- This topic has 19 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 11 months ago by WeaponZero.
Video Reviews, Yay or nay?
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April 27, 2010 at 1:24 am #3908BenParticipant
Hey everyone,
Just wanted to let you guys know I am experimenting with adding videos to my reviews. What do you guys think? Does this add to the review or does it seem a bit unprofessional (haha, working with a limited budget here ).
Here is the first video:
https://www.bestbeginnermotorcycles.com/shift-womens-envy-textile-jacket-review
Ben
April 27, 2010 at 2:20 am #25971SpoolParticipantI like video reviews myself, especially when paired with a written review as you have done. There’s lots of things that are easily shown in a video that are hard or not even possible to describe in words. Such as when she was describing the issue with the zipper on the sleeve. I think your vid is good. Seemed well planned out and to the point, not stumbling along like some reviews do.
Nice job
April 27, 2010 at 3:43 am #25973SantaCruzRiderParticipantI also like video reviews and try to check them out on any gear I’m thinking about buying. I think yours is very good. I don’t mind the informal approach and in fact find it refreshing, especially compared to video reviews that are basically commercials produced by the manufacturer.
I’m nitpicking, but since you asked, I’ll offer a few other random thoughts:
1. I really like the zooming you did on the cuff zipper and the zipper pulls. But some of the other camera work was a bit too dynamic and might benefit from a steadier vantage point.
2. I usually like seeing the inside of the jackets and any attachment to pants.
3. It might be too personal for your model, but I like getting an idea of how the jacket fits folks of a certain size, so I find it helpful when the model says something like, “I’m 6 foot and 170 lbs, and I’m trying on a large.” The height and weight may not be ones I share, but it can sometimes give me an idea of how the sizing runs.
But overall — I like this a lot and don’t think it would benefit by more equipment (except perhaps showing how it fits with the rider on a bike — which I assume you already have).April 27, 2010 at 5:21 am #25983madjak30ParticipantI really liked the informal – between two friends- type of review. Very well done and nice questions to prompt Brittney to give a little more info in the direction you wanted to go. I think reviews always work better if you have both a guy and a girl…seems to give an appeal to both…If you are thinking of doing this for bikes, I would maybe suggest getting friends that are realative newbies to try them, both guy and girl, to support the message of the web site. It would be nice to get a “peer review” so to speak. It was also good that you joked around a little, kept it lite…
Thumbs up from me.
April 27, 2010 at 5:45 am #25984eonParticipantI liked the video. Thought it was very well done and everyone seemed pretty relaxed in front of the camera. I watch reviews on Revzilla.com but they always seem to have a company rep present so the thing comes over as an infomercial and not a critical review. So the informality of this one was refreshing to me.
I would disagree with madjak on having newbies review gear and/or bikes. Personally I want experienced critical eyes telling me the pros/cons of something. When I spend my money on something I want to get the best for my money so I devour the reviews on webbikeworld. At the end of the day its just one persons opinion but if you have road tested 20 pairs of gloves you will start to notice differences between them. I think the forums are the place for newbies opinions.
The only criticism I would have is the microphone placement. When you turn your back to the camera it was a little muffled. Plus there was some wind noise towards the end.
But two thumbs up from me.
April 27, 2010 at 7:13 am #25985eternal05ParticipantKeep ’em coming
April 27, 2010 at 7:54 am #25986madjak30ParticipantOn riding gear and other such stuff, I totally agree. I want an experienced review, but I was thinking of getting the newbie-ish review on the bikes…does it feel heavy to a newbie, power delivery…if you are experienced, you will have a different opinion…just a suggestion…
All reviews are biased, I mean really they are an opinion on an item, so it will be different for all people reviewing it…just thought a green person might have an interesting opinion. Most of us are new to this experience. I know my experience with my GS500 will probably be different from someone else…
I will post my opinion on my bike after a few legal street rides…so far I have only done a lap around my back yard…so I have ridden about 40 ft…lol
April 27, 2010 at 11:22 am #25987WeaponZeroParticipantI love the idea. Too many video “reviews” on the internet are more just sales pitches that don’t say anything negative about the product where it needs to be said.
A few questions you should answer in your reviews:
How good is the venting? While you do state in the video that the jacket has vents, most any riding jacket does as well. But many jackets have vents that don’t perform all that well at high temperatures. Would like to know what temperatures the venting is good enough up to.
How is the sizing? Is it standard, is it off by a size, what? Best way to address this is height/weight of the person modeling the jacket and what size they’re wearing.
Is the jacket waterproof/water resistant? And if it claims to be so, have you tested it to be true?
Also, I know you guys love SHIFT brand gear here but if it’s possible to get your hands on other stuff as well I’d like to see a variety of brands. Well, mostly cause despite all the weight I’ve lost as of late I’m STILL not small enough to fit into anything SHIFT makes… The bastards
April 27, 2010 at 2:46 pm #25991BenParticipantThanks SCrider I will take all those into consideration for the next video. I’m definitely looking to improve so tips like these are what I need. Thanks!
