Pet peeves on knife review videos?

[A.L.]

What ?

Thumbnails on youtube videos with guy mouth wide open aka soy face. Video titled vaguely like "this is the best knife I've reviewed this year" etc.

 

[jfk1110]

Anything more than 3-5 minutes is just hot air and fluff..

 

[sodak]

I refuse to watch them, it's very rare to get a good review. They take 10 min to give you 2 min of info that I could have read in 30 sec. When someone posts a review on BF but only on video, I pass it by.

 

[scorpnsnake]

I know I said that I don't really have any pet peeves for these guys. But I found one this weekend.

One of the more popular reviewers did a review on the RobJohnson Knives Cedar a year ago. He went on and on about how great Rob and Mr. Johnson had done on the design, finish, action, etc.

Here's the reality. "Robjohnsons knives are owned and made by Nicolas, the founder of the knife making company. The company is named after his great grandfather Robert and his father, also named Robert."

Though I believe his observations. How much do you really know about the product if you don't know this. And how has this video been up for a year without a correction issued?

Pet peeve identified.

 

[GrumpySoreOldBastard]

My guilty pleasure for watching YT knife revues is turning off the audio and setting the playback speed to 1.5X.
If i spy anything of interest i can rewind a little and return to default settings for sound and speed.
Mostly i'm watching for a good look at the knife unless something really jumps out. Most YT revues are from a person with little experience using the knife and very subjective as well as possibly coloured by the users desire to keep getting test knifes.
All that being said i do find the clips a useful resource for checking out knifes before purchasing.

 

[David Mary]

My guilty pleasure for watching YT knife revues is turning off the audio and setting the playback speed to 1.5X.
If i spy anything of interest i can rewind a little and return to default settings for sound and speed.

Mostly i'm watching for a good look at the knife

About the same as me often enough, also with a whole bunch of skipping. Pretty much never end up buying though, lately...

Also, FYI, the plural of moose is meese.

 

[SharpBits]

A friend clued my into the best thing on YouTube. It is the ability to watch any video at increased speed. I often crank it to 2X speed just to get thru the endless babble. Your brain will catch up and you'll have no problem understanding the speaker at 2x. Also, ad-blockers are your friend. Only unblock for those you wish to get compensated for the content.

Edit: I missed that GrumpySoreOldBastard beat me to the punch.

 

[SoDak81]

Mine is when they say "walk and talk" repeatedly.

 

[ShelterGirl]

I don't watch a ton of reviews, but if they don't disassemble the knife in the video I find a different one

 

[Tensaw]

It's funny that Metal Complex, who can be very critical of pocket clips, designs a pretty cool knife (Excaliber) except that the pocket clip is terrible.

 

[johnnytoxin]

Nothing against original Chinese designed and made knives, but when that’s all you review because you get a boatload of them for free every week I’m out.

 

[Unicorn161]

Thumbnails on youtube videos with guy mouth wide open aka soy face. Video titled vaguely like "this is the best knife I've reviewed this year" etc.

And it's February at that.

 

[l1ranger]

what if knife review videos are my pet peeve?

If I'm looking at one, I just want to see the knife and get an idea of its size, fit and finish - then I'm moving on.
I assume any opinions on the videos are either skewed b/c the got the knife for free, or skewed b/c they are trying to get more people to watch their videos.

 

[Quiet]

Nothing against original Chinese designed and made knives, but when that’s all you review because you get a boatload of them for free every week I’m out.

This 100%, and man there sure seem to be a lot of these guys. And it goes DEEP, like "All the fake made up company name knives on Amazon" deep. Like, "NedFoss", REAT*, FLISSA, "Knives Ranch", Sitivien, SZCO, and a bunch of other BS I've never heard of. All with titles like "New $35 World Beating Fixed Blade??!??!!" or "Latest EDC Perfection!" and it's a $29 Chinese made-up company name knife from like, page 8 of a standard Amazon knife search. I mean, fake it til you make it remains a thing in 2025, I guess, but man, what useless videos.

It just reminds me that there are waaaaaaaaayyyyy more people out there who buy on price than on quality.


* No, not Reate.

 

[David Mary]

Haven't finished page two yet, but this thread is a gold mine.

For someone that has been on this forum for almost 23 years and have only, as of right now, 140 posts, I take it that you are a person of few words

Or he keeps misplacing the piece of paper his password is written on.

when they ask for "likes" or "thumbs up" and "subscriptions"

Full stop. If your content is good you don't even have to ask.

I hate when the reviewer yells at his camera to "FOCUS!"

Agreed. Or "sorry for bumping the camera", or "sorry about the bad lighting," or "sorry about" whatever miscellaneous other random imperfection the video contains that could either be edited out, or otherwise not mentioned because it could be overshadowed by quality information and/or content.

When I have to watch them open the box, I'm done.
Take some time to get to know the knife before you "review" it.

Agreed, although that is if the video is presenting itself as a review. I have no problem with an unboxing or first impressions video, if it identifies itself as such.

I don't like it when they talk. Or move. Or show their face.

Good thing you never leave your house.

I hate, hate,  haaaaaeeeettttte the word 'shutty.' Whoever coined that needs to be drug out

 

[David Mary]

Some people just wave their hands around over the knife while it sits on the table.

Yes. Very annoying. As is holding a toy airplane in one hand and flying it back and forth in front of the camera going "nanananana" and making other bizarre sound effects. I stopped watching that guy over 20 years ago for that and other reasons.

One of my pet peeves is they rarely give a decent shot of the spine of the knife

Another pet peeve of mine as well.

 

[David Mary]

A pet peeve not mentioned so far that I've seen a lot of is: Reviewers sharing updates on some kind of ongoing drama they are involved with. That's for a separate video. If your video is titled "Xyz knife review", then stick with that. I didn't click it to have to hear you go on for five minutes about the back and forth you're having with a maker, another youtuber, or a dealer.

"What's up YouTube"? My name is not YouTube. "What's up people?" Why are you "asking a question"? You're not going to listen to or read the answer to "what's up" from 250,000 viewers. "Hello Youtube? How you doin, HOW YOU DOIN'?" Good grief.

"Hey everybody, I hope you're doing well out there". Finally something sensible.

 

[edgelion]

Know how I know yinz ain't from around here?

 

[David Mary]

Whatchu talkin' aboot eh?

 

[not2sharp]

…. Most YT revues are from a person with little experience using the knife and very subjective as well as possibly coloured by the users desire to keep getting test knifes…

I doubt many of us have much experience with knives, and even those who constantly work with knives tend to work with a knife type or set and rarely play with varieties of knives. As with anything else, familiarity with a task let’s us perfect our technique and our tools and if you are fortunate enough to get there you are going to be reluctant to change either. Knives can be cool as art, as examples of perfected manufacture, as intriguing gadgets or historical and cultural relics. Many are fashionable, interesting, playful and even useful. We enjoy the many details, the endless knife lure, and the many people we share it with. But, when it comes to the tool itself, they are just acute wedges with sharpened edges and attached handles. Does one knife actually cut more usefully than another, and does that really matter?

N2s