There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/23/fly-or-die-harman-kardon-akg-n90q/
A good indication that the reviewer is an amateur is writing mistakes. Professional reviewers have good copy editors to check the writing and that's costly. ~ Mike
Definitely feel you on the "put up content" side of things. One of our struggles is to remain objective in our reviews, even if the gear was sent to us. On the flip side, many of the larger gear review sites (not naming names) charge the gear company to get a review posted. Honestly, I think that's worse.
I spend a lot of time editing our content to make sure there aren't grammatical and syntax errors. Some of our writers make it more difficult for me than others. And, some of our writers are better at finding the good aspects of the products they review than the flaws. So, in that respect, you're correct - things should be read with a grain of salt and the reviewer scrutinized.
On the other hand, you may be surprised to know that smaller companies, especially cottage folks who make expensive product, are rightfully stingy with their demos. And, most companies only loan out bigger items. Tents, bikes, electric gizmos - they generally head back to the manufacturer and out to another reviewer when we're done with them.
I definitely try to be as open as possible about our process. Obviously, everything on the site is just an opinion and what we think is a killer piece may have a fatal flaw to someone else. We do keep trying to be the best gear reviewers we can be and we're always open to suggestions on how to get better.
One thing we've taken to heart after some rather biting comments (not from anyone here) is to make sure we're not just regurgitating copy from the manufacturer's website. That doesn't help anyone - not the reader, not the manufacturer, and not us. So, we're happy to be called on our shenanigans!
Seems you may be interested in different gear than we are, but your thoughts resonate across all different industries. I appreciate your point of view.