The power of reviews

Whenever I buy something the reviews are an important part of the process. The more detailed the reviews the better. Someone may give an item a low review for a feature that's not important to me so it might not be a deal breaker. For example someone gave a bad review on the car I just bought but his main complaint concerned the sound system, not a big deal for me. If the bad review concerns something basic to the function of the item that is a big deal.

As a public service to other buyers I've been posting a lot of reviews. Since I buy a fair amount of things through Amazon, they have a lot of my reviews. I never realized the power of a bad review until a company contacted me directly about a bad Amazon review.

I'd purchased some sanding belts for an old sander. They failed after just a few minutes of use. The adhesive strip that held the paper together failed long before the grit even started to wear down. The company shipped me new, much better sanding belts and practically begged for an updated review. Impressed with their service I gave them a better review.

Recently I had a more expensive product fail. It cost around $250. It worked great for about a year then fell apart. The warranty period was past. However, I wrote the company and told them how the thing suddenly fell apart. As a courtesy, I said, I was contacting them before posting an Amazon review. They kinda freaked. Photos were sent their way. They claimed they'd never seen such a failure before. Fine, but mine did fail and was not abused.

In the end they said they'd ship me a new one for the cost of shipping. Seemed fair to me.

-Sixbears

Boat Reviews

Maybe it's the fact that the weather has finally turned nice. Perhaps it's because I've got mariners disease and can't help myself. I've been checking out sailboats on Craigslist again. I've got a decent little 19 foot Oday, and I'm building a 12 footer, but that doesn't stop me from looking at other boats. At least I'm not looking at other women. Okay, maybe I look, but I know better than to want to take any home.

Unlike boats, which I do end up taking home now and then.

There are some great deals out there. I've been looking at trailer sailers in the 22 – 26 foot range. They are a bit bigger than my current boat and I thought a wee bit more room would be handy.

Then I do some research to see what people think of boats in that size range. In short, the reviews tend to be pretty negative. Don't take these boats out out of a protected harbor. They are day sailors that might be used overnight in extreme discomfort.

The reviews are pretty discouraging until I think about all the stuff I do with the little 19 foot I do own. My wife and I, plus our dog, are comfortable on it for about a week. By the end of the week, it's time to resupply food, water and to do some laundry.

We often go offshore and are comfortable sailing all day in 4 foot seas. We've sailed in the Atlantic in 6 foot seas -safely, but not particularly comfortably. We don't sail when there are small craft warnings, but those days wouldn't be much fun in a 34 foot boat either.

Plenty of people have taken boats in the 15 – 20 foot range from Florida to the Bahamas. Yes, they wait for the proper weather window, just like the bigger boats do. A couple idiots have taken 19 foot Potters from the US west coast to Hawaii. That might be tempting Lord Neptune.

So I was wondering about the basis of all the negative reviews. It occurred to me that oftentimes it's not so much about sea worthiness, but perceived comfort. Here's the thing. My lovely wife and I used to do a lot of backpacking. We thought squeezing into a tiny tent at the end of the day was luxury.

We also did a fair amount of canoe camping. It was possible to carry all kinds of things that would be too bulky or heavy for backpacking. We'd bring a bigger tent, camp furniture, a cooler even -pure extravagance.

Even a fairly small sailboat looks good to former backpackers. I'll have to judge boats my own standards, not those of Internet reviewers.

-Sixbears

Equipment Reviews

When I read negative or positive reviews on a product I'm looking for details. Why does the reviewer consider the product good or bad? There may be very good personal reasons to disagree with the reviewer, even one with experience and a good track record.

For example, I was listening to “The Survival Podcast” archived shows. It's a pretty good resource for preppers. The host, Jack Spirco, had some very negative things to say about the product “waterbricks.”

Waterbricks are 3.5 gallon water containers that can be stacked a bit like Lego blocks. The funny thing is, I had bought 4 of them due to a recommendation on “Boat Bits.”

So who's right? They both are.

Jack Spirco was right. Waterbricks are an expensive way to store water. If you were going to store emergency water for your household, there are much cheaper ways to do it. 2 liter soda bottles can be reused and make good cheap storage. Even buying a 30 or 50 gallon water barrel is a lot cheaper than waterbricks.

However, “Boat Bits” is also right. They are rugged and store well on a boat. The 3.5 gallon size is much easier to carry than bigger water jugs. Because they transport well, it's not too big a deal to haul drinking water back to the boat.

For “The Survival Podcast,” it's an expensive water storage solution.

For “Boat Bits,” it's an inexpensive way to avoid buying a costly watermaker. (reverse osmosis filtrations system for removing salt out of water.)

Since I've been using mine on my sailboat, the are worth the expense. Rugged construction, stackability, and convenient size trump economy.

As always, it's all about the details.

-Sixbears