The hard sell
- Thread starter henchy3rd
- Start date
Yeah … I’ve stopped buying them now . Whilst I appreciate then need revenue most of it seems to be through advertising, I used to by Trail but became cynical about the recommendations for kit as they seemed to be based on who had a full page advert 
I buy a quilting one, and Himself bought me a subscription for a crafts one as a present too.
I think you need to cherry pick.
The two magazines I get do have 'some' advertising, but the articles aren't sponsorship led. The ads are just genuinely from retailers who are selling items of interest.
They don't overwhelm the content, if I make myself clear ?
They're the kind of magazines that I hang onto and build up a book a year from.
Having said that, both of those types of magazines are sold that are just bumpf. Full of ads and glossy images and little useful information. Those I avoid and simply don't buy.
Surely there are outdoors magazines that are sound ? and that we could recommend ?
Funnily enough I came across my stash of the BcUK magazines just before Christmas, and really wished that it had been possible for Tony to continue publishing them. Those were really, really good.
M
I think you need to cherry pick.
The two magazines I get do have 'some' advertising, but the articles aren't sponsorship led. The ads are just genuinely from retailers who are selling items of interest.
They don't overwhelm the content, if I make myself clear ?
They're the kind of magazines that I hang onto and build up a book a year from.
Having said that, both of those types of magazines are sold that are just bumpf. Full of ads and glossy images and little useful information. Those I avoid and simply don't buy.
Surely there are outdoors magazines that are sound ? and that we could recommend ?
Funnily enough I came across my stash of the BcUK magazines just before Christmas, and really wished that it had been possible for Tony to continue publishing them. Those were really, really good.
M
Trails the one I had in mind.. although I never paid for it as it was a hand me down from the previous monthYeah … I’ve stopped buying them now . Whilst I appreciate then need revenue most of it seems to be through advertising, I used to by Trail but became cynical about the recommendations for kit as they seemed to be based on who had a full page advert
TGO is better I think. Kind of like the cyclist magazine vs cycling plus ad fest magazine.
There's always adverts but there's enough wordy and photograph laden pages to make TGO worth reading. My family bought me an annual subscription for my birthday but I've yet to get my first issue. I no longer read them cover to cover but pick what interests me the most. I read it in small chunks infrequently when I am the one buying it though, only when it's got articles that interests me.
There's always adverts but there's enough wordy and photograph laden pages to make TGO worth reading. My family bought me an annual subscription for my birthday but I've yet to get my first issue. I no longer read them cover to cover but pick what interests me the most. I read it in small chunks infrequently when I am the one buying it though, only when it's got articles that interests me.
My Brother wanted to buy a 4x4 car some years ago and had no idea which and no time to inform himself properly.
After I did read the leading 4x4 magazine for a year I did know for sure what I already had known before, that the Merceded G is ineffectively expensive as a work horse, that the superior Toyotas are Japanese and that the Defender was a dinosaur and that everything else was too small or impractical for our needs.
But nevertheless it surely was worth the effort.
I also did read for many years about bicycle technic. That was absolutely worth it.
And I assume that it's equal if you need to decide which yacht or camper van you want or in similar cases.
But a hiking and bushcraft magazine doesn't make so much sense in my opinion, simply because the technical questions to discuss are very limited.
Which is the best equipment in your special case you can easily ask in a bushcraft forum and will get very good answers immediately, and there isn't so much to understand about the stuff.
Outdoor life is rather about a skillset that didn't change so much in the last decades that the older classical books would be outdated.
You are perfectly served if you get a 100 years old but good book about camping and scouting and buy your equipment in the military surplus shop next corner.
Apart from that, the internet bushcraft forums will deliver you much better and more comprehensive information than any magazine can do.
After I did read the leading 4x4 magazine for a year I did know for sure what I already had known before, that the Merceded G is ineffectively expensive as a work horse, that the superior Toyotas are Japanese and that the Defender was a dinosaur and that everything else was too small or impractical for our needs.
But nevertheless it surely was worth the effort.
I also did read for many years about bicycle technic. That was absolutely worth it.
And I assume that it's equal if you need to decide which yacht or camper van you want or in similar cases.
But a hiking and bushcraft magazine doesn't make so much sense in my opinion, simply because the technical questions to discuss are very limited.
Which is the best equipment in your special case you can easily ask in a bushcraft forum and will get very good answers immediately, and there isn't so much to understand about the stuff.
Outdoor life is rather about a skillset that didn't change so much in the last decades that the older classical books would be outdated.
You are perfectly served if you get a 100 years old but good book about camping and scouting and buy your equipment in the military surplus shop next corner.
Apart from that, the internet bushcraft forums will deliver you much better and more comprehensive information than any magazine can do.
I used to buy magazine's all the time but got tired of the hype. Never read about a gun or knife that the author didn't love lol. Now I put a lot more stock in reviews on forums like here, from actual users.
