That's not the point. If a problem were significant, complaints would extend beyond participants on a forum, in my opinion.
But they do. Within 5-6 months of release about 15% have complained about it on Amazon. If you polled which was the worst mechanical keyboard, which one do you think it would've been? My guess, Razer Blackwidow. Just goes to show that poll is meaningless.
The fact is, there wasn't much choice when the Nintendo Virtual Boy was released but that didn't stop it from being a commercial flop, nor did it stop the Atari Jaguar from tanking, and it certainly didn't stop the Apple Pippin from ever really getting off the ground. Choice has nothing to do with it. In the face of little choice, consumers have shown they're not obligated to buy much less like a product, which is why the aforementioned consoles failed.
There were plenty of other options when both of those were offered. That is not true at all. Yes, the SNES and others were near the end of life but they were still excellent systems with great games. The Jaguar had terrible game support - Lack of a good development kit, lack of games in general. People knew the N64 and Saturn were coming...did they want to buy a terrible system because it was the next gen or did they want to wait for something better and stick with their proven platforms? We know the answer.
The Xbox fills that role..one of the main players, good game support, etc...If, for example, you wanted to play Halo, what options do you have? None...If you wanted a console system with good game support, how many realistic options do you have? two others? If you want a Mech KB with macros, backlighting, etc, do you have options that fill that exact same role? Yes, quite a few. If you don't care about macros, a LOT.
There's plenty of choice in the console market, just not in the next gen console category, and not to sound flippant, but so what? What does that have to do with anything? Consumers have consistently shown they're not obligated to buy or like any product, regardless of choice or the lack thereof. How many choices did Windows users have when Windows 8 was released? Do you think they all begrudgingly opened their wallet and glowered while handing over their hard earned cash to Microsoft? Of course not. A lot of users simply refused to upgrade, and lackluster reviews tell the tale.
We're completely going off topic but after 8.1 - after they fixed their user issue...complaints have been rather minor but regardless.
This doesn't relate to the Razer in any case...it certainly doesn't relate to whether it is a reliable keyboard based on reviews...
The 2014 Blackwidow Ultimate was released how many months ago?
5 or 6? Something like that? And you're saying that would be enough time to test its reliability? If not why would you ask that question?
Of course. Ratings impact public perception and amount to good or bad marketing and PR. It's the same reason pro reviews for next gen consoles or any product matters. If they didn't, no one would read or write them. People are interested in what other people think. Why do you think there's a review section on this site?
Sorry, I should be more specific...I agree, if there is an overwhelming hate for a device, that would definitely impact it...but if it was say, 3.5 stars vs. 4.5 stars on Amazon..would that make a difference? Not at all..
If there's a significant issue related to a particular piece of hardware, I have absolutely no reason to believe that at least some pro reviewers or articles on tech sites will cover it at some point. The fact is, the Xbox and Playstation bugs didn't affect EVERY console. In fact, most contributors that covered the issue in reviews and on tech sites noted that they didn't have a problem with their test unit. Their coverage was based on considerable feedback. If tech sites aren't covering broken buttons on consoles or a minor issue related to hardware it's probably because it's minor(as you suggested), and that's precisely my point.
Random different reliability issues are difficult to correlate. Oh this persons spacebar and gone bad, this person had rust, this persons Q key is busted, this persons LED went out.
That is different than if there was a huge number of a single problem
You're getting rather pedantic. The bugs like Red Ring of Death didn't impact every Xbox, but as far as anyone was concerned, it was common enough an issue where most (or at least a lot) could be impacted by it.
The reliability problems I see reported are almost always when the same problem occurs and becomes a relatively common problem. I'm sure you see the difference as well.
I'm actually shocked you think the pro reviews are more reliable than an enthusiasts community (or you're suggesting that). I think in most industries, that has proven to not be the case. I actually can't think of any industry where the "pro" reviews are considered to be better..I'm sure they must exist but I can't think of any. Or maybe you're just saying they haven't been verified by the pro reviews..but really, if you recognize that the enthusiast community (in any industry) gets into the much finer details, is less concerned about marketing, is comparing to it different options out there, pro reviews don't even come close. In fact, if you read some of the pro reviews on mechanical keyboards specifically, it is obvious they haven't used them much (and some admit that).
You didn't answer my question. How many reputable pro review sites can you specifically name that never post a mediocre / negative review?
Wine Companion, Wine Advocate, Wine Spectator. "Bad" is all relative but negative reviews don't get published. It doesn't mean a particular wine didn't receive a bad score, just means it wasn't published. GolfWRX - They review all the equipment but I don't even recall seeing a negative review. It might not be as good as other things but I'm not seeing negative reviews.
When you only scratch the surface, which is what most reviewers do, you just don't see a negative stuff pop up. Unless there is something just really F'd up about it, you don't see anything. Comparisons are often a bit more useful because you can see relative performance, etc....
Forgetting about all this...Are you saying a pro review would have unearthed a problem w/ the Razer Blackwidow? And you're saying if one of their Q keys broke they'd create a new article for that? Maybe if they google it and 100 other people's Q key has broken, but would they if not? No..but does it mean that their demo never had an issue? Or for that matter, 20% of the demos sent out didn't have some sort of issue (but different ones)?
We're starting to compare different things with different issues and it is getting off point....at its core, the Razer Blackwidow does what it should do. It is a mechanical keyboard. It has extra features, lighting, etc...There is nothing inherently wrong or bad with a working version of this keyboard other than personal preference. I think everyone pretty much agrees that is the case. At what point do these pro reviews really get into the guts? How do they determine reliability issues with it? Is that even possible given the timeframe they use it?
For community reviews such as Amazon, what is an acceptable amount of reliability issues in the first 6 months of release on a product that is touted as being "more reliable"? What is an amount of time we should wait to see how reliability pans out?
As I said, for a relatively new product..I look at the negatives carefully. Are they complaining about Amazon shipping? (irrelevant) Are they complaining about how it looks? (irrelevant). Are they complaining about lack of features (irrelevant, I've made my own decision on what features I want). Or did one person have an issue in 3 months? How many people fit in that category? What other issues did some others have? Does it look like a significant number compared to the overall number especially given the amount of time it has been out?
If it is something I'm MORE interested in, I look to the enthusiasts communities. A lot more detail, a lot more reliability...and you know there isn't any $$$ involved in what they're saying. I have to make my own buying decision so of course there is sifting through opinion and fact and deciding which opinions you want to treat as fact (haha).
If your decision making is different when buying a product (sounds like yours is) than more power to you. When it comes to reviewing a keyboard I don't really care about the opinion of someone who says "I'm really starting to like these mechanical keyboards". Quoted from one of the bigger review sites....
