Youtube reviewers. Who you got?

[Gerry52]

AAR, Andy's Airgun Reviews. Not that I always agree with him but he's got a great "announcer voice" & seems to touch on the aspects that I want to hear about. To be honest though, I don't seek out Reviews all that often. I'd rather watch action.

 

[john8]

Don't need a manufacture bought advertisement that has given bad information more often than not. Don't need someone who shoots a couple mags through a gun in their backyard, declares it the greatest thing since sliced bread, comes on here to ask for tunes because someone else doing the work is easier than doing it yourself, bashing good companies on here because they didn't gibe him the time of day when begging for "free" stuff to review, selling your used guns as new because they only had a few rounds through them and were most likely overfilled because he can't read the writing on the guage or receiver.

Yes that cat used to drive me nuts, simple solution don't watch his videos, hell it's gotten to the point even click to read his post.

 

[Airgun Advisor]

Personally speaking I really enjoy doing the reviews and sharing knowledge for you guys. Also enjoy reading the forum and hearing what you all have to say. It is interesting to hear the perceptions of what we do and how it could be better. I've got some thick skin, as long as long as you all keep it respectful send some feedback this way.

Airgun Advisor

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

 

[Trucker3573]

Personally speaking I really enjoy doing the reviews and sharing knowledge for you guys. Also enjoy reading the forum and hearing what you all have to say. It is interesting to hear the perceptions of what we do and how it could be better. I've got some think skin, as long as long as you all keep it respectful send some feedback this way.

Airgun Advisor

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

Dang I forgot to include you Chad. Always watch your channel. I appreciate the work and content you put out and all others . It’s kind of a catch 22. We like to complain as consumers when reviewers are sent products and are sponsored by manufacturers. What are reviewers supposed to do, turn down these opportunities?? What incentive is there to put the time and effort into a video if everything you are reviewing you paid for out of pocket ?? I can’t imagine there is enough revenue within just YouTube itself to justify all the work. I like and appreciate the YouTube content so I hope the incentive structures continue to grow.

 

[greenbeans]

Personally speaking I really enjoy doing the reviews and sharing knowledge for you guys. Also enjoy reading the forum and hearing what you all have to say. It is interesting to hear the perceptions of what we do and how it could be better. I've got some thick skin, as long as long as you all keep it respectful send some feedback this way.

Airgun Advisor

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

www.youtube.com

Man, forgot to mention both you and sub12 as to the ones I watch for info in guns!

The things I’d like to see more are full fills over the chrony (incl first shot) for reg consistency and an honest shot count. Maybe a bit more about triggers and their adjustability. And then shoot the gun again in different conditions (like, temp, air pressure and such) to see how sensitive it is. Maybe check weight vs official info… gonna think about this a bit more

 

[Airgun Advisor]

What some of you may find interesting and of course I am only speaking for myself here. To do a somewhat thorough review of an airgun usually takes about 20 hrs from start to finish. Now my situation is a little different as there is no range in my backyard. If there was, I could really start cranking out the videos.

Barrel cleaning and polishing (if needed) - I try to always state if a barrel was polished
Depending on the tank size and caliber you could easily have 30 min in doing a shot string plus filming and graphing the data for the film
10 min filming trigger pull (this is usually super easy to do, just have to set it up).
Time the weather, family duties and your "real" work schedules to make the trip happen.
Packing the needed equipment for filming and shooting. (Don't ask if I ever forgot a batter or camera at home :/ )
Fill Tanks
For one trip to the range I have a travel time of 1hr (30 min there and 30 min back)
Setup at the range (each angle you see is a separate camera that has to be timed when editing)
Then the fun begins. Trying different setups (pellets (weights and brands), moderators, shooting bags, holds, etc...) to find what will work best.
Yes I have had some airguns take more than one day of filming for one reason or another. Especially since the results are real, this does take time. Yes, I try to state what if anything I have done in the video, like hammer or reg. adjustments. Most of the time it is just finding the correct pellet and moderator setup.
Once you get everything dialed in, the cameras can now start filming and you hope not to say anything dumb.
Don't forget to take B-roll shots, because nobody watches a talking head and you need to keep everyones attention while providing quality information.
Film the studio session with the boring facts and chatting about data (gotta do this as it is important), but most just fast forward to shooting scenes.
Then we upload and edit all that footage into a nice 10-15 min package, create the thumbnail, title and description for youtube and hope everyone loves it.

