Here's a little list of equipment that to me was disappointing:
- Mark V, Sriver L, Speedy Spin, VariSpin: known friendlies in my youths, not doing it when returning (and playing with 40+ plastics)
- BTY Tenergy 80, that limited my game to a very lopsided subset of techniques
- BTY Innerforce ALC.S, a flimsy, a powerless dud of a blade bereft of any feeling to boot (in my hands anyway), so no redeeming qualities whatsoever
- BTY Timo Boll ALC, a great blade to play with power and good feedback, but a handle so thin the blade becomes unusable (for me)
- A pair of shoes of which the top tore away from the soles after a few hours of play, Donic I believe (I've also had good footwear from the good Doctor Nic, though)
As these things go, you don't keep on playing with equipment that falls very short. Writing a review takes some effort.
This imbalance is fundamental. I know my children have conversations around topics like "what's the worst movie/actor/song/... you've ever experienced?" and get something out of that... but even there, why waste time and energy on things not even worth remembering?
I actually prefer people to talk about the stuff they're enthused over, and tend to value the experiences shared from that motivation more than the (often quite gratuitous) negatives and all too easy dismissions. Like mine, above; many people obviously like and play very well with the rubbers and blades I mentioned.
If you look carefully, there is some between-the-lines criticism, British subdued style, in Dan and Toms videos. They make remarks about "having to adjust technique", and keep in the bits of footage in which they are hitting below their level, making quite a bit of unforced errors. These are the parts that to me speak the deepest truths in these reviews, this, and the occasional outlier in which Dan and Tom focus on an aspect of the game not usually covered in their review format but in which they show how something shines in that aspect. We've seen Can Akkuzu do very specific stuff (Takkyu's "STOP"), we've seen Dan and Tom stressing the limits of the short game in their T80 review; it's all out there, although it's not as in your face as an American youtuber would be.
