Hi Guys-

To those who've stated that they are disappointed with the coverage (as opposed to the publishing schedule) of our OR articles, I'd like to know specifically what you thought about the following articles:

Plush Pads
Lightweight Rainwear
Hot Stoves
Lightweight Footwear Roundup

If you didn't like those articles, well, then I guess we'd like to hear what we can do better next time. If you did enjoy those, then stay tuned for similar articles on Shelters, Sleeping Bags, Apparel, and Packs that are forthcoming. BTW, as John S. suggested, the plan for the next show is to offer a mix of quick blog-like dispatches along with more comprehensive articles...

Thank you for your feedback.

Cheers,

-Mike

Edited by MikeMartin on 08/30/2008 15:43:36 MDT.

I don't have any problems with any of the already published articles. I guess the major concern was a question of timing. I don't know what the intentions are but I can imagine that if you intent to publish 3 or 4 more articles, the last one will be published in a couple weeks time which is about 4 or 5 weeks after OR took place.
If others are like me, they want to know as fast as possible (for some strange reason since nothing will be available till spring next year :-) ). I search where ever I can and know other sites and blogs where info about OR can be found. If I don't find it here, there still a chance that I will read about it somewhere else. Certainly after several weeks.

I like the idea of more comprehensive articles and understand that it will take more time to write them since you will need to make a synthesis of all sorts of information. The downside of such articles is that expectations about the articles grow e.g. more in dept info or analysis. I guess sometimes this can be delivered but not always.

Edited by Woubeir on 08/30/2008 17:06:44 MDT.

John, you should go into politics! :-)


Also, spadeout.com even has videos of the Outdoor Market!

I think the tag line of "stale news" is an interesting one. We're talking about backpacking gear here. It's not like the info will be out of data a month from now, especially given that most of the products from OR won't be available til next spring. So I definitely come down on the side of preferring more depth and a longer schedule then the other way around. Besides as several posters have noted other blogs covered the show and provided the immediate info similar to what BPL did last year. Personally I have no problem going elsewhere for that info. I want expertise and depth from BPL as I think they uniquely have the staff to provide it.

Mike asked for some comments/criticisms/suggestions of this years OR coverage so here are a few of mine.

The pad story was a blog style report. I didn't get anything from this that wasn't covered in the press release. That being said the neoair is probably one of if not the most anticipated product at OR for the BPL crowd so I think this had to be written.

The one thing you always question in a lighter weight pad is durability and I would have appreciated the initial impressions of the neoair on that topic. At last year's OR when discussing the clearview, I believe the author questioned the rep about durability who responded by saying that the pad is easily patched. That was helpful in forming initial impressions of the pad, that were validated by BPLs later full review. So I was disappointed that the same was not done for the neoair.

I thought the rain jacket write up was ok. In some ways this article is a substitute for not having an up to date state of the market report which would be more useful. Ideally I'd like to see that updated SOM. Then the OR coverage would be a spotlight style review of any new/modified products that might contend for a top spot once a full review had been done.

I have the same comments for the shoe article with one addition. I have a terrible time finding shoes that fit. This is a particular problem as most of these shoes need to be mail-ordered so trying on many pairs is difficult. So I would like to see BPL try to describe the fit of the shoes. Factors like width of the toebox and heel and overall, amount of arch support, and perhaps a few others would be useful.

Finally the one potential revolutionary thing to be announced at OR seems to be the ion mask technology and in many more ways then shoes. It seems this is worth a separate write up at some point.

That's my opinion anyway. Thanks for listening.

p.s. It's interesting how the internet has created the requirement for journalists to respond immediately to questions/feedback/complaints from their readers. In the old days you'd just write a letter to the editor and never expect a response. I think the interaction is a positive development but it must take up a lot of time that could be spent writing.

p.p.s The real problem I have with BPLs OR coverage is that initial forum posts from staff led me to believe a lot more content was coming a lot sooner then the reality turned out to be. This seems to be standard procedure for BPL. It's far better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way round.

Mike,

Yes, you deserve some feedback, and I appreciated the review of the upcoming sleeping pads. Particularly significant to me was the description of the modified dye cut which results in a more favorable R rating for the Thermarest pads. A Western Mountaineering representative advise me of the same recently and suggested that the women’s pad would provide increased warmth because of the slanted dye cut of the pad absent on the men’s. I didn’t understand this but your article clarified it as well as notifying me that this cut would be incorporated into the men’s pad along with other modifications that would make the pad lighter. This is just an example of some good news from BPL reporting which was indeed appreciated.

It would have helped if BPL would have provided a pre-show syllabus of BPL’s strategy of coverage revealing that reports would be released over a period of several weeks giving the reporters time to write detailed critical articles of the gear at the show. I don't recall that BPL outlined beforehand that the news would be time-released over a period of weeks. I thought that BPL coverage was over and done with but now that I know that there is more to come and the reason for it, my disappointment is abated and I understand why the limited coverage thus far.

Additionally, since there is more to come from BPL, I hope that you include lots of photos of the gear, especially the shelters. You know that “a picture is worth….” I am looking forward to these articles. Thanks,

John

I guess my disappointment in the Outdoor Shows coverage was that I really wanted to get a glimpse of the shows as they were happening, like BPL used to do for the last few years. One of the most valuable views into the shows that I've had over the years at BPL was getting photos of gear. As it was, this year I kept waiting for the short reviews to show up, found nothing, and so closed the BPL window and looked for the news on other sites, like Lighthiker and Spadout. Kind of silly, I thought, since it is here at BPL that I want to learn about those things. Even today, years after they were published I still go back to old reviews and photos of gear to think about and compare gear. The photographs are what make it most worthwhile, such as last winter when I was looking around for winter tents and brought up a search for the Mountain Hardwear Bunker 1. This year the shows have ended and I feel I've learned nothing about the shows from BPL.

Though I do agree with John that the upcoming articles will probably fulfill that need for more information.

I also realize that trying to keep up to-the-minute reviews certainly must be exhausting! The shows are exhausting enough in themselves!

There are forums for past OR shows, which seem to keep all the info consolidated. Any reason for the change on this?

Perhaps another thing that I liked last year and seems more difficult now, is immediate interaction. I remember that during past shows, because the reports were published during the show, questions could be asked to the BPL team which then could go back to the reps on the floor. The current format doesn't allow this I think (or at least not as easily).

Tom wrote:

"I remember that during past shows, because the reports were published during the show, questions could be asked to the BPL team which then could go back to the reps on the floor."

You know I had forgotten this, but you're absolutely right. That was very cool/useful and is an excellent point on the side of more timely reports. It was like having our own representatives at the show rather than just reading reports.

Edited by nschmald on 08/31/2008 17:33:44 MDT.

Hi all,

This link to a bunch of short revirews was posted on a different thread and I want to add it here.


Short reviews from the Summer-ORS-2008

Seems that Patagonia is coming out or coming back with its Wool #1. It would seem that this new item might have attracted enough attention to get some kind of notice by BPL.com.