I almost wrote a whole post just on that exact topic earlier.
Man I drop back in this thread and there's like 10 things being talked about that I want to respond to.
Just making sure you know that I was not disparaging engineers. We need them.
I was actually referring to manufacturers there.
Absolutely this. When enough money is involved it changes everything.
I feel almost guilty sometimes when watching a reviewer who has been in this game WAAAAY longer than I have, but I just cannot go along with what they're saying.
When I first started a couple years ago reviews were super helpful because I knew literally nothing. In that sense, youtube reviews in general helped me get a foundation in vocabulary and an overall feel for what equipment did what.
I hate to sound like a cocky know it all, but somewhere along the way I came to realize that some of these guys don't know nearly what I once thought they did. I know how this may sound, but I think some of them gained credibility just by being in the public eye long enough. Notoriety = expertise in the minds of the average non tech person. It's human nature.
Sometimes it's obvious that some of them are woefully unfamiliar with the equipment they're reviewing. They'll be fumbling through the menus on a regulated mod for instance and I'm thinking to myself:
"Dude. I've had this device for an hour and I know how it works better than you do."
It's also become obvious that some of them, who do have genuine expertise, clearly must know better than what they're saying sometimes too. But... the money thing.
All that said, I love vape reviews and watch em all the time