TESTING PRODUCTS
By Dave Finkelstein
Have you ever purchased something and it didn’t live up to your standards? I’m sure we all have experienced a disappointment or two. Many of us will read a product review prior to purchase to get another person’s opinion on whether a product is worth the cost of buying only to still be disappointed upon delivery of said merchandise. In all fairness as an outdoor writer, I have from time to time, been asked to field test equipment and told that if I found their product was of value, that I may give it some ink in one of my articles. I usually kept the product. In all fairness, I never plugged something that tested poorly to my readers. There were several (names not mentioned for obvious reasons) that I could not in good faith, recommend at all. I was told a very long time ago that advertising pays the costs of magazine production and to plug companies that pay money to advertise in the media that I was being published in. Good advise if you want to stay relevant and continue being published. Then there were trade shows like “Icast” where if you had a media badge on, the Reps were eager to give you lure samples or some new gadget for fishing. That was the rule of thumb back in the day but times have gotten tougher in the fishing industry. Many of the fishing magazines and newspaper companies are past memories these days. The new kids on the block are “You Tube Videos” and fishing websites all asking for you to subscribe and give them a thumbs up. Of the many items that I was given were fishing rods both salt and freshwater, reels, lures (a lot of lures), fishing gadgets, scents for baits, and other fishy items. Several years ago, I decided to sell off some of my 75+ fishing rods and (7) saltwater two speed reels. Some of those rods never saw any testing on my part. Most of those 2 speed reels had one trip out on the ocean as well. The folks that purchased those items were very happy because of the reduced pricing. I still have a lot of saltwater gear that I will sell down the road. It occurred to me, that after going to the Pacific Coast Sportsman Show that there were a lot of folks walking out with purchased merchandise. I wondered how many of those fishing rods bought were going to be used after one trip out on the water? You can’t test a fishing rod’s performance too well at a show. Those lures you purchased caught your eye but will they catch fish? There were so many products sold at that show that vendors were doing ok on the sales end from what I had viewed. All this leads me to ask the question “Were these products field tested and who did the testing?” I think it’s a reasonable question to ask. They test automobiles, planes, boats, washing machines, and all sorts of other products but do they field test fishing equipment, lures and other fishing paraphernalia? Several friends of mine work for fishing companies. Most are in the retail end of the trade and don’t see much fishing time on the water so I wonder when a new product comes out, has it been tested enough to warrant selling to the public? I don’t think they really know the answer. Having been in the auto trade for 40+ years, I was involved in testing cars. I went on many road trips. We drove up the coast, out in mountains testing 4-wheel drive operations and in the desert heat, as well as freezing conditions on frozen lakes/rivers up North in winter. There was a lot of critical testing with engineers and also foreign engineers since the company I worked for was Asian. After all the tests the data was analyzed, there were changes made on lots of vehicle items. We even took our competitors vehicles with us and compared our cars to theirs. We were told to tell the truth about our vehicle’s flaws and our competitor’s vehicles as well. In the end, it was all about making a better product for consumers. Another event that I have partaken in is Focus Group surveys. I tested cigarettes, a Bluetooth device for hearing amplification, Pizza, and the best one of all, a motorcycle that would compete with Harley Davidson. I was paid cash money and was treated to dinner on several of these surveys. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in those focus groups. Several reasons for having a focus group were to determine if the product had a buyer’s interest. Other items were to determine the quality of the product. The investors (backers) wanted some assurances that their money was being well spent. From a manufacturer’s point of view in the fishing business, some field testing would be beneficial to both the consumer and them. I’m sure they don’t want product to sit on the shelves. No profit to them or retailers. In the future, I will be doing some product testing. I will be honest, not making false claims to just appease a friendship. If a product doesn’t deliver then it should go back to the drawing board and be improved. If it delivers as advertised, then I’ll endorse the item. Who knows, I might give it a thumbs up and subscribe.
