What's with these Youtube knife review videos?

Yup. We suck.

But, you might like Chuck over at Shortcut Reviews. He’s basically the king of short format, and does a reasonable job of showing the knife. He’s also a great guy.

Here’s a link to his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChijYk7ivb508K8mHjtMpJQ

I watched your ZT 0450 disassembly review just now as well as the comparo you
did with it. I enjoyed both. I ordered a 0470 today from DLT and because I have been
bingeing on purchases from them got it for 228 bucks.
Last knife for me for awhile...my 5th Sinkevitch from ZT.
I need no more flippers and have all bases covered!!!

Back on track...I like your channel and like you am a steel aficionado.
You probably remember me from the now infamous M390 thread.

Keep up the good work!!!

Constructive criticism...you need hotter audio. There are many solutions
available to do this. Consider using compression and a good EQ. Use a
good mic with your camera! It will help.
 
Advanced Knife Bro channel for the win. As far as long videos, I think they have to be 10+ minutes to get that sweet sweet ad revenue.

I like him to. At least it’s entertaining. Lol. I only watch reviews to see the knife better. Still pics are hard to get a “feel” for the knife. I only watch a few people anymore but advancedknifebro I watch for entertainment. His sense of humor is funny for some reason to me. Lol.
 
I also like vids for comparisons by seeing them next to otherknives and not the opinion of the YouTuber. Or how they look in the hand pics. Like I said still pics are hard to get a size “feel” of the knife. If that makes sense.also I don’t need to here the specs in every review other than blade steel maybe. We can all look specs up on there websites. I do like shortcut reviews channel.
 
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I like video reviews because I can see a lot of the knife and hopefully get some feedback on ergonomics and use. I care about "stats" if the published ones are wrong or if its a previously unlisted dimension. I like when reviewers dig more deeply into issues at large, such as Banter 247. I've also been impressed by the testing initiative we've seen recently, involving coordinated input from people doing cut tests, HRC tests, etc. That's obviously not what the OP is talking about though.

There is a degree to which subscribing to a review channel involves having a regular "friend" who shows you product. You get to know them a little through their analyses, stories, anecdotes, etc. You get to know how they view things and what you can take from their opinions as a reviewer.

Thank you for the kind words!

Wait. Just wait.

Without YouTube, how would we know about M390 being run at 54 HRC???

Sounds like it’s strictly best to avoid YouTube.

I watched your ZT 0450 disassembly review just now as well as the comparo you
did with it. I enjoyed both. I ordered a 0470 today from DLT and because I have been
bingeing on purchases from them got it for 228 bucks.
Last knife for me for awhile...my 5th Sinkevitch from ZT.
I need no more flippers and have all bases covered!!!

Back on track...I like your channel and like you am a steel aficionado.
You probably remember me from the now infamous M390 thread.

Keep up the good work!!!

Constructive criticism...you need hotter audio. There are many solutions
available to do this. Consider using compression and a good EQ. Use a
good mic with your camera! It will help.

I do remember you, of course! I appreciate the kind words, and ... yeah. My audio has been a thing. I did upgrade my phone, and will eventually sort out more improvement.
 
Your channel will be fine. Your ergonomic insights are excellent and lacking
almost everywhere else. Content is critical and you have that...
Best wishes from Asheville, NC.
 
Your channel will be fine. Your ergonomic insights are excellent and lacking
almost everywhere else. Content is critical and you have that...
Best wishes from Asheville, NC.

I’ll always try to earn that kind of sentiment. Thank you, again. Best wishes from Portland, OR.
 
Obvious tip: you can usually sort out the bad ones right away by seeing how many views they get.
 
u-tube not so much any more I would rather come reed/learn about knifes hear, not saying tube isn't good about other things!I once heard one could become a doctor o_O watching there .
 
Obvious tip: you can usually sort out the bad ones right away by seeing how many views they get.

Setting aside the matter of “good/bad” being subjective, there’s still the matter of multiple possibilities for low view counts. Subject matter interest in the community, new channel, inactive promoting on other platforms/low broad presence, etc can all contribute.

It’s occasionally tragic. For all we know, the most interesting or valuable content might be up on an under the radar channel.

There are many people getting thousands more views than Roman, for example, and this guy is influential beyond what most people realize in the steel world.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv7WhIE11ClB9BiaJWOJZRg
 
Setting aside the matter of “good/bad” being subjective, there’s still the matter of multiple possibilities for low view counts. Subject matter interest in the community, new channel, inactive promoting on other platforms/low broad presence, etc can all contribute.

It’s occasionally tragic. For all we know, the most interesting or valuable content might be up on an under the radar channel.

There are many people getting thousands more views than Roman, for example, and this guy is influential beyond what most people realize in the steel world.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv7WhIE11ClB9BiaJWOJZRg
There are also some exceptionally popular channels that, to be frank, don't have super in-depth knowledge about cutlery.


And they wear fanny packs.
 
Advanced Knife Bro channel for the win. As far as long videos, I think they have to be 10+ minutes to get that sweet sweet ad revenue.

Advanced Knife Bro is a 10/10 channel. He does things basically nobody else takes the time to do:
- Shot variety (not just a top-down view with hands or a profile shot.)
- Narration recorded after the footage was filmed (he is almost never speaking in the recorded footage)
- Competent editing
- Writes a script
- Is actually funny

He’s the only knife channel I’m subscribed to, and will watch videos related to products I have no interest in (like the many Kukri videos). He doesn’t get much mentioning here, so I take every opportunity to promote his channel despite having no skin in the game.

(Also, it’s basically the channel I wanted to make when I was at peak knife turnover and was considering making a channel to discuss the many knives I was handling. I want him to be successful and popular so I can assume I would have been as well >.>)
 
My biggest pet peeve is that no one ever shows the knife from the spine down so you can see how think it is and how thin the point is. The best you can get it to try and pause it while they are endlessly flipping it around in their hand. Some of them don’t even show you both sides of the knife! Very frustrating.
 
How 'bout the vids with the long, dramatic, boring, self important, "introductions" before they start their boring video..... yawn...
..

.
 
I look at quite a few review videos. A couple are good. But what is it with these folks who show you the knife and wave it around so fast that the camera can't track and you can't see any details that they are talking about? It seems almost universal. Come on, shut up and show me the thing. Don't be dancing around like a mall ninja. Lay the damned knife on a table get on with it. Waste of bandwidth ...
Yet you still watch....
 
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