Interesting fact, forgetting to touch on something is actually a good thing for a youtuber. This gets you guys and gals talking and all those comments make YT want to promote the video more. So please share your experiences and own critiques of the products on these videos if you want to support the channels. Just keep the comments professional and to separate the product being reviewed and the person doing the review. Thumbs down hurt the creator's chances of the video getting shared and does nothing for the product being reviewed. Thumbs up really help a ton.

I wouldn't change a thing as I love the creative process, all the learning that has occurred to do the video and being a part of the community.

You would be surprised how many content creators couldn't take an airgun apart to fix it. lol.

Regardless of the compensation (yes there is some, but generally small), you better love doing it.

Happy Plinking everyone!

 

[greenbeans]

What some of you may find interesting and of course I am only speaking for myself here. To do a somewhat thorough review of an airgun usually takes about 20 hrs from start to finish. Now my situation is a little different as there is no range in my backyard. If there was, I could really start cranking out the videos.

Barrel cleaning and polishing (if needed) - I try to always state if a barrel was polished
Depending on the tank size and caliber you could easily have 30 min in doing a shot string plus filming and graphing the data for the film
10 min filming trigger pull (this is usually super easy to do, just have to set it up).
Time the weather, family duties and your "real" work schedules to make the trip happen.
Packing the needed equipment for filming and shooting. (Don't ask if I ever forgot a batter or camera at home :/ )
Fill Tanks
For one trip to the range I have a travel time of 1hr (30 min there and 30 min back)
Setup at the range (each angle you see is a separate camera that has to be timed when editing)
Then the fun begins. Trying different setups (pellets (weights and brands), moderators, shooting bags, holds, etc...) to find what will work best.
Yes I have had some airguns take more than one day of filming for one reason or another. Especially since the results are real, this does take time. Yes, I try to state what if anything I have done in the video, like hammer or reg. adjustments. Most of the time it is just finding the correct pellet and moderator setup.
Once you get everything dialed in, the cameras can now start filming and you hope not to say anything dumb.
Don't forget to take B-roll shots, because nobody watches a talking head and you need to keep everyones attention while providing quality information.
Film the studio session with the boring facts and chatting about data (gotta do this as it is important), but most just fast forward to shooting scenes.
Then we upload and edit all that footage into a nice 10-15 min package, create the thumbnail, title and description for youtube and hope everyone loves it.

Interesting fact, forgetting to touch on something is actually a good thing for a youtuber. This gets you guys and gals talking and all those comments make YT want to promote the video more. So please share your experiences and own critiques of the products on these videos if you want to support the channels. Just keep the comments professional and to separate the product being reviewed and the person doing the review. Thumbs down hurt the creator's chances of the video getting shared and does nothing for the product being reviewed. Thumbs up really help a ton.

I wouldn't change a thing as I love the creative process, all the learning that has occurred to do the video and being a part of the community.

You would be surprised how many content creators couldn't take an airgun apart to fix it. lol.

Regardless of the compensation (yes there is some, but generally small), you better love doing it.

Happy Plinking everyone!

Really appreciate you jumping on this!!

