I’ve had a few responses in my inbox from PR teams requesting prompt reviews or coverage. Some brands have even tried to dictate how long I have to review a product. I understand where they are coming from and it makes sense why they’d want to secure faster coverage for their clients and products. However, that’s not how I operate and I wanted to share my personal reasoning for why that is.

I have turned down quite a few review opportunities because the teams were demanding faster turnaround times.

Why do Techigar reviews seem to take so long?

The first reason for the longer lead times is that I want more time to spend with these products. At least a month, maybe longer when I can. While I don’t purport to be offering any kind of game-changing or innovative approach, in my experience, the more time you have with modern products, especially smart home electronics, the more you notice the cracks and tears. Maybe you have an issue connecting to a camera you didn’t the first time. Maybe the device continues to drop Wi-Fi signal and it ruins the experience. Or, maybe the app has problems but then receives a software or firmware update to fix them.

It’s simple. The more time I have to spend with various products the better my talking points, positive or negative. Some brands are okay with that, others want to speed along the review so those problems are less likely to show up. There are quite a few outlets that publish reviews done in a week, maybe a little longer. No shade from me on that process, but I have found that isn’t the best approach, especially for a one man team.

Other reasons Techigar reviews take a while

There’s also the point that I’m one person and at any given time I have quite a few reviews waiting in the wings. I only have so much time to write during the day and I also have to work my day jobs to pay my bills. I do usually have several device reviews going at once, because it doesn’t take a long time to set up devices, install whatever I need to and begin using them to build up those experiences.

However, taking photos, writing the reviews, editing, and making sure everything is good to go takes some time. I do all of that when I have free time to do it and sometimes that pushes out review publications a little further than I’d like. Of course, there’s my mental health and family time to think about in there, too, both of which are important.

I won’t sit here and lie saying it’s always the plan to take a long time with reviews. I like to spend about a month or so with each device, especially when they have something to do with the body, like wellness and health products. But as for the reviews, they might also just be taking a while because I don’t have the time or energy. I hope you understand one way or another. But, more importantly, I hope at least some out there can appreciate me sticking to my guns when some brands, PR teams, and clients demand speedier action and it doesn’t really make sense.

Tech on, folks.