As you all have probably seen on here and my YouTube channel, I've gotten back into posting reviews on my gear. I used to do a ton when I first started doing YouTube, but I've slacked off in the past years. I don't think you can truly understand a person's reviews unless you know their perspective or backstory. I hope this post will give you a better background into some of my thinking when it comes to my reviews. I'm trying to improve how I give my thoughts on gear, so be prepared for some changes in the future. I'd like to meet all your expectations when it comes to review type videos and posts. I did another sort of perspective post on here about two years ago, but obviously things have changed since then.
First of all, I'm no professional reviewer. I have absolutely no technical or professional background in anything related to EDC gear. Everything I know is from experience or stuff I learned on the internet. I'm a college student that is more of an average user. I don't do anything hardcore with my knives or any other gear for that moment. I look for different things in my gear than most people. Since I'm a girl, I have no pocket space and my hands are smaller than most of you dudes. Being a college student, I also tend to stray more towards the budget stuff. I simply cannot afford to drop hundreds of dollars on one piece of gear. With those two things being said, I'm very focused on size and value when it comes to gear. I know a lot of people don't look for the same things. I'm not sure the demographic of my audience, but I know for a fact the majority is not college aged girls.
I hope that my "reviews" can give you a different perspective than most gear videos. The reason I put reviews in quotes there is because I don't consider them reviews per say. I used to call my review type videos/posts "thoughts" instead. I thought that was a more accurate indication of what you all were hearing or reading. I'm not sure why I started calling them reviews again. I'll probably switch the name back even if it doesn't make much of a difference. All of what I'm saying will be the same, just the name will be different. The semantics are essentially the same, but I do think people expect different things from both. When I hear the word review, I expect something very technical that is laden with specs and other stuff. I think "thoughts" type of posts imply more of a personal opinion-based post. I think the great reviewers figure out a way to blend both into a very entertaining and informative post. There's always something new to learn from every person. Even if support for a knife is astounding, there is always at least one person that can bring a fresh perspective to the table. While some of the stuff I say in my videos may sound negative, it's how I truly feel. I've never once lied or failed to give anything but my honest opinion in my videos. Whatever you hear me say is my genuine thoughts. My reviews are anything but objective. In fact, my reviews are probably some of the most subjective and biased ones out there. I don't care about making objective reviews as there are tons of reviewers like that already. I base my opinions on gear on what I've personally tried and how I feel. I have super strong opinions when it comes to everything in life, and I like to make that known in my videos/posts about EDC stuff. I think the more passionate you are shows how much you care. I'd rather listen to a more negative rant than someone who's monotone and just says everything about a piece of gear is good even if it isn't.
In all honesty, I haven't been too happy with how my reviews are turning out. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the style. I know I'll come up with a better system as I do them more often. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't consider myself a reviewer. The whole point of writing these posts and filming videos is to give my personal thoughts on things. I think there's way too many reviewers out there that cover every detail about a knife for instance. I'd rather offer a slightly different, more opinion-based video that stands out compared to most gear reviews. I do the videos/posts mostly to keep a record of what I've tried and how I liked whatever piece of gear it is. If my content ends up helping you all out in the meantime, then that's a plus.
One other thing. Now that I've tried so much gear, I've really fine tuned what I look for. Back a few years ago, I was a lot more open to gear simply because I hadn't tried as much. I've easily tried at least a hundred pieces of gear since I've joined this community. That means I will be put off by a piece of gear for the tiniest quirk. When I find some of my perfect gear, my expectations rise across the board. A new piece of gear essentially has to surpass some of my favorite things in order for me to give it undying praise. That's simply impossible for most things. I'd say for every 1 great piece of gear I find, I buy 3 to 5 pieces of crap. That means you'll be seeing a lot more average or awful pieces of gear on my channel or blog. Last thing, I tend to treat overhyped gear much more critically. They're super popular in the community for a reason, so they better be everything I expected and more. Very seldom does overhyped gear actually get anywhere close to the hype. Some of the best gear out there is actually the gems that no one really talks about.
Sorry if this post was very disjointed. I'd start writing one section and then my mind would jump into another somewhat related tangent. Basically, the gist of all this is to expect more improved thought videos on EDC gear coming soon. You can expect to see more opinion-based posts instead of those that are technical with tons of specs. Keep these things in your mind when you're watching my videos or reading my posts. Obviously some random people will stumble upon my thoughts and not understand where I'm coming from. Hopefully, some of my more regular audience will have a better appreciation for what I put out. Stay tuned for a video on this same topic soon. I'm sure I'll think of something new to add to that, so it shouldn't all be the same. If you have any thoughts on how I can improve how I "review" gear, feel free to let me know. I'm open to any sort of constructive criticism. Thanks for looking and reading this super long post! I think I'll also write up some posts that talk about my preferences when it comes to knives, flashlights, pens, multi-tools, etc. Stay tuned!
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