Remember those old magazine reviews that were basically just rewritten press releases? Ads have always been there, just in different clothes. Some of the bigger tech YouTuber channels now are pretty clear about sponsorships and still tear into bad products. It's maybe more about finding a reviewer you trust who actually uses the stuff, not just unboxes it. The noise is louder now for sure, but the good signal is still out there if you look past the top search results.

Heard their lean-to models might leak after a few seasons.

took me way too many bubbly patches to figure that out, i was getting way too proud of my mud skills before the primer step.