Quote Originally Posted by gabe View Post
very sound observation..

but I'm practical, so let's push this one step further

Either things go back to the way they are.. a few independants doing this as a hobby, for glory or fun, and/or some free hardware, or {suggestion} we take a tight knit community like XS interested in uncompromised data, and set up a fee based section of the forum to publish that data.. There are many practical issues with that, but it could be a way to get it done..

Someone rightfully suggested that reviewers should be compensated. Everybody agress (I think) that manufacturers cannot/should not/must not be involved. So how does it get done?
Just speaking for myself but I think there are many that feel this way;
People who review are generally "into" the hardware, it is a hobby but lets face it, it can be an expensive one.
We all have different financial abilities. Some guys can go and buy the state of the art twice a year but most of us can not and I surely can't.
What I have is time and investing that time to do a good in depth review of an item with the "payoff" of that item to me is a fair trade.
Now when I reviewed those HS and found them to be horrible as shipped I said to the company "Do you want me to ship them back to you?"
They said no.
I would have said the same to you had I found your kit to be crap but everything I said in that review was the God's truth or I wouldn't have put my name on it. To me it is that black and white and I'll say it here again, whoever wrote that manual in that kit is a resource not to be lost.
Now some here will think that I'm kissing your backside here but that is not me.
When I see a great product the little kid still inside this 56 year old body wants to share that with his friends so they can benefit from what I've learned. Yes, black and white.