Totally get all the effort going into this! I guess some of the things wouldn’t have to be on camera and in the video, like ES/SD over a full fill, shot count at a given tune etc. I’d just believe you way more than official stats (like, .22 leopard standard tube 25gr at 940 53 shots as per FX vs maybe 30 in real life…). Mostly I’d like to know about the things that aren’t “stellar” as well (in addition to the things the gun is shining at) since all guns have their pros and cons. Like, does the reg creep over night?! Is the first shot (or the first few) slow?! Not to bash a brand/gun but just to let me know what to expect before forking $2k plus over. Like, I can research all that here as well but having it in a review video (with all the other stuff you’re doing already) would be nice

Side note: it’s hilarious how obvious the lack of technical knowledge and general understanding of Airguns is with some of your “colleagues” in particular on some of the tuning “guides” out there…

 

[beerthief]

What some of you may find interesting and of course I am only speaking for myself here. To do a somewhat thorough review of an airgun usually takes about 20 hrs from start to finish. Now my situation is a little different as there is no range in my backyard. If there was, I could really start cranking out the videos.

Barrel cleaning and polishing (if needed) - I try to always state if a barrel was polished
Depending on the tank size and caliber you could easily have 30 min in doing a shot string plus filming and graphing the data for the film
10 min filming trigger pull (this is usually super easy to do, just have to set it up).
Time the weather, family duties and your "real" work schedules to make the trip happen.
Packing the needed equipment for filming and shooting. (Don't ask if I ever forgot a batter or camera at home :/ )
Fill Tanks
For one trip to the range I have a travel time of 1hr (30 min there and 30 min back)
Setup at the range (each angle you see is a separate camera that has to be timed when editing)
Then the fun begins. Trying different setups (pellets (weights and brands), moderators, shooting bags, holds, etc...) to find what will work best.
Yes I have had some airguns take more than one day of filming for one reason or another. Especially since the results are real, this does take time. Yes, I try to state what if anything I have done in the video, like hammer or reg. adjustments. Most of the time it is just finding the correct pellet and moderator setup.
Once you get everything dialed in, the cameras can now start filming and you hope not to say anything dumb.
Don't forget to take B-roll shots, because nobody watches a talking head and you need to keep everyones attention while providing quality information.
Film the studio session with the boring facts and chatting about data (gotta do this as it is important), but most just fast forward to shooting scenes.
Then we upload and edit all that footage into a nice 10-15 min package, create the thumbnail, title and description for youtube and hope everyone loves it.

Interesting fact, forgetting to touch on something is actually a good thing for a youtuber. This gets you guys and gals talking and all those comments make YT want to promote the video more. So please share your experiences and own critiques of the products on these videos if you want to support the channels. Just keep the comments professional and to separate the product being reviewed and the person doing the review. Thumbs down hurt the creator's chances of the video getting shared and does nothing for the product being reviewed. Thumbs up really help a ton.

I wouldn't change a thing as I love the creative process, all the learning that has occurred to do the video and being a part of the community.

You would be surprised how many content creators couldn't take an airgun apart to fix it. lol.

Regardless of the compensation (yes there is some, but generally small), you better love doing it.

Happy Plinking everyone!

Yeah we seem to forget about all the time and work off camera . All the retake's , editing out burps and other noises ,

 

[NateChrony]

All the 'regular' airgun reviewers are nothing more than 'whores to the industry'. They are exactly the same as the old 'gun writers' from the days before the internet. They tell you what the industry wants them to tell you about their product. Pretty much the same as a typical lying' cheatin' car salesman!

This is pretty bang on....

As a small & new manufacturer - trying to get my products out there has been an absolute shambles. The stories I could tell! I've sent about $5k of product out with basically nothing provided.
All the influencers ask for freebies, then dont deliver, "oh i'm really busy"... "i sell brandX on my store & your product is a competitor - so i cant"... "all my media slots next year are booked"...

My response is now: you pay full price for the product, then once its published - YOU specify the metrics you can hit & i'll refund the full price & shipping to you. If they can invest in their own venture, why the heck should i?!?

TLDR - you dont get honesty/integrity above ~40k subscribers (of course a gross generalisation & there will be exceptions, but I have a good amount of data behind this approach)

There's the entertainment channels (Airgun Alley) - who outright state they're entertainment, & he does a superb job - they're excluded from this.

