How to properly research a tool before you buy it.

We've all been there. You see a commercial showing off the latest and greatest tool to hit the market, only to find out how bad it sucks once you get it home. In the old days, the best way to research a tool before making the buy was word of mouth. If you were lucky, you may have had a neighbor that already had the item you were looking at, and let you borrow it for a day or two, but now information relating to tools, home electronics, appliances or any other gadgets that your interested in can be found with a few stokes of the keyboard. In the post, we will look at the six best ways to research your tools, or any other item before buying them.

#6 Go to the store:

One of my favorite stores to visit is the Home Depot. I always feel like a kid in a candy store when I go there, but I don't just drive there to buy bug spray. Stores like Home Depot and Lowes actually have display tools that they allow you to test before buying. The brick and mortar stores hold a huge advantage over the online stores as they let you physically feel, see, hear and hold the item in your hand rather than just staring at a picture of it online. That being said, you may not be able to build a shed with the display drill, but you can definitely drive a few screws into a 2x4 while your there.

#5 word of mouth. 

As mentioned above, this was the best way to figure out what tools were worth the money back in the day before the internet. We all had a friend that had every tool/gadget known to man, so we leaned on him to tell us what we should buy. This could be a helpful in many cases, but it also has some downfalls as your buddy nay be loyal to only one brand. For instance, I am a huge fan of Ridgid tools, so any time someone ask me what brand drill they should look at, I tell them Ridgid. Even though I love Ridgid drills, they may not be the best fit for my buddy, so he really won't know what                                                         else may be on the market that fits his needs better.

#4 Borrow from your neighbor: 

I guarantee every home owner has a (Kramer) in there life that loves to borrow your tools, and eat your food. My old neighbor was always over my house bugging me for something, but after I let him use something, he would buy it soon after. I started realizing that he was using me just to test my tools before he went out and bought his own. If the (let's say) lawn mower was not powerful enough to cut his high, unkempt yard, he would buy something with more power. That being said, if he loved the mower, well..... he just kept borrowing mine. The point is, you can learn what works or don't work by beating up someone else's tools, just be careful you don't beat them up before you bring them back unless you want your neighbors to hate you.

#3 Subscribe to tool blogs and sites: 

Bloggers and reviewers usually get to try tools and other gadgets to test before they even hit the store shelves. For instance, I was just one of five people who got to review a new enclosed ceiling fan that's not even for sale yet. Reviewers like myself usually know what to look for in a specific tool, so we will beat the hell out of it until (1) It does what we need it to do, or (2) It falls short and gets a bad review. When you subscribe to a blog or site that reviews these tools, you will usually know what tool will be hitting the market next, and if it works well or not. And although reviewers such as myself always wants the tools that they review to preform well, we really have no dog in the fight. product does not live up to its reputation, we make sure you know about it before you spend your hard earned money.

#2 YouTube Reviews:

For some reason, everyone always seems to forget about youtube when doing research on an item. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world second to Google (which just happens to own YouTube). YouTube has hundreds, if not thousands of reviewers on their site using the same tool that you may be in the market for. Many of these videos show the tool being used in the most punishing ways just to see if they will hold up or fall apart. Many videos also show you how to put the items together, and highlight the pros and cons of the item. It really doesn't matter if its a tape measurer, power tool or even a car, I always look for information on YouTube before I buy,

#1 Online Customer reviews: 

Online product reviews are by far the most brutally honest reviews on the web. It doesn't take much to piss off a consumer. In many cases, if the product doesn't 100% satisfy to the reviewers needs,the dreaded one star review is usually published. Amazon was the first company that crafted and perfected the online review system. Now every site you visit has a review section on it. Usually, if the item has a lower score than it's competitor does, the sale is lost for that seller. For example, if I am looking to buy a new trimmer and come across two different brands with the same price, I instantly look for the reviews. If the first trimmer was reviewed by 30 different customers and has a four star review, I will buy that trimmer over the other trimmer that has 30 reviews with one star. To take that even further, I won't even purchase a large ticket item unless it has at least two reviews on it. As for the tools and gadgets that have no reviews, I won't even give them a second look as I do not want to take a chance on buying junk.

So there you have it. These are the top six ways to research a products before you buy it. Though one method may work better than the others, try a few different methods to ensure you not spending money on something you wish you hadn't.