Ben
April 27, 2010 at 2:47 pm #25992BenParticipantThanks Eon
Can’t do too much about the microphone unfortunately, thats the one bad thing about my camera. I might try and shoot indoors next time to cut down on ambient noise though. Thanks
Ben
April 27, 2010 at 2:52 pm #25993BenParticipantHey WeaponZero,
Haha, I know I am a bit of a Shift whore, but that’s for two reasons mainly. 1. yes, I admit, I really do love their stuff and it seems to fit me well. 2. They have been an absolute DREAM to work with! Really all the guys at Shift are really attentive and willing to work things out with me even though I have a pretty small website catering to a niche audience. I’ve worked with a bunch of other companies and some of them won’t even give me the time of day.. *cough*alpinestars/icon*cough!* , oops, seem to have something in my throat
I’m working on getting some different gear, but I guess you guys have to bear with me a bit. Most if not all of the money that is donated goes to gear costs, and the stuff that doesn’t goes to server costs.
Ben
April 27, 2010 at 5:19 pm #25994WeaponZeroParticipantNow granted, I don’t own any Shift stuff, in fact I’ve never even seen it in person because I’ve never even heard of a retailer that sells it–are they online only? anyway…
I don’t like Shift personally because their pricing puts them on the level of a lot of the higher-end designer brands such as RS Taichi, Alpinestars, and almost at the level of even Dainese stuff. I just don’t understand where they can get the gall to charge that much for something made in Korea. $500 for a leather jacket?
I had a lengthy discussion about this with Brian Van, owner of Sportbiketrackgear, who is a fan of Shift gear. But while he couldn’t directly come out and say it, he did strongly imply that Shift isn’t worth the money they’re charging for it. He said that while they are good quality stuff, he feels they should be priced more in line with Teknic’s merchandise as Teknic is a much closer competitor to them. He stated that while Shift certainly does have its strong points, they’re not at the level of quality and safety of RS Tachi and Alpinestars, who are both comparably priced.
I wouldn’t have any problem buying a Shift jacket that was on sale/closeout, but I won’t pay $300 for a hybrid leather/textile jacket when I could get a full leather jacket from Teknic of comparable quality for less. And I certainly won’t pay $500 for a jacket that wasn’t made in Italy (exception being RS Taichi).
EDIT – The bottom line is this: Kias and Hyundais are great cars for what they are. But I’d never pay BMW prices for them, and I feel that is what they are trying to do: Sell Kia and Hyundai equivalent merchandise at a price point that puts it in direct competition with BMWs.
Also, WTF is up with that one textile jacket they have that looks like someone puked confetti all over it?
April 27, 2010 at 5:35 pm #25995BenParticipantI can sorta see where you are coming from. I’m not sure where their products are made but I’ve been really happy with all the Shift gear I’ve used in the past, it has saved my skin (literally) more than once. The shift jacket that I use almost daily I actually got on sale from ebay for about half price before I even started BBM (i think it was 300 new, so I got it for around 150). I liked that it was just a relatively plain black jacket that came with hard armor. Having worn it for 5+ years I can say that it has held up extremely well, in the wind, rain, and beating sun.
I digress. I dunno if shift is charging too much or not, I think that is relative to each persons income. I think it speaks very highly of them as a company that they are willing to put their stuff out there to get tested by a website such as this. There are a lot of companies that don’t have the guts to do that. Often times if a company’s gear does get tested and they receive some negative feedback they will sever the working relationship with BBM. Every product is going to have some positive and negative feedback in my reviews; Some companies understand that, and some don’t.
I’m definitely not in the business of putting out reviews that I don’t stand 100% behind. BBM is a labor of love for me, I’m not going to sell out and write reviews that cater to the gear manufacturer’s ego. I still work 40 hours a week as a bicycle mechanic, the income from BBM’s ad’s only cover server costs and some new gear purchases for review. I wish I had thousands I could spend and review everything I want, but that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon lol.
Haha, alright, time to end this rant. I dunno where I was even going with that.
Long story short: I don’t think shift is overpriced compared to the quality you get, but thats personal to each individual (and based on my personal experience, which I admit might be somewhat biased even though I try to limit that effect). It would be nice to be able to test every manufacturers gear so I could have a larger base of knowledge when I review different safety equipment. For now, out of the stuff I’ve reviewed Shift racing has shown really great quality in there jackets which is what I care about.
Ben
April 27, 2010 at 5:42 pm #25996eonParticipantAh, I get what you are saying. You are right that experienced riders can forget how difficult it can be starting out. On the other hand you get plenty of folks telling how they started on gixxers and anything less is for pussies. It comes down to trusting the reviewer, or at least getting a feel for what they like/dislike and how it matches with your own tastes. But since the bike manufacturers are not lining up to give Ben their latest creations (shame on them) we are stuck the opinions of actual owners.
April 27, 2010 at 6:31 pm #25997WeaponZeroParticipantAs I said I have never even so much as seen a Shift jacket in person because none of my local retailers keep them in stock. They will only order them at your request, for money down.
Would it be possible for this open up avenues for users to do video reviews of their gear? I know I currently own:
Teknic Freestyle textile jacket
Scorpion EXOwear All-In leather jacket
Scorpion EXOwear Stinger leather jacketAlpinestars Drystar Apex gloves
Speed & Strength Moment of Truth SP short glovesICON Field Armor boots
Tourmaster Solution WP bootsICON Field Armor leg guards
Knox Cross Knee leg guardsShark RSR2 helmet
Shark RSi helmet
Scorpion EXO-400 helmetRiver Road balaclava
Gear I’ve owned in the past and no longer own because it didn’t hold up well in the long run –
River Road Monterey leather gloves
HJC CL-15 helmet
Joe Rocket Atomic 3.0 textile jacketI’m sure if all the users pooled their own opinions on gear together we’d come up with a wide variety of good reviews.
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