Kite gear voting and independent rating

[dandaka]

I think kiting community is missing independent rating of kite gear. All reviews in magazines are pimped by gear producers, so almost no valuable information. And no direct comparison of gear in each category.

I could make simple website, where everybody can vote for best gear. And in the end it will calculate rating on these data.

Could it be interesting? What should we consider to make this voting/rating better?

I think about:

1. Comparison-based votings. You rank all gear you have used from 1st till last. Something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulze_method should work.
2. Categories, because boards for wakestyle can't be compared with boards for light wind.

What else?

[JamesVegas]

Lovely idea but there is no way of preventing multiple voting by the same person so it will never be accurate. I could spend an hour making the smallest niche brand look like the biggest on the planet if I wanted to.

[tautologies]

Lovely idea but there is no way of preventing multiple voting by the same person so it will never be accurate. I could spend an hour making the smallest niche brand look like the biggest on the planet if I wanted to.

There are many ways to avoid that but I still think the reliability of such a tool is extremely low

Edit: because it ends up being a popularity competition. Different kites will be better under certain conditions...

[JamesVegas]

How could you stop someone voting multiple times?

[BigPaul]

Its a really good idea, but think policeing would be hard.

Companies will always try a promote their kit (and why not)

Good smaller brands would still not really get a look in as most people with be review the big names. (still not an issue but that's what this forum does well (most of the time) )

Give it a go anyway, let see what happens

[dandaka]

How could you stop someone voting multiple times?

1 Facebook account = 1 vote

because it ends up being a popularity competition

Popularity will affect results for sure, but I don't see how it can be avoided. I don't believe in best performing gear which is not known. Good products → good performance → word of mouth → good sales.

Do you have any ideas how to avoid influence of popularity?

I have tested few boards this year: Tona, Nobile, Brunotti. Not all of them are popular and at least my vote won't be affected by popularity — I enjoyed some and I didn't like some. But of course I didn't try UnknownSuperBrand, because I haven't heard about it. Pity for that brand.

[bigwave]

I think you have a good idea but implementing that will be difficult to get an accurate reflection of the industry. No one gets to try all the gear, even the Magazine Test's do not. When the gear is "tested" really its just a bunch of riders(buddies of Editors,Paid in Kiteboarder Mags case etc) riding around on new gear. Some are better than you and me, some not. They form an opinion on a Kite,Bar and board in about a 1/2 an hour. In most cases they compare it to what they own, that is the benchmark.
I work in a shop, I get to ride most of the kites and boards we sell( I dont Test, the testing part was done by the people who designed it). When you come in to purchase one of our products, I can give you my experience with it. I always ride other brands we don't sell when I can. Thats when I would get my half hour to related to my benchmark kite or board.
Your idea is good, but how will it change anything? You can't try all the gear(and why would you want to?) so, you will get the same feedback we get now, industry reps, retailers(me), fan boys and people who just really like there kit. Read it, weed it, and go get the best gear. Set up a site I'll vote!
Oh, did I mention I have the best deal in Kitesurfing?...lol

[dandaka]

bigwave, I want to see overall ratings of gear in different categories. I don't see it now.

I can share my opinion about gear I've tested. My kite (RPM) is super nice for unhooking and sucks for freeride comparing to Evo. If we combine these opinions from big part of community, it could be nice representation of what people think is best gear.

Difference is that I don't want to read that "board pops good". I want to know that "majority voters think that board A is better than board B for wakestyle". Can I get this ratings somewhere now? I haven't seen yet.

[JamesVegas]

That means that anyone who doesn't use FB can't vote though which could be a large section of certain kiters.

[dandaka]

JamesVegas, you're welcome to give better solution.