What Kind of Gear Do You Want TGR To Review

[waxoff]

Show me your skiing before I believe one fucking word you say about that ski.

Etc.

^^This +100!

[neufox47]

it would be cool if TGR paid some of the respected TT mags (leelau or someone) to do reviews, or at least featured some of their reviews. otherwise I don't much care what TGR the brand reviews tbh

I agree with something like this. I don’t really think there is a lack of reviews on gear, but there is a lack of trusted reviews. Giving a piece of gear to 3 people, 1 pro, 1 over-the-hill weekend warrior and one mid-life expert skier would be a good way to do reviews.

[skibrd]

I agree with something like this. I don’t really think there is a lack of reviews on gear, but there is a lack of trusted reviews. Giving a piece of gear to 3 people, 1 pro, 1 over-the-hill weekend warrior and one mid-life expert skier would be a good way to do reviews.

This I could get behind. We have enough people who fit all three categories in Jackson, it shouldn’t be hard to find the skiers who are articulate enough to say what they feel about a ski.


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[iriponsnow]

(in seriousness now) I agree. There are tons of opinions and reviews of gear that are spewed on the web but they are of limited utility (IMO) without actually seeing the person using the gear.

Show me your skiing before I believe one fucking word you say about that ski. Better yet, ski with me so I can watch you.

Etc.

^This

As a someone who runs coaching camps & an active actual gear tester, there’s no sense getting someone all fired up about thinking their Blister caliber when their rocking KillingtonZone skills.

[east bear fr]

^^This +100!

Would you mean you can't trust this guy reviewing M108?

Or anything else...

[m2711c]

Fuckin' Socks!!!

[thebear]

Tell us what you're looking for. Are you trying to get more interest and conversation from people who know and use the gear? Are you trying to sell pin bindings to some poor fuck in Ohio who now wants to tour on their one trip a year to Jackson? Are you trying to get more ad money from partners/sponsors?

This right here ^^^

And if growing audience is the priority, I'm not sure that I would take suggestions from this crew. If churning out ski reviews for flatlanders and city kids (and, yeah, I live in Brooklyn these days) is going to help sustain the company, then go ahead and do it — just don't expect the people who debate the minutia of Plum binding features in the middle of August to be your core audience for that content.

[El Chupacabra]

Fuckin' Socks!!!

You can leave your hat on.

[doebedoe]

Plum bindings suck. Don't review them. ATK or GTFO.

[TahoeJ]

Giving a piece of gear to 3 people, 1 pro, 1 over-the-hill weekend warrior and one mid-life expert skier would be a good way to do reviews.

I think this is a great idea. You don't have to be the best skier on the mountain to review a ski, because most of the people looking to buy them won't be that good. Seeing how a ski performs for people at various levels makes a ton of sense. This would also include your centered-stance young jibbers vs. your tip drivers who grew up on the race team, as well as a 155 pounder vs. someone who weighs 210. And yeah, let's see some footage.

east bear - oh man, that's just painful. But at least he's willing to show it, I'll give him that.

[east bear fr]

His conclusions are hilarious : too heavy to tour (oh really?), too stiff to be fun, too noodle to perform !!!

This guy is a beast!

[Conundrum]

Andrew's mom.

[tgrweb]

Appreciate the feedback from everyone so far. More video content is of course very much a priority, as well as broadening our tester base beyond us office rats.

Keep it coming.

[hatchgreenchile]

Snowboarder opinion...our kind usually aren't tech geeks, but I want to see some weird decks get reviewed. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can review a Lib Tech Orca or Burton Custom.

Find some oddball or unknown boards (ex. Nitro Cannon 203, Spring Break Tree Hunter, Hosoi Pillow Monster) and shine a light on their pros and cons.

[whyturn]

A TGR pro model. Wait isn’t that protest or kusala and billy goat. Maybe ski resorts and bike spots. How about do a film and go to those spots. Yah let’s do that.


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[rideit]

This I could get behind. We have enough people who fit all three categories in Jackson, it shouldn’t be hard to find the skiers who are articulate enough to say what they feel about a ski.


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Ask Benny Wilson, I bet you would get some hilarious content!

[TunaGill]

I was going to suggest a Moment vs. ON3P battle.

Wildcat vs. Billy Goat, maybe?

[singlecross]

Honest question... Why try to create original gear review content when there are others out there who are already doing it, and probably better than you at TGR could? Partner with Blister (print) and skiessentials (video) for skis, Alex Barham and Wade Harrison (both on YouTube) for whitewater kayaking, etc. for bikes, etc. for climbing. TGR should stick to their strength of making films and selling hats, then partner with others for gear/review content IMHO.

Maybe a partnership with Ski Journal for filmed adventure ski travel documentaries for mortals. I'm sick of JUST seeing Pros that I have no connection with huck huge lines out of helicopters. Look how popular the Fifty Project was with Bjarne and Cody... They tell an interesting and relatable story.

[ex-powderbroker]

Do what kelly cordes does, but with interns:

https://www.patagonia.ca/stories/cra...ory-79359.html

[XXX-er]

Just cuz a guy can go very large will not necessarily mean he will know shit about the gear OR know how to write about it well OR know how to compare it to other gear

[BCMtnHound]

Just cuz a guy can go very large will not necessarily mean he will know shit about the gear OR know how to write about it well OR know how to compare it to other gear

Heh. Content of player interviews between periods/end of hockey game on game strategy and dynamics comes to mind.

[XXX-er]

IMO the best gear reviewer out there is my yellow friend Lee Lau,

[sruffian]

send three forum users on each tgr spansered trip and let the whole trip be a ski off to see who gets in the movie

then review the three mags

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Partner with skiessentials

Really? Everyone of their vids I've watched showed a dude skiing a groomer and taking about how amazing a ski is. Have their reviews gotten better? Those guys seem cool enough, but I always had the sense their core goal was to sell skis.

I like Neufox's idea. Vids of 3 good but different skiers would be great. Mix it up depending on the ski. I don't need to know what park rat thinks of a 198 Katana or what a old fart thinks of a park ski. But three people with different styles/ages/abilities who might actually use the ski being reviewed would be awesome. You could combine POV footage with shots from the same select locations so viewers could compare how reviewers ski the same line on different skis.

Also Lee Lau, as mentioned, does this very well. See his Tecton and Shift review for examples. That's the gold standard.

Blister has come a long way. Their reviews are especially helpful if you know the tendencies of the reviewers, which don't necessarily match how they describe themselves. Their breakdown of how a ski behaves in different snow and terrain in conjunction with comparisons to other skis works well, but they sometimes they stick to it a bit too rigidly to their formula in a way that can minimize differences between skis. Sometimes a metaphor or some colorful language tells more than a systematic comparison of traits. They also occasionally focus on inconsequential details, such as "which 300g tech binding is the dampest?" (the answer none of them, even if some minuscule difference is detectable). And they generalize about ski design (notably tip and tail taper) in ways that I think aren't correct. That said, they are producing by far the best collection of ski reviews out there. Not building on what they've figured out would be foolish.

[singlecross]

Really? Everyone of their vids I've watched showed a dude skiing a groomer and taking about how amazing a ski is. Have their reviews gotten better? Those guys seem cool enough, but I always had the sense their core goal was to sell skis.

I don't disagree with you on their individual ski reviews. Certainly terrain limited on the East Coast, and the goal of any review is to sell skis, no?

I find their "catagory" reviews to be better. They line up a wall full of certain ski types (90-100mm All Mountain skis for example)and discuss the spectrum of differences between skis.

They at at least seem to be trying .