Want to know how to start up as a tech reviewer

[sstech]

Hey guys, I wanna start making tech videos/reviews, but don’t know how to start out as tech is quite expensive and i’m not big enough for company’s like asus or nzxt or company’s like that to send me things for free. I know I can simply review my own tech I already own, but after i make videos about those, how do I get new tech? I don’t have a job and am still quite young, so I don’t have a large income stream. I have some experience with video editing so i can make decent videos. Also if you want to send something to me, be it a keyboard, monitor, gaming console, or anything of that sort, shoot me an email, and i will make a video on your piece of tech.

mods removed email, if you wanna send me stuff just message me.

Edited July 1, 2023 by sstech
mods removed email

[Eigenvektor]

You either buy your own tech to review until you're big enough for companies to send you things to review, or you apply as a reviewer to an already established media outlet.

[Radium_Angel]

My suggestion is to review stuff that isn't commonly done.

No one needs another GTX 2080 review

But what about a 50$ 3D printer, is it any good, and can you make it better?

 

[LAwLz]

I would recommend making videos with the things you have first.

Worry about what to do once you run out of things to make videos about when you actually run out of things. There is no sense in worrying about that before you've even made your first video. 

[saintlouisbagels]

If we use MKBHD as an example, you don't really start off just reviewing beyond things you already own

From quickly looking at his first 240-ish videos (I got tired of counting rows x 4 videos) he mostly did tutorial videos.

 

If you have video editing skills, then you should start off being an editor for other YouTubers and then work your way from there.

[Guest]

try making review on product you have expertise on, i start watching jarrod's tech because of his laptop expertise

[sstech]

update: i got a company to send me their monitor! thanks guys i’m really hyped.

[LogicalDrm]

4 hours ago, sstech said:

update: i got a company to send me their monitor! thanks guys i’m really hyped.

If you don't have channel or following, I'm kinda interested to know what kind of contract you got with them. Companies don't send stuff for free, its always contract that gives something for both. A reviewer gets something they don't otherwise might get, gets content, views etc. Company get exposure, views and essentially free marketing. If the contract is neutral, then its just that. If it has conditions, then you are not really reviewing or unboxing/overviewing, but making sponsored ad for that company.

[sstech]

23 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

If you don't have channel or following, I'm kinda interested to know what kind of contract you got with them. Companies don't send stuff for free, its always contract that gives something for both. A reviewer gets something they don't otherwise might get, gets content, views etc. Company get exposure, views and essentially free marketing. If the contract is neutral, then its just that. If it has conditions, then you are not really reviewing or unboxing/overviewing, but making sponsored ad for that company.

they simply asked for my channel, they sent me the monitor, and i’ll send them the video once it’s done. to be honest i’m also quite surprised they sent it to me. it’s kinda of a no name brand, and where probably trying to get rid of the rest of their stock.

[Lurking]

Provide a value and meet a need that isn't met yet. If you just do something 1000 other people have done (and less professionally), you won't get many people's time 

 

And their time an attention is what you are competing for 

 

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

On 6/29/2023 at 4:28 PM, Radium_Angel said:

My suggestion is to review stuff that isn't commonly done.

No one needs another GTX 2080 review

But what about a 50$ 3D printer, is it any good, and can you make it better?

My favorite tech reviews typically involve stuff like this, or they're budget build channels. In some cases, they're strictly Mac-oriented.

[LogicalDrm]

12 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

My favorite tech reviews typically involve stuff like this, or they're budget build channels. In some cases, they're strictly Mac-oriented.

I've found so many good channels that specialize on niche stuff, budget stuff or non-American markets. On content side. But its too bad they tend to copy big ones without understanding on what is good to copy and whats bad. Like there was channel making case reviews of India/SEA markets. Good stuff, but they had some techno track playing whole time. Even when they "showed" what kind of noise fans made. FAR from what 3DGAMEMAN did 10 years ago.

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

I've found so many good channels that specialize on niche stuff, budget stuff or non-American markets. On content side. But its too bad they tend to copy big ones without understanding on what is good to copy and whats bad. Like there was channel making case reviews of India/SEA markets. Good stuff, but they had some techno track playing whole time. Even when they "showed" what kind of noise fans made. FAR from what 3DGAMEMAN did 10 years ago.

Yeah, you really do have to hunt for good niche channels sometimes. Overall, I'm still glad they exist. Sometimes you need a specific piece of information that other channels or even some forums just don't have, but this random channel on YouTube has a video from 5 years ago talking about this exact thing.

[ToboRobot]

At the beginning stage of being a reviewer, the job is getting products to review.

Why you would want to do this without having a well defined gap in the highly saturated market that you intend to target and fill is the question? 

[LAwLz]

4 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

At the beginning stage of being a reviewer, the job is getting products to review.

I would argue that getting products to review is kind of the last step.

The first step is making videos, with whatever you got already.

 

I think it is very sad to see people so focused on getting free things or getting paid before they have even made some videos. It's like trying to get recruited to a professional soccer team before you have even tried playing a game of soccer yet.

The people who are thinking of starting a Youtube channel in order to get rich, famous or get free stuff are going into it for entirely the wrong reasons and as a result, will get disappointed. Because 99,99% of them will spend a lot of time making a video that ends up getting 10 views, and they will never progress beyond that point.

