful invention. But if you're just going to talk for ten minutes, please just type up a concise and cogent review and maybe have a short accompanying video clip. I'd much rather read a properly constructed article and watch a two-minute video that focuses on things actually moving - you know, the whole "motion picture" idea.
 
Big Mike said:
A knife review is, at best, only as good as the reviewer.




Big Mike
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CWL said:
That's not a review. That's another waste of time by someone posting pictures of pristine & unused knives. Just as useful as "reviews" made by some kid who videos himself opening a package with a knife inside. We can already go online and find pictures of every knife being offered for sale without having to hear someone droning on-and-on in the background.

A real review would show someone actually using the knife and showing the capabilities of the knife. It'd be a better "review" if it included vids of how easily the knife is sharpened afterwards.
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Big +1's. Knife reviews are subjective, and most are overloaded with the biased opinions of the reviewer. It isnt until you carry and use a knife for sometime before you really have a understanding of its strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly if you are even going to like it or not.
 
I think the important part is to hear the bad parts of a knife. :) I think that goes for reviews about everything. "Looks good but what bad features are there lurking that I will have to cope with?"
 
How about not calling it a "review" in the first place? Call it a first impressions or an unboxing or an overview. A movie reviewer doesn't review a movie by looking at the movie's poster, nor should a "knife reviewer" review a knife by opening the box and going "wow, awesome knife, good lockout, stout clip, feels nice." Those are fine and they are a nice way to judge a knife you might be on the fence about buying, but don't call them a review.

And this isn't about the OP, but some knife reviewers call their new knife an EDC instead of a knife. It's a knife. I don't call my car my EDD.
 
They can help a lot if you live in an area that dosent have a good local knife store. I live in Denver so I have the Spyderco factory and a couple of Benchmade dealers and I think that's about it. So other brands can be hard to really get a feel of. That's where the reviews come into play for me.
 
tonystl said:

How about not calling it a "review" in the first place?

Call it a first impressions or an unboxing or an overview.

A movie reviewer doesn't review a movie by looking at the movie's poster, nor should a "knife reviewer" review a knife by opening the box and going "wow, awesome knife, good lockout, stout clip, feels nice." Those are fine and they are a nice way to judge a knife you might be on the fence about buying, but don't call them a review.
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I agree, I would find them less offensive if they were not being touted as reviews.





Big Mike
 
Good video. First impressions and in hand shots are about the only thing I'm interested in. Certainly does no good for me to hear someone say "I cut some stuff with it, it eventually dulled a little, I sharpened it, then I cut some more stuff, and I didn't get any blisters using it over the last month." That covered pretty much every positive knife review ever, just without the pictures of cut up stuff that needs to go in the trash or fire. Just let me know how well it is put together and if there are any hot spots found. The first day of cutting is going to be like the thousandth day of cutting. The only long term thing I would be interested in is breakage/failure, and it doesn't take a long winded review full of pictures of pieces of paper and kindling to tell me "nope, it didn't break."
 
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