How to Use Fitness Equipment Ratings by Consumers
Before purchasing new exercise equipment, it is a good idea to read fitness equipment ratings by those who have bought and tried the product. Consumers can offer firsthand experience about quality, service, and other points you may not have even considered.
Can you rely on user ratings to help you decide whether or not exercise equipment is right for you?
Yes - but it helps to know how to view them and consider what may cause consumer reviews to swing excessively high or low.
The Low Raters
Users who have truly had bad experiences want to warn others about the perils of purchasing a particular fitness product. Their objectivity, perhaps tainted by anger, may cause them to post excessively harsh reviews as they air frustrations.
A few of those who are claiming poor results or “scams” may have their own motives—to sell you their products.
Still other equipment owners are influenced by reading the negative reviews of other consumers and decide to get on the band wagon.
The High Raters
There’s a band wagon effect on the positive side, too, of course. But what else could cause consumers to overrate a fitness product? The device may very well work for them. But their perceptions may be altered by factors other than the product effectiveness, such as:
Expectation
If the fitness equipment ads convince us to buy, we expect results, especially if the product is expensive. The expectation and hope of positive results influences perceptions.
Motivation
Once we are persuaded to buy, we are usually motivated to work out. Our elevated level of motivation creates a change of lifestyle pattern and effort, which influences workout results.
Learning
Reviewers may believe they have experienced immediate results. But products that require new movements or greater coordination of movements can produce early gains as a result of learning, rather than from physiological changes required to produce real results over time.
Variation
A new product with a new spin may relieve the boredom of performing old routines, at least for a while. In the long run, varying activities may also produce better, more consistent improvements.
Affiliation
Affiliates and advertisers who stand to earn a commission if they promote and sell fitness equipment have a strong motive for posting rave reviews.
Visible results
Real measurable changes can occur from exercising with the effective products. The excitement of achieving one’s goals can also prompt excessively positive fitness equipment ratings.
How to Use Consumer Ratings
Read lots of reviews from independent consumers. As best you can, try to sort out comments that appear to be fair and objective from the emotionally charged ones.
Pro Tips:
- Find ratings from those who have used a fitness product for several months—long enough for them to see a real training effect, as well as test the durability of the product.
- Get a sense of consistencies and trends, rather than extremes and exceptions.
- Consider consumer fitness equipment ratings as one method to help you make your buying decision, but not the only one.
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