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View Full Version : Why I hate normal gear reviews and what I did about it



Geekpacker
01-24-2011, 12:20 AM
Do you ever get the idea that gear reviews on retailer's websites aren't all about helping you? It seems like they are either spammy or they drastically skew in the positive direction. It makes sense I guess, most reviews are on sites that are selling the gear. You could easily harm a sale if you display a bunch of negative review of something.

To fix this, I've searched through trailjournals.com for mentions of gear reviews and categorized them as positive or negative. I figure that people are more likely to be truthful about what piece of gear works for them in their own journal. Here's the result:

Best Backpacking Reviews (http://www.bestbackpackingreviews.com/)

So far I only have a couple of categories like:

Backpacking tent reviews (http://www.bestbackpackingreviews.com/Tents)
Backpacking stove reviews (http://www.bestbackpackingreviews.com/Stoves)
Backpacking sock reviews (http://www.bestbackpackingreviews.com/Socks)

but I'm adding more categories and products as fast as I can read journal entries.

I know I'm missing tons of products. I have to manually read each mention of the product and categorize it as positive or negative. But if you have a product not currently in the system just let me know and I'll push it to the front of the queue. Hope you find this helpful!

Acid Cat
01-24-2011, 12:22 AM
Well that's very nice of you Geekpacker :)
I have a special request!! What about bivouacs? (bivvy)

Geekpacker
01-24-2011, 12:27 AM
Sure thing. What brand names specifically should I search for?

Acid Cat
01-24-2011, 01:52 AM
well I don't know... The ones from the army surplus!

GDeadPhans
01-25-2011, 12:13 AM
Having trouble with some of the links just so ya know...

zdaucfk
01-25-2011, 12:57 PM
here is a review, go buy one you wont be disappointed plus you can be all scuba ninja in your camo.