How much trust do you put into product reviews and ratings?

[5030]

Reviews are a scant step above spam for me.

 

[beowulf]

I read the reviews, and the questions and answers posted about the product (you can learn a lot there). Sometimes you can sniff out fake reviews by the way they are written (balanced, mention the good and the bad things about a product), but sometimes you can't figure it out.

Here are two ways I try to assess (on Amazon) if reviews are likely real and reliable:
1) If there are several great reviews with the same date, I usually ignore them.
2) I also click on the name of the reviewer and access all the other reviews they have posted. If there is a balance there - some good, some great, some poor, and so on, then I feel that chances are decent that I can trust that reviewer.

 

[5030]

I find the best, unbiased reviews on Harbor Freight actually and the worst and most biased on Amazon but I try to avoid Amazon anyway.

 

[2manyrocks]

I agree about the reviews on Harbor Freight and am totally skeptical when I see five star reviews posted by very few buyers with no written commentary to back up the rating.

I am also totally skeptical when I see multiple youtube reviews posted at or about the same time just about the time when some new product is being released.

 

[5030]

I will say when I buy something from HF, I always review it and I do it without any bias. If it's junk, I say so. If not and it's a good item, I say that too.

 

[Jstpssng]

I placed an order to Cabela's earlier this week; before it even shipped they had asked me for a review. You can put as much stock in that as you care to.

 

[5030]

We are about 7 miles from one of their stores and we never go in there or order anything and that includes firearms. Cabelas is way over priced, the staff are idiots and everything has the Cabelas logo on it.

The only thing they actually have that is good is their fudge and even that is overpriced.

Cabelas has no draw for me or my wife at all.

 

[Jstpssng]

We are about 7 miles from one of their stores and we never go in there or order anything and that includes firearms. Cabelas is way over priced, the staff are idiots and everything has the Cabelas logo on it.

The only thing they actually have that is good is their fudge and even that is overpriced.

Cabelas has no draw for me or my wife at all.

Every year my employer gives me a $200 gift card to their store. It's a pretty good incentive to shop there. As you said though, the scope I bought is about 15% more than I can get it for elsewhere.

 

[newbury]

This could get long.
On the subject of reviews:
I look at Amazon reviews very carefully and quickly.
If over 7% negative I usually move on.
Otherwise I usually only read the negatives and quickly scan the positives.

On the subject of pole saws:
I've
2 manual saws - old and not the best, but long. If it's just a few branches they will usually do.
3 battery operated saws - 2 HF and 1 Dewalt - The HF are good but discontinued. I'm a DeWalt 20v max fanboy, so I also bought the dewalt, it works well.

But my pride is my Echo PPT-280 w/ 4ft extension.
It will enable me to reach out 17 foot. It's a beast when fully assembled. But I've lots of trees around my sheds and I can stand on the roofs and reach out to trim trees.

Echo used to have 20% off sales. Sort of wierd, once a year at different dealerships.

 

[5030]

Tell you what I put my new CS Echo to the test today and it shines. Only thing I had to do was buy a non cat muffler for it that interestingly Echo sells and add a set of bucking spikes. It's the lightest saw I've ever used and has plenty of balls too. Running it on synthetic 50-1 fuel, It's very happy and so am I. It's a one hander at 7 pounds fueled. Have to check out their pole saw. I have the HF (electric) one and it works well but the bar oil capacity is not much and it's hard to fill.

HF discontinued the Portland pole saw but replaced it with a Hercules, I think

I do know one thing, compared to a Stihl they are a bargain, Stihl has priced themselves out of the market more or less.