The slew of promoted Dyson YouTube videos spotlights a growing problem in the tech community

[Redaktion]

Have you heard of the Dyson Cyclone V10? If not, don't worry; a deluge of YouTube channels posted "reviews" about the vacuum yesterday. However, the sponsored videos raise some concerns about the YouTube tech review community as a whole.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-slew-of-promoted-Dyson-YouTube-videos-spotlights-a-growing-problem-in-the-tech-community.287618.0.html

[Deni Salg]

You are basically just as guilty with this article. Adding the last paragraph and those links at the end makes this article nothing more than a promotional one for dyson and the youtube "trend setters" you hit at. Also, you really need someone to proof your articles. If you need help let me know  ;)

[A. P.]

Well, if you cannot distinguish a good sense of humor from a bad advertisement than you are likely to buy that vacuum cleaner anyway.

[Andy678]

Small piece of advice- stop buying things which you don't need or are crazy overpriced. Buy wisely after reading real user opinions not sponsored ads.
All these youtube "experts" etc. are simply there to make money and will say whatever makes more money. Get real- youtube lies (actually lies a lot) :)

[Big D]

I decided to leave this message here to let you know, how much I love your reviews and how good and consistent they are. Haven't seen anything better. Keep the great work going, guys!

[anon]

Opinions are like assholes. What makes a tech reviewer's opinion worthwhile is the facts they use to back it up.

A tech review video without facts is simply an advertisement. These fact-less videos would, hopefully, as evidenced by this controversy, alienate a viewerbase.

I do appreciate how you brought up "review guidelines." I'd never considered that a reviewer's statements might be very specifically constrained. I only saw one of these Dyson videos, Linus'. I noticed that he did not mention the price of the vacuum, like he would other products.

You didn't mention the price, either. It's $700.

One other thing no one pointed out is that Dyson is wireless-only now, which necessarily means obsolescence built-in.

I bought a Dyson animal (compact upright) nearly 10 years ago for $400. I've put it through hell and it has always been there for me. I would vouch for it in an instant. That said, I will probably have this vacuum cleaner for 10 more years, too. That hurts Dyson's bottom line-- is that why they are moving to cordless vacs?

I really, really would like to know if these videos came with "review guidelines" and if those guidelines waxed philosophically about being cordless as a distraction from their unavoidable death. Or worse, did Dyson demand avoiding price and negative discussion altogether?

[Sam Medley]

Article author here.

@Deni Salg: the last paragraph was satire. I added that in as a sarcastic jab at the obvious marketing nature of the review videos.

@Andy678: you make a very good point. User reviews are often good sources for accurate information. However, readers should also exercise caution; there have been cases of companies paying for user reviews on some retail sites.

@Big D: Thanks for reading! I deeply appreciate the kind words.

@anon: I did mention the $700 price tag. Twice. There was a mention in the body of the article, and it was mentioned again in the sarcastic affiliate link in the last paragraph. Do a page search of "$700" and you'll see those instances pop up.
Your comments on the new "wireless-only" direction that Dyson is taking are also spot on. It's kind of similar to removing the headphone jack or removable batteries in smart phones. Companies are cutting features under the guise of streamlining their product. In reality, it reduces functionality and drastically reduces the life span of the phone. I have a smartphone that is about 5 years old that still gets regular use as a simple gaming device and MP3 player, thanks only to its removable (and replaceable) battery and headphone jack.

[Andy687]

It's fairly easy to build meaningful opinion after reading 20 or more reviews.
I don't use 1 website, but when want to buy something (things like vacuum) I do spent time with reading many reviews and it's quite easy to tell which are real which not.
This video (I watched 1st one) screams for being advertisement not a genuine user review. Besides it's crap and doesn't really show product, but "pretty lady".

[Ddddutchie]

I couldn't agree more. I think that I am pretty 'internet smart' and easily see through such sponsored content.

However after having watched pretty much every Surface Book 2 15 inch review I went out and bought one. And guess what it turned out the device has two rather obvious flaws. Flaws I (later) only read about in the Tweakers.net and partly in the Notebookcheck reviews.

1) When used in studio mode or docked (so with the lid closed) the placing/design of the vents isn't sufficient and you experience some very serious throttling. Especially in docked mode the GTX 1060 is completely crippled.
2) The computer potentially draws more power then the charger can deliver.
3) This one isn't so important, and isn't really a flaw, but all the YouTube reviewers called it a super quiet pc. Sure with 2 tabs open in Chrome it is is silen, but under load it is at least as loud as my old MacBook Pro retina.

This was a clear lesson to me, do more research (or just ignore YouTube reviews), check sites like these and forums like reddit for user reviews. Especially the throttling while docked I would have liked to have known. Not sure if I still would have bought the machine then.

[Kattz]

Lon Seidman saw your article. He does a weekly wrapup show on Mondays and he issued a challenge to other YouTubers to improve their disclosures. I can't post the link. The date is March 11 and it is the Weekly Wrapup.

Lon is one of the good guys in this business. I actually have all of his sponsored Plex videos in a playlist because it is information that I want to keep.  Personally, it doesn't matter to me if he does do sponsored video. You always know if the  review was sponsored and the outcome of the review doesn't change.

I like the way the reviews are done here as well. They are probably the most thorough  on the internet. If I'm thinking about buying something, I come here.