Ratings offered by different Labs, biased or not?

[alo100]

Hm... reading something online http://www.cyber-diver.com
The page has a claim:
"Our scuba diving equipment tests and those conducted by the US Navy are the only fully independent and unbiased dive gear reviews and scuba equipment evaluations available to the general diving public..."

Which labs are considered to be non-biased in your opinion and can we have some
pointers?

 

[Diversauras]

None are, they all have a stake in the game whether it is advertizers in their magazines or promotions paid by the manufacturers or even super tweeked units provided for testing.

I think what you need to know about gear is put out during instruction and that too may be biased towards the LDS from which the class is offered. The only way to know what is good and what isn't is for you to become an informed consumer. You do not need to try every model but you should know what is meant when objective points are compared between products.

Find a way for example to try a high end reg and one that is lower on the price pyramid. Compare their performance and then compare what the reviews say. From your own test like this you can come up with a basis by which you can compare objectivly, but you will be biased too and probably without being aware of it...

 

[ScottZeagle]

All tests are subjective, but not all of them are "paid for".

I will use Scuba Diving Magazine as an example.

Zeagle has done pretty darn well in Scuba Diving Magazine tests. We consistently score well, and have recieved numerous "Tester's Choice" and "Best Buy" awards from them.

If you happen to be a Scuba Diving Magazine subscriber, please let me know if you can find a Zeagle advertisement in there...

If we were spending money on ads, I can see where you could drawn the "pay for reviews" conclusion, but in our case, it simply isn't a valid answer.

As a matter of fact, last month the Scuba Diving Magazine sales guys came to Zeagle, hoping to sel us advertising. I honestly told them that NOT advertising with them gave our "gear reviews" more weight, as we cannot be accused of paying for good reviews. I also told them that ScubaBoard kicked their websites forums ***, but that is geting off topic...

We have some things going on now at Zeagle that will probably require us to run a few ads in dive magazines - the new computer, for example - but in the last 3-5 years you will have a hard time finding a Zeagle ad in that magazine!!!

I use Scuba Diving Magazine as my example because I am quite familiar with it. If there are other "gear review" mags or websites, I am unfamiliar with them...

Just my 2 cents...

Scott

 

[Heffey]

Biased? Yes, I believe most all of the tests must be biased to a certain extent.

Some reviews are based at least partly on controlled data derived from test equipment.
Unfortunately, from what I read this data does not transfer directly into real world diving.

I guess this is where the "independent" expert divers come into the review picture. However, expert, unbiased divers do not exist. There is no way that a diver can gain experience without gaining opinions, preferences and therefore forming a certain amount of bias.

Bias may exist on many different levels. Brand bias (one thread comes to mind, “is dacor junk?" ), appearance bias (do you prefer traditional reg look?), Value bias (has to be expensive to be good) and lastly, ownership bias (I own/ed one so it’s got to be good).

Even without bringing up the advertiser & sponsor issues, I see no way to get an unbiased review unless we only use the test fixture data.

Get it wet. Taste test is the best.
Jeffrey

 

[Adobo]

As someone who is just starting in the sport, I have done a lot of reading trying to figure out what would be good to own if one is to invest in their own equipment.

As a person who has several money pit hobbies, I find myself frequently reading magazine reviews and hobbyist reviews looking for hints as to what makes for good and what makes for bad equipment.

I dunno where people get the notion that magazine reviews are tainted simply because a manufacturer advertises with a certain publication. Perhaps there is truth in that but to me, it seems strange that the so called "bias" in equipment reviews is anymore prevalent in scuba equipment than it would be with cars, boats or even audio/video equipment. And yet somehow, I feel like within this forum in particular, many are quite eager to dismiss the findings of scuba magazines as somehow completely useless. I wonder how many people are looking for ads in Motor Trend when checking reading over a review of a car. Would they say, hey chevy has an add in here and therefore their opinion around the car must certainly be tainted.

If I could, I would like to ask the so called experts and experienced divers... If you are going to tell us newbies that magazine opinions are useless and to educate ourselves, then you might as well explain what being an "informed consumer" means as it relates to scuba equipment. Otherwise, you really haven't offered a reasonable alternative to what magazines have offered.

 

[ScubaSarus]

I'm still baffled that a certain scuba diving magazine really promoted small spare air bottles as a good means for a redundant air supply at depth they also had ads for spair air in the mag. I just feel they were biased in this case.