WHY SO FEW REVIEWS OF EQUIP. LATELY?

I have been away from the 'hobby' a while (several years), and I am trying to get back into backyard astronomy - and I just noticed that, here on Astromart, there have been very few reviews of new equipment posted in recent years.

I am curious why.

btw, this has always been one of my favorite astro sites.

John Frank said:

I have been away from the 'hobby' a while (several years), and I am trying to get back into backyard astronomy - and I just noticed that, here on Astromart, there have been very few reviews of new equipment posted in recent years.

I am curious why.

btw, this has always been one of my favorite astro sites.

I suspect because no one has been submitting them..... I bet if you write and submit they will put it up

Originally Posted by J FRANK

I have been away from the 'hobby' a while (several years), and I am trying to get back into backyard astronomy - and I just noticed that, here on Astromart, there have been very few reviews of new equipment posted in recent years. <br><br>I am curious why.<br><br>btw, this has always been one of my favorite astro sites.

John,

I agree with you.  It's really odd how during one period of time a number of years ago, many reviews were written and posted, but getting that level of critical review or comparisons of competitive products is next to impossible.

For example, find a review in the "Reviews & Articles" section on 10mm to 70mm binoculars.  None.  Actually, there are no reviews at all of any size binocular.  

I find more on Cloudynights, but I appreciate Astromart for a variety of other reasons.  

I was reading about the recent makeover of the website, and one of the administrators made mention of having huge amounts of data in an old database...and maybe getting that transferred to whatever data structures are being used for the new Astromart is problematic?  

I'd love to see a comparison / shootout of the APM Semi-APO 90 deg 100mm binos against the APM ED-APO 90 deg 100mm binos.  But I see that APM is a sponsor and (this is highly UNLIKELY) maybe APM's sponsorship affords them/keeps reviews from being made available?  

All the sponsors seem to be product companies - hmmm...

Thomas, when pondering about this subject, I had a nagging thought, that I must admit is very depressing to me.
Could it be, that in this age of pre-occupation with smart phones, the younger generations are not developing 'hobbies' anymore?
I am in my early 50's, and when I was a kid - on into my teens, I had hobbies such as stamp collecting, astronomy, reading about geology and plate tectonics, rock and mineral collecting, fossil collecting, fooling around with a chemistry set (ha - I don't think anybody even knows what that is anymore) - all besides playing sports, riding bikes, flying kites, riding skateboards. Sadly enough, I see my nieces and nephews, and their kids, growing up glued to the screens. My kids are almost as bad, but not quite, because I have talked to them about such things, and try to stir up their interests and imaginations.

We may be seeing a gradual dying off of the older guys and gals who are serious about their 'hobbies', including amateur (backyard) astronomy, and a lack of younger men and women who really care about such interests and activities. Observing and studying the skies takes dedication, patience and curiosity. Today's generations are loosing those 'virtues' and they want that instantaneous gratification of the sights and sounds of 'the screen'.

I wish I were wrong about this, but my gut tells me I am right on the money.
In spite of this, I will never stop talking about the skies, or encouraging young people to take notice of the skies and the amazing world around them, and to put that damn phone down, just for a little while !