Review Almost a Week With Squid's Double Barrel 2.1

[Mawsley]

All my reviews are honest weather I paid for it or it was sent for review. I don't care who I upset if they send something and it's shit

My comments are aimed at Saucemoar in relation to them wanting to recruit people who'll work for fuck all. As a professional, I'm insulted by people who fail to remunerate appropriately for work done. Goes for anything handed out by Chinese exporters for a bit of publicity.

To that end, I check out the second I see a review is for a supplied-free product, it carries no weight with me. I don't even read the ones I did in the past. But then I'm a wanker who's integrity is easily exchanged for shiny things. Maybe I should stop judging people on my level? I don't know.

Opinions, eh? We all got 'em.

 

[Simon G]

Thanks for the review..... ....... I will have myself a drab finish one day.

........ there is another argument to the whole paid/given for review debate.

If someone has paid for something with their own hard earned cash then, they often 'want' to like it more, sometimes people don't want to admit they've wasted their money and other times it's just something they really liked and wanted to buy it in the first place which obviously means they have a positive bias towards it, not many people buy stuff they don't think they'll like ..... and if it has obvious flaws maybe they won't point them out because they might be selling it in the classies in a couple of weeks. .... how many times have we read "it's an amazing tank/mod ... but just not my thing" ie, it's junk.

If you get something for free it can be easier to be honest, you have no money tied up in it, you have no expectations, you have none of the 'Oh I really like that, I'm going to buy it" bias. The fact it wasn't paid for just enables the review to happen when it's something you wouldn't have spent your money on.

My VIM (not sent for review but sent for testing) is in bits in the bin because I wanted to really have a look at what's going on inside, and if anyone asks me I can tell them... I know what battery it uses and that it is possible to replace if you know what you are doing and can solder, I know the quality of the internals and things that could be problematic in the long term. .... if i'd paid for it there's no way I would have ripped it apart and taken gouges out of the side to test the finish and durability of the plastic.

I don't think it's as black and white as you think, there can be honesty and dishonesty in both cases I feel.

 

[Mawsley]

I don't think it's as black and white as you think, there can be honesty and dishonesty in both cases I feel.

Which comes from seeing a body of work, rather than a snapshot of one review.

If you are bored and delve through my back catalogue of product reviews on here (although why anybody in their right mind would do such a thing is beyond me), you'll see ridiculously honest and frequently negative comments. To whit, my utter slating of the Dead Bunny at the same time I was failing to sell it in the classies...ending up giving it away and paying for the postage to do so.

That, in my view, is integrity in reviewing something.

For sure, some cockends will lie so they don't lose value, but you can see through them in an instant, just as you can see the plethora of ones who do that on video too.

As I say, we used to have a thriving review section a few years back, based on personal experience. The threading coming off genuine Grand Vapor products, springs melting in Pisces mods, how all drippers are effectively identical and fall into two types regardless of supposed innovation. I'd love to see it return and less of these 'I was given this shit free and it's awesome' bollocks.

 

[zouzounaki]

Thanks for the review..... ....... I will have myself a drab finish one day.

........ there is another argument to the whole paid/given for review debate.

If someone has paid for something with their own hard earned cash then, they often 'want' to like it more, sometimes people don't want to admit they've wasted their money and other times it's just something they really liked and wanted to buy it in the first place which obviously means they have a positive bias towards it, not many people buy stuff they don't think they'll like ..... and if it has obvious flaws maybe they won't point them out because they might be selling it in the classies in a couple of weeks. .... how many times have we read "it's an amazing tank/mod ... but just not my thing" ie, it's junk.

If you get something for free it can be easier to be honest, you have no money tied up in it, you have no expectations, you have none of the 'Oh I really like that, I'm going to buy it" bias. The fact it wasn't paid for just enables the review to happen when it's something you wouldn't have spent your money on.

My VIM (not sent for review but sent for testing) is in bits in the bin because I wanted to really have a look at what's going on inside, and if anyone asks me I can tell them... I know what battery it uses and that it is possible to replace if you know what you are doing and can solder, I know the quality of the internals and things that could be problematic in the long term. .... if i'd paid for it there's no way I would have ripped it apart and taken gouges out of the side to test the finish and durability of the plastic.

