Disappointed with Fine Woodworking Product Review

[Steve Mathews]

I was just gifted a subscription to Fine Woodworking magazine and in a recent review of midi woodturning lathes Vicmarc was omitted. As far as midi lathes and possibly other sizes I would consider them one of the best. Why would I take any of their other reviews seriously?

[mike stenson]

Never heard of them (but other than tool handles and small knobs I don't turn stuff). But, a philosophical question: Does every review require every brand to be useful?

[John Kananis]

Not every brand but Vicmarc isn't just any brand.

Never heard of them (but other than tool handles and small knobs I don't turn stuff). But, a philosophical question: Does every review require every brand to be useful?

[Brian Tymchak]

I just searched for a U.S. vendor for a VicMarc VL 150 V2 EVS, which admittedly I did not adequately vet as an equivalent in class to Rikon or Jet (etc) midi lathes. But that seems to be VicMarc's offering for that class. I could not find a U.S. vendor in the first few pages of results. I found one in Canada selling the lathe for $3600 Canadian dollars (~$2700, U.S. dollars). Mostly I found Australian vendors, which kinda makes sense as VicMarc is an Australian company.

I haven't read the FWW review, so my guess is that the VicMarc was excluded based on availability and price, if they even knew about the lathe in the first place.

[mike stenson]

Not every brand but Vicmarc isn't just any brand.

Then the OP should demand his money back.


There's a tongue and cheek involved. Lest anyone become offended.

[Edward Weber]

When magazines do reviews, there is a criteria for participating.
What range of tool, what price range, did the manufacturer donate one for review and on and on.
Just because they committed one brand/model you thought should be included, doesn't mean it's a shortcoming or conspiracy. It's just how things work.

[Steve Mathews]

Vicmarc equipment is available from at least Craft Supplies, Packard Woodworks and Woodturners Wonders. A quick visit to Vicmarc's website would reveal that. As far as the range of prices in the review Vicmarc lathes are at the upper end but less than the most expensive Robust offerings. I have Oneway (Canadian), Vicmarc (Australian) and Jet (Taiwan) lathes and find the omission of Vicmarc in the review to be a fatal flaw.

[Richard Coers]

Rarely do magazines represent every machine made in the world. Often the call is put out to the manufacturers and not all can or will send a sample to be tested. Did you call Vicmarc and ask them?

[John TenEyck]

Vicmarc equipment is available from at least Craft Supplies, Packard Woodworks and Woodturners Wonders. A quick visit to Vicmarc's website would reveal that. As far as the range of prices in the review Vicmarc lathes are at the upper end but less than the most expensive Robust offerings. I have Oneway (Canadian), Vicmarc (Australian) and Jet (Taiwan) lathes and find the omission of Vicmarc in the review to be a fatal flaw.

If you didn't own a Vicmarc would you feel the same way?

John

[Steve Mathews]

[/COLOR]
If you didn't own a Vicmarc would you feel the same way?

John

More so. Had I relied even partially on this article and missed knowing about a product that I might have found more to my liking I would've thought why wasn't this included in the review. I can understand not including some of the lesser known lathes, and there are some of those not mentioned, but Vicmarc is such a prominent figure in the woodturning world that its omission questions the integrity of the author or at least its competence.

[Edward Weber]

Contact Fine woodworking and complain
Not everyone or everything acts as you would like them to.

[Richard Link]

These are some remarkably strong views concerning the omission of Vicmarc in a magazine review. Sure, I understand that we all want the magazine authors to be omniscient and it's reasonable to be irritated if you were using the review as your sole source of information before a $3000 purchase or perhaps associated with the company. Obviously, the original poster was not in that category and just wanted the review to reflect the available machines in the market. Rather than "complain," though, why not just send them a friendly email highlighting the omission and they will likely post an errata in the front of the magazine as I've seen them do many times before. I guess my point is that we don't always have to be angry when somebody else makes a mistake or an omission but we can be positive and constructive and maybe everybody gets their boat raised. My guess is that editing a woodworking magazine as a viable business can be challenging (they did after all just have a big shakeup) and the editors are likely very dependent on subspecialty specific authors particularly for reviews of things like lathes, CNCs, etc. So sometimes things will fall through the cracks.

[Richard Coers]

These are some remarkably strong views concerning the omission of Vicmarc in a magazine review. Sure, I understand that we all want the magazine authors to be omniscient and it's reasonable to be irritated if you were using the review as your sole source of information before a $3000 purchase or perhaps associated with the company. Obviously, the original poster was not in that category and just wanted the review to reflect the available machines in the market. Rather than "complain," though, why not just send them a friendly email highlighting the omission and they will likely post an errata in the front of the magazine as I've seen them do many times before. I guess my point is that we don't always have to be angry when somebody else makes a mistake or an omission but we can be positive and constructive and maybe everybody gets their boat raised. My guess is that editing a woodworking magazine as a viable business can be challenging (they did after all just have a big shakeup) and the editors are likely very dependent on subspecialty specific authors particularly for reviews of things like lathes, CNCs, etc. So sometimes things will fall through the cracks.

Well said Richard. FWW doesn't tout the article as a buyer's guide, it's a review article.

[Michael Burnside]

These are some remarkably strong views concerning the omission of Vicmarc in a magazine review. Sure, I understand that we all want the magazine authors to be omniscient and it's reasonable to be irritated if you were using the review as your sole source of information before a $3000 purchase or perhaps associated with the company. Obviously, the original poster was not in that category and just wanted the review to reflect the available machines in the market. Rather than "complain," though, why not just send them a friendly email highlighting the omission and they will likely post an errata in the front of the magazine as I've seen them do many times before. I guess my point is that we don't always have to be angry when somebody else makes a mistake or an omission but we can be positive and constructive and maybe everybody gets their boat raised. My guess is that editing a woodworking magazine as a viable business can be challenging (they did after all just have a big shakeup) and the editors are likely very dependent on subspecialty specific authors particularly for reviews of things like lathes, CNCs, etc. So sometimes things will fall through the cracks.

Well said Richard.

To the OP's defense, I will say that posting grievances like this in these forums is, in my opinion, a very good backup source of information. I've personally "Googled" for something only to find myself directed back at this wonderful site and insanely talented members. So, while FWW is a useful source, I find the sources and experiences here of higher value...just don't tell FWW that

[Richard Coers]

More so. Had I relied even partially on this article and missed knowing about a product that I might have found more to my liking I would've thought why wasn't this included in the review. I can understand not including some of the lesser known lathes, and there are some of those not mentioned, but Vicmarc is such a prominent figure in the woodturning world that its omission questions the integrity of the author or at least its competence.

In our woodturning club of over 50 members, 1 has a Vicmarc. That's 2%. They must be more popular in your region.