I think the biggest reason video reviews are useful to me is mainly, entertainment lol. I dunno I’m probably weird but I don’t mind watching a review even if it’s something I already have, but I’ll watch just for th content. I could see most of these being called “overviews” or something else to describe a brief summary.
I also don’t know if anyone else is like this but I don’t actually look to reviews as a way of making my decision, I prefer to find the general information and specs on my own but then I also like to watch video reviews just to see it in a video format, to see how it looks in the hand, I feel like sometimes I get a better look at certain throws from the different angles, the close-ups and a little bit of play.
And also this type of content can be beneficial to discovering new yo-yos you may have otherwise passed up. Like the RRT Boa, I was just looking through videos and I when I first saw it, I really liked how it looked so I found their website and now I have an RRT collection going.
I could see the better question being, should we even call these reviews cause like other people have already pointed out they’re basically brief overviews.
Let’s just face the truth here. Most people are basically referring to the “love everything im given to review for free to advertise” yoyo reviews ala Throws and Brews. Completely biased glorified advertisements. Sometimes legit opinion, but mostly just an advertisement to sell yoyos. Consistently throw the same tricks with different yoyos while acting like the yoyo somehow made them easier. Make a few comments on how the design somehow has more attention to detail than most, when it doesn’t. Tom’s reviews are garbage, but somehow I enjoy them just to see the yoyo in action. He doesn’t buy the yoyos, and I bet he wouldn’t even bother with half of the ones he advertises. Imo Tom is one of the only reviewers that puts out completely disingenuous and blatant advertisement, but isn’t the only one who occasionally puts out hype vids to push products they get for free/are endorsed by.
In my opinion reviews are not so helpful but what is helpful is after you have been around the forums for a bit, you begin to identify members that seem to share many of your preferences. If one of those individuals mentions really enjoying a specific yoyo, yeah! Gold strike possible.
He is a businessman who does business well. I get that he is genuinely trying to promote yoyo, but his reviews don’t cost him a dime and he glorifies everything like he is making a straight up advertisement for yoyo makers, which is why he gets so many free yoyos to review. Sorry about being harsh, but that was kind of my point; it is a gripe of mine, and im not looking to sugarcoat it. And no, im not the guy who downvotes all his vids.
Yikes. I didn’t want to straight up say it but you put it even harsher than I had in my head
Tom is the first guy that pops into my head when I think of bad yoyo reviews and when I brought up my original opinion but I’m not sure if I’d go as far as say he’s completely disingenuous or intentionally giving a good broad review to promote the yoyos he receives.
I just thought he’s just one of those people that just think every yoyo is a good yoyo and not the best at picking apart the nuances of various yoyos but still attempts to(poorly).
I like Tom. The only criticicism i have for him is that his opinion on yoyos many times is not objective even if he tries to make it objective.
For example, he did a vlog where he went on a full rant about how he doesn’t enjoy cheap metal yoyos anymore, and disliked the topyo colossus 4 quite a bit, when i can assure you is a perfectly fine yoyo.
So how i’m gonna trust his reviews now that i know his opinion is not going to be objective towards budget metal yoyos?
I’ve seen reviews of him where he dislikes yoyos tho.
Only the safe ones where he doesn’t know the owners of the company and isn’t stomping on the feet of anyone who people online would take offense to.
Possibly a bit of an overstatement, but he without a doubt plays favorites and most yoyo people are too positive to call out bullshit/hype when they see it. Ive been giving him a pass for a while, but quite frankly im getting sick of the in crowd circle-jerk.
He’s an insider though. He helps organize contests and is in correspondence with a lot of yoyo makers. Imo he is too afraid to criticize his “friends”, so he gives them overly positive reviews to help their yoyos sell. “Honest reviews” seems like quite the ironic tagline to associate with his evaluations.
I know it looks like I am targeting Tom in general, but I think the problem lies deeper. Any yoyo reviewer with an audience is usually at least a little involved with the yoyo community, and inherently makes connections or friends within. Imagine having somebody you met give you their yoyo for free and having you review it. You get the yoyo and are underwhelmed. Do you upset your friend, or make every effort to affirm their efforts by liking it? I actually like Tom based on his videos, but I think he is too deep in the yoyo community to have an honest opinion on the yoyos he reviews. I hate to see people think yoyo review videos are useless just because a select few popular (relative to yoyo of course) reviewers get trapped in a moral quandary. This is why people trust the reviewers who buy their own yoyos while having no affiliations. No offense to Tom (despite my frankness), but his reviews are not “honest”.
I picked up a Selene and Raiser today. My first wider yo-yo and my first bi-metal.
Enjoying both but the Raiser specs, shape and play are all right up my alley. I like the weight ring placement on the Raiser, it gives it the type of weight distribution I really like. Seems like it would be phenomenal for 5A. I’ve seen a review saying it limits the spin time but i wouldn’t know. I’m from an era where everything now is incredible compared to a huge chunk of what was available then.
Wow, so what he’s saying is that new $20 plastics (eg the Variant) are so very excellent now that metal $30 yoyos (aka the Colossus 4) … aren’t… any good any more?
I… don’t… agree with that… at all?
(Note that he specifically says he still likes the Silenus, lol @smileypants707)
