Testers Are Scaring Off Newbies! Maybe?

[PhaseTech]

On 3/9/2022 at 12:57 AM, Rick N. MI said:

I had a friend try to trowel his shovel into the ground when he was getting a target but the shovel hit his big toe instead. He took his shoe off and his toe was still there and bleeding some. It was hard not to laugh.

Ouch! We all have out clutz moments that's for sure. Like the time I was so excited to pull my pick out of the holster I nearly knocked myself out! Wish I got that on film, it would have gone viral for sure 😅

[Rick N. MI]

That's funny when things like that happen.

[F350Platinum]

Things like that would make a great video, like when my spade gets blown by the wind and hits me in the head, or when I knock my headphones off bending into a bush. 🤣 Thankfully Predator Tools are much more aerodynamic. 😁

[phrunt]

I've been thinking the exact same about the testers or people with early units videos on the Legend, they say in their comments about the video the detector was purring along stable as anything yet in the video the Target ID never stops moving, bouncing around thought the ID numbers with EMI and the detector making a lot of noise blipping away yet they're saying its running perfect. 

To me it's running terribly and I would never want to run a detector like that and I for the life of me can't understand why they'd shoot videos like this promoting the detector.  Why not run in at a sensitivity it runs stable, they're not doing any sort of side by side comparisons competing against another detector trying to squeeze the most out of it to compare, they're just showing it operating yet they've got it running so unstable.  It would have to put people off, especially newbies that can't see what's wrong with the video and think that's how the detector operates and is considered "smooth as silk" according to the videos creator.

If these people are trying to show the detector running nicely for marketing purposes that's no way to do it.  Maybe that's how they hunt, maybe they're experienced and like running their detectors on the edge of usability to get the best out of it, but it sure looks rotten in the marketing videos they're creating. 

My experience is when a detector is that badly effected by EMI performance is actually worse than if you're got it running stable, especially depth so I think they're doing themselves a disservice by running the detector like that.

I've asked some why they run it so unstable and they say it improves when they start to swing it, once in motion the detector quietens down a bit, it still looks bad to me though and I'd never run my detector that unstable.

I haven't used a Legend before and maybe it's a natively noisy machine like the Simplex being what people describe as "sparky", I describe as noisy but I'd hope that it could be run nice and stable/quiet if it was adjusted correctly.  I can run my Simplex quiet enough and don't notice any performance degradation by doing so.

[CPT_GhostLight]

It's hard for me to put too much confidence in video reviews made buy people selectively given free products to review by a company unless those reviewers can report the bad as well as the good. I don't think I've ever seen a bad review from a Youtuber that recieved a free product. I'm sure many feel an obligation to the company to give only good reviews of free products, much like many Amazon reviewers.

The best way to see objective reviews is to watch customer videos who paid for their product. They are usually more inclined to tell you their real impressions of a product, unless they are hoping to one day be a reviewer who receives free products to review. So I take everything with a grain of salt.

While those free product review videos may still contain useful information about the products reviewed, I still perceive those reviews as biased. Just my opinion.

[mh9162013]

6 minutes ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

The best way to see objective reviews is to watch customer videos who paid for their product.

I'd take it a step further and say the most objective reviews are from people who have no affiliation with a metal detecting company or bias (for or against) a metal detecting company.

Too many "influencers" try to convince us that because they paid for the item they're reviewing, they're not biased. Or because they're not being paid by XYZ Corp., XYZ Corp. has zero influence over their reviews.

I love how some people show up on a company's promotional materials and at their events, yet still say they can give an unbiased review of that company's products. 🙄

[phrunt]

Iffy Signals stirred the pot on the Legend by releasing a non-favorable video and caused a lot of backlash, including from the company involved and some fellow testers.  I thought it was quite unusual a tester would do that and speaks volumes about the guy, I like his style, and I hope he's not dismissed as a future tester due to this event.  He certainly went against the grain as some of the others are all very promotional of everything about it and seem to spin any flaw into a positive.

It doesn't mean they give false information, much of what they say and do is real.

[Cal_Cobra]

On 3/9/2022 at 7:13 PM, PhaseTech said:

Ouch! We all have out clutz moments that's for sure. Like the time I was so excited to pull my pick out of the holster I nearly knocked myself out! Wish I got that on film, it would have gone viral for sure 😅

I'm (knock on wood) surprised I haven't broken anything detecting before I've sure had my share of clutz moments, I'm glad that nobody saw most of them 🤕

[CPT_GhostLight]

15 minutes ago, mh9162013 said:

I'd take it a step further and say the most objective reviews are from people who have no affiliation with a metal detecting company or bias (for or against) a metal detecting company.

Too many "influencers" try to convince us that because they paid for the item they're reviewing, they're not biased. Or because they're not being paid by XYZ Corp., XYZ Corp. has zero influence over their reviews.

It's certainly about infuencers, isn't it.

Definition of influence  (Source: Merriam-Webster)

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1: the power or capacity of causing an effect in indirect or intangible ways : SWAY

2a: the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command

b: corrupt interference with authority for personal gain

[mh9162013]

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

caused a lot of backlash, including from the company

Was N/M upset with the criticism or how the critism was conveyed?