 

If you don't like making videos then don't make videos. If you do like making videos, then it shouldn't matter if the subject of your videos is a 100-dollar LCD monitor, or a 3000-dollar OLED TV, because the process of making the video will be the same regardless. 

[Radium_Angel]

6 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

My favorite tech reviews typically involve stuff like this, or they're budget build channels. In some cases, they're strictly Mac-oriented.

My fav sections from the classic Top Gear, was when the three were given a small budget and told to go maximize car purchase (and then subsequent challenges) on said budget. I find that much more entertaining than "Hey! Here's my review of a 10,000$ gaming PC!" Yawn, show me good stuff on 50$ Get creative on no money, that sort of thing

[Radium_Angel]

4 hours ago, htimsenyawed said:

There’s a British car channel that does something like this. Their most recent was buying a £400 Range Rover. They’ve done a VW Golf and a few other things. One video they had to drive a mile for every pound they spent on the vehicle. 
 

It’s more entertaining than, “The new Prius is awesome!” while they’re sitting on the shoulder of a highway.

AutoAlex cars?

[Lomac]

On 7/3/2023 at 8:59 AM, Radium_Angel said:

AutoAlex cars?

Close but I'm guessing Car Throttle is who they were talking about. Alex also bought (another) Range Rover but hasn't done a Golf yet.

[Lomac]

On 7/3/2023 at 4:56 AM, htimsenyawed said:

There’s a British car channel that does something like this. Their most recent was buying a £400 Range Rover. They’ve done a VW Golf and a few other things. One video they had to drive a mile for every pound they spent on the vehicle. 
 

It’s more entertaining than, “The new Prius is awesome!” while they’re sitting on the shoulder of a highway.

Agreed. I'm more inclined to watch channels like Car Throttle, Autoalex and Gears & Gasoline simply because they're a little more grounded. Mighty Car Mods used to be the same and still occasionally produce good cheap car content, though has strayed away from that angle more often recently. Channels like Hoovies Garage and Tavarish are two I should also theoretically enjoy but they focus on high end vehicles and them buying yet another wrecked high end car that doesn't get finished is boring to me (so far the P1 has been entertaining but only because of the uniqueness of the vehicle.)

 

It's the same for tech review channels. I can't be arsed to watch yet another 4090 review but I'm usually game to click on a review of some weird, semi-old tech that a lot of people have already forgotten about. Find me a unique perspective on comparing Zip disks with 5.25" floppy disks and, if you manage to continue on with that sort of stuff, you'll likely have built yourself a new niche segment of the market. Obviously doesn't have to be that specifically but look for something that the majority of people can relate to or be interested in or hasn't been covered a million times before by people with bigger budgets and who have access to better research teams. Hell, it doesn't even need to be a review channel. Give yourself challenges to take X product (something tech related that is outdated) and turn it into something new or unique to help prolong it's use. I dunno, just spitballing.

[cooky560]

One thing I find interesting about older tech videos is how they got round the limitations of the hardware to make an amazing product, especially with some of the old coding "tricks" used to make older games. 

 

With today's hardware, you can make almost anything work and efficiency be damned because everyone has reasonable hardware, even if it's slightly older.

 

 

[ToboRobot]

On 7/2/2023 at 4:36 PM, LAwLz said:

I would argue that getting products to review is kind of the last step.

The first step is making videos, with whatever you got already.

 

 

Can't make reviews without products, therefore it is the first step. 

 

Getting products directly from companies, buying them, borrowing them, or having them already, is step one in reviewing a product.

You can't make a product review video, without a product to review.

[tkitch]

2 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

Can't make reviews without products, therefore it is the first step. 

 

Getting products directly from companies, buying them, borrowing them, or having them already, is step one in reviewing a product.

You can't make a product review video, without a product to review.

you have products, unless you don't have a computer.

And if you don't have a computer, you have an entirely different problem to get into this field.  

[saintlouisbagels]

4 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

Can't make reviews without products, therefore it is the first step.

Getting products directly from companies, buying them, borrowing them, or having them already, is step one in reviewing a product.
You can't make a product review video, without a product to review.

MKBHD's growth happened because he made hundreds of tutorial videos. Reviewing tech was a very small part of his initial videos.

If we check out Unbox Therapy's background, he owned a computer repair shop so he already had the funds to purchase things.

Mrwhosetheboss was in college when he started videos and he declined a salary job after college to focus on YouTube.

 

There's no guaranteed path to becoming a Tech YouTuber OP.

You just make videos and maybe you'll pop off.

[LAwLz]

15 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

Can't make reviews without products, therefore it is the first step. 

 

Getting products directly from companies, buying them, borrowing them, or having them already, is step one in reviewing a product.

You can't make a product review video, without a product to review.

Well, I guess it depends on what we mean by "the job is getting products to review". To me, and I think most people reading your post, it comes across as "the first thing you should worry about and put effort into is getting products". In reality, you don't actually need to put any effort into that because you should start with the things you already have. I agree with you if you include "products you already have" into "getting products to review", but that's not how I interpreted your post at first, hence the response.

 

 

Anyway, I think a good start would be to set up a basic recording setup and then start recording and practicing editing. It might be as simple as just a webcam or your phone camera. What you make the video about isn't really that important in the beginning because barely anyone will see the video anyway. It's more about practicing and just getting videos out there.

Make a video about the PC you already got, the phone you already got, the mouse, keyboard, some software, and so on.