One Trusted Opinion
is worth a thousand Amazon reviews
My partner is very into coffee. He roasts our beans himself and brews it cup-by-cup each morning. I am very into having excellent coffee magically appear.
After someone who shall remain nameless, and is me, used our old blade grinder to grind spices for a curry, He Who Makes the Coffee decided we needed a different grinder (that did not taste of cumin).
As with so many purchasing decisions in this day and age, we turned to the Internet for reviews.
We were unprepared for the tsunami of opinions.
Blade grinders are trash, apparently, and most electric burr grinders will overheat the beans and make angels cry in heaven. Crushed under the weight of strong opinions on vanishingly small differences, we ended up purchasing a hand-crank grinder.
For two years, we (mostly he) hand-ground every cup of coffee we drank (that one is an actual we). Like Laura Ingalls Wilder. In pioneer days. Except with indoor plumbing, central heat, and hot-and-cold running Internet.
Eventually, I snapped (I think it was the “grind the second cup yourself” policy), went to the coffee shop down the street, grabbed whichever electric grinder they were selling, and gave them my credit card.
Friends, it’s GREAT.
I am, sometimes, capable of learning from my mistakes.
When I was in the market for a new bicycle, a four-season commuter, I looked at the Internet for about 10 minutes and was inundated with Opinions. I backed slowly away from the glowing screens and asked a friend who is a bike mechanic. Without time to think, he blurted out, “Salsa Journeyman.”
It’s, by far, my favorite bike I’ve ever owned.*
Where are you stuck in analysis paralysis? Who do you know, or where can you go, for someone to just tell you the answer?
*The same friend is now advising me on e-bikes, so there is a decent chance it will get demoted to second-favorite.
It took me months to replace our fire hazard of a toaster. Literally 10 months of indecision after my toaster started a fire until we replaced it... because my spouse bought one for me for Christmas that year. I asked friends, read reviews, and was paralyzed by indecision. Finally somebody else made the decision, which is great, because somehow I turned into a "toast for breakfast" person once I hit my mid 30's.
So much time wasted down the product review rabbit hole! 9 times out of 10 I end up buying the original item I was looking at (sometimes after being disappointed by the product with better reviews).