I don't think it's as black and white as you think, there can be honesty and dishonesty in both cases I feel.

I’m not so sure about this. The person you describe would be unlikely to review the product they had purchased, I would argue.

The flip side is reviewers who get free stuff and never publish a bad review. I asked one of them directly on the forum if he had ever published a bad review, and he said no, he just ignores the freebies he dislikes because he doesn’t want to be negative.

I think you would have a hard time finding more than a small handful of overwhelmingly negative reviews, if any, of stuff that has been declared as a freebie sent out for the purposes of review. I may be wrong about this, and would be happy to be proved so.

 

[bellyman]

Reviews how they should be, not like my feeble attempts.
Carry on!

 

[Mawsley]

*adds Bellyman Approved to CV

 

[Simon G]

Which comes from seeing a body of work, rather than a snapshot of one review.

If you are bored and delve through my back catalogue of product reviews on here (although why anybody in their right mind would do such a thing is beyond me), you'll see ridiculously honest and frequently negative comments. To whit, my utter slating of the Dead Bunny at the same time I was failing to sell it in the classies...ending up giving it away and paying for the postage to do so.

That, in my view, is integrity in reviewing something.

For sure, some cockends will lie so they don't lose value, but you can see through them in an instant, just as you can see the plethora of ones who do that on video too.

As I say, we used to have a thriving review section a few years back, based on personal experience. The threading coming off genuine Grand Vapor products, springs melting in Pisces mods, how all drippers are effectively identical and fall into two types regardless of supposed innovation. I'd love to see it return and less of these 'I was given this shit free and it's awesome' bollocks.

For sure .... I think most of the honest opinion comes out in threads anyway. If I don't like something people will know about it.

 

[Mawsley]

The key point in this one is that a couple of video reviews spoke about a loose-fitting battery door. This certainly isn't my experience.

But I don't like the selling of it on the back of 'Fuck yea, Murica!' when it's clearly the product of a Chinese production line. I think the change in production is linked to the difference in engraving - I suspect it isn't and that it's a press design now rather than an engraved one.

The other key point, if it's possible given that I said there was only one, is that it just feels fucking awesome in the hand. I'm seriously getting a green one too. After Vapefest, natch, and not using it in front of the wife.

"Oh, is that a new one?"

How the fuck does she do that? I'd not know if she had new shoes, a new bag or anything...yet she identifies new vape gear within seconds of seeing it. She certainly doesn't spend the same amount of effort studying my penis.

 

[Simon G]

I’m not so sure about this. The person you describe would be unlikely to review the product they had purchased, I would argue.

The flip side is reviewers who get free stuff and never publish a bad review. I asked one of them directly on the forum if he had ever published a bad review, and he said no, he just ignores the freebies he dislikes because he doesn’t want to be negative.

I think you would have a hard time finding more than a small handful of overwhelmingly negative reviews, if any, of stuff that has been declared as a freebie sent out for the purposes of review. I may be wrong about this, and would be happy to be proved so.

Maybe you are right ...... I think reviews should try to be objective though, there's tanks that I really dislike, you know what they are because I've talked about them in the MTL lounge etc ... but some of them that I hate a lot of people really really like. If I did a review of one of those tanks and just slated it, how helpful is that really? .... it's not helpful to people who may really enjoy the tank, despite the fact I don't. I'm not sure mine or anyone else's personal opinion on something is always the same as a fair and balanced review of a product? ... what I want from a review is something that highlights the positive and negative features and allows me to determine it's suitability for me personally.

Saying it's junk and smashing it with a hammer is funny but it's not all that helpful is it?

 

[zouzounaki]

Aye I get you @Simon G bit the point is people that already like the tank probably wouldn’t read your review, and if they did they would laugh at it. Or ignore it. I would read it and might assume the opposite opinion from you, because we have different preferences. But it is true that some things just are shit with no redeeming factors. And there is an obvious danger that reviewers that are flooded with freebies will be very reticent to criticise anything, like the example I mentioned above. People call these obvious adverts reviews, you know.