Just a thought - Which? don't produce a magazine for other much more significant hobbies - do you think it would be economic for woodworking? I'm wondering if they haven't got a "Fishing Which?" with reviews on nets/rods/courses/clothing/reels etc - and this is a massive hobby, why would they produce one for woodworking? Folowing on - there isn't one for walkers/outdoor pursuits - with clothing/boots etc (and thats Britains #1 hobby) - with the largest number willing to purchase presumably - or Sports Which? With reviews on clothing, sports shoes, rackets etc. These all have far larger potential subscriber bases and have nothing "dedicated". Whilst I think the idea is good in principle - I just can't see they are going to employ the level of expertise needed to undertake review - you'd need a dedicated engineering team dismantling and checking all the products, long term tests (and remember their staff aren't likely to be into WW, so unlike the tests on cars - they can't get internal staff to do the tests), they'd need much larger workshops - as e.g. 10+ tablesaws under test requires a big space to test, and whilst it's easy for most people to quickly identify whether a consumer product meets its function - would you be expecting them to grade the surface smoothness out of a thicknesser for example - just think how much tests like that would cost to run - and imagine selling 5K copies - even at a £5 each - thats only £25K - that would only buy a few tables saws and a test - what about P/T, Routers, spraying equipement, hand tools, compressers, jigs (dovetail etc), bench drills, bandsaws - I don't think this idea is likely to be taken up. If we are going to lobby them - we should be lobbying them to cater more for us in the general magazine - they did routers recently - we should be lobbying for other items in the general catalogue - rather than trying to get our own "magazine". I know two people who work at Which? and cost is the #1 pressure they face - it's economic to produce Buying a Car Which? etc - as a large number of people are willing to pay a few £'s for a magazine - I suspect the sales on a print run on a woodworking magazine would hardly cover the printing/editorial costs, never mind the cost of tests (and these are very comprehensive as you can imagine as they have to be 100% accurate to avoid lawsuits) nor the capital cost of buying equipment. As a good comparison - digital cameras/video cameras cost in the same region as lots of WW tools (e.g. £50 - £2000 and they dont have a dedicated magazine - and the level of interest in the general public is much higher.
I would love to see such a WW Which? but I think realistically - that a few more articles is the most we could hope for.
What do you think?
Adam
