Re: Why magazine equipment reviews suck

From: RichA (none_at_none.com)
Date: 10/30/04 

Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 18:33:29 -0400

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 20:13:42 GMT, "Alan French"
<adfrenchremoveallthis@nycap.rr.com> wrote:

>
>"Jon Isaacs" <jonisaacs@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20041030155447.02895.00002175@mb-m01.aol.com...
>>
>> Rich:
>>
>> Both Clyde and I pointed out that this was the exact conclusion of Ed's
>article
>> in Sky and Telescope regarding the ED80.
>>
>> While I agree that sometimes reviews gloss over the important stuff and
>are not
>> willing to be honest, you chose a poor case for an example because Ed Ting
>did
>> a serious review and did not hold any punches.
>>
> jon,
>
>People seem to assume that reviews on the internet are better than those in
>the magazines. There are certainly some good reviews out there, but there
>are also a great many that are little more than someone's subjective
>opinion. And how useful is a review that starts out with "I just got my new
>Acme scope, and I've only had it out once under partly cloudy skies, but I
>can tell you it is the best darn telescope money can buy."
>
>In any venue, there are good reviews, and there are poor reviews. I think
>the best way to find out about a particular telescope is to see one in
>person, especially if it an expensive one. If you can't be bothered, you
>can't be too interested in making sure it is the right choice for you.
>
>Clear skies, Alan

So basically, buy everything in sight that meets your basic
requirements, test them, then sell the rest? I've done that.
Why SHOULD someone be required to do this.
-Rich

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