BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: Good Times Good Times on July 27, 2015, 03:57:43 PM
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Question: Is it fair to say a staffer review of a ball is insincere when their mindset (and I'm not referring to a riggs type review, I'm referring to what is essentially the polar-opposite of riggs ball-review) is more to push product as opposed to give a literal viewpoint?
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I agree. Riggs is the only staffer I ever emailed praising him for his reviews. He tells it like it is.......the good and the bad in how the balls worked for him keeping in mind others may have a different result. Wish there was more of staff reviews like his. Then I would start reading them again.
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Yes, I think it is fair. Now maybe that is being a bit harsh, but it seems to be the norm for sites like this. Now, that is a staffers job, to sell product, but I think that someone like Riggs does it right. He states when a particular ball doesn't work for him and states for what styles it might be more fitting for. No company makes a ball that works for everyone every time. Yet, from most staffers reviews, every ball is better then anything ever released before by the company and every ball works great for them. And now, as I commented on, we have people who want to boldly claim they aren't a staffer, giving the impression they will present a fair and honest review, only to show they are just as bad, if not worse then a staffer, since they claim to not be one, in their attempts to put over a particular company.
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I guess I'm looking at it from a credibility standpoint. If you aren't honest enough to give me the full pros/cons (honesty).....how would ANY of the "fluff piece review" staffers reviews hold ANY merit?
Do they honestly expect someone to believe they love every single ball?
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Of course a staffer is trying to push a product. That's their job. However, it doesn't make them inherently insincere or dishonest.
It's up to the bowler evaluating a review to sift through the hype and mine out important information. That's why I rarely waste time on written reviews without videos. Regardless of staffer motivations, you can learn something about a ball thrown with different drill patterns on something other than a THS. Example: Even though Justin Wyman's Motiv review videos are obviously "biased", they are incredibly informative and useful for a potential buy decision.
I like Riggs review input, but as honest as he is, it's hard to relate because he doesn't have videos for evaluation. For instance, I appreciate that he's honest in reporting he doesn't like the IQ Tour, but him telling me he doesn't match up isn't very useful to how it might work for me.
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Most written reviews, excluding some like BTM's, are meaningless to me. They are far too subjective and geared towards the individual bowler's experience - and often just a limited experience.
I would much rather watch a video, preferably one with multiple layouts, used on at least two patterns, and compared with other balls in the line up (this is the most important feature). Justin's videos are a perfect example as to how it should be done. Watching a few of these types of videos by different bowlers is how I am going to most understand what I should expect out of a ball.
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Steven,
I understand your points, and agree with them for the most part. In Riggs case though, there are plenty of videos of him bowling out there, especially the yearly stream of his team at the USBC Open that can highlight his style of bowling. I don't find it very hard to image what he saw based on the descriptions he gives and relating that to the videos of him I have seen. Now, if it is just Joe Smith on a ball review website, then I would agree it doesn't help much without a video. But, if Mr. Smith gives an honest review and explains on what patterns a ball does and doesn't work, and gives a good description of the reactions they saw, it can provide meaningful information even without a video. The issue is that very few people do that in their reviews.
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Steven,
I understand your points, and agree with them for the most part. In Riggs case though, there are plenty of videos of him bowling out there, especially the yearly stream of his team at the USBC Open that can highlight his style of bowling. I don't find it very hard to image what he saw based on the descriptions he gives and relating that to the videos of him I have seen. Now, if it is just Joe Smith on a ball review website, then I would agree it doesn't help much without a video. But, if Mr. Smith gives an honest review and explains on what patterns a ball does and doesn't work, and gives a good description of the reactions they saw, it can provide meaningful information even without a video. The issue is that very few people do that in their reviews.
Jorge,
I'm very aware of Riggs' style. Over the past few years, I've watched him extensively on fresh and burn at the Vegas Senior tournaments. Although he's much more accomplished than myself, our styles, speed and revs have a lot of similarities. Still, our respective experiences with a few Storm/Roto balls are different, which sometimes leaves me perplexed. Going back to the IQ Tour, I earned my last PBA check using that ball, yet no matter how Riggs prepped his IQ Tour, he didn't like it. Regardless of his honesty, his review would have completely thrown me off in an IQ Tour purchase decision.
Now, if there had been an accompanying controlled video illustrating his frustrations, I'd possibly have something tangible to relate to, and better understand his reasoning.
Regardless, my main point in responding was to point out that Staffers are essentially manufacturer reps, so to bash their "biased" slants is a useless and disingenuous pile on. Accept where they're coming from and extract what's useful, preferably in a Justin Wi quality video production.
If anyone wants reliable and unbiased written reviews, check out Bowlers Journal (BJI). They provide a well documented testing methodology and ball strength rating system that provides an easy means for comparing similar balls from different manufacturers. I purchase 7-10 news balls per year, and in the three years I've subscribed to BJI, I've found their reviews to be remarkably fair and accurate.
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Where does a person find this person called "Riggs" reviews?
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https://www.11thframe.com/reviews
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https://www.11thframe.com/reviews
I clicked on the link and see nothing but Storm Ball Reviews. Does he only do Storm Balls?
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"Riggs" (Jeff Richgels) is a long time Storm Staffer. So yes, all you'll see is Storm/Roto reviews.
You do know that Storm is the center of the Bowling ball universe, don't you ?? ;D
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"Riggs" (Jeff Richgels) is a long time Storm Staffer. So yes, all you'll see is Storm/Roto reviews.
You do know that Storm is the center of the Bowling ball universe, don't you ?? ;D
Not in my bag ... ::) ;D
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"Riggs" (Jeff Richgels) is a long time Storm Staffer. So yes, all you'll see is Storm/Roto reviews.
You do know that Storm is the center of the Bowling ball universe, don't you ?? ;D
Not in my bag ... ::) ;D
In my bag it is, but because I get good prices :P plus they smell really good, everytime I open my closet´s door i get a nice smell