[skyoftexas]

1. It is the most subject part of the review.
2. The reader knows the price, and thus has a more accurate interpretation of value (to the reader).
3. Unlike the other components in a review, the value rating will change based on price fluctuations. So, reviews with scores will invariably be outdated.
4. More times than not, value ratings lower the scores of items reviewed. No problem with lower scores, but I would prefer they were based on actual technical and functional analysis, rather than mercurial, subjective values.

[bar_foo]

Agreed. There's no big problem with reviewers assessing value--"this is a great lens, but not for $1500"--since that is a way of weighing it against comparable products. But baking the value measure into the review, when prices fluctuate so much, is definitely a mistake. And even if the price for Product A doesn't change, if Product B comes along and offers the same features at a lower price, the "value" of A declines.

[stevebrot]

I always include my perception of value as part of the discussion in my reviews, particularly if it influenced the total score. OTOH, having it as a discreet metric is rather lame.


Steve

[UncleVanya]

I like seeing the ratings. People can ignore any part of it they want.

I alway take the info with a grain of salt.

[KDD]

Yeah.

[btnapa]

1. It is the most subject part of the review.
2. The reader knows the price, and thus has a more accurate interpretation of value (to the reader).
3. Unlike the other components in a review, the value rating will change based on price fluctuations. So, reviews with scores will invariably be outdated.
4. More times than not, value ratings lower the scores of items reviewed. No problem with lower scores, but I would prefer they were based on actual technical and functional analysis, rather than mercurial, subjective values.

Pentax Froums is particularly stingy with their ratings, which BTW I like. I look at the value numbers and adjust them as the prices go down. Overall, the ratings are spot on. I have found that my Pentax gear is a lot better than the ratings indicate.

[robgski]

Caveat Emptor!

[jkomp316]

i find the lens review database biased yet accurate.

[BrianR]

Cover up that part of your screen with black electrical tape. As long as you refrain from scrolling you'll never have to see the value rating again.

[alamo5000]

To me the reviews in the database are kind of all over the place, yet they are very telling. You have lots of people who are nowhere near professional reviewers and you have others who are really good at what they do. As a whole though, when you get 50 people from all walks of life giving ratings and the overall scores are 9+ then you know you're onto something.

As far as the value rating I look at each one individually. If someone gave a lens good scores but then the 'value' is the lowest... only to also see that they paid $600 bucks... to me that is valuable, especially if I see them going on the marketplace for a few hundred less...

More or less the way I interpret that data is that if I see 15 reviews that say 'its a great lens but it ain't worth $600 bucks'... then I kind of know where to start. It's not a technical merit of the lens but it does give an indication of a fair market value.