What to look out for....
There's 1 brand in particular to be VERY weary of - if they review it, chances are they dont review much else or are horribly biased.
Do a quick scan of their channel, are you seeing the same brand over & over?
Do they publish a video on the exact same day as everyone else on that item?

Here's how influencing works: (according to an old school influencer that we all know)

• You get a little channel running & find a niche, it starts to grow
• Manufacturers notice you & start sending you free stuff
• You grow lots & lots, as you've got stuff to play with
• You get big enough that you can start to influence sales/opinion in a positive & negative way
• You get offers to have your channel join a group of others & get externally managed
• You get some good enough money from YT & start to do it full time, your quality improves
• You've put all your eggs in the basket
• You get big enough that manufacturers start to not like you reviewing other stuff
• The legal implications of saying something bad about a product becomes VERY apparent
• All the manufacturers turn around & say that they wont send you anything unless you only review their stuff
• You can chose to be *****, or lose access to equipment & your channel dies

What to look for - generally I find ~5-10k subs is a really sweet spot for quality, thoroughness & independence. It will be MUCH lower production quality, and far less content - but if its the content you're looking for, that's where a lot more "truth" seems to happen.

 

[coastal drifter]

Airgun web has always been my go to for Airguns reviews. I watch a lot of u tube. This is my latest channel

Adz Hunts

Welcome to my channel! What started as simply wanting to learn how to shoot air rifles effectively, has snowballed in to a full blown obsession! I aim to upload weekly, so hit the buttons! Thanks to everyone who interacts at all, I appreciate you all 🤩

youtube.com

Seems a nice guy and very enthusiastic

fun to watch

 

[Airgun Advisor]

This is pretty bang on....

As a small & new manufacturer - trying to get my products out there has been an absolute shambles. The stories I could tell! I've sent about $5k of product out with basically nothing provided.
All the influencers ask for freebies, then dont deliver, "oh i'm really busy"... "i sell brandX on my store & your product is a competitor - so i cant"... "all my media slots next year are booked"...

My response is now: you pay full price for the product, then once its published - YOU specify the metrics you can hit & i'll refund the full price & shipping to you. If they can invest in their own venture, why the heck should i?!?

TLDR - you dont get honesty/integrity above ~40k subscribers (of course a gross generalisation & there will be exceptions, but I have a good amount of data behind this approach)

There's the entertainment channels (Airgun Alley) - who outright state they're entertainment, & he does a superb job - they're excluded from this.

What to look out for....
There's 1 brand in particular to be VERY weary of - if they review it, chances are they dont review much else or are horribly biased.
Do a quick scan of their channel, are you seeing the same brand over & over?
Do they publish a video on the exact same day as everyone else on that item?

Here's how influencing works: (according to an old school influencer that we all know)

• You get a little channel running & find a niche, it starts to grow
• Manufacturers notice you & start sending you free stuff
• You grow lots & lots, as you've got stuff to play with
• You get big enough that you can start to influence sales/opinion in a positive & negative way
• You get offers to have your channel join a group of others & get externally managed
• You get some good enough money from YT & start to do it full time, your quality improves
• You've put all your eggs in the basket
• You get big enough that manufacturers start to not like you reviewing other stuff
• The legal implications of saying something bad about a product becomes VERY apparent
• All the manufacturers turn around & say that they wont send you anything unless you only review their stuff
• You can chose to be *****, or lose access to equipment & your channel dies

What to look for - generally I find ~5-10k subs is a really sweet spot for quality, thoroughness & independence. It will be MUCH lower production quality, and far less content - but if its the content you're looking for, that's where a lot more "truth" seems to happen.

Interesting to hear a manufacture's opinion here too. Can't say I agree completely with the "old school influencer that we all know," but I certainly can see some of this happening on channels depending on who is running them. I have also heard many complaints about everyone asking for the handouts too.

I personally have been doing this since maybe